Drury Lane’s Last Case by Ellery Queen Page A

Rowe, and took away the 1599!”
    â€œOh,” said the young man. “I——” And he threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Lord, this is rich!” he gasped, wiping his eyes. “Wait until divine Lydia hears this . And Crabbe.… Oh, this is too much!” He gulped hard and composed himself. “I beg your pardon. It just struck me … you know. It would be Mrs. Saxon’s luck to have a rare book stolen and an even rarer one left in its place. Crazy, that’s what it is!”
    â€œI think,” said the curator with a nervous tug at his beard, “you’d better get Mrs. Saxon over here at once, Rowe. After all——”
    â€œOf course.” The young man caressed the 1606 Jaggard with tenderness, returned it to Dr. Choate, pressed Patience’s arm, and left the room with a jaunty air.
    â€œFrightfully boisterous young man,” remarked Dr. Sedlar. “I’m afraid I can’t share his levity. You know, we can’t accept this—this remarkable volume at its face value, Dr. Choate. It will have to be more thoroughly examined. It may be difficult to establish its authenticity——”
    The hunter’s glare invaded Dr. Choate’s eye. “Quite. Quite.” And he rubbed his hands. He seemed content to have the stolen volume remain in possession of the thief, so long as the thief did not return and demand the unique volume he had left in the case. “I suggest we get to work at once. We’ll have to proceed carefully, Sedlar. We don’t want a breath of this to get out! We might call in old Gaspari of the Metropolitan, swear him to secrecy …”
    Dr. Sedlar was strangely pale. He kept staring at the ravished cabinet as if hypnotized.
    â€œOr Professor Crowninshield of the Folger,” he muttered.
    Patience sighed. “We all seem to be assuming that the 1599 Jaggard was stolen by the man in the blue hat. There’s really no proof, you know. Why mightn’t the thief have been that second stranger on the bus, or one of the seventeen school-teachers?”
    Inspector Thumm threw up his hands and scowled. It was evident that the entire affair was too much for him.
    â€œI scarcely think so, Patience,” murmured Drury Lane. “There were nineteen persons on the bus, all of whom apparently entered the museum. Eighteen of them returned to the bus terminal after the visit, the eighteenth being the mysterious second stranger, as you so charmingly have christened him. In other words, our friend, the man in the blue hat, disappeared from the museum. And so did Donoghue. The link is too powerful to have been forged by coincidence. I think it extremely probable that the man in the blue hat stole the 1599 Jaggard, leaving this 1606 in its place, and that Donoghue disappeared in following him.”
    â€œWell, well,” said the curator briskly, “I’ve no doubt it will all be explained in time. Meanwhile, Dr. Sedlar, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have the museum searched at once.”
    â€œFor what?” demanded the Inspector bitterly.
    â€œThere’s the remote chance, you know, that that 1599 Jaggard may not have been taken out of the building.”
    â€œSays you,” growled Thumm.
    â€œExcellent notion, Doctor,” said Dr. Sedlar eagerly, “I—I’ll carry on. But when Mrs. Saxon arrives——” Apparently Dr. Sedlar had heard of Mrs. Saxon’s potentialities, and was properly apprehensive.
    â€œI shan’t be a minute,” said Dr. Choate cheerfully. He deposited the blue book carefully in the case and hurried from the room.
    The Englishman hovered over the case like a nervous mother stork over her nest. “Too bad,” he muttered. “Too bad. I really should have liked to see that 1599.”
    Drury Lane stared at him, and then sought a chair and sat down. He shaded his eyes with a white-veined hand.
    â€œYou