What is this?" He bent down to read the title. "Ah!
'Portrait of a gentleman of the sixteenth century.' Very valuable, I
daresay, Lady Merivale?"
Lady Merivale, who looked upon Mr. Vermont as one of her ancestors would
have regarded the Court jester, smiled indifferently.
"It all depends on the point of view," she said. "I have paid three
hundred pounds for it."
Mr. Vermont looked up with an air of innocent surprise; but a keen
observer might have been tempted to regard it as one of satirical
enjoyment.
"Three hundred pounds! I daresay these gentlemen, good judges all, have
declared it a bargain?" He motioned to the little group on the other
side of Lord Merivale.
"Not at all," returned his hostess. "On the contrary, Mr. Leroy declares
it an imposture."
Vermont raised his eyebrows.
"Indeed," he said. "How did he detect the fraud?"
"By the one weak point," said Colman. "That dagger; Rubens never lived
to see such a dagger as that, so could not possibly have painted it!"
Mr. Vermont smiled, an approving smile that seemed to mock the picture
as if it were a living thing.
"Capital," he said. "The rogue who palmed this forgery on you was
evidently not a student of the antique.
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