Paul Quentin by Fred M. White — Read

Dugdale would have been put out and his calculations considerably upset had there been nothing like this to arouse his suspicions. Though he was beginning to see his way towards the daylight, he was still groping in the dark. On the face of it nothing had happened to connect the outrage due to the spurious Dr Prince with the search for the Dragon Vase. Yet they were intimately connected, as John Dugdale very well knew. He was now able to advance a theory at once startling and plausible. By rare good luck he had found the vase at the very outset of his expedition. Had he found it still earlier he would have reported his success to his employer and thought no more about it. His curiosity might have been excited by a commission so quaint and strange, but in the ordinary course there would have been no suggestion of anything criminal in connection with it.

That would have been the probable run of events if Dugdale had discovered the vase only an hour or so before the advent of the mad doctor. At first the so-called Dr Prince's appearance had only been a startling incident in the day's work. Now Dugdale knew better. He had evidence to prove that Dr Prince was closely associated with Paul Quentin. He knew that this business of the Dragon Vase went to the root of the whole matter. He was not sure whether Quentin knew that the vase had been found, but rather thought not. But that point would be left for the present. What he had to do was to save the Dragon Vase and keep it where it was. He had the strongest reasons for believing that the vase was no forgery even in the face of what had been stated by Lord Passmore and Antonio Bassano. Dugdale flattered himself he had read Bassano closely, and knew what was passing in the Italian's mind. Two sets of people were after the Dragon Vase; they were closely connected; but were not acting honestly to each other. Whether Lady Sunningdale's diamonds had anything to do with the main issue or not Dugdale could not tell, though he suspected that they had. He meant to follow up this affair, too, on the chance of one clue leading to another. Detectives say it is a common experience to light on an unexpected crime when searching for something totally different.