ime for
reproaches, nor could anything I might say add to your punishment. If
you have a spark of conscience or shame left, spare me the further
disgrace of reading of your arrest in the papers. Get out of England--"

"My money is in my rooms!" gasped Nevill. "I can't escape unless you
help me!"

Sir Lucius took a handful of notes and gold from his pocket.

"Here are a hundred pounds--all I have with me," he said. "It will be
more than sufficient. Don't lose a moment! Go to Dover, and cross by the
night boat. And never let me see you or hear from you again! I disown
you--you are no nephew of mine! Do you understand? You have ruined your
life beyond redemption--you can't do better than finish it with a
bullet!"

Nevill had no words to reply. He seized the money with a trembling hand,
and crammed it into his pocket. Then he slunk away into the darkness and
disappeared.

On the following day a new sensation thrilled the public, and it may be
imagined with what surprise Sir Lucius Chesney and Jack Vernon--who had
especial cause to be interested in the revelation--read the papers. The
story was complete, for Mr. Shadrach, the Jew who managed business for
the firm of Benjamin and Company, took fright and made a full confession.
The _Globe_, after treating at length of the arrest and subsequent
suicide of Stephen Foster, continued its account as follows:

"The history of the two Rembrandts forms one of the most curious and
unique episodes in criminal annals, and not the least remarkable feature
of the story is the manner in which it is pieced together by the
statement of Stephen Foster and the confession of Noah Hawker. When Lamb
and Drummond purchased the original Rembrandt from the collection of the
late Martin Von Whele, and exhibited it in London, Stephen Foster and
his confederate, Victor Nevill, laid clever plans to steal the picture.
They knew that a duplicate Rembrandt, an admirable copy, was in the
possession of Mr. John Vernon, the well-known artist, who was lately
accused wrongfully of murder. By a cunning ruse Foster stole the
duplicate, and on the night of the robbery he exchanged it for the real
picture, while Nevill engaged the watchman in conversation in the Crown
Court public-house. But two other men, Noah Hawker and a companion
called the Spider, had designs on the same picture. Hawker, while
prowling about, saw Stephen Foster emerge from Crown Court, but thought
nothing of that circumstance until long