17 : The Slack Cord“Sebastiano Quirini? Why, my dear, his engravings were quite lovely.”
Belle looked up as she spoke, and for a moment her eyes lost the dull, weary expression which Campion had grown to dread in them.
They were in the drawing room again, sitting by the fire, whose comfort had become a necessity since the second tragedy although the spring was not a cold one.
Campion and the inspector, having decided that Mr. Potter was better not disturbed unless it became absolutely necessary, had come to Belle for information.
“I believe it was a sort of secret,” she said, “so you mustn’t let anyone know. Max discovered nearly fifty of Quirini’s old wood blocks in Paris when the Société des Arts Anciens was sold up. It was a very old business, you know. They dealt in antiques as wel
