Page:The Van Roon (IA thevanroon00snaiiala).pdf/74



"If you go on like this," said S. Gedge Antiques, after a pause, full of drama, "you will have to have a cold compress put on your head. Do you mean to tell me you have actually found the signature?"

"Yes, sir," said William, "right down in the comer about half an hour ago."

"Then why didn't you say so instead of keeping it all to yourself?"

"Because it doesn't seem half so important as the other things I've found."

"What other things?"

"The trees and the water and that"

"We've heard more than enough about those. Here have you been rubbing for that signature for the best part of a fortnight, and you pretend to have found a Van Roon, and you keep it as close as the tomb."

"I had found Van Roon, sir, long before I came upon his name."

"Rubbish! What do you know of Van Roon?"

"There is a Van Roon in the treasure house in the Square," said William with his inward smile.

"There's only one," snapped S. Gedge Antiques, "in the treasure house in the Square, as you call it, and it's a very small one, too."

"Ours is very small, sir. All Van Roons are small, And they are very scarce."

"They are so scarce, my friend, that you'll never convince anybody that ours is genuine."