Explore "A Crime on Canvas" by Fred M. White on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
OMLEY sat with a smile upon his face--the good-natured obstinate smile which showed a disposition far more difficult to deal with than any display of passion or emotion. The man had made up his mind what to do, and nothing on Lawrence's part was likely to turn him from his purpose.
He appeared to be perfectly at home, too, as if he had been there many a time before, though he had failed to commend himself to the good opinion of the footman. He did not seem surprised to find that Lawrence had forestalled him; indeed, he treated the whole thing as something in the way of a joke. This was the one note of comedy in the tragedy, the one inconsequent item which upset Lawrence's theories. He could not, for the life of him, imagine where Omley came in, or what part he was playing in the mystery. Whether the man was aware how far things had gone it was impossible to say. But whatever his knowledge might be, he regarded the whole affair with the light-heartedness of a child. Lawrence could not be angry, or expostulate with him, as he would have done with a more responsible being.