"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 044 - Treasures of Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

one was Eli Galban.

"He holds a reputation for detecting forgeries. He maintained that there could be no Fifth Ballad of
Francois Villon; that the added verses which give this manuscript its value-are no more than a spurious
interpolation.

"But Galban's examination was superficial!" The old man's voice was rising. "Galban made no test! He
called the entire work a forgery. That shows where he was wrong"-Shattuck Barliss was chuckling-"for I
had already proven through other experts that the first four ballads were genuine; and they agreed that the
fifth must have been inscribed by the same calligrapher."

Shattuck Barliss was turning pages slowly as he spoke. He pointed with his fingers; the other men stared
and nodded They could see the quaint style of the letters on the parchment pages. They were waiting for
the climax.

"See these lines?" questioned Shattuck Barliss sharply. "They comprise the first four ballads. They are
valuable only because they prove the genuiness of the fifth. Mark these verses well, for I am coming to
the final pages, where the fifth ballad appears. You will see them-for yourselves-the lost verses of
Francois Villon!"

As he spoke, the old man rested his hand upon the page, in readiness to turn it. Both Terry Barliss and
Rodney Glasgow could see that the book had not been opened for a long while. They knew that
Shattuck Barliss had kept this treasured manuscript untouched; that the present exhibition had probably
been given but seldom in the past few months.

The page turned slowly as Shattuck Barliss raised it. The old man was staring-the others with
him-looking for the lines that would commence the Fifth Ballad.

A cry of terrible consternation shrieked from the old man's throat. Withered hands clawed at the
parchment pages; finger nails slipped as they scratched the Villon manuscript. Shattuck Barliss was
wild-eyed. His nephew and his lawyer saw the reason.

The page which should have marked the beginning of the Fifth Ballad was a blank. It was merely a sheet
of parchment that served as a final leaf to the priceless book!

"Stolen!" cried Shattuck Barliss. "Stolen!"

Those were the last words the old collector uttered. Choking gasps coughed from dried lips. Shattuck
Barliss dropped back upon his pillows. A broken spasm of sound was his final outburst.

Staring eyes lost their gleam; withered hands fell useless. A rejuvenated frame became a pitiable human
form. The shock had proven too great. In spite of the stimulating dose, the old man had yielded to the
strain.

Shattuck Barliss lay dead, the false manuscript of Francois Villon spread-with its blank pages-before
him. The priceless treasure that he had cherished for so many years had gone from his possession.

Some crafty, unknown hand had wrested away the true Villon manuscript that Shattuck Barliss had so
closely guarded!