t, and now, after a short illness, had died from
some affection of the heart. There had been no intimation that his
illness was of a serious nature, and even Smith, who watched over his
flock--the flock threatened by the wolf, Fu-Manchu--with jealous zeal,
had not suspected that the end was so near.

"Do you think he died a natural death, Smith?" I asked.

My friend reached across the table and rested the tip of a long finger
upon one of the sub-headings to the account:

"SIR FRANK NARCOMBE SUMMONED TOO LATE."

"You see," said Smith, "Southery died during the night, but Sir Frank
Narcombe, arriving a few minutes later, unhesitatingly pronounced death
to be due to syncope, and seems to have noticed nothing suspicious."

I looked at him thoughtfully.

"Sir Frank is a great physician," I said slowly; "but we must remember
he would be looking for nothing suspicious."

"We must remember," rapped Smith, "that, if Dr. Fu-Manchu is
responsible for Southery's death, except to the eye of an expert there
would be nothing suspicious to see. Fu-Manchu leaves no clews."

"Are you going around?" I asked.

Smith shrugged his shoulders.

"I think not," he replied. "Either a greater One than Fu-Manchu has
taken Lord Southery, or the yellow doctor has done his work so well
that no trace remains of his presence in the matter."

Leaving his breakfast untasted, he wandered aimlessly about the room,
littering the hearth with matches as he constantly relighted his pipe,
which went out every few minutes.

"It's no good, Petrie," he burst out suddenly; "it cannot be a
coincidence. We must go around and see him."

An hour later we stood in the silent room, with its drawn blinds and
its deathful atmosphere, looking down at the pale, intellectual face of
Henry Stradwick, Lord Southery, the greatest engineer of his day. The
mind that lay behind that splendid brow had planned the construction of
the railway for which Russia had paid so great a price, had conceived
the scheme for the canal which, in the near future, was to bring two
great continents, a full week's journey nearer one to the other. But
now it would plan no more.

"He had latterly developed symptoms of angina pectoris," explained the
family physician; "but I had not anticipated a fatal termination so
soon. I was called about two o'clock this morning, and found Lord
Southery in a dangerously exhausted condition. I did all that was
possible, and Sir Frank Narco