The general began to restore the wrappings to the crown. “The secret will still be kept,” he said, “but the crown in Madanhoff will be the real one.”
“How can you be so sure your secret will be kept,” said the surly Farrier. “You’ve only got a score or so of witnesses here.”
“Who would believe you?” said the general. “You may talk all you wish.”
He took the crown and held out his hand to The Potter. The Potter turned away.
“Very well, Alexis,” said the general. “We will not meet again. I wish you happiness.”
And the general went out, followed by the slim and unsmiling Mr Demetrieff.
“Jupiter,” said The Potter, “I think that now you may summon the police.”
19
It Would Make a Great Movie
A WEEK later Mr Alfred Hitchcock, the famous motion-picture director, sat in his office and leafed through the notes which Bob had compiled on The Potter and his wonderful secret.
“So the crown was hidden in the urn,” said Mr Hitchcock, “outside The Potter’s shop, where hundreds of people came and went every week. That scoundrel Farrier must have passed it a dozen times while he was working so hard to frighten Mrs Dobson away.”
“He told us that he tried to open the urn,” said Jupiter Jones. “Of course, he did most of his mischief at night, so he didn’t have time or light to examine the urn with care and notice the single-headed eagle looking to the left. The top of the urn came off when you turned it clockwise–to the left. All ordinary containers open the other way. That is the signal which The Potter and the Grand Duke agreed upon when they fled from the palace. If anything happened to The Potter, the Grand Duke Nicholas was to look for a single-headed eagle among a group of the double-headed eagles of Lapathia, and that eagle would be the clue to the whereabouts of the crown.”
“And was The Potter planning to take up ceramics even before the revolution in Lapathia?” asked Mr Hitchcock.
“No,” said Bob, who was perched in a chair next to Jupiter Jones. “He became a potter because he had to make a living, but he could have found a number of ways of creating eagles. He could have painted them, or stencilled them on a wall, or . . . or . . .”
“There’s always embroidery,” put in Pete, who occupied the chair on Jupiter’s left side.
“I am sure a scarlet eagle would be most effective in cross-stitch,” said Mr Hitchcock. “Now about this Farrier–your report states that he was arrested by Chief Reynolds on charges of unlawful entry and malicious mischief. I should not think they could hold him long. Will he keep the secret of the crown, do you suppose?”
“He has everything to gain and nothing to lose by keeping his mouth shut,” said Jupiter Jones. “Unlawful entry and malicious mischief are minor charges compared to attempted grand larceny. He’s in jail in Rocky Beach now, pondering on his sins–which are more numerous than we suspected at first. All those elegant clothes were purchased with a credit card which he found in a wallet that someone had dropped on the street. I am not certain what the charge is for unauthorized use of a credit card, but I should think forgery would enter into it.”
“At least,” agreed Mr Hitchcock.
“His car was so shabby,” said Jupiter. “It bothered me. It didn’t match. He’s not even going to be able to pay Miss Hopper for the room he occupied at the Seabreeze Inn. The Potter says he feels responsible, so he’s taking care of that bill.”
“Most generous,” said Mr Hitchcock.
“Chief Reynolds found the stuff Farrier used to create the flaming footprints in the boot of Farrier’s car, which was parked up the highway out of sight of the house,” said Bob. “Whatever it was, he says we’ll never know. He thinks it’s a good idea not to spread some kinds of information around.”
“The man is not without imagination.”
“Farrier? No. He has quite a record, and has done time in some of the best prisons. He used to be a crack jewel thief. According to Chief Reynolds, he got too well known. Police everywhere started putting tails on him the second he showed up in any town. Cramped his style. He’s been trying to make a living running a little hobby shop in Los Angeles.”
“So it was the article in Westways which brought him to Rocky Beach?” said Mr Hitchcock.
“No,” said Jupiter Jones. “He told us how he got his first clue to the whereabouts of the crown while we were waiting for Chief Reynolds to come and collect him. He always reads the personal ads in the Los Angeles Times. He suspected, as did a number of experts on such things, that the crown on display at Madanhoff was an imitation. He had done some research on the history of Lapathia, and knew about the disappearance of Alexis Kerenov, who was the hereditary guardian of the crown. When he saw the advertisement in the Times, with the names Alexis and Nicholas, he remembered the Grand Duke Nicholas who was supposed to have hanged himself during the revolution, and he wondered if it might not have something to do with the crown. He went to the trouble of buying papers from Chicago and New York on a hunch–and he found identical advertisements in them. Then he came to Rocky Beach on a quick visit, and wandered into The Potter’s shop one bright afternoon, and . . .”
“And saw the medallion with the eagle,” finished Mr Hitchcock. “That is one thing I do not understand. Why did Kerenov insist on wearing that medallion?”
“He admits it was foolish,” said Jupiter. “He felt lonely, perhaps, and it may have reminded him of better times. Also, he felt there was little chance of anyone from Lapathia appearing in Rocky Beach unless they were summoned, and his advertisement–which he placed annually in all the major papers in the United States–was addressed to Nicholas. He felt only Nicholas would understand it. It was part of the agreement which they made when they fled together from the palace at Madanhoff. They would separate and both try to make their way to the United States. Alexis would advertise once a year, on the anniversary of the revolution, until Nicholas found him. And if anything happened to Alexis before Nicholas found him, Nicholas could always examine the files of back editions of various newspapers and would, at least, know in which town Alexis had settled. Then he was to look for the odd eagle with the single head.”
“An involved scheme,” said Mr Hitchcock, “and one that left a great deal to chance. However, I suppose they did not have a great deal of time to work out anything more practical with a revolution going on around them. So for a lifetime Alexis waited.”
“And Nicholas never escaped.”
“What was the photograph which the Lapathian general showed The Potter?” asked Mr Hitchcock.
“He wouldn’t tell us,” said Pete. “Something gruesome.”
“And proving that Nicholas was dead, no doubt,” added Jupiter.
“It must have been a great shock to The Potter,” said Mr Hitchcock. “On the other hand, he must have begun to suspect that his vigil was in vain. So many years had passed.”
“I guess he hoped right to the end that Nicholas would show up, and the Azimovs would be restored to their throne,” said Bob.
“In which case,” chuckled Pete, “The Potter would be the Duke of Malenbad, and Mrs Thomas Dobson of Belleview, Illinois, would eventually get to be a duchess. I wonder how Mrs Dobson would enjoy being a duchess.”
“Has she forgiven her father?” asked Mr Hitchcock.
“Yes,” said Bob. “She’s still there, and she’s helping him in the shop. She and young Tom will stay until the end of summer.”
“And the Lapathians have departed?”
“They left the minute they got their hands on the crown,” Jupiter reported. “We have to rely on guesswork with the men from Lapathia. We can only assume that the Westways article led them to The Potter. I think that they rented Hilltop House planning to wage some sort of war of nerves on The Potter. It upset them greatly when he disappeared and a young woman and a boy moved into his house. But they kept watching and waiting until they saw Farrier make his move, out there in The Potter’s yard, and then they came scrambling down that hill to make sure nobody got the crown before they did.
“General Kaluk, I am sure, was sent to Rocky Beach because he had once known Alexis Kerenov, and might be better able to recognize him than Demetrieff, who never knew him personally. And he did recognize him, in spite of all the beard and the white hair. The Potter had not changed that much, and Kaluk had changed scarcely at all.”