You'll find pearls
of price among the rubbish-heap of my remarks generally. Good-by. See you
on Wednesday."
And Furneaux climbed into the cart, holding the pictures so that they
would not rattle, and perhaps loosen the old gilded frames.
"Drive me to the chemist's" he said to the groom; within five
minutes, he was explaining his purchase to Siddle, and requesting, as
a favor, that the latter should wrap the set of prints in brown
paper, making two parcels, and tying each securely, so that they
might be dispatched by train.
Siddle examined one, the first of the series, which depicted the
Aylesbury Steeplechase.
"Rather good," he said. "Where did you pick them up?"
"At Elkin's."
"Indeed. What an unexpected place!"
"That's the only way a poor man can get hold of a decent thing nowadays.
The dealers grab everything, and sell them as collections."
"Art is not in my line, though anyone can see that these are excellent."
"Yes. But you're looking at 'The Start.' Have a peep at this one,
'The Finish.' The artist _would_ have his joke. You see that the dark
horse wins."
"How did you persuade Elkin to part with them?"
"By paying him a tempting price, of course.
Pages:
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282