Tales of Chinatown | Page 7

Then Poland clutched me, and his fright was very real.
"I heard a shriek like nothing I ever heard in my life. I saw a light shine
through the trap, and then I heard a sort of moaning. Last, I heard a
bang, and the light went out. I staggered down the passage half silly,
started to run, and ran straight into the arms of two coppers."
This evidence I thought was conclusive, and in accordance with your
instructions I proceeded to Mr. Isaacs in Dover Street. He didn't seem
too pleased at my suggestion, but when I pointed out to him that one
good turn deserved another, he agreed to give me an introduction to
Huang Chow.
I adopted a very simple disguise, just altering my complexion and
sticking on a moustache with spirit gum, hair by hair, and trimming it
down military fashion. Everything ran smoothly, and I seemed to make
a fairly favourable impression upon Lala Huang, the Chinaman's
daughter, who evidently interviews prospective customers before they
are admitted to the warehouse.
She is a Eurasian and extremely good looking. But when I found
myself in the room where old Huang keeps his treasures, I really
thought I was dreaming. It's a collection that must be worth thousands.
He showed me snuff-bottles, cut out of gems, and with a little opening
no bigger than the hole in a pipe-stem, but with wonderful paintings
done inside the bottles. He'd got a model of a pagoda made out of
human teeth, and a big golden rug woven from the hair of Circassian
slave girls. Excuse this, Chief Inspector; I know it is what you call the

romantic stuff; but I think it would have impressed you if you had seen
it.
Anyway, I bought a little enamelled box, in accordance with Mr.
Isaacs's instructions, although whether I succeeded in convincing
Huang Chow that I knew anything about the matter is more than
doubtful. He got up from a sort of throne he sits on, and led the way up
a broad staircase to a private room above.
"Of course, you have brought the cash, Mr. Hampden?" he said.
He speaks quite faultless English. He walked up three steps to a sort of
raised writing-table in this upstairs room, and I counted out the money
to him. When he sat at the table he faced toward the room, and I
couldn't help thinking that, in his horn-rimmed spectacles, he looked
like some old magistrate. He explained that he would pack the purchase
for me, but that I must personally take it away. And:
"You understand," said he, "that you bought it from a gentleman who
had purchased it abroad."
I said I quite understood. He bowed me out very politely, and presently
I found myself back in the office with Lala Huang.
She seemed quite disposed to talk, and I chatted with her while the box
was being packed for me to take away. I knew I must make good use of
my time, but you have never given me a job I liked less. I mean, there
is something very appealing about her, and I hated to think that I was
playing a double game. However, without actually agreeing to see me
again, she told me enough to enable me to meet her "accidentally," if I
wanted to. Therefore, I am going to look out for her this evening, and
probably take her to a picture palace, or somewhere where we can have
a quiet talk. She seems to be fancy free, and for some reason I feel
sorry for the girl. I don't altogether like the job, but I hope to justify
your faith in me, Chief.
I will prepare my official report this evening when I return.

Yours obediently,--JOHN DURHAM.

V
LALA HUANG

"No," said Lala Huang, "I don't like London--not this part of London."
"Where would you rather be?" asked Durham. "In China?"
Dusk had dropped its merciful curtain over Limehouse, and as the two
paced slowly along West India Dock Road it seemed to the detective
that a sort of glamour had crept into the scene.
He was a clever man within his limitations, and cultured up to a point;
but he was not philosopher enough to know that he viewed the purlieus
of Limehouse through a haze of Oriental mystery conjured up by the
conversation of his companion. Temple bells there were in the clangour
of the road cars. The smoke-stacks had a semblance of pagodas. Burma
she had conjured up before him, and China, and the soft islands where
she had first seen the light. For as well as a streak of European, there
was Kanaka blood in Lala, which lent her an appeal quite new to
Durham, insidious and therefore dangerous.
"Not