The old man laughed, actually chuckled to himself, as he rubbed his knees.
“Ah, well, ah, well,” said he, “I was more amiable once, Bartlett. We don’t grow sweeter as we grow older. Look here, I don’t suppose we shall see much more of each other in the years to come than we have in the years that are past. I don’t see why we should. Do you?”
“N-n-o, sir.”
“But in the meantime we’ll patch up a friendship, if it’s only for half an hour. You shall see some of my things, some that I prize, some that are not shown to everybody. Stay where you are,” he went on, as he rose, and crossing the polished floor poured out a second glass for his nephew and refilled his own. “I’ll bring you something to look at, something you won’t see the counterpart of in any of your London museums.”
As he spoke he went out of the room and fumbled about, by the light of his lantern, with keys and locks, with drawers and cupboards.
Rather despising himself for his own suspicions, young Bayre could not quite conquer them. He therefore flung the second glassful of the liqueur into the fire, where it blazed up fiercely, throwing long tongues of vivid light on the heavy furniture and hangings of the room.
His uncle came peeping to the door, went back again, and returned with an armful of treasures quaint and curious, a gold cup with a notable history, a jewel that had belonged to Marie Antoinette, and many other strange and beautiful things. Together they admired them, the old man at last showing some enthusiasm for his precious curios, and chuckling at the envy his purchases had excited in other connoisseurs.
At length the young man judged that he might take his leave, since he felt convinced he should get no nearer to the truth of the mystery if he were to stay until the following morning. He rose, and making some sort of apology, which came awkwardly from his lips in the singular circumstances, moved in the direction of the door by which he had entered the room.
But his uncle beckoned him to come through the small room from which he had just brought his treasures, and they passed together through this outer chamber to a wide and handsome landing new to the guest.
Here there was a velvet divan against the wall, and a bearskin rug on the floor, while round about, on the panelled walls, there hung, in massive frames, a few large pictures, each one of which was a masterpiece.