ANDREW HERON AND HIS KINSFOLK. 219 
and the personal estate of his grandfather, which Patrick of 
Kirrouchtree had appropriated to his own use. The proceed- 
ings in the Court of Session took some years before a decision 
was arrived at, but in the end John Vining Heron succeeded 
in his action, his preferential title being declared and an 
account ordered to be taken of Mr Heron’s debt, setting off 
against it the receipts for rents and the sale of timber and 
otherwise. 
‘Thus Bargally passed from the owners of Kirrouchtree 
back again to the descendants of Anarew Heron, but even 
this was not allowed to be the end of the troubles that seemed 
to beset the place. 
Though John Vining Heron had got the estate, it will be 
seen from what has gone before that, legally, he had as little 
right to it as his cousin Patrick, for Andrew had left it to the 
second son of the Captain. Dr Andrew Heron, the person 
to whom it legally belonged, appears to have been quite 
ignprant of all that was going on behind the scenes, and 
acakpted the fact that his brother was the lawful owner. But 
after some time certain rumours reached him, arousing a 
suspicion that material facts were being kept back, and so 
sure did he feel of his ground that he began an action against 
his brother. John pleaded that he was not in possession of 
any document to show that his brother had been nominated 
es 
heir, but ‘* from circumstances ’’ believed that his grand- 
father intended to settle the estate on his younger brother 
in return for the money that their father had promised to 
advance, but as this had never been done a certain “‘ tailzie’’ 
of 1715 stood good, which supported his claim to the estate. 
oe 
John, on being pressed as to what the ‘‘ circumstances ”’ 
were, refused to “* discover any suggestion to his prejudice,”’ 
rather a damaging admission. Dr Andrew, after a diligent 
search, discovered a disposition of 1728, which, the judges 
decided, established his right to Bargally, and a decision was 
given in his favour in 1764. His brother John, who had now 
joined forces with his cousin of Kirrouchtree to resist his 
brother's claim (perhaps in itself a transaction open to criti- 
cism), appealed, and got the decision reversed in 1766, only 
