'I respect you so much. Sir Denis,' she went on, 'that I know your removal is vital to my council. But I promise you it shall be swift.'
Nayland Smith remained silent.
'A traitor has already paid the price which we demanded. When Li King Su and yourself are found together-- the inference will be obvious. And I have arranged for you to be found at the Limehouse end of the Canal. '
'Congratulations,' he said. 'You wear the cloak of your lamented father gracefully.'
Perhaps some shade of emotion passed swiftly across the impassive face of Fah Lo Suee; perhaps I only imagined it. But she continued without pause:
'For you, Shan, I have pleasant duties in China--where I must return immediately, my work here undone.' Again she stared at Nayland Smith. 'But I am not greedy, Shan, and you shall not be lonely.'
She clapped her hands.
The door from the lobby opened....
And Rima was pushed into the room by the Nubian!
3
Over those first few moments that followed, I must leave a veil. Exactly what took place I shall never know. The shock of it stupefied me.
'.... They said you were ill, Shan.... I came right away without waiting to speak to a soul....'
Those words reached me through a sort of drumming in my head. Now I saw Rima's grave eyes turn to Fah Lo Suee in such a look of loathing horror as I had never seen in them before.
But Fah Lo Suee met that glance without animosity. In her own strange eyes of jade green there was no glint of feminine triumph, no mockery. Only a calm consideration. She had mocked Nayland Smith, she had mocked me: we were her active potent enemies, and she had outwitted us. Rima she regarded with something strangely like a cold compassion.
That God had ever given life to a woman so far above the weaknesses of her sex as Fah Lo Suee was something I could never have believed without convincing evidence. Even her curious infatuation for myself was a mere feline fancy, ordered and contained. She would have sacrificed nothing to it; nor would it long outlast its realisation.
'Shan!' Rima's voice suddenly rose to a high emotional note; she moved forward. 'Tell me-- '
'Be silent, child,' said Fah Lo Suee. 'Sit there,'
She indicated an arm-chair. Rima's despairing glance met mine; then she obeyed that quiet, imperious command. Fah Lo Suee signalled to the Nubian to go. He withdrew, not wholly closing the door.
'Shan attracts me,' Fah Lo Suee went on. 'Apart from which he has qualities which will prove useful when we move in Egypt. But I don't want to steal him from you'--she glanced at Rima--'and he would be unhappy without you.'
We were all watching her. There was absolute silence in the room when she ceased speaking. Of the many violent scenes I had known from that dark hour when Sir Lionel's voice--or so I had supposed at the time-- called out to me in the wadi where we were camped, this quiet, deadly interlude before the amazement to come recurs most frequently in my memory.
'It is very simple, Shan'--she turned to me. 'Sir Denis has checked me--would always check me. He knows too much of our plans. So do you. The others can wait. If Superintendent Weymouth had come here alone--he would have remained.... After you have gone... he will become dangerous. But he must wait.
'His arrival here to-night was an unfortunate accident-- due to my consideration of your happiness.'
I met the steady gaze of those enthralling eyes.... 'Your happiness....' As though, unwittingly, she had communicated her secret thoughts to me, I grasped the truth; I saw the part that Rima was to play. I, alone, might prove difficult. Rima, helpless in the power of Fah Lo Suee, would make me a pliant slave! Suddenly:
'More and more,' said Nayland Smith, 'I regret the absence of Dr. Fu Manchu. I would rather deal with him than with his daughter!'
Fah Lo Suee turned, suddenly.
'Why do you assume my father to be dead?' she asked.
Nayland Smith exchanged a rapid glance with me; then:
'I don't assume anything of the kind,' he rapped, with all his old vigour. 'I know he's alive! '
'How do you know? '
'That is my business. Kindly confine yourself to a statement of your own.'
There were some moments of silence; then:
'Dr. Fu Manchu,' said Fah Lo Suee, 'is alive--yes. You were always a clever man, Sir Denis. But his age prohibits travel.'
I dared not trust myself to look at Nayland Smith. It was incredible.
She didn't know that Fu Manchu was in England!
Smith made no reply.
'The work that he laid down,' Fah Lo Suee went on, 'I have taken up. The Si Fan, Sir Denis, is a power again. But time is precious. The unforeseen visit of Superintendent Weymouth delayed me. There are only two members in England now. They are in this house. They will leave with me.... Shan, do you choose that yourself and Rima shall travel as baggage, or will you bow to the inevitable? '
'Agree!' rapped Nayland Smith. 'A hundred chances of helping the world present themselves to live man--but not to a synthetic corpse. '
'Shan!'
Rima wild-eyed, was staring at me. She sprung up from her chair.
'What?' I asked dully.
'I don't know the meaning of it all--I can only guess; but you wouldn't bargain, Shan?'
Nayland Smith caught my wandering glance, and:
'He would, Rima,' he answered. 'So would I--if I had the chance! Don't be foolish, little lady. This isn't a game of tennis. It's a game of which you don't know the rules. There's only one thing to play for... life. Because, while one of us lives, there's always a chance that that one may win!-- Agree, Greville! It's nine thousand miles to China--and with two active brains alert, anything may happen.'
I closed my eyes. This was agony. An age seemed to pass. Had Nayland Smith some scheme behind his words? And where did my duty lie?... My duty to Rima; my duty to the world....
'I will agree,' I said at last--and my voice was one I could never have recognized, 'on the distinct understanding that Rima is not to be harmed or molested in any way--and that Sir Denis is released to-night.'
Opening my eyes, I glanced quickly at Fah Lo Suee. Her expression was inscrutable. I looked at Rima. She was staring at me--an uncomprehending stare.... Lastly I looked at Nayland Smith.
His steely eyes regarded me wistfully. He twisted his lips in a wry grimace and shook his head, as:
'Your second condition is impossible,' Fah Lo Suee replied.
And as she spoke the miracle happened; the thing of which to this very hour I some- times doubt the reality, seeming, as it does now, rather part of a fevered dream than an actual occurrence.
I don't know what prompted me, as that bell-like voice ceased, to look again at Rima. But I did so.
She was staring past me--at the lacquer cabinet where Kali sat--the hidden doorway Fah Lo Suee had closed again. I twisted around.
Very slowly--inch by inch--inch by inch --the door was opening! Then, suddenly, it was opened wide. Out of the darkness beyond two figures came; first, the Dyak, who, instant on entering the room, turned again to the lacquered door and dropped on his knees; second the Nubian--who also prostrated himself!
Thirdly, and last, came a figure whose image must remain imprinted on my mind for ever....
It was that of a very tall old man; emaci- ated to a degree which I had hitherto associ- ated only .with mummies. His great height was not appreciable at first glance, by reason of the fact that he stooped very much, resting his weight on a stout stick. He wore a plain black garment, resembling a cassock, and a little black cap was set on his head....
His skull--his fleshless yellow skull--was enormous. I thought that such a brain must be that either of a madman or a genius. And his face, a map of wrinkles, resembled nothing so much as the shrivelled majesty of the Pharaoh Seti I who lies in the Cairo Museum!
Deeply sunken eyes emitted a dull green spark.
