"I shall walk for an
hour before lunch in Kensington Gardens. If I have a moment to spare I
shall run into the Museum and spend a little time with the mosaics.
What a charming effect the sunlight has coming through those trees,
Burton! I want you to come down and see my rooms sometime. I have
picked up a few trifles that I think you would appreciate."
"I will come with pleasure," Burton replied. "This afternoon, if you
could spare a few minutes?" the auctioneer suggested. "We might go
around and look at that Romney which has just been unearthed. I have
been to Christie's three times already to see it, but I should like to
take you. There's something about the face which I don't quite
understand. There is a landscape there, too, just sent up from some
country house, which I think would interest you."
Burton shook his head and moved feverishly towards his desk.
"I am going to work," he declared. "You have frightened me a little. I
must economize time. I shall write a novel, a novel of real life. I
must write it while I can still see the perfect truth."
CHAPTER XIII
PROOF POSITIVE
Burton did not get very far with his novel. About nine o'clock on the
same evening, Mr. Waddington, who was spending a quiet hour or two with
his books, was disturbed by a hasty knock at the door of his rooms.
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