Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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Lord Ethalwood himself examined the work after Peace had left, and expressed himself well satisfied with it as far as it had gone.

In a day or two the composition was set as hard as a rock, and our hero lifted up the frame from the plaster bed, not, it must be confessed, without some anxiety.

As he expected he found a number of small holes, about the size of a pin’s head, made by his composition on the painting itself.

Luckily these were chiefly in the background of the picture, only two being observable on the face of the dead Gervase Lord Ethalwood.

Peace removed the panel from its frame—​it was as firm and solid as a piece of slate—​he placed it on an easel and looked carefully at its surface.

“Well,” said Mr. Jakyl, “it’s all right, with the exception of those ugly spots.”

“It was impossible to avoid showing these; the fact is the decay in another year or so would have gone so far as to destroy entirely the whole of the picture. We may think ourselves lucky it’s no worse,” observed Peace.