Page:The man who knew too much.djvu/100

 in that case," he cried, in a new and altered voice, "why then of course— You said a piece of steel" "I said there were two pieces of steel," said Fisher. "The bent piece of steel was the boy's magnet. The other was the relic in the glass case." "But that is silver," answered the archaeologist, in a voice now almost unrecognizable. "Oh," replied Fisher, soothingly, "I dare say it was painted with silver a little." There was a heavy silence, and at last Harold March said, "But where is the real relic?" "Where it has been for five years," replied Horne Fisher, "in the possession of a mad millionaire named Vandam, in Nebraska. There was a playful little photograph about him in a society paper the other day, mentioning his delusion, and saying he was always being taken in about relics." Harold March frowned at the tablecloth; then, after an interval, he said: "I think I understand your notion of how the thing was actually done; according to that, Morris just made a hole and fished it up with a magnet at the end of a string. Such a monkey trick looks like mere madness, but I suppose he was mad, partly with the boredom of watching over what he felt was a fraud, though he couldn't prove it. Then came a chance to prove it, to himself at least,