Vanished. As if someone could hide a 15 x 20 foot painting, much less run off with the thing, and yet the impossible seemed true!

Everyone surveyed the room quickly and noted the only items of interest were the open windows, the piano, and the previously received package, still wrapped as it was when it just arrived.

Arthur ran to the window and looked out for any signs of prints or whatnot, but it was no use. Vincent Jefferson would never leave something so rediculously simple at the scene of the crime, or so everyone at the "party" thought to themselves.

And it was true. The ground was muddy, yet no footprints were to be found. The window... it might have been a ploy... and yet...

"He has it hidden somewhere... I know it!" shouted Arthur Chester, as he frantically searched the entire room. Dr. Hadean cast a suspicious glance toward the butler guarding the door.

"It's quite simple, really," Dr. Hadean muttered to himself.

Arthur Chester, however, decided that he would do better to tear down everything in the room in case Vincent Jefferson had somehow hidden it without anyone noticing.

Suddenly, Arthur smiled as he cast a short glance to the obnoxiously large package he had previously received.

"Ha!"

He tore open the package and... there was Arsene Lupin!

"You didn't get away this time, Vincent Jefferson," Arthur shouted in triumph. Louisa rushed to Arthur, shoved him out of the way, and planted a small kiss onto the painting.

Suddenly, a short laugh came out of Skip Carter. The room hushed up and stared at him, for it was a queer thing to do with such a serious matter.

"You're all blind!" he shouted. "Look! Look behind the painting!"

Arthur bent behind the painting, and gasped. Louisa rushed behind it and did the same. Everyone began to notice something appalling behind the painting of Arsene Lupin.

Behind that painting, was another canvas. The first canvas was removed to reveal Arsene Lupin! That canvas was removed to reveal Arsene Lupin once again! In fact, there were about two dozen Arsene Lupins in the room, all smiling and taunting its owner.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Arthur shouted in his characteristic voice.

"Perhaps," suggested Dr. Hadean, "Vincent Jefferson had intended to make a copy and replace it with your genuine painting, while running off with it." He cast a quick look around the room to study reactions.

"If that's so," said Bethany, "why would there be multiple copies rather than just one? In fact, there are at least two dozens, are there not?"

Everyone agreed that it was a strange state of affairs.

"Wait!" shouted Martin suddenly, as an idea struck him. "Perhaps the painting has had some kind of water mark? Surely, Vincent Jefferson could not have known of the water mark, and could not have prepared a painting with a water mark on it if he had just removed the painting today."

Louisa was excited at the idea, and Arthur sent out the butler guarding the door to fetch a flashlight, as if he were a king and ordering some peon to leave his castle, lest he should bring his wrath upon the poor fellow. The butler rushed off, almost tripping on his own shoes.

The butler returned with a flashlight momentarily, and Arthur Chester grabbed the flashlight and rushed to shine it behind every painting of Arsene Lupin to find its authenticity.

Each painting was held, and the flashlight was shone upon the back of each one, so as to find some kind of water mark. Of course, the canvas was so tall, that eventually a ladder was needed to reach the higher parts of the painting.

"Ah!"

Arthur uttered a squeal of delight, and the others awed as well, for in that very painting they were all holding, Arsene Lupin's face had become distorted into a likeness of a beautiful ring. It was a queer water mark, thought Dr. Hadean, but the thought passed him without much concern.

The real painting of Arsene Lupin was restored to its rightful place.

"Take that!" shouted Arthur Chester, casting glances at Skip Carter, Kerry Manfred, and the butler. "You see, Arsene Lupin might be able to pull a fast one on many people, but he is still just a man!" He smiled as he took credit for Dr. Hadean's previous remark. Dr. Hadean looked uncomfortable.

---

Hours longer had passed, as the rest of the mansion was surveyed. Guests were beginning to leave, as the party was dying.

"Before you leave, however," said Arthur Chester, standing next to the enormous front door, "I would like to give you all a parting gift."

He snapped his fingers, and a butler and housemaid brought out the copies of Arsene Lupin. Some were terribly excited by this, and some cast short smiles, but all were pleased to receive their parting gift, even if it was a fake.

"I believe," continued Arthur Chester, "that we should all give our thanks to Vincent Jefferson. For without him, we wouldn't have had this delicious comedy that we have now!"

Everyone laughed except Dr. Hadean, who quietly accepted his painting, and stole out the door. Each person carefully surveyed the paintings before choosing the one that they believed looked most authentic.

"Bethany..."

Bethany Shadows was the second-to-last to leave, and Martin Pershing stood without a painting, casting his eyes upon Bethany. Her figure was faintly visible in the dark outside...

"Thank you for a great time," Martin said awkwardly, as he held out his hand for her to shake. Bethany grabbed his hand and seemed as if she wanted to kiss him, but Martin refused. He simply smiled and let her walk out the door with her painting being carried out to the car by two maids.

"Well," said Louisa Chester. "I bid you good night." It wasn't subtle by any means of the word.

Martin examined the backs of the remaining paintings quickly, and chose one. He waved good night and carried the painting out to a delivery truck. Arthur Chester had evidently ordered one for every guest, so the truck could follow the guest to their abode, and deliver it properly. Martin handed a small slip of paper to one of the maids as she opened the door to the delivery truck. He also handed a small slip of paper to the man driving the delivery truck.

"That's strange," said Arthur Chester, after Martin Pershing had left.

"What's strange?" asked Louisa Chester.

"It's strange that that queer fellow would go one way to his house, while the truck driver should take another way..."

The maid rushed back into the mansion and said, "This is addressed to you from that Mr. Martin Pershing." She continued inside to finish the rest of her menial tasks.

"What is it?" asked Louisa Chester with little interest.

She got no response, however. Arthur Chester stood in the doorway, with the door still open. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly agape. The paper dropped to the floor. Writing was all over the front and back of the sheet.

"Arthur?"

Louisa Chester rushed to the doorway and picked up the scrap of paper. It read:

---

Dearest Sir Arthur Jeiger Candide Frankstein Chester III, esq. and Louisa Chester:

I truly must thank the two of you for allowing me to take your prized Arsene Lupin painting. In fact, I must thank Arthur Chester for outright giving it to me. It really is a pleasure to be able to relieve you of such a valuable, and especially because it should belong in a museum.

You will notice that I have sent you other copies of Arsene Lupin, including the one that, no doubt, hangs in your art room right now. It truly is a good imitation, isn't it? Especially with that water mark. I have taken great pains to have it created in so special a manner, but it is definitely beautiful.

But perhaps you are wondering what is my trick? And I shall tell you! It was very simple, actually! All I did was send you the paintings! I had wrapped yours in the same paper when you weren't looking, and you just assumed that the one with the water mark (which was a fake, and which I had sent you in the first place) was the real one. Perhaps, if you did your own work and weren't so caught up in buying expensive things, you would have realized this sooner, rather than right now, for the real painting of Arsene Lupin has a dab of red paint directly behind the left eye at the back of the canvas.

I knew no one would take that one, because it appeared as if the painting was damaged. That is why I had such an easy time receiving it from you, and for that, I truly must thank you.

You will note, Mr. and Mrs. Chester, that the water mark is the shape of a ring. That ring signifies what else has been taken from you, and should be remembered as a token of your foolishness.

Faithfully and Sincerely Yours,

Vincent Jefferson

---

Louisa Chester rushed up the stairs and pushed on the lids of every jewelry box. She approached the rather large case with the rather small ring and noticed that the ring was gone! It was her most prized possession! Gone! Louisa screamed a cry of terror...

---

Martin Pershing drove home confidently, and the next day had exchanged the ring for money at a pawn shop. He enclosed the money in an envelope along with a short message saying, "For Child Support", and added two addressed to the envelope. He smiled. He had gone into his profession for the right reasons.

Martin Pershing bought a ticket to the local museum that same day and admired the painting of Arsene Lupin.

"Arsene Lupin..." he said to himself. "A man of many faces... As am I..."

Vincent Jefferson stared at himself in the glass case that housed Arsene Lupin. He noticed the few defining features he had left. He stared at a middle-aged man... He was still in shape... If he were ten or twenty years younger...

And his grey eyes. They stared into the glass case with an air of mysteriousness. Vincent Jefferson smiled. It was his profession that was causing him such problems... It was his profession that caused his wife to divorce him and his child to be left in someone else's hands. It was his profession that caused such trouble, yet it was his profession that kept his child support paid. Vincent Jefferson noticed the irony of his situation, and let out a short laugh.