The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu | Page 8

she smiled sadly, and pushed me gently away.
"I am quite well, thank you," she said.
"You are certain? Let me walk with you until you feel quite sure of
yourself."
She shook her head, flashed a rapid glance at me with her beautiful
eyes, and looked away in a sort of sorrowful embarrassment, for which
I was entirely at a loss to account. Suddenly she resumed:
"I cannot let my name be mentioned in this dreadful matter, but--I think
I have some information--for the police. Will you give this to--
whomever you think proper?"
She handed me a sealed envelope, again met my eyes with one of her
dazzling glances, and hurried away. She had gone no more than ten or
twelve yards, and I still was standing bewildered, watching her graceful,

retreating figure, when she turned abruptly and came back.
Without looking directly at me, but alternately glancing towards a
distant corner of the square and towards the house of Major-General
Platt-Houston, she made the following extraordinary request:
"If you would do me a very great service, for which I always would be
grateful,"--she glanced at me with passionate intentness--"when you
have given my message to the proper person, leave him and do not go
near him any more to-night!"
Before I could find words to reply she gathered up her cloak and ran.
Before I could determine whether or not to follow her (for her words
had aroused anew all my worst suspicions) she had disappeared! I
heard the whir of a restarted motor at no great distance, and, in the
instant that Nayland Smith came running down the steps, I knew that I
had nodded at my post.
"Smith!" I cried as he joined me, "tell me what we must do!" And
rapidly I acquainted him with the incident.
My friend looked very grave; then a grim smile crept round his lips.
"She was a big card to play," he said; "but he did not know that I held
one to beat it."
"What! You know this girl! Who is she?"
"She is one of the finest weapons in the enemy's armory, Petrie. But a
woman is a two-edged sword, and treacherous. To our great good
fortune, she has formed a sudden predilection, characteristically
Oriental, for yourself. Oh, you may scoff, but it is evident. She was
employed to get this letter placed in my hands. Give it to me."
I did so.
"She has succeeded. Smell."
He held the envelope under my nose, and, with a sudden sense of

nausea, I recognized the strange perfume.
"You know what this presaged in Sir Crichton's case? Can you doubt
any longer? She did not want you to share my fate, Petrie."
"Smith," I said unsteadily, "I have followed your lead blindly in this
horrible business and have not pressed for an explanation, but I must
insist before I go one step farther upon knowing what it all means."
"Just a few steps farther," he rejoined; "as far as a cab. We are hardly
safe here. Oh, you need not fear shots or knives. The man whose
servants are watching us now scorns to employ such clumsy, tell-tale
weapons."
Only three cabs were on the rank, and, as we entered the first,
something hissed past my ear. missed both Smith and me by a miracle,
and, passing over the roof of the taxi, presumably fell in the enclosed
garden occupying the center of the square.
"What was that?" I cried.
"Get in--quickly!" Smith rapped back. "It was attempt number one!
More than that I cannot say. Don't let the man hear. He has noticed
nothing. Pull up the window on your side, Petrie, and look out behind.
Good! We've started."
The cab moved off with a metallic jerk, and I turned and looked back
through the little window in the rear.
"Someone has got into another cab. It is following ours, I think."
Nayland Smith lay back and laughed unmirthfully.
"Petrie," he said, "if I escape alive from this business I shall know that I
bear a charmed life."
I made no reply, as he pulled out the dilapidated pouch and filled his
pipe.

"You have asked me to explain matters," he continued, "and I will do
so to the best of my ability. You no doubt wonder why a servant of the
British Government, lately stationed in Burma, suddenly appears in
London, in the character of a detective. I am here, Petrie--and I bear
credentials from the very highest sources--because, quite by accident, I
came upon a clew. Following it up, in the ordinary course of routine, I
obtained evidence of the existence and malignant activity of a certain
man. At the present stage of the case I should not be justified in
terming him the emissary of an Eastern