d then?"

"I will ask your aid."

Her voice was very low.

"And if it is written that I succeed?"

Miska averted her head.

"Oh, Chunda Lal ... I cannot."

She hid her face in her hands.

Chunda Lal stood watching her for a moment in silence, then he turned
toward the cellar door, and then again to Miska. Suddenly he dropped
upon one knee before her, took her hand and kissed it, gently.

"I am your slave," he said, his voice shaken with emotion. "For myself
I ask nothing--only your pity."

He rose, opened the door by which Miska had entered the room and went
down into the cellars. She watched him silently, half fearfully, yet
her eyes were filled with compassionate tears. Then, readjusting the
hideous grey wig, she went up the steps and passed through the doorway
into the den of the opium smokers.

CHAPTER VI

THE MAN WITH THE SCAR

Stuart read through a paper, consisting of six closely written pages,
then he pinned the sheets together, folded them and placed them in one
of those long envelopes associated in his memory with the opening
phase of "The Scorpion" mystery. Smiling grimly, he descended to his
dispensary and returned with the Chinese coin attached to the cork.
With this he sealed the envelope.

He had volunteered that night for onerous service, and his offer had
been accepted. Gaston Max's knowledge of Eastern languages was slight,
whilst Stuart's was sound and extensive, and the Frenchman had
cordially welcomed the doctor's proposal that he should accompany him
to the house of Ah-Fang-Fu. Reviewing the facts gleaned from Miska
during the earlier part of the evening, Stuart perceived that, apart
from the additional light which they shed upon her own relations with
the group, they could be of slight assistance to the immediate success
of the inquiry--unless the raid failed. Therefore he had determined
upon the course which now he was adopting.

As he completed the sealing of the envelope and laid it down upon the
table, he heard a cab drawn up in front of the house, and presently
Mrs. M'Gregor knocked and entered the study.

"Inspector Dunbar to see you, Mr. Keppel," she said--"and he has with
him an awful-looking body, all cuts and bandages. A patient, no doubt."

Stuart stood up, wondering what this could mean.

"Will you please show them up, Mrs. M'Gregor," he replied.

A few moments later Dunbar entered, accompanied by a bearded man
whose head was bandaged so as to partly cov