The man hurried off into
the rattle of the busy thoroughfare, and in a moment he and his sorrows and
his deadly purpose had vanished away.
Meantime the curator of the gallery, a man of intelligence, improved the
moment and addressed some apposite reflections to those spectators who
still clustered around John Barron's picture.
"It isn't often we get such a sight as that. Many people have wondered why
this great work was called as it is. The man who has gone explains it, and
you have had a glimpse of the picture's history--the inner history of it.
The painting has made a great sensation ever since it was first exhibited,
but never such a sensation as it made to-day."
"The beggar looked as though he meant mischief," said somebody.
"He knows the model is dead apparently, but there's another mystery there
too, for Mr. Barron himself isn't aware of the fact. He was here only the
day before yesterday--a little pale shadow of a man, like a ghost in a fur
coat. He came to see his picture and stopped ten minutes. Two gentlemen
were with him, and I heard him say, in answer to one of them as he left the
gallery, that he had quite recently endeavored to learn some particulars of
Joan Tregenza, his model, but had failed to do so as yet."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE FINDING OF THE MAN
The gratification of his desire and the fulfillment of his revenge, though
steadfastly foreseen by Joe Noy from the moment when first he set foot in
London and began his search, now for a moment overwhelmed him at the
prospect of their extreme propinquity.
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