uttered assured him of the little importance I placed upon this
evidence of his daring and unappeasable curiosity, and he confronted
me with an enviable air of dignity; whereupon I managed to say:

"Really, Mr. Moore, I'm glad to see you here. It is quite natural
for you to wish to learn by any means in your power what that picture
concealed. I came back, because I suddenly remembered that I had
forgotten to rehang it"

Involuntarily he glanced again at the wall overhead, which was as
bare as his hand, save for the nail he had already examined.

"It has concealed nothing," he retorted. "You can see yourself that
the wall is bare and that it rings as sound as any chimneypiece ever
made." Here he struck it heavily with his fist. "What did you
imagine that you had found?"

I smiled, shrugged my shoulders in tantalizing repetition of my
former action upon a like occasion and then answered brusquely:

"I did not come back to betray police secrets, but to restore this
picture to its place. Or perhaps you prefer to have it down rather
than up? It isn't much of an ornament"

He scrutinized me darkly from over his shoulder, a wary gleam showing
itself in his shrewd old eyes; and the idea crossed me that the
moment might possess more significance than appeared. But I did not
step backward, nor give evidence in any way that I had even thought
of danger. I simply laid my hand on the picture and looked up at him
for orders.