ly as pleasant a programme--I fear that Miss
Brenda spelt it "program"--as could be desired even by a fair maiden
upon whom the kindly Fates had already showered their choicest gifts.
The only bitter drop in the family cup of content was the fact that
Professor van Huysman was as far away as ever from the exposure of the
fallacy which, as he was immovably convinced, those abominable
demonstrations _must_ contain.

After due consultation between Nicol Hendry and his colleagues of
France, Germany, and Russia, it was decided to follow up the clues which
he had so mysteriously received. The others would, of course, have been
very glad to know where and how he got them, but at the outset he had
put them on their honour not to ask, and so professional etiquette made
it impossible for them to do anything but accept his assurance that he
had received them from a source which was quite beyond reproach. Once
they accepted the situation, they got to work with a quiet thoroughness
which resulted in the spreading of an invisible but unbreakable net
round the footsteps of every one of the suspects from the great
Oscarovitch himself to the humble seller of curios in Candler's Court,
and his still humbler friends Pent-Ah and Neb-Anat, who were known to
the few who knew them as Mr and Mrs Pentana, renovators, and, possibly
manufacturers, of ancient gems and relics.

But to one pair of eyes, at least, the police-net was as plainly visible
as a spider's web hanging in the sunlight.

Within three days Phadrig received a visit from a shabbily-dressed but
well-to-do Jew trader with whom he had done business before, who wanted
to know if he could put him in the way of getting some really good old
Egyptian gems and jewellery to show on approval to a wealthy patron who
wanted to give his daughter a set of rare and uncommon ornaments on her
wedding day. It was by this means, by acting as an intermediary between
those who had something to sell and those who wished to buy, that
Phadrig was supposed to make his modest living. His knowledge of Eastern
antiquities was admittedly great, though, of course, no one knew how
great, and he had often been asked why, instead of living in such a
wretched way, he did not start a little business for himself; to which
he always replied that he had no capital, and that he preferred
independence, however poor, to the cares and ties of regular trading.

When the Jew had stated his business, Phadrig looked at him