Part 1

For several years Mr Williams worked for Fill in the blank 1 of 10 museum at Fill in the blank 2 of 10 University of Oxford, enlarging its already famous collection of drawings and pictures of Fill in the blank 3 of 10 English country houses and churches. It is hard to imagine anything less alarming than collecting Fill in the blank 4 of 10 pictures of Fill in the blank 5 of 10 houses and churches, but Mr Williams found that even this peaceful work had Fill in the blank 6 of 10 unexpected dark corners.

He bought many pictures for Fill in the blank 7 of 10 museum from Fill in the blank 8 of 10 London shop of Mr J. W. Britnell. Twice Fill in the blank 9 of 10 year Mr Britnell sent Fill in the blank 10 of 10 list of pictures to all his regular customers, who could then choose which pictures they wanted to look at before deciding whether to buy.

In February 1895 Mr Williams received Fill in the blank 1 of 9 list from Mr Britnell with Fill in the blank 2 of 9 following letter:

Dear Sir,
I think you might be interested in Fill in the blank 3 of 9 Picture Number 978 in our list, which I will be happy to send to you if you wish.
J. W. Britnell

Mr Williams turned to Fill in the blank 4 of 9 Number 978 in Fill in the blank 5 of 9 list and found Fill in the blank 6 of 9 following note:
Number 978. Artist unknown. Picture of Fill in the blank 7 of 9 English country house, early nineteenth century. 25 centimetres by 40 centimetres. £20.

It did not sound very interesting and Fill in the blank 8 of 9 price seemed high. However, Mr Williams added it to Fill in the blank 9 of 9 pictures that he asked Mr Britnell to send to him.

Fill in the blank 1 of 17 pictures arrived at Fill in the blank 2 of 17 museum one Saturday afternoon, just after Mr Williams had left. They were brought round to his rooms in Fill in the blank 3 of 17 college so that he could look at them over Fill in the blank 4 of 17 weekend. Mr Williams found them on his table when he and his friend, Mr Binks, came in to have Fill in the blank 5 of 17 tea.

Fill in the blank 6 of 17 Picture Number 978 showed Fill in the blank 7 of 17 front of quite Fill in the blank 8 of 17 large country house. It had three rows of windows with Fill in the blank 9 of 17 door in Fill in the blank 10 of 17 middle of Fill in the blank 11 of 17 bottom row. There were Fill in the blank 12 of 17 trees on both sides of Fill in the blank 13 of 17 house and Fill in the blank 14 of 17 large lawn in front of it. Fill in the blank 15 of 17 letters A. W. F. were written in Fill in the blank 16 of 17 corner of Fill in the blank 17 of 17 picture.

Mr Williams thought that it was not very well done, probably Fill in the blank 1 of 16 work of Fill in the blank 2 of 16 amateur artist, and he could not understand why Mr Britnell thought it was worth twenty pounds. He turned it over and saw that there was Fill in the blank 3 of 16 piece of paper on Fill in the blank 4 of 16 back with Fill in the blank 5 of 16 part of Fill in the blank 6 of 16 name on it. All he could read were Fill in the blank 7 of 16 ends of two lines of writing. Fill in the blank 8 of 16 first said, ‘—ngly Hall’; Fill in the blank 9 of 16 second, ‘—ssex’.

Mr Williams thought that it would be interesting to see if he could find Fill in the blank 10 of 16 name of Fill in the blank 11 of 16 house in one of his guidebooks before sending Fill in the blank 12 of 16 picture back on Monday morning. Meanwhile, he put Fill in the blank 13 of 16 picture on Fill in the blank 14 of 16 table, lit Fill in the blank 15 of 16 lamp because it was now getting dark, and made Fill in the blank 16 of 16 tea.