ck. I sat gazing at the steel bracelets in
the light of the lamp which swung over my head, and it became apparent
to me that I had gained little by my contortion.

A slight noise disturbed these unpleasant reveries. It was nothing less
than the rattling of keys!

For a moment I wondered if I had heard aright, or if the sound portended
the coming of some servant of the doctor, who was locking up the
establishment for the night. The jangling sound was repeated, and in
such a way that I could not suppose it to be accidental. Some one was
deliberately rattling a small bunch of keys in an adjoining room.

And now my heart leaped wildly--then seemed to stand still.

With a low whistling cry a little gray shape shot through the doorway by
which Fu-Manchu had retired, and rolled, like a ball of fluff blown by
the wind, completely under the table which bore the weird scientific
appliances of the Chinaman; the advent of the gray object was
accompanied by a further rattling of keys.

My fear left me, and a mighty anxiety took its place. This creature
which now crouched chattering at me from beneath the big table was
Fu-Manchu's marmoset, and in the intervals of its chattering and
grimacing, it nibbled, speculatively, at the keys upon the ring which
it clutched in its tiny hands. Key after key it sampled in this manner,
evincing a growing dissatisfaction with the uncrackable nature of its
find.

One of those keys might be that of the handcuffs!

I could not believe that the tortures of Tantulus were greater than
were mine at this moment. In all my hopes of rescue or release, I
had included nothing so strange, so improbable as this. A sort of awe
possessed me; for if by this means the key which should release me
should come into my possession, how, ever again, could I doubt a
beneficent Providence?

But they were not yet in my possession; moreover, the key of the
handcuffs might not be amongst the bunch.

Were there no means whereby I could induce the marmoset to approach me?

Whilst I racked my brains for some scheme, the little animal took the
matter out of my hands. Tossing the ring with its jangling contents
a yard or so across the carpet in my direction, it leaped in pursuit,
picked up the ring, whirled it over its head, and then threw a complete
somersault around it. Now it snatched up the keys again, and holding
them close to its ear, rattled them furiously. Finally, with an
incredible spring, it leaped onto the c