this passage, and passing an inner door, from beyond whence
proceeded bursts of discordant music, we entered a little room bare of
furniture, with coarse matting for mural decorations, and a patternless
red carpet on the floor. In a niche burned a common metal lamp.

The negress left us, and close upon her departure entered a very aged
man with a long patriarchal beard, who greeted my friend with dignified
courtesy. Following a brief conversation, the aged Arab--for such he
appeared to be--drew aside a strip of matting, revealing a dark recess.
Placing his finger upon his lips, he silently invited us to enter.

We did so, and the mat was dropped behind us. The sounds of crude
music were now much plainer, and as Smith slipped a little shutter
aside I gave a start of surprise.

Beyond lay a fairly large apartment, having divans or low seats around
three of its walls. These divans were occupied by a motley company of
Turks, Egyptians, Greeks, and others; and I noted two Chinese. Most of
them smoked cigarettes, and some were drinking. A girl was performing
a sinuous dance upon the square carpet occupying the center of the
floor, accompanied by a young negro woman upon a guitar and by several
members of the assembly who clapped their hands to the music or hummed
a low, monotonous melody.

Shortly after our entrance into the passage the dance terminated, and
the dancer fled through a curtained door at the farther end of the
room. A buzz of conversation arose.

"It is a sort of combined Wekaleh and place of entertainment for a
certain class of Oriental residents in, or visiting, London," Smith
whispered. "The old gentleman who has just left us is the proprietor
or host. I have been here before on several occasions, but have always
drawn blank."

He was peering out eagerly into the strange clubroom.

"Whom do you expect to find here?" I asked.

"It is a recognized meeting-place," said Smith in my ear. "It is
almost a certainty that some of the Fu-Manchu group use it at times."

Curiously I surveyed all these faces which were visible from the
spy-hole. My eyes rested particularly upon the two Chinamen.

"Do you recognize anyone?" I whispered.

"S-sh!"

Smith was craning his neck so as to command a sight of the doorway. He
obstructed my view, and only by his tense attitude and some subtle wave
of excitement which he communicated to me did I know that a new arrival
was entering. The hum of conversation d