"Extremely kind of you, but -'
"Well, it isn't really," Neville explained, "because I hate photographs. I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll give you the one that stands on a table all to itself in the drawing-room. As a matter of fact, I was wondering what next I could do to annoy my aunt."
"I have no wish to annoy Miss Fletcher. Isn't there some other -'
"No, but I have," said Neville in his gentle way. "I shan't tell her I gave it to you, and then she'll organise a search for it. That will be uncomfortable, of course, but since I started to do good turns I've found that they invariably entail a certain amount of self-immolation, which has a very degrading effect on the character." Talking all the time, he had led the way into the drawingroom, where, as he had described, a large studio portrait of his uncle stood in solitary state upon an incidental table. He stopped in front of it, and murmured: "Isn't it a treat?"
"I don't want to borrow a photograph which Miss Fletcher obviously values," said Hannasyde somewhat testily. "Surely there must be another somewhere."
"Oh, there is, beside my aunt's bed! But I shan't let you have that, because it wouldn't suit my book. There's an almost indistinguishable but certainly existent line drawn between the counter and the added irritant."
"I'm bothered if I know what you're talking about, sir!" said the Sergeant, unable to contain himself. "Nice way to treat your poor aunt!"
The flickering gaze rested on his face for an instant. "Yes, isn't it? Will you have it with or without frame, Superintendent?"
"Without, please," Hannasyde replied, looking at him a little curiously. "I think I understand. Your methods are slightly original, aren't they?"
"I'm so glad you didn't say eccentric," said Neville, extracting the portrait from its frame. "I hate being called eccentric. Term employed by mediocre minds to describe pure rationalism. Now I will hide the frame, and bribe Simmons to keep his mouth shut. Practically the only advantage I have yet discovered in inheriting a fortune is the ability it confers on one to exercise the unholy power of bribery."