"Oh, I don't see that," said Carrington carelessly. "Mrs. Beatson would be none the worse for having her neck stretched. But I would not have allowed things to go so far as that. All I wished, was for her to give you the will, and then when you consulted me, as I knew you would, I intended to persuade you to burn it in order to keep the property and pay me five thousand pounds for holding my tongue. You understand." "Yes," said Rupert quietly, "you explain your villainy so carefully that I can scarcely help understanding. It was you, then, who dropped a clue near the sundial to incriminate Mallien?" "It was me," replied Carrington, with cynical hardihood. "I snatched the opal by chance from Mallien's watch-chain when we struggled in the avenue. Only when I got away and found what was in my hand did I see how I could get the upper hand of him. I recognized the ornament at once as the one he had shown me on the first day we met." "You scoundrel!" shrieked Mallien furiously, and would have struck the barrister, but that he swerved. Then Rupert interfered. "He will have a much worse punishment than a blow," said the Squire, holding his cousin back with a strong arm. "I won't have any punishment at all," sneered Carrington insistently. "It is for me to say that," remarked Leigh, who was growing very weak in spite of the dose of brandy which Tobias administered. "So you met Mr. Mallien in the avenue of my place after you had buried the will?" "I did. There is no reason why I should deny it, seeing that I am safe. And when I got away from him I walked to the next station and caught the night express from Tarhaven which does not stop at Barship. Next day----" "You came down to play the part of a friend," said Rupert scornfully; "but you soon showed the cloven hoof, Carrington. Your plot was very clever, and had I been a less honest man it would have succeeded." "It never would have succeeded," interposed the vicar, speaking with labored breath, "for I was alive all the time and intended to speak when necessary, as I have done. Titus kept me informed of all that went on." "Aye, that I did," said the old man, patting Leigh's hand; "and they'll find in the village as the old 'un don't tell lies and bain't no fool either. I told 'em as you wor alive, didn't I, Muster Leigh?" "Yes, Titus, yes. But I think you will very soon have to tell them that I am dead," said Leigh with a weak sigh. "After all, it is for the best. I shall never regain my health after that awful experience. And as my successor has been appointed, it would be wrong of me to deprive him of the living." "Don't trouble about that, Leigh," remarked Rupert, bending over him. "You shall stay here and be nursed back into health again. I'll see that you are all right for the future."