"Won't you sit down?" said my host, who wore morning dress and looked less charac- teristically Chinese than he had looked in white overalls.
I sat down.
A small writing-desk set before the window was littered with torn documents, and a longer table in the centre of the room bore stacks of newspapers. I saw the London Evening News, the Times of India, and the Chicago Tribune amongst this odd assort- ment. Certain paragraphs appeared to have been cut out with scissors. The floor was littered with oddments. I noticed other defi- nite evidences of a speedy outgoing. A very large steamer trunk bearing the initials L. K. S. in white letters stood strapped in a corner of the room.
"It is my purpose, Mr. Greville," said Dr. Amber, taking a seat near the desk and catching me steadily, "to explain certain matters which have been puzzling yourself and your friends. And perhaps in the first place, since I wish to be perfectly frank"--he glanced toward the big trunk--"I should tell you that 'Dr Amber' is a pseudonym. I am called Li King Su; I hold a medical degree of Canton; and I once had the pleasure of assisting Dr. Petrie in a very critical major operation. He will probably remember me.
"You are quite naturally labouring under the impression that I belong to the organisation controlled by the Lady Fah Lo Suee. This is not so. I belong to another, older, organisation...."
He stared at me intently. But I didn't interrupt him. I was considering that curious expression--"the Lady Fah Lo Suee. "
"I was--shall we say?--a spy in the house in which you first met me. The lady called Fah Lo Suee has now discovered the imposture, and--"
Again he paused, indicating the steamer trunk. "My usefulness is ended. I am a marked man, Mr. Greville. If I escape alive I shall be lucky. But let us talk of something else.... The Tomb of the Black Ape has proved something of a puzzle to Sir Denis Nayland Smith. The solution is simple:
A representative of that older organisation to which I have referred was present when Lafleur opened the place many years ago. By arrangement with that distinguished Egyptol- ogist, it was reclosed. Later--in fact, early in 1918--a prominent official of our ancient society, passing through Egypt, had reason to suspect that certain treasures in his possession might be discovered and detained by the British Authorities--for these were troubled times. He proceeded up the Nile and success- fully concealed them in this tomb--the secret of which had been preserved with just such an end in view...."
I suppose I must have known all along; but for some reason at this moment the iden- tity of "a representative of that older organi- sation" and "a prominent official of our ancient society" suddenly burst upon me with all the shock of novelty; and, meeting the glance of those inscrutable eyes which watched me so intently:
"You are speaking of Dr. Fu Manchu!" I said. Li King Su permitted himself a slight deprecatory gesture. "It is desirable," he replied, "that those of whom I speak should remain anonymous!"
But I continued to stare at him with a sort of horror. "By arrangement with that distin- guished Egyptologist," he had said smoothly.
Good God! What kind of "arrangement"! "It was the intention of the hider," he went on, "that those potent secrets should remain concealed for ever. The activities of Professor Zeitland and Sir Lionel Barton created an unforeseen situation. It was complicated by the action of the Lady Fah Lo Suee. She had recently learned what was hidden there, but she was ignorant of how to recover it.... Professor Zeitland imparted his knowledge to her--then came Sir Lionel Barton...."
He paused again, significantly.
"We moved too late, Mr. Greville. An old schism in our ranks had made an enemy of one of the most brilliant and dangerous men in China--the exalted Mandarin Ki Ming. He gave the Lady Fah Lo Suee his aid. But we wasted no more time. I succeeded in gaining admittance to their councils. It was by means of their organisation that I intercepted Dr. Petrie's telegram to Sir Brian Hawkins. You know the use which I made of my knowledge.
"Your present English Government is blind. You will lose Egypt as you have lost India. A great federation of Eastern States affiliated with Russia--a new Russia--is destined to take the place once held by the British Empire. You have one chance to recover...."
The man's personality was beginning to get me. I had forgotten that I sat, inert, listening to a self-confessed servant of Dr. Fu Manchu: I only knew that he was raising veils beyond which I longed to peer.
"What is it?" I asked.
And, as I spoke a chill--not figurative but literal--turned me cold. I had detected Li King Su in the act of glancing toward a partially opened door which led to the bedroom....
Definitely someone was listening!
As if conscious of the fact that he had betrayed himself, "Dr. Amber" went on immediately:
"A counter alliance! But we are getting out of our depth, Mr. Greville. To return to more personal matters: The schemes of the Lady Fah Lo Suee were not approved by us. The authority she has stolen must be restored to those who know how to wield it. In other words, Sir Denis Nayland Smith's aim and our own are identical--at the moment. But he is marked down! "
"He knows it! "
"He may know it--but to-night he is walking into a trap! Since he left Norfolk-- where he failed to arrest the prime mover-- you have lost touch with him. He is following up a clue discovered by Inspector Yale. It is a false clue... a snare. He stands in the way: she is afraid to move until he is silenced.
"Here"--he handed me a slip of paper --"is the address to which he is going to- night. Death waits for him."
I glanced at the writing.
"The garden of this house adjoins the Regent Canal," Li King Su went on. "And it is intended that Sir Denis's body shall be found in the Canal in the morning! Here"-- he passed a second slip--"is the address at which Sir Denis is hiding."
The second address was that of a Dr. Murray in a southwest suburb.
"Dr. Murray bought Dr. Petrie's practice," the even voice continued, "when the latter went to Egypt. I must warn you against any attempt to communicate by tele- phone. The Lady Fah Lo Suee has a spy in the house! Take what steps you please, Mr. Greville, but move quickly! For my own part, I leave London in an hour. I can do no more. It is unnecessary to remind you of our bargain."
3
At the very moment that I entered the lift, that occult knowledge of being watched left me. It was the same--but intensified--as that which had warned me in Cairo, and later on the road to el-Kharga. Li King Su, on acquaintance, was a remarkable man. But some vastly greater personality had been concealed in that inner room. I could not forget that Dr. Fu Manchu had been seen a stone's throw from Babylon House!
Could I trust Li King Su?
Simple enough to test his statements. I had only to take a taxi to Dr. Murray's address.
But, as I thought, as I walked out into Piccadilly, a mistake now might carry unimaginable consequences; better to consult Weymouth or Yale before I committed an irreparable blunder.
Dusk was falling. I saw that the lamps in Burlington Arcade had been lighted as well as those in the Piccadilly Arcade which forms a sort of abbreviated continuation of the older bazaar and breaks through to Jermyn Street. Deep in thought I passed the entrance to the latter. A French sedan was drawn up beside the pavement.
I was level with it when an exclamation of annoyance checked me sharply--and just prevented my collision with a woman who, crossing before me, had evidently been making for the car.
She was a fashionable figure, wearing a fur-trimmed coat, and a short veil attached to her close-fitting hat quite obscured her features. She carried several parcels, one of which she had dropped almost at my feet.
Steeping, I picked it up--a paper-wrapped package fastened with green tape and apparently containing very light purchases. The chauffeur sprang down and opened the door of the car, as: