coincidence. And so we went our separate ways, quite good-naturedly. He knew I was lying. I knew he had been lying. What do you think of my story?”

56

“What has that story to do with an old timepiece?” he blustered.

I leaned forward and tapped him on the knee.

“Only this, my crafty dealer in antiquities. You, as well as my captain, are too crafty by half. You know the timepiece is not in these rooms, just as well as I do myself.”

“I don’t understand you,” he fumed.

“No? Then what were you looking for a minute or two ago? In that cabinet, behind the portière there? By Jove, you had the impertinence to lift the cover of my trunk in the bedroom.”

If I had expected him to show shame or confusion, I was much mistaken. He stared at me a moment. Then he threw back his head and laughed.

“It wasn’t nice of me, I confess,” he said coolly. “I should have acted with my customary frankness, and have asked to see it first.”

“I think it would have been the better way. As to this customary frankness of yours, you 57guard that virtue so closely that I am a stranger to it.”

57

“Very well, I’ll give you an instance of it. Now that my cards are on the table, what have you done with the clock?”

“Is that what you call being frank? I fail to see those cards of yours on the table even now. Play fair, St. Hilary.”

“I don’t understand you,” he said, and his neck took on a purple tinge.

“You understand me perfectly. Just as my captain did. And I have both eyes and ears. Let me remind you, in the first place, you were perfectly well aware that the clock was in the palace. You looked for it deliberately, but slyly. When I was curious in my turn, you were hardly pleased. You pooh-poohed the chamber. You made fun of the clock. You blew out the candle promptly that no one might examine it. When Mrs. Gordon insisted on doing so, you vainly attempted to divert her interest. As a last resort, you tried to make it impossible for her to accept it by asserting that it was an antique of great value. Don’t you think that was in extremely bad taste?”

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