sted; but Godfrey and I did
not look for it."

M. Armand opened the doors which concealed the central drawers.

"_Voila!_" he said, and traced with his finger the arabesque just
under the pediment. "See how cunningly it has been blended with the
other figures. And here is the emblem of the giver." He pointed to a
tiny golden sun with radiating rays on the base of the pediment, just
above the monogram. "_Le roi soleil!_"

"_ Le roi soleil!_" I repeated. "Of course. We were stupid not to
have discerned it. That tells the whole story, doesn't it? What is
it, Parks?" I added, as that worthy appeared at the door.

"There's a van outside, sir," he said, "and a couple of men are
unloading a piece of furniture. Is it all right, sir?"

"Yes," I answered. "Have them bring it in here. And ask the man in
charge of the inventory to step over here a minute. Mr. Vantine left
his collection of art objects to the Metropolitan Museum," I
explained to M. Armand, "and I should like the representative of the
museum to be present when the exchange is made."

"Certainly," he assented. "That is very just."

Parks was back in a moment, piloting two men who carried between them
an object swathed in burlap, and the Metropolitan man followed them
in.

"I am Mr. Lester," I said to him, "Mr. Vantine's executor; and this
is M. Felix Armand, of Armand & Son, of Paris. We are correcting an
error which was made just before Mr. Vantine died. That cabinet
yonder was shipped him by mistake in place of one which he had
bought. M. Armand has caused the right one to be sent over, and will
take away the one which belongs to him. I have already spoken to the
museum's attorney about the matter, but I wished you to be present
when the exchange was made."

"I have no doubt it is all right, sir," the museum man hastened to
assure me. "You, of course, have personal knowledge of all this?"

"Certainly. Mr. Vantine himself told me the story."

"Very well, sir," but his eyes dwelt lovingly upon the Boule cabinet.
"That is a very handsome piece," he added. "I am sorry the museum is
not to get it."

"Perhaps you can buy it from M. Armand," I suggested, but the curator
laughed and shook his head.

"No," he said, "we couldn't afford it. But Sir Caspar might persuade
Mr. Morgan to buy it for us--I'll mention it to him."

The two men, meanwhile, under M. Armand's direction, had been
stripping the wrappings from the other cabinet, and it finally stood
revea