“At last I gave my guards the slip, and after long wandering about in native proas, made my way to this country again, to New York. I found the canvas, and, rolling it, secreted it upon my person. Then I went out and gave myself up to them. I was brought here again.
“Imprisonment was not important to me any more. I was getting old. Though I would like to be released now it is a matter of less urgency than before, because I have with me always my masterpiece. See!”
The old man tugged at something inside his blouse, and brought forth a dirtied roll which he unsnapped with fingers that trembled in eagerness.
“See, Madame!” he repeated triumphantly.
And, before my horrified eyes, he unrolled a blank square of white canvas!
Do You Want a Slice of Life from the Thirteenth Century? If so, Don’t Fail to Read
THE AFFAIR
of the
MAN in SCARLET
By JULIAN KILMAN