A year later an important letter arrived at the boys’ house. Dad opened
it, read it quickly, and said, “Good news, boys! This letter is from the
Dutch government. Remember those two paintings that we thought might
have been stolen from a Dutch museum?”
“Yes,” said Bill.
“Well, it seems that after a year of studying them, the Dutch have
decided that they really are the paintings that were stolen.”
“That is good news,” said Harley. “At least we know that two of the
paintings we found are genuine.”
“What are they going to do with them?” asked Martin.
“Of course, they have to go back to their original owners. But this
letter says that the Dutch government wants us to come to Holland as
their guests as a reward for finding those paintings.”
[Illustration: _These two paintings “The Lacemaker” and “The Smiling
Girl” were thought to have been by Vermeer. A series of tests,
including some of those described in this booklet, showed that the
paintings are fairly old. However, some of the materials used are
not typical of Vermeer, and the pictures are now thought to have
been painted by a follower of the artist._]
“That’s great!” said Bill. “Looks like we’re getting something out of
finding that box after all.”
“Yes,” said Dad. “And don’t forget the other unidentified paintings may
also be genuine. We’ve proved that one is a fake, the experts believe
that three of the others are copies, and then there are the two that
might be Sisleys and are only waiting for a method to prove it. And we
have one more that science managed to prove was really old. I’m sure
that in a few years methods will be developed to tell us exactly who
painted it.
“And now let’s make arrangements for our trip to Holland.”