"I have been well aware
during the past few days that you were not able to fix on the exact
place described in the papyrus. I could pardon that. We are in a
country where landmarks are bewilderingly alike, and therefore apt to
cause confusion. But how comes it that our rivals can go straight to
the place we are in search of, while we wander blindly in the desert?
You assured me that yours was the only copy of the papyrus extant with
the sole exception of the photographic reproductions supplied to me. Is
that true? And, if it is true, who gave these others the information
that has brought about our failure?"
Mr. Fenshawe's pride was wounded. All the wrath of the disappointed
connoisseur welled forth in his contemptuous words. Their very calmness
and precision showed the depth of his anger, and von Kerber, like Abdur
Kad'r, felt that the time for specious pretext had gone. So he
answered, with equal exactness of phrase:
"I gave you that assurance months ago in Scotland, and repeated it in
London, but I have not said it since we met on board the yacht, for the
very good reason that the papyrus was stolen from me at Marseilles.
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