Time Tunnel Read Online Free

Valerie became queen at the age of eleven by virtue of having the slice of cake with the bean in it, and they remembered the eccentricities of the concierge whom they had occasionally outwitted. In general, they’d reminisced with a fine enthusiasm. But it was not likely they’d have felt such really great pleasure if, say, Harrison had married somebody else in the years between or if Valerie had been less satisfactory to look at.
    Now, today, Harrison finished his morning coffee and was pleased to remember that they would meet presently, secretly, because Valerie’s aunt, Madame Carroll, did not approve of her knowing young men. The prospect made Harrison feel fully capable of facing a new day.
    Then Pope arrived, fuming.
    “The French,” he said bitterly, “they are a noble race! I’ve been asking about this Carroll, Dubois et Cie, and it’s a monstrous thing! You saw me buy a snuffbox yesterday. I intended to send it to my grandmother. It would be just the thing for her handbag, to hold her hay-fever pills. But I examined it. And it is an outrage!”
    Harrison blinked at him.
    “What’s the matter with it?”
    “It is a work of art!” said Pepe indignantly. “It was made by an artist! A craftsman! If it were an antique, it would be priceless! But it was one of a drawer-full of similar snuffboxes, some inferior, to be sure, but others equally good. And I bought it for peanuts!”
    Harrison blinked again. “I don’t quite see…”
    “Somebody made it!” said Pepe. “By hand! He is capable of magnificent work! This is magnificent! But he is turning out things to be sold by Carroll, Dubois et Cie as curios! Which is a crime! He should be found and told the facts of life! Your Valerie says that her uncle, M. Dubois, is off on a trip to secure more stock for the shop. She does not know where he went. You may remember that I was enthusiastic and asked where such things were manufactured. She does not know that, either! Don’t you see what has happened?”
    Harrison shook his head. He was unreasonably pleased at having rediscovered Valerie. It was something so unlikely that he wouldn’t have dreamed of it occurring.
    “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” he admitted.
    “I’ve made inquiries,” said Pepe. “I’m told that workmanship like that snuffbox would entitle a craftsman to plenty of money! If he made things of modern usefulness and iii the modern taste, he’d grow rich! But do you know what I paid for that snuffbox? Sixty-five hundred francs! Practically twenty dollars! Don’t you see?”
    “No,” admitted Harrison again, “I don’t.”
    “This Madame Carroll and this Monsieur Dubois have found a gifted craftsman,” said Pepe angrily, “he is capable of masterpieces, and they have him making curios! Think of the skill and labor that went into this snuffbox! Think what they must have paid him for it, to offer it for sale as a curio for twenty dollars!”
    Harrison blinked yet again.
    “But…”
    “The stupidity of it!” insisted Pepe, hotly. “The idiocy of it! As shopkeepers, this Madame Carroll and this M’sieur Dubois think only of how much they can get from miniature works of art they don’t even recognize as works of art! They think only of a shopkeeper’s profit! They keep a craftsman of the highest order turning out gems of skill and artistry so they can sell them to ignorant tourists! Like me!”
    Harrison felt a very familiar depression creeping over him.
    “Naturally Dubois would not let out where he gets his stock!” said Pepe scornfully. “Someone might find his workman and let him know what his skill is really worth! It isn’t illegal to buy an artist’s work for peanuts and sell it again at any price one can get. But it is an outrage!”
    “The workmanship is that good?” asked Harrison forlornly.
    “I spoke to an expert in such things,” fumed Pepe, “and he said it could not be duplicated for ten times what I paid for it! But, he also said there