and
watched with the eye of a connoisseur the tiny scales of beeswing which
floated in its rich ruby depths. The fire, as it spurted up, threw
fitful lights upon his bald, clear-cut face, with its widely-opened
grey eyes, its thick and yet firm lips, and the deep, square jaw, which
had something Roman in its strength and its animalism. He smiled from
time to time as he nestled back in his luxurious chair. Indeed, he had
a right to feel well pleased, for, against the advice of six
colleagues, he had performed an operation that day of which only two
cases were on record, and the result had been brilliant beyond all
expectation. No other man in London would have had the daring to plan,
or the skill to execute, such a heroic measure.

But he had promised Lady Sannox to see her that evening and it was
already half-past eight. His hand was outstretched to the bell to
order the carriage when he heard the dull thud of the knocker. An
instant later there was the shuffling of feet in the hall, and the
sharp closing of a door.

"A patient to see you, sir, in the consulting room," said the butler.

"About himself?"

"No, sir; I think he wants you to go out."

"It is too late," cried Douglas Stone peevishly. "I won't go."

"This is his card, sir."

The butler presented it upon the gold salver which had been given to
his master by the wife of a Prime Minister.

"'Hamil Ali, Smyrna.' Hum! The fellow is a Turk, I suppose."

"Yes, sir. He seems as if he came from abroad, sir. And he's in a
terrible way."

"Tut, tut! I have an engagement. I must go somewhere else. But I'll
see him. Show him in here, Pim."

A few moments later the butler swung open the door and ushered in a
small and decrepit man, who walked with a bent back and with the
forward push of the face and blink of the eyes which goes with extreme
short sight. His face was swarthy, and his hair and beard of the
deepest black. In one hand he held a turban of white muslin striped
with red, in the other a small chamois-leather bag.

"Good evening," said Douglas Stone, when the butler had closed the
door. "You speak English, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. I am from Asia Minor, but I speak English when I speak
slow."

"You wanted me to go out, I understand?"

"Yes, sir. I wanted very much that you should see my wife."

"I could come in the morning, but I have an engagement which prevents
me from seeing your wife tonight."

The Turk's answer was a sin