He watched me a while in silence and then:
“In two hours. Companion Sterling,” he said, “you will be called for duty. This is your private telephone.”
He handed to me what looked like a signet ring, made of some dull white metal. I had to clench my teeth at the moment of contact with those long, talon-like nails; but I took the ring and stared at it curiously.
“It is adjustable,” Dr. Fu Manchu continued. “Place it upon that finger which you consider most suitable. It is an adaptation—much simplified by Ericksen—of the portable radio now in use among the French police. It does not convey the spoken word. Morse code is used. You know it?”
“I regret to say that I do not.”
“It is simple. You will find a copy of the code in your room. The call note used by Ericksen is highly individual, but inaudible a short distance away from the
As he spoke, I started—suppressing an exclamation.
A queer whistling note had sounded, almost in my ear, and some vague grey shape streaked past me, alighted upon the big table with its litter of strange books and implements, and with a final spring settled upon the yellow-robed shoulder of Dr. Fu Manchu!
Out from a ball of grey fur, a tiny, wizened face peered at me. One of those taloned hands reached upward and caressed the little creature.
“Probably the oldest marmoset in the world.” said the guttural voice. “You would not believe me if I told you Peko’s age.”
And as the Chinaman spoke, the wizened little creature perched upon his shoulder looked down into that majestic, evil face, made a mocking, whistling sound, and clutched with tiny fingers at the little skullcap which Dr. Fu Manchu wore.
“I shall not detain you now. Urgent matters call me. You may possibly have noticed that Professor Ascheim and Dr. Hohlwag of Berlin have found
“It flowers at regrettably long intervals. Companion Trenck is endeavouring to force some specimens forward under special conditions.”
He struck the little gong beside him upon the table.
Almost instantaneously, as though he had arisen from the floor like an Arab genie, one of the white-clad Chinese servants appeared, in the doorway to the right of, and behind, Dr. Fu Manchu’s chair.
A guttural order was spoken; the servant bowed to me and stood aside.
I bowed deeply to that strange figure in the padded chair, the tiny, wrinkled-face monkey crouched upon his shoulder— and went out.
I was conducted back to the long corridor with its rows of white-painted doors. That numbered eleven was opened by the Chinese servant, and I found myself in the small, comfortably appointed sitting room. My silent guide indicated an adjoining bedroom with a bathroom opening out of it; whereupon I dismissed him.
As the sliding door closed and I found myself alone, I examined more particularly these apartments which had been allotted to me. They were beautifully appointed. Silk pyjamas lay upon the temptingly turned-down bed; and though I had never felt in greater danger in the whole of my life, the lure was one I could not resist.
I recognized a weariness of brain and body which demanded sleep. I made a brief survey of the three rooms before turning in, but although I failed to find any means of entrance or exit other than that opening upon the corridor, that such another exit existed, I knew.
Nevertheless, nature triumphed....
I cannot remember undressing, but I vaguely recall tucking my head into the cool pillow. I was asleep instantly.
The sleep that came to me was not dreamless.
I stood again, a spectator unseen, in the opium-laden atmosphere of Dr. Fu Manchu’s study. Fleurette sat in a high-backed chair, her eyes staring straight before her. The long yellow hand ofFu Manchu was extended in her direction, and a large disc, which appeared to be composed of some kind of black meteoric stone, was suspended from the ceiling of the room and was slowly revolving.
As I watched, its movements became more and more rapid, until presently it resembled a globe throwing out ever changing sparks of light.
The room, Fleurette, the Chinese doctor disappeared. I found myself fascinatedly watching those sparks, their ever changing colour.
As I watched, a picture formed, mistily, and then very clearly, so that presently it resembled a miniature and very sharp cinematograph projection.
I saw the Templehof aerodrome at Berlin. I had been there several times and knew it well. I saw Nayland Smith descend from a plane and hurry across the ground to where a long, low, powerful police car awaited him.
The car drove off. And as in a moving picture, I followed it.
It skirted Berlin and then headed out into a suburb with which I was not acquainted. Before a large house set back beyond a thick shrubbery- the car pulled up, and Sir Denis, springing out, opened the gate and ran up a path overarched by trees.
A crown of people was assembled before the house. I saw fire engines and men uncoiling a hose. Through all these, angrily checking their protests, Nayland Smith forced his way, and began to run towards the house...
Something touched me coldly.
In an instant I was awake—in utter darkness—my heart thumping.
Where was I?
In the house of Dr. Fu Manchu!...and someone, or something, was close beside me.
chapter twenty-sixth
THE ORCHID
“Do not speak—nor turn on the light!”
Fah Lo Suee! Fah Lo Suee was somewhere in the room beside me....
“Listen—for there are some things you must know to-night. First, look upon yourself as in China. For although this is France——”
“France! I am still in France?”
“You are in Ste Claire de la Roche....It makes no difference; you are in China. No one can leave here day or night without my father’s consent—or mine. Very soon now he opens his war upon the world. He will almost certainly succeed; he has with him some of the finest brains in science, military strategy, and politics which Europe, Asia, and America have ever produced....”
I resigned myself to the magic of her voice.
But if I was indeed in Ste Claire, it remained to be seen if no one could leave....
This house, she told me, was a mere outpost, used chiefly as a base for certain experiments. Elsewhere she had allies of her own, but in Ste Claire, none....
“For you see I do not agree with all that my father plans— especially his plans concerning Fleurette.”
“Fleurette! What are these plans?”
“Ssh!” Cool fingers were laid upon my arm. “Not so loudly. It is about her I came to tell you. She was chosen—before her birth—for this purpose. She had Eastern and Western blood;
her pedigree on both sides is of the kind my father seeks. I am his only child. It will be Fleurette’s duty to give him a son.”
“What! Good God! You mean he
Fah Lo Suee laughed softly.
“How little you know him! She is part of our experiment— the success of which is of political importance. But listen,” she lowered her voice. “J do not wish this experiment to take place....Soon, very soon, we shall be leaving France.
Fleurette—I think—has found
