I SANK into an arm-chair in my rooms and gulped down a strong peg of brandy.
"We have been followed here," I said. "Why did you make no attempt to throw the
pursuers off the track, to have them intercepted?"
"Useless, in the first place. Wherever we went, HE would find us. And of what use to
arrest his creatures? We could prove nothing against them. Further, it is evident that an
attempt is to be made upon my life to-night-- and by the same means that proved so
successful in the case of poor Sir Crichton."
His square jaw grew truculently prominent, and he leapt stormily to his feet, shaking his
clenched fists towards the window.
"The villain!" he cried. "The fiendishly clever villain! I suspected that Sir Crichton was
next, and I was right. But I came too late, Petrie! That hits me hard, old man. To think
that I knew and yet failed to save him!"
He resumed his seat, smoking hard.
"Fu-Manchu has made the blunder common to all men of unusual genius," he said. "He
has underrated his adversary. He has not given me credit for perceiving the meaning of
the scented messages. He has thrown away one powerful weapon--to get such a message
into my hands--and he thinks that once safe within doors, I shall sleep, unsuspecting, and
die as Sir Crichton died. But without the indiscretion of your charming friend, I should
have known what to expect when I receive her `information'-- which by the way, consists
of a blank sheet of paper."
"Smith," I broke in, "who is she?"
"She is either Fu-Manchu's daughter, his wife, or his slave. I am inclined to believe the
last, for she has no will but his will, except"--with a quizzical glance--"in a certain
instance."
"How can you jest with some awful thing--Heaven knows what-- hanging over your
head? What is the meaning of these perfumed envelopes? How did Sir Crichton die?"
"He died of the Zayat Kiss. Ask me what that is and I reply 'I do not know.' The zayats
are the Burmese caravanserais, or rest-houses. Along a certain route--upon which I set
eyes, for the first and only time, upon Dr. Fu-Manchu--travelers who use them sometimes
die as Sir Crichton died, with nothing to show the cause of death but a little mark upon
the neck, face, or limb, which has earned, in those parts, the title of the `Zayat Kiss.' The
