Not worth talking about. Among all h is various benefactions, none was
ever projected with a lighter heart, with more sincere pleasure. It
made him glad to be a millionaire.
All the details had been settled. The FLUTTERBY was sailing in a day or
two. The relic would be brought on board, at dead of night, by the
faithful Andrea, who would return to the Count with a cheque in his
pocket. It was a considerable sum; so considerable that Caloveglia had
displayed great hesitation in accepting it. But the millionaire pointed
out that the parties must be guided by Sir Herbert's opinion. What was
the good, he asked, of employing a specialist? Sir Herbert Street had
declared the bronze to be priceless, unique. His employer, therefore,
insisted on paying what the other had called "an adequate amount, if
the value of such a work of art can be expressed in monetary figures at
all." There was nothing more to be said. The Count gave way, with
graceful reluctance. A sham ancestry having been manufactured for the
masterpiece (it was proved to come from Asia Minor) in order to elude
the vigilance of the Italian Government, the Locri Faun could
thereafter be freely displayed to the American public, and Sir Herbert
Street was probably right in foretelling that it would be the show
piece of the millionaire's museum-artists and antiquarians flocking to
see it from every part of the world.
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