CHAPTER XXXIII
THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE
After the first passionate outburst of scorn Lord Littimer looked at hisvisitor quietly. There was something almost amusing in the idea that Bellshould attempt such a trick upon him. And the listener was thoroughlyenjoying the scene now. There was quite an element of the farcical aboutit. In the brilliant light she could see Littimer's dark, bitter face andthe helpless amazement on the strong features of Hatherly Bell. And,meanwhile, the man who had brought the impossible situation about wascalmly sleeping after his strenuous exertions.
Chris smiled to herself as she thought out her brilliant _coup_. Itlooked to her nothing less than a stroke of genius, two strokes, in fact,as will be seen presently. Before many hours were over Henson's positionin the house would be seriously weakened. He had done a clever thing, butChris saw her way to a cleverer one still.
Meanwhile the two men were regarding one another suspiciously. On a roundChippendale table the offending Rembrandt lay between them.
"I confess," Bell said, at length, "I confess that I am utterly taken bysurprise. And yet I need not be so astonished when I come to think of theamazing cunning and audacity of my antagonist. He has more foresight thanmyself. Lord Littimer, will you be so kind as to repeat your lastobservation over again?"
"I will emphasize it, if you like?" Littimer replied. "For some deeppurpose of your own, you desired to make friends with me again. You tellme you are in a position to clear your character. Very foolishly Iconsent to see you. You come here with a roll of paper in your possessionpurporting to be a second copy of my famous print. All the time you knewit to be mine--mine, stolen an hour or two ago and passed instantly toyou. Could audacity go farther? And then you ask me to believe that youcame down from town with a second engraving in your possession."
"As I hope to be saved, I swear it!" Bell cried.
"Of course you do. A man with your temerity would swear anything.Credulous as I may be, I am not credulous enough to believe that _my_picture would be stolen again at the very time that you found _yours_."
"Abstracted by my enemy on purpose to land me in this mess."
"Ridiculous," Littimer cried. "Pshaw, I am a fool to stand here arguing;I am a fool to let you stay in the house. Why, I don't believe you couldbring a solitary witness to prove that yonder picture was yours."
"You are mistaken, my lord. I could bring several."
"Credible witnesses? Witnesses whose characters would bearinvestigation?"
"I fancy so," Bell said, quietly. "Two nights ago, for instance, I showedthe very picture lying before you to a lady of your acquaintance, MissEnid Henson. I couldn't have had _your_ picture two nights ago, could I?And Miss Henson was graciously pleased to observe that I had been madethe victim of a vile conspiracy."
"Why do you insult me by mentioning that name?" Littimer said, hoarsely.His face was very pale, and sombre anger smouldered in his eyes. "Tell meyou showed the thing to my wife next."
"I did," said Bell, coolly. "Lady Littimer was in the room at the time."
Something like a groan escaped from Littimer's pallid lips. Thesmouldering light in his eyes flashed into flame. He advanced upon Bellwith a quivering, uplifted arm. Chris slipped swiftly out of the shadeand stood between the two men.
"Dr. Bell speaks the truth," she said. "And I am going to prove it."
Littimer dropped into a chair and gave way to silent laughter. His moodhad changed utterly. He lounged there, a cynical, amused man of theworld again.
"Upon my word, I am vastly obliged to you for your comedy," he said. "Ihope your salary as leading lady in Bell's company is a handsome one,Miss Lee."
"Let us hope that it is more handsome than your manners, my lord," Chrissaid, tartly. "I beg to remark that I have never seen Dr. Bell before.Oh, yes, I have been listening to your conversation, because I expectedsomething of the kind. The Rembrandt was stolen some time before Dr. Bellarrived here, and in due course I shall show you the thief. LordLittimer, I implore you to be silent and discreet in this matter. Have alittle patience. Quite by accident I have made an important discovery,but this is hardly the place to discuss it. Before daylight I hope to beable to prove beyond question that you have greatly wronged Dr. Bell."
"I shall be glad to be convinced of it," Littimer said, sincerely. "Butwhy this secrecy?"
"Secrecy is absolutely necessary for the conviction of the thief."
Bell looked eagerly at the speaker.
"I have not the remotest notion who this young lady is," he said, "but Iam greatly obliged to her."
"My secretary, Miss Lee," Littimer murmured; "an American from Boston,and evidently a great deal cleverer than I gave her credit for, whichis saying a great deal. Miss Lee, if you know anything, I implore youto speak."
"Not here," Chris said, firmly. "Stone walls have ears. I tell you theRembrandt was stolen just before Dr. Bell reached the house. Also I tellyou it is imperative that nobody but ourselves must know the fact for thepresent. You trust me, Lord Littimer?"
"I trust you as implicitly as I do anybody."
Chris smiled at the diplomatic response. She approached the panel of thewall on which the Rembrandt had been fastened. She indicated the longsteel stays which had been clamped on to the iron frame. "Look at them,"she said. "It was my suggestion that the stays should be attached to theframe to prevent anything like this robbery. I made the stays securemyself. And what happened to justify my prudence? Why, the very samenight somebody came here after the picture."
"Henson!" Littimer cried. "Ah! But he could have come openly."
"It is not in the nature of the man to do things openly," Chris went on."I know more about the man than you imagine, but that you are to keep toyourself. He comes here in the dead of the night and he gets into thehouse through an upstair window. A man of his bulk, if you please! Andhe comes here hot-foot and breathless at a time when common prudenceshould have kept him in bed. Why? Because he knows that Dr. Bell has theother Rembrandt and will come to prove it, and because he knows that ifhe can steal the Littimer Rembrandt he can precipitate the very impassethat he has brought about. But he could not steal the picture because itwas fast."
"You are a very clever young lady," Littimer said, drily. "You will tellme next that you expected Henson to try this thing on."
"I did," Chris said, coolly. "I had a telegram to warn me so."
Littimer smiled. All this mystery and cleverness was after his own heart.He lighted his cigarette and tendered his case in the friendliestpossible manner to Bell.
"Go on," he said, "I am deeply interested."
"I prefer not to go into details," Chris resumed. "All I ask you to do isto be entirely guided by me when you have heard my story. I have admittedto you that I knew when Henson was coming, and why am I interested?Because it happens that Reginald Henson has greatly injured someone Icared for deeply. Well, I fastened up the picture--he came. He sneaked inlike the thief that he was because his accomplice and tool had failed tosave him the trouble. Lord Littimer, I will not pain you by saying whoHenson's accomplice was."
Littimer nodded gloomily.
"Not that I blame that accomplice; he could not help himself. Ah, whenthe whole truth comes to be told, what a black business it will be. Well,Henson came to steal the picture and I caught him in the act. If you hadseen his fat, greasy, crestfallen face! Then he pretended that it was alldone for a jest and as a warning to Lord Littimer. And Lord Littimer, themost cynical of men, allowed it to pass."
"I couldn't see what he had to gain," Littimer pleaded. "I don't now, asa matter of fact."
"Neither will you for the present," said Chris. "Still, you will be sogood as to assume the same hospitality and courtesy towards Henson as youextend at present."
"I daresay I can manage it," said Littimer, cynically. "I used to be asociety man once."
"Henson did not deceive me for a moment," Chris went on. "He was bound tohave the picture, and, being baffled one way, he tried another. Lookh
ere, Lord Littimer. Let me assume for a moment that Dr. Bell came downhere to steal your picture, get rid of the frame, and palm off your ownengraving for another. Now, in the name of common sense, let me ask you asingle question. Could Dr. Bell have possibly known that the frame of theRembrandt was securely fastened to the wall and that I had attached itquite recently? And could he in the short time at his disposal haveprocured the necessary tools to cut away the stays? Again, Dr. Bell canprove, I suppose, exactly what time he left London to-day. No, we mustlook farther for the thief."
"There is something else also we have to look for," said Dr. Bell. "Andthat is the frame. You say it was of iron and consequently heavy. Thethief would discard the frame and roll up the print."
"That is a brilliant suggestion," said Chris, eagerly. "And if we onlyhad the frame I could set Lord Littimer's doubts to rest entirely. Ihappen to know that the real thief came and went by the cliff under theterrace. If the frame was thrown into the gorse, there it--"
"Might stay for ages," Littimer exclaimed. "By Jove, I'm just in the moodto carry this business a stage or two farther before I go to bed. Bell,there are two or three cycle lamps in the gun-room. You used to be apretty fearless climber. What do you say to a hunt round for an hour ortwo whilst the house is quiet?"
Bell assented eagerly. Chris waited with what patience she could commandtill daylight began to show faintly and redly in the east. Then she heardthe sound of voices outside, and Littimer and Bell staggered in carryingthe frame between them.
"Got it," Littimer exclaimed, with the triumphant exultation of aschoolboy who has successfully looted a rare bird's-nest. "We found ithalf-way down the cliff, hidden behind a patch of samphire. And itdoesn't seem to be any the worse for the adventure. Now, Miss Wiseacre,seeing that we have the frame, perhaps you will fulfil your promise ofconvincing me, once and for all, that yonder Rembrandt cannot possiblybelong to me."
"I am going to do so," Chris said, quietly. "You told me you had to cutthe margin of your print by an inch or so round to fit that quaint oldframe. So far as I can see, the print before you is quite intact. Now, ifit is too large for the frame--"
Littimer nodded eagerly. Bell fitted the dingy paper to the back of theframe and smiled. There was an inch or more to spare all round. Nobodyspoke for a moment.
"You could make it smaller, but you couldn't make it bigger," Littimersaid. "Bell, when I have sufficiently recovered I'll make a humble andabject apology to you. And now, wise woman from the West, what is thenext act in the play?"