Page 35 of The Trick of the Treasure
Without raising his eyes from the paper, he found the back of the third chair by feel and maneuvered himself into it. Behind the thrill came laughter he could not prevent, though he tried manfully for several moments.
“This is Barnabas Lloyd’s hand,” he said, raising his eyes at last. “So he found his treasure after all—and managed to lose it again!”
The laughter wouldn’t stay in after that, so he gave it free rein. His visitors did not seem surprised to see him hold his sides with mirth at the misfortune of his fellow collector.
“You do not find it alarming that so discerning a thief is at large?” Mrs. Silver asked, gazing around the cabinets full of his own treasures.
“No, I don’t,” he said frankly. “My collection is known only to a few fellow appreciators of art and beauty. Lloyd goes out of his way to seek adulation and publicity for his exploits as much as his acquisitions. The man is anundiscerning philistine who merely masquerades as a collector to the masses. I imagine all the villains in London were lining up to rob him.”
Grey raised one eyebrow. “Is that not a trifle unjust? I understand he arrived back in England with very little fanfare. Didyouknow he was home, for example?”
“I believe I did.”
“When and how did you hear?”
Terrance pretended to think about that, although jubilation still threatened to burst out of him. Examining Grey’s face, which was by no means foolish, he decided to admit freely to what the man probably knew already.
“I have an interest in a quite different ship. I was looking for any news of it when I came upon the expected arrival of Lloyd’s. In fact, I went down there, watched him disembark, just to see what he unloaded. I saw his seamen carry off an old chest, heldshut with ropes. It might as well have hadTreasureinscribed on the front in gold lettering.”
“I see,” Grey murmured, holding his gaze. “Did you also know the treasure was put straight into his strong room at home? From where it was stolen that very night?”
“No. No, I did not know that. There has been nothing about the theft in the newspapers. In fact, I heard he was giving talks and exhibitions of his photographs round all his clubs. Even the Athenaeum!”
“Did you not attend any of his meetings?” Mrs. Silver asked.
She really was a stunning creature. “No. I would not give him the satisfaction.”
“Even though you had the pleasure of dining recently at his home?”
Terrance felt a twinge of guilt. More than Lloyd himself would suffer from this loss, and he had no quarrel with Christine Lloyd. “My wife and Mrs. Lloyd are friends. Lloyd and I are not. The invitation came from Mrs. Lloyd while he was away, and my wife wished to go.”
“Was that the only time you were ever in his house?” Mrs. Silver asked.
“No,” Terrance said reluctantly. He was still angry about those days. “In the past, I visited there often. Lloyd and I used to be friends. Of a sort.”
“What sort?” Mrs. Silver asked.
“The one-sided sort,” Terrance retorted. “I passed on tips to him about collectible items and sales, and he kept his information to himself so that I would spend a fortune on a vase worth less than the kitchen sugar bowl.”
“Was that not your mistake rather than his?” Grey asked.
Terrance narrowed his eyes. Was the man trying to rile him? To see how angry he truly was with Lloyd?No chance!He shrugged. “Lloyd clearly rejoiced in my misfortune. But yes, themistake was mine. I wanted it to be genuine too much and failed to see the signs. Admittedly, it was a dashed good fake, but still… I thought I had bagged a bargain treasure, while Lloyd kept to himself a tip that the vase was a mere copy of one in Blenheim Palace. I never spoke to him again.”
“What did you think of the security at his house?” Grey asked.
Terrance allowed contempt to curl at his lip. “What, his strong room? Excessive and showy, like the man himself.”
“What makes you say that?” Mrs. Silver asked. “Could you see some flaw in it that Lloyd himself missed?”
She was clever, indeed, much more, as it were, than a pretty face. “I never saw it, ma’am. He merely told me about it. Do you mean all this stuff”—he waved the list still clasped in his hand—“was really taken from the strong room? Ha! Knew it was a waste of time. I hope he was properly insured.”
If he wasn’t, Terrance thought with another twinge of shame, poor Christine and the children were done for too. He’d have to sell what was left of his collection and even that… Mind you, there were a couple of items Terrance would be prepared to take off their hands for a reasonable sum. That would help.
“To assist us with our observations,” Mrs. Silver said, “could you tell us which rooms you visited when you and your wife dined with Mrs. Lloyd? Did they look the same as before?”
“They hadn’t been redecorated, if that’s what you mean. We were only in the drawing room and the dining room.”
“You did not use the retiring rooms at all?”
