"The stolen Rembrandt!" she gasped.
Then she knew better. It was only a copy, identical with the one she had viewed at Mrs. Dillon's home.
She lifted the other pictures and looked at them. They were all the same.
"So this is where Mrs. Dillon's fake came from!" she thought. "The men who rented this place apparently are manufacturing Rembrandts in wholesale quantities!"
At the other side of the room she noticed a picture which was only half finished, and beside it a canvas covered easel. She crossed over to lift the protecting cloth.
Still another Rembrandt was revealed.
"Just a copy," Penny told herself, and started to replace the canvas.
Then she looked at the picture again. It did not look exactly like the others. The detail was the same, yet this painting seemed to have a depth and quality which the others lacked. Penny wondered if it could be the original Rembrandt, the priceless painting which had been stolen from the Gage Galleries.
"I believe it is!" she decided.
As Penny stood gazing at the picture, she was dismayed to hear footsteps in the hallway. Frantically, she looked about for a hiding place.