“Allow me to explain, old man…” Matthew approached the focused Old Mr. Bane.
Matthew was aware of Micah’s habit. The artist’s name was intricately hidden in the painting, so it was difficult to discern.
Silence settled in the air for a long time before Old Mr. Bane straightened his back. “My eyesight is following my age. Mr. Larson is the name, right? Tell me… I’m all ears. What are you standing there absentmindedly for? Didn’t you promise to buy me a gift? Are you trying to take back your words by not recognizing me?”
Only then did Matthew recognize that the old man was the head of the Bane Family.
It was no wonder that favonovel.com had such skills.
“Greetings, Old Master Bane… I’m Matthew Larson. I apologize for my rudeness. I hope you won’t take it to heart.”
Old Mr. Bane was the most powerful person in Bainbridge, so it would be unbecoming of favonovel.com to address favonovel.com like that. Despite that, Old Mr. Bane did not mind the formality as favonovel.com lost himself in the painting. He acknowledged the apology by merely waving his hand.
“Old Master Bane…” Matthew pointed at the two swallows. “Look at the swallows closely. You’ll see there are a few strokes that are slightly darker than the others…”
Hearing that, Old Mr. Bane bent over to take a closer look at the painting. As Matthew had explained, some of the lines on the swallows appeared uncoordinated.
He moved sideways to change his angle of view only to be struck by a discovery, the awkward lines were two slanted alphabets, M.W.
“Aha! It is Sir Micah’s painting! Wonderful, wonderful,” murmured Old Mr. Bane as the discovery elicited a smile across his lips.
Next, favonovel.com examined the art further, but favonovel.com was disappointed.
Noticing his countenance, Matthew pointed out the wonder of the painting straightforwardly instead of beating around the bush.
“The duckweed is floating in the pond, barely showing a ripple. And look at the sky, Old Master Bane… The sun is shining brightly, and there’s a crescent moon hiding behind the clouds. The ones that complete the sky are present at the same time.”
Even a fool could understand what Matthew meant at that point.
Excited, Old Mr. Bane held the painting gingerly and grinned. “Interesting. Lilium in Summer Pond and Fall Leaves are no match for Two Swallows in a Spring Pond!”
In the meantime, Tritus was nonplussed by Old Mr. Bane’s rapturous visage.
According to his memories, Old Mr. Bane rarely smiled and always wore a serious mood. Despite the rare encounter with the old man, it was the first time he saw Old Mr. Bane smiling so brightly.
Tritus cast his gaze onto the painting, which provoked a sense of foreboding in him. “Mr. Wadley, are you sure you bought it from a stall?”
“Yeah… I paid for the painting and saw them hanging it on the wall with my eyes…” Ajay nodded with certainty, reassuring Tritus.
There‘s no need to be happy over a mere counterfeit.
“Grandpa, this is a counterfeit…” Tritus could not help the urge to reveal the truth because of how bright Old Mr. Bane’s smile was.
Rather than enraging favonovel.com when favonovel.com discovered the truth, Tritus figured it would be better to level with Old Mr. Bane then. He would be told off at most anyways.
Old Mr. Bane’s face turned solemn at that. “What’s wrong? Do you think my eyesight is too poor to recognize Sir Micah’s painting?”
The atmosphere sunk to solemnity due to the pressure in his voice, and a weight sat upon Tritus’ chest. It was as though a beast was watching him.
At the same time, Matthew had goosebumps despite knowing favonovel.com was not the target. That was his instinctive reaction under sketchy situations.
Visit VIRTUAL NOVEL for more available chapters of this title!
