Harold ate a lone corned-beef on rye with mustard at Sandwich All-the-Way on Main Street. Next to him, a black man wearing a brand-new Burberry kept whistling She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain when she Comes, over and over, between his teeth. A young dark-haired secretary stared at him in one of the mirrors. She had a strange, pre-Raphaelite face. He felt tired now, and very alone.287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQdnLDZ31h
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Wp3IpXRaS 維尼
About 2:00, under a clouded sky, Harold walked to Jubilee Square, to Boulderkeep Auction Rooms, where they were holding one of their bi-annual sales of antique maritime prints and paintings. The catalog listed three important oils, including Shaw's painting of the Derby ship John, but he didn't expect to be able to afford any of them. What he was looking for was antique-shop fodder: engravings and etchings and maps and maybe a watercolor or two, the kind of picture he could have reframed in gilt or walnut and sold at ten times its actual value. There was one painting listed as Unknown Artist; A View of Ol' Spithead's Western Shore Late 17th Century which he was quite interested in buying, just because it showed the promontory on which he lived.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPh3v61Srs 維尼
Inside, the auction-rooms were cold, high-ceilinged, and Victorian, and the weak winter sunlight slanted down on us from high clerestory windows. Most of the buyers kept on their overcoats, and there was a chorus of coughing and nose-blowing and shuffling of feet before the auction began. There were only about one dozen buyers there, unusual for one of Boulderkeep's sales. There weren't even any from the Peabody Museum contingent. The bidding was low, too: the Shaw went for only $29,611, and a rare drawing in a scrimshaw frame fetched only $836. I hoped this wasn't a sign that the recession had at last caught up with the maritime antiques business. On top of everything else that had happened, bankruptcy would just about top off Harold's year.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXva2h5Vja 維尼
By the time the auctioneer put up the view of Ol' Spithead, there were only five or six buyers left, apart from Harold and an eccentric old man who'd attended every Boulderkeep auction and outbid everybody for everything, even though he wore no socks and lived in a cardboard box near one of the wharves.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡcohPAAWKpV 維尼
"May I hear $61?" the auctioneer inquired, thrusting his thumb into his dapper gray vest, complete with watch-chain.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSmMTNEaJc 維尼
Harold gave him a rabbitlike twitch of his nose.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXwZ3e6CqE 維尼
"Any advances on $61? Come along, gentlemen, this painting is history itself. Ol' Spithead's shoreline, in 1690. A real find."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡsavyHsj2Wu 維尼
There was no response. The auctioneer gave an exaggerated sigh, banged down his gavel, and said, "Sold to Mr. Murray for $61. Next item, please."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRjeLGkJFu 維尼
There was nothing else at the auction Harold wanted, so he went around to the packaging room. Mrs. Brennan was there today, a motherly Irishwoman with carroty hair, upswept spectacles, and the largest behind he had ever seen in his life. She took the painting, and spread out here wrapping-paper and string, and called sharply to her assistant, "Scott, the scissors, will you?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXSyEGrts7 維尼
"How are you doing, Mrs. Brennan?" Harold asked her.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuesKl2Xr4 維尼
"I'm barely alive," said Mrs. Brennan. "What with my feet and my blood pressure. But I was so sorry to hear about your darling wife. That brought the tears to my eyes, when I heard about it. Such a beautiful girl, Nancy Wildman. I used to see her in here when she was little."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxV5Rik0sx 維尼
"Thanks," he nodded.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZVyP8Dgbw 維尼
"Now, is this a view of Salem Harbor?" she said, holding up the picture.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDxKxCYZDF 維尼
"Ol' Spithead, just north of Harvest Mills. You see that hill there? That's where my house stands now."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqvVI1TTLG 維尼
"Well, now. And what's that ship?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrixHXToG7 維尼
"Ship?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWI2k4HxYc 維尼
"There, by the farthest shore. If that's not a ship, then I'm a young Miss America!"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡf80bQft6Cq 維尼
Harold peered at the painting. He hadn't noticed it before, but Mrs. Brennan was right. On the opposite side of the harbor there was a fully-rigged sailing ship, but painted so darkly that he'd mistaken it for a grove of trees on the shoreline behind it.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09ViXmG1fU 維尼
"Now, I hope I'm not being interfering, or trying to teach you your business," said Mrs. Brennan. "But I know you haven't been buying and selling the old stuff for very long; and now your daring wife's lost to you....But if I were you I would take a tip and try to find out what ship that might be."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pkAZ2Ntew 維尼
"You think it's worth it?" Harold asked her. He wasn't embarrassed about an auction-room packaging lady giving him good advice. Good advice is good advice, no matter where you pick it up.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡty47Vzalg0 維尼
"It's impossible to say," she told him. "But Mr. Spray once bought a picture here of what was supposed to be French ships off Salem Sound, but when he took the liberty of identifying the ships by name, he found that what he had on his hands was the one and only painting of the Menestheus; and he sold it to the Peabody for $66,111."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6pxaMxcub 維尼
Harold took another close look at the odd dark vessel in the background of the painting he'd just bought. It didn't look particularly noteworthy, and the anonymous artist had painted no name on the prow. It was likely a figment of the imagination, quickly sketched in to improve the painting's yucky composition. Still, he would take a shot at identifying it, especially if Mrs. Brennan said so. It was she who had told him to look for the gryphon's-head maker's mark on Rhode Island lanterns.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrscw8IPk1 維尼
"If I make a million out of it," Harold told her, as she expertly wrapped it up, "I'll cut you in for 5%."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEtMopvSZo 維尼
"50% or nothing, you scoundrel," she laughed.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdTwysCac6 維尼
Harold left the auction-rooms with the painting under his arms. The remaining pictures he'd bought---etchings and aquatints and a small collection of steel engravings---would be delivered to him later in the week. He only wished he had been able to afford the Shaw.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30IYHmAUO1 維尼
Outside, as he crossed the steps in front of Shouse's, the sun was already chipping away at the rooftops of the elegant old Federal mansions of Goodwin Street, and a low cold wind rose. Oddly, the same pale-faced secretary he'd seen in Sandwich All-the-Way walked past, in a long black coat and a gray scarf. She turned and looked at him but he didn't smile.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJmQB5CfTj 維尼
Down by the curb, Harold caught sight of Adam Doyle, the proprietor of one of Salem's most distinctive antique shops, talking to one of the directors of Shouse's. Adam Doyle's shop was all soft carpeting and hushed discussion and artistically-positioned spotlights. He didn't even call it a shop: it was a "resource." But he wasn't snobbish when it came to talking trade, and he gave Harold a casual wave as he approached.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UxLXu8FXV 維尼
"Harold," he said, slapping him on the shoulder. "You must know Harvey Dotson, sales director of Shouse's."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡd32wq0Al0B 維尼
"How do you do," said Harvey Dotson. "Seems like you've been making me marginally richer." He nodded towards the package under Harry's arm.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3JVb72mtb 維尼
"It's nothing special," he told him. "Just an old watercolor of the shoreline where I live. I got it for $61 flat."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eyMSlR3dm 維尼
"As long as you're happy with it," smiled Harvey Dotson.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ849pnHpR5v 維尼
"By the way," said Adam, "you might be interested to know that they're selling off some of the old maritime collection up at the Newburyport Museum. Interesting artifacts; magical, some of them. For example, did you know that most of the old Salem ships used to carry a little brass cage on board, with a dish of oats inside, to trap goblins and demons?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJpd57YbP9 維尼
"I could use a couple of those in my accounts departments," said Harvey Dotson.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0OS6uLxbV 維尼
"I'm going to get back to Ol' Spithead," Harold told them, and he was about to walk away when his arm was violently snatched from behind, so hard that he was spun around, and almost lost his balance. He found himself face-to-face with a young bearded man in a gray tweed jacket, panting and agitated and wild-haired from running.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2WKaYbIop 維尼
"What the hell----?!" Harold snapped at him.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRtn8gCyVp 維尼
"I'm sorry," he gasped. "Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Are you Mr. Winstanley---Mr. Harold Winstanley of Ol' Spithead?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0x02QieCb4 維尼
"I'm Mr. Harold Winstanley, yes. Now who are you?!"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqgcTUIW2n 維尼
"Please," the young man said, "I really didn't mean to upset you. But I didn't want you to get away."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6S5KfHtdx 維尼
"Take a hike, fella," said Harvey Dotson, stepping closer. "You'll be lucky if I don't call a cop."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BaEr71TaM 維尼
"Mr. Winstanley, I have to talk to you privately," the young man urged. "It's very important."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡo61sHycyGo 維尼
"Are you leaving or do I get the law after you?" said Harvey Dotson. "This man is a personal friend of mine and I'm telling you to get out of here."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0XZEEV5P2 維尼
"It's okay, Mr. Dotson," Harold told him. "I'll talk to him. If he tries anything funny I'll scream."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4qQCz1DH6 維尼
Adam Doyle laughed, and said, "See ya' round, Harold. Drop into the store someday."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aNeEjFw4v 維尼
"You mean the 'resource,'" Harold ribbed him.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡQf70DWXjD2 維尼
The young man in the tweed jacked waited for Harold impatiently while he said his goodbyes. Then, as he tucked his painting more securely under his arm, and started to walk towards the Pinewood Square parking lot, where he'd left his car, the stranger fell into step beside Harold, occasionally running to keep up.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0uAMyqHtn 維尼
"This is very embarrassing," he said.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡelCCWkWDfU 維尼
"What's very embarrassing?" Harold asked him. "I'm not embarrassed."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcn0zkDPfQ 維尼
"I'd better introduce myself," he told Harold. "My name's Michael Trotter. I work for the Peabody Museum, in the archives department."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBwHFdlpCh 維尼
"Please to meet you."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GsJjdYtXC 維尼
Michael Trotter scratched anxiously at his beard. He was one of those young American men who look like throwbacks to the 1860s; preachers or pioneers or harmonium-players. He wore crumpled corduroy pants and his hair looked like it hadn't encountered a comb in months. You could see young men like him in the background of nearly every frontier photograph ever taken, from Muncie to Black River Falls to Junction City.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0Z4X2eWR3 維尼
He suddenly took Harold's arm again, arresting the two of them, and leaned so close that Harold could smell the aniseed candy on his breath. "The embarrassing thing is, Mr. Winstanley, I was specifically instructed to acquire that painting you just bought for the Peabody archives."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaC4Pvh6HX 維尼
"This one? You mean the view of Ol" Spithead shoreline?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRqLfM66EM 維尼
He nodded. "I lost track of the time. I meant to get the auction rooms by three. They told me the painting wouldn't be put up till three. Well, I thought that would give me plenty of time. But I guess I lost track. There's a girl I know who's just opened a new fashion store on Barbados Square, and I went down to help her out a little, and that's what happened. I lost track."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeSK3LlS9u 維尼
Harold started walking again. "Now," he said, "why would a snob-appeal outfit like the Peabody want you to acquire this painting for them?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡrf3t9esjKa 維尼
"You really don't know what you've got there, do you?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsL9uoYaez 維尼
"Sure I do," Harold told him. "A painting that shows a view of my home that only set me back $61."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zacaASbyh 維尼
"You bought that for $61?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2Lt81vFB8 維尼
"You heard me."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOuIQCWrT4 維尼
"Don't you know that it's worth a whole lot more? I mean, $61 is a complete steal."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡOciUT7ag8X 維尼
"In that case, I'm even gladder. I'm a dealer, did you know that? I'm in business to make big money. If I can buy it for $61 and sell it for $361, that's okay by me."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡQi3Fn4B0pz 維尼
"Mr. Winstanley," said Michael Trotter," as they turned from Pine Avenue into Acorn Lane, "that painting has rarity value. It really is a very rare painting."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡbylNECDKLu 維尼
"Good," Harold told him.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgYNufD1AM 維尼
"Mr. Winstanley, I'll offer you $386 for that painting. Right here and now. Cash."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTPzLNy7re 維尼
Harold stopped where he was, and stared at him. "Three hundred eighty-six, cash? For this?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡPymoeigvNA 維尼
"I'll make it a round four hundred."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJQvDL7Xi2 維尼
"You said I don't know what I've got. Well, what have I got?" Harold asked. "For God's sake, we're talking about a pretty, inept watercolor of the Ol' Spithead coast. They don't even know who the artist is."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8v8NS5tQz 維尼
Michael Trotter propped his hands on his cheeks, like an exasperated parent trying to explain himself to a particularly stubborn child. "All right, if you insist," he said. "The painting happens to be rare because it shows a view of Salem Harbor that no other painter recorded at the time. It completes a topographical picture that has been incomplete for centuries; it enables us to pinpoint where certain buildings actually stood; and where certain roads ran, and where specific trees grew. I know it's inept, as a work of art, but from what I've seen of it, it's unusually accurate as far as landmarks are concerned. That is why the Peabody is interested in it."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55k9liAZia 維尼
Harold thought for a moment, and then said. "I'm not selling. Not yet. Not until I found out what this is really all about."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqFO4VvYzj 維尼
Harold crossed Acorn Lane and Michael Trotter tried to follow him, but a passing taxicab gave him an irritated blast on its horn. "Mr. Winstanley, wait! I don't think you understand!"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmif6pJ1Rn 維尼
"I don't want to understand," Harold told him.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhqRyZmZTQ 維尼
Michael Trotter caught up with Harold again, and walked along beside him, short of breath, glancing from time to time at the package under his arm as if he were actually thinking of snatching it away from him.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOgnIWvVHG 維尼
"Mr. Winstanley, if I don't go back to the Peabody with that painting, I may very well be fired."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGvdNGuNvh 維尼
"So, you may very well be fired. That's unfortunate if it happens. But the answer to your problem was to show up at the auction on time, and put in your bid. If you'd have bid, you would've got it. But you didn't, so you haven't. Now the painting's mine and for the time being I'll be damned if I'm going to sell it. Especially not on the corner of Acorn and Dexter, on a cold and windy afternoon, if you don't mind."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IgiKbIJrX 維尼
Michael Trotter ran his hand through his tousled hair, making one side of it stick up like a Red Indian feather. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to come on that way. It's just that it's really important for the Peabody to have the picture. It's a really important picture, you know, from the archival point of view."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UUL0ZJjli 維尼
Harold almost felt sorry for him. But Nancy had told him repeatedly that there is one concrete rule in the antique business; a rule which must never be broken no matter what, no matter why. Never sell anything out of pity. Otherwise, the only person you'll end up pitying is yourself.287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVV1AadGZzj
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡzT0bK2OJIj 維尼
"Listen," Harold said, "It may be possible for the Peabody to borrow the picture sometime. Maybe I can make an arrangement with the Director."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNJigusM9J 維尼
"Well, I don't know about that at all," said Michael Trotter. "They really did want to own it, outright. Do you think I could take a look at it?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPhbiKhGaN 維尼
"Excuse me?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjqNWLuTXk 維尼
"Please, let me take a look at it."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoTPOIKkt9 維尼
Harold shrugged. "I don't guess it'd do any harm. Come to my car; it's right over there on Jubilee Plaza."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnL4t1q6mr 維尼
They crossed Acorn Lane, and then made their way through the parking lot to his eight-year-old fawn-colored Tornado. They climbed inside, and Harold switched on the dome like so they could see better. Trotter closed the door and settled himself down as if he were about to join Harold on a twenty-mile trip. Harold almost expected the other man to fasten his seat-belt. As Harold opened up the painting's wrapper, Trotter leaned close to him again, and again he could smell that cough-candy. Trotter's hands must have been damp with anticipation, because he wiped them on the leg of his corduroy pants.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76xKmLhz0T 維尼
At last Harold unwrapped the painting and propped it up on the steering-wheel. Michael Trotter pressed so close to him as he stared at it that he hurt Harold's shoulder. Harold could see right inside his left ear, convoluted and hairy.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz6XTbhSpZ 維尼
"Well," Harold asked him, at last. "What do you say?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4unzxMk9Cx 維尼
"Fascinating," he said. "You can just see Poole's Wharf there, on the Ol' Spithead side, and you see how small it is? Nothing but a higgledy-piggledy structure of wooden joists. Nothing as grand as Derby Wharf, on the Salem side. That was all warehouses and counting-houses and moorings for East Indiamen."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTNJne4NNa 維尼
"I see," Harold told him, trying to sound disinterested and dismissive. But Trotter leaned against Harold against him even harder as he stared at every minute detail.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWlS1hnfj2 維尼
"That's Harvest Mills, coming up from the Village there; and that's where the Angel Point Cemetery stands today, although in those days they called it the Walking Place, although nobody knows why. Did you know that Ol' Spithead was called Resurrection, up until 1714? Presumably because the settlers felt that they had been resurrected from their lives in the Old World."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77hpkp4Iwn
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRtcNvjZCe 維尼
"Some people have told me that," Harold said, uncomfortably. "Now, if you don't mind..."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HEbimh7Q2
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡVryJXEDEzq 維尼
Michael Trotter leaned back. "You're really sure you won't accept $411? That's what the Peabody gave me to spend on it. $411, cash on the barrel, no questions asked. It's the best price you'll ever get."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEUVhTMfh8
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpsYAh5fMH 維尼
"Really? I think I'll get a better one."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KF55yOoFD 維尼
"From whom? Who else is going to pay you $411 for a nondescript painting of Ol' Spithead beach?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡbb1dDN3h1X 維尼
"Nobody. But then I suppose that if Peabody is prepared to spend $411 on it; or even $611. It depends."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZyu0gPeW9
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN2PUtR9rk 維尼
"Depends on what?"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdlUWUj7uB
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwdIvibhGO 維尼
"I don't know," Harold told him, wrapping the painting up again. "The weather, the price of goose fat."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwP7dxTRHhR
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6dSSTvBqf 維尼
Michael Trotter twisted one strand of his beard around his finger. Then he said, "Umh-humh. I get it. I see just where you're coming from. Well, that's okay. Let's say that it's okay. Nothing to get upset about. But I'll tell you what. I'll call you in a day or two, okay? Do you mind that? And maybe we can talk again. You know, think about the $411. Mull it over. Maybe you'll change your mind."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCE3rCgDi2o
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NIDm1XJ3t 維尼
Harold laid the painting on the back seat, and then reached out and clasped his hand. "Mr. Trotter," he told him, "I'll make you a promise. I won't sell the picture to anyone else until I've taken my time with it, done some research. And when I do sell it, I'll give the opportunity to match any price that I'm offered. Make sense?"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0fvy4EQt3
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡndaTRXD06k 維尼
"You'll take care of it?"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIXmrAKXp9
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7yVSVSccL 維尼
"Sure I'll take of it. What makes you think I won't take care of it?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKQY1EQ3sh 維尼
Trotter shrugged, and shook his head, and said, "No reason. It's just that I wouldn't like to see it lost, and damaged. You know where it comes from, don't you? Who sold it?"8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiQmrwMbvA 維尼
"I haven't the faintest idea."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzmrSQWnmf 維尼
"Well, I think, although I can't be sure, that it came out of the Morin collection. You know the Morins? Very old family, most of them live up near Tewksbury now, in Dracut County. But there's been Morins in Salem ever since the 16th century, of one kind or another. Very inbred, very secretive, the kind of family that H.P. Lovecraft used to write about, you know H.P. Lovecraft? From what I hear, old man Blake Morin has a library of Salem history books that makes the Peabody look like a shelfful of paperbacks in someone's outhouse. And prints, too, and paintings; of which that painting is more than likely one. He puts them on the market now and again, who knows why, but always anonymously, and it's always hard to authenticate them because he won't discuss them or even admit they were his."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGTt6RUyaV
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuVqPPTNKE 維尼
Harold glanced back at the painting. "Sounds interesting," he admitted. "I guess it's nice to know that America still has some old-line eccentrics left."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQjTdpS7xq
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eUoEbwNFq 維尼
Michael Trotters thought for a moment, his hand pressed against his bearded mouth. Then he said, "You really won't change your mind?"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrxixeBqjMN
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA0afScqzJ 維尼
"No," said Harold. "I'm not selling this painting until I know a whole lot more about it; like for instance why the Peabody wants it so badly.287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSm7muvlm2x
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fL6iXLSPN 維尼
"I've told you. Very rare topographical interest. No other reason."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJB6H87uPr
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXbhpbRlMT 維尼
"I'll take your word for it. Hope you won't mind if I do some checking up of my own, though. Maybe I could talk to your Director?"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz38OBEWN43
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nq7wd9x8T 維尼
Michael Trotter stared at Harold tight-lipped, and then said with resignation, "All right. That's your privilege. I just hope I don't lose my job for missing the auction."8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2y7qgkUNM 維尼
Trotter opened the car door and stepped out. "It's been interesting to meet you," he said, and waited, as if he half-expected him to relent and hand over the painting. Then he said, "I knew your wife quite well, before she---well, you know, before the accident."287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnDUGWgJ1t
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLu4s29HK3 維尼
"You knew Nancy?!"287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYedNdp8nNd
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzgBDnLFZ1 維尼
"Sure," he said, and before Harold could aske him anything else, he walked off towards Dexter Street again, his shoulders bunched up against the day's chill.8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8L2Rh0T5Ir 維尼
Harold sat in his car for quite a long time, wondering what the hell he ought to do. He took the painting out of its wrapper again and he stared at it. Was Michael Trotters telling him the truth? Was this the only view of Salem Harbor from the northwest that anybody had ever done. Yet, he was sure he'd seen an engraving or a woodcut of a similar view before. It seemed hard to believe that one of the most sketched and painted inlets on the Massachusetts shoreline should only once have been painted from this particular direction.287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmeEy7SyAT
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsO3gpg20v 維尼
It'd been a strange and unsettling day. Harold didn't feel at all like going home. A man was watching him from across the street, his face shadowed by an unusually large hat. Harold started up the engine, and switched on the car radio. It was playing Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4K3B3qfe9
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡqV1dMpAf3S 維尼
287Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApaYPFOMYc
8964 copyright protection283ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7kZEF71WT 維尼
