The expert came down, and gave us a full report upon the alleged Old Master.  In his judgment, it was not a Rembrandt at all, but a cunningly-painted and well-begrimed modern Dutch imitation.  Moreover, he showed us by documentary evidence that the real portrait of Maria Vanrenen had, as a matter of fact, been brought to England five years before, and sold to Sir J. H. Tomlinson, the well-known connoisseur, for eight thousand pounds.  Dr. Polperro’s picture was, therefore, at best either a replica by Rembrandt; or else, more probably, a copy by a pupil; or, most likely of all, a mere modern forgery.

We were thus well prepared to fasten our charge of criminal conspiracy upon the self-styled Doctor.  But in order to make assurance still more certain, we threw out vague hints to him that the portrait of Maria Vanrenen might really be elsewhere, and even suggested in his hearing that it might not improbably have got into the hands of that omnivorous collector, Sir J. H. Tomlinson.  But the vendor was proof against all such attempts to decry his goods.  He had the effrontery to brush away the documentary evidence, and to declare that Sir J. H. Tomlinson (one of the most learned and astute picture-buyers in England) had been smartly imposed upon by a needy Dutch artist with a talent for forgery.  The real Maria Vanrenen, he declared and swore, was the one he offered us.  “Success has turned the man’s head,” Charles said to me, well pleased.  “He thinks we will swallow any obvious lie he chooses to palm off upon us.  But the bucket has come once too often to the well.  This time we checkmate him.”  It was a mixed metaphor, I admit; but Sir Charles’s tropes are not always entirely superior to criticism.

So we pretended to believe our man, and accepted his assurances.  Next came the question of price.  This was warmly debated, for form’s sake only.  Sir J. H. Tomlinson had paid eight thousand for his genuine Maria.  The Doctor demanded ten thousand for his spurious one.  There was really no reason why we should higgle and dispute, for Charles meant merely to give his cheque for the sum and then arrest the fellow; but, still, we thought it best for the avoidance of suspicion to make a show of resistance; and we at last beat him down to nine thousand guineas.  For this amount he was to give us a written warranty that the work he sold us was a genuine Rembrandt, that it represented Maria Vanrenen of Haarlem, and that he had bought it direct, without doubt or question, from that good lady’s descendants at Gouda, in Holland.

It was capitally done.  We arranged the thing to perfection.  We had a constable in waiting in our rooms at the Métropole, and we settled that Dr. Polperro was to call at the hotel at a certain fixed hour to sign the warranty and receive his money.  A regular agreement on sound stamped paper was drawn out between us.  At the appointed time the “party of the first part” came, having already given us over possession of the portrait.  Charles drew