alloden, looking up.

The lawyer nodded gravely.

"Something--certainly."

"What are they worth?" said Falloden, taking a note-book from his
pocket, and looking at a list scribbled on its first page.

Mr. Gregory laughed.

"There is no market in the ordinary sense for such pictures as yours.
There are only half a dozen millionaires in the world who could buy
them--and one or two museums." He paused a moment, looking thoughtfully
at the young man before him. "There happens, however,"--he spoke
slowly--"to be a buyer at this moment in London, whom it would be
difficult to beat--in the matter of millions."

He mentioned the name.

"Not an American? Well, send him along." Falloden raised his eyebrows.
"If my father doesn't feel able to see him, I can tackle him. He can
choose his own day and hour. All our best pictures are at Flood."

"And they include--"

"Four Rembrandts," said Falloden, looking at his list, "two Titians, two
Terburgs, a Vermeer of Delft, heaps of other Dutchmen--four full-length
Gainsboroughs, and three half-lengths--two full-length Reynoldses, three
smaller--three Lawrences, a splendid Romney, three Hoppners, two
Constables, etc. The foreign pictures were bought by my grandfather from
one of the Orleans collections about 1830. The English pictures--the
portraits--have all been at Flood since they were painted, and very few
of them have ever been exhibited. I scribbled these few facts down
before I left home. There is, of course, an elaborate catalogue."

For the first time the lawyer's countenance as he listened showed a
flash of active sympathy. He was himself a modest collector, and his
house at Richmond contained a number of pretty things.

"Sir Arthur will mind parting with them very much, I fear," he said with
real concern. "I wish with all my heart it had been possible to find
some other way out. But we have really done our best."

Falloden nodded. He sat looking straight before him, one hand drumming
on the table. The whole attitude was haughtily irresponsive. The slight
note of compassion in Mr. Gregory's tone was almost intolerable to him,
and the lawyer guessed it.

"Insolent cub!" he thought to himself; and thenceforward allowed himself
no departure from a purely business tone. It was settled that the
buyer--with legal caution, Mr. Gregory for the moment threw no further
light upon him--was, if possible, to be got hold of at once, and an
appointment was to be made for Flood Ca