CHAPTER III

Mr. Cordukes, entering Sherrington’s office on the afternoon of the next day but one, looked as homely and unsophisticated as ever. He greeted Sherrington with reverence, and, taking a chair near the general agent’s desk, placed his old-fashioned hat on his knees, and blinked through his spectacles. Sherrington bustled into activity. “Now, about that picture, Mr. Cordukes,” he said, pointing to a corner in which Nemo’s copy, in the frame of the original, stood on a chair, shrouded by the flowered bed quilt. “About …