"I didn't threaten to make things hot for you," protested Carrington, snarling like a disappointed dog. "I only suggested that you should hush up the matter of the murder and the will----" "Yes, and pay you to hold your tongue. What else is that but blackmail? If I was dishonorable enough to agree to your terms, your request for money would only be the first of many." "I swear that I would ask no more." "All blackmailers say that, until they get their victims in their toils by the first payment. Then they show themselves in their true colors. I wonder you are not ashamed, Carrington, to behave so basely." "I am not behaving basely," cried the barrister furiously. "I am poor, I admit, and I want money. But all I proposed was to your own advantage." "So that you might get a hold over me by persuading me to hush up a felony and so take every penny I possess." "That you possess," sneered Carrington, recklessly throwing off the mask, now no longer a protection. "Why, Mallien should have your money." "And Mallien shall get it when the will is looked into by the lawyers. I take it to them to-morrow. You know that I am honorable." "I know that you are a fool," snarled the baffled man; "and if you strip yourself of your property to give it to Mallien, it will be all the better for me. I shall go to him and say what I know." "You are villain enough for anything. Go, if you choose." "But, Hendle," said Carrington, almost unable to grasp the fact that relations between him and Rupert had so suddenly changed for the worse, "what does all this mean? I have said little more this morning than I said to you before and only now do you object." Rupert, who was going away, stopped to face his enemy. "I objected all along, as you might have seen if you had not been blinded by your own wickedness, Carrington. Every word you said made me loathe you more and more. The sole idea you had was to get money out of me. I thought you were a gentleman and my friend, whereas you are a villain and a blackmailer." "Go on! go on!" said Carrington, becoming very white and breathing very hard. "I shall make you pay for every insult." "It is impossible to insult you," retorted the Squire contemptuously. "Such a worm as you are doesn't feel insults. As to making me pay, you have no hold over me, and you know it." "I can take away your property by telling Mallien of the will being found." "I shall tell him myself, so you needn't trouble." "I can tell Lawson about Mallien's guilt." "Oh, as to that, you can't prove that he is guilty," said Hendle coolly; "and, as you won't kill your goose with the golden eggs, you will say nothing to Lawson, if Mallien buys your silence. Come along, I've had enough of this. You can go away and do your worst. And if you don't go straight away, I shall make a public scandal, by kicking you out of the gate."