Rowe, and took away the 1599!â
âOh,â said the young man. âIâââ And he threw back his head and roared with laughter. âLord, this is rich!â he gasped, wiping his eyes. âWait until divine Lydia hears this . And Crabbe.⦠Oh, this is too much!â He gulped hard and composed himself. âI beg your pardon. It just struck me ⦠you know. It would be Mrs. Saxonâs luck to have a rare book stolen and an even rarer one left in its place. Crazy, thatâs what it is!â
âI think,â said the curator with a nervous tug at his beard, âyouâd better get Mrs. Saxon over here at once, Rowe. After allâââ
âOf course.â The young man caressed the 1606 Jaggard with tenderness, returned it to Dr. Choate, pressed Patienceâs arm, and left the room with a jaunty air.
âFrightfully boisterous young man,â remarked Dr. Sedlar. âIâm afraid I canât share his levity. You know, we canât accept thisâthis remarkable volume at its face value, Dr. Choate. It will have to be more thoroughly examined. It may be difficult to establish its authenticityâââ
The hunterâs glare invaded Dr. Choateâs eye. âQuite. Quite.â And he rubbed his hands. He seemed content to have the stolen volume remain in possession of the thief, so long as the thief did not return and demand the unique volume he had left in the case. âI suggest we get to work at once. Weâll have to proceed carefully, Sedlar. We donât want a breath of this to get out! We might call in old Gaspari of the Metropolitan, swear him to secrecy â¦â
Dr. Sedlar was strangely pale. He kept staring at the ravished cabinet as if hypnotized.
âOr Professor Crowninshield of the Folger,â he muttered.
Patience sighed. âWe all seem to be assuming that the 1599 Jaggard was stolen by the man in the blue hat. Thereâs really no proof, you know. Why mightnât the thief have been that second stranger on the bus, or one of the seventeen school-teachers?â
Inspector Thumm threw up his hands and scowled. It was evident that the entire affair was too much for him.
âI scarcely think so, Patience,â murmured Drury Lane. âThere were nineteen persons on the bus, all of whom apparently entered the museum. Eighteen of them returned to the bus terminal after the visit, the eighteenth being the mysterious second stranger, as you so charmingly have christened him. In other words, our friend, the man in the blue hat, disappeared from the museum. And so did Donoghue. The link is too powerful to have been forged by coincidence. I think it extremely probable that the man in the blue hat stole the 1599 Jaggard, leaving this 1606 in its place, and that Donoghue disappeared in following him.â
âWell, well,â said the curator briskly, âIâve no doubt it will all be explained in time. Meanwhile, Dr. Sedlar, if youâll excuse me, Iâll have the museum searched at once.â
âFor what?â demanded the Inspector bitterly.
âThereâs the remote chance, you know, that that 1599 Jaggard may not have been taken out of the building.â
âSays you,â growled Thumm.
âExcellent notion, Doctor,â said Dr. Sedlar eagerly, âIâIâll carry on. But when Mrs. Saxon arrivesâââ Apparently Dr. Sedlar had heard of Mrs. Saxonâs potentialities, and was properly apprehensive.
âI shanât be a minute,â said Dr. Choate cheerfully. He deposited the blue book carefully in the case and hurried from the room.
The Englishman hovered over the case like a nervous mother stork over her nest. âToo bad,â he muttered. âToo bad. I really should have liked to see that 1599.â
Drury Lane stared at him, and then sought a chair and sat down. He shaded his eyes with a white-veined hand.
âYou
Mischief
M.L. Young
Lana Asprey, David Asprey
Karin Boutall
Marcy Hatch
J. P. Bowie
Harper Sloan
Ellis Leigh
Marta Perry
Ruth Saberton