atton, who also had sprung forward, hesitated. Damar Greefe
raised one hand from the chair-arm and waved to us to return to our
chairs. Exchanging wondering glances, we both obeyed.

Thereupon, the Eurasian doctor, whose high, bony forehead was dewed
with a deathly perspiration and whose hawk-face had assumed an
indescribable leaden hue, drew from his pocket a heavy gold watch (his
every movement intently followed by the alert Inspector) and consulted
it. His hand shook wildly as he returned the timepiece to its place.
Then:

"I must hasten," he said hoarsely. "I have--only nineteen
minutes...." Gatton looked at me questioningly, but I could only
shake my head. The significance of the Eurasian's words escaped me
entirely; but as Damar Greefe begun, slowly and with palpable effort,
to speak again, I saw a queer expression stealing over the face of the
watchful Gatton.

CHAPTER XXVII

STATEMENT OF DR. DAMAR GREEFE (CONCLUDED)

A month later I found myself installed at the Bell House, a property
belonging to the Friar's Park estate, and in the commodious apartments
of this establishment I had ample room for the accommodation of my
library and my priceless specimens. Nahemah was likewise an inmate of
the Bell House; but recognizing the precarious nature of my tenure, I
had taken the precaution of retaining the suburban villa to which I
have already referred; its modest rental proving no tax upon my
greatly increased resources.

Blackmail, I hear you exclaim! And, so, if you wish, you may construe
my behavior, since I reply--"Science first, science last!" To have
been deprived of the means to pursue my experiments at this time would
have been, I believed, to impoverish the world. For not even science
could reveal to me that my life's work was destined to perish amid the
ashes of the Bell House.

My studies had temporarily led me into a by-path, and apprehending
that a great international struggle was imminent, I had turned my
investigations in a new direction. My great work, whose publication
would have shattered so many scientific idols, was complete. The life
history of Nahemah had crowned my inquiries into the embryology,
physiology and psychology of _psycho-hybrids_. In fact, the presence
of my strange protegee promised to become something of an incubus.
Later, I was to realize that she was an ever-present means of renewing
those funds which the costly character of my new studies absorbed at
rather an a