ious Eurasian. The table
contained a number of strange and unfamiliar objects, as well as a small
rack of books. An opium pipe rested in a porcelain bowl.

Zani Chada, wearing a blue robe, sat in a cushioned chair, staring
toward the Chief Inspector. With one slender yellow hand he brushed his
untidy gray hair. His long magnetic eyes were half closed.

"Good evening, Chief Inspector Kerry," he said. "Won't you be seated?"

"Thanks, I'm not staying. I can hear what you've got to say standing."

The long eyes grew a little more narrow--the only change of expression
that Zani Chada allowed himself.

"As you wish. I have no occasion to detain you long."

In that queer, perfumed room, with the suggestion of something sinister
underlying its exotic luxury, arose a kind of astral clash as the
powerful personality of the Eurasian came in contact with that of Kerry.
In a sense it was a contest of rapier and battle-axe; an insidious but
powerful will enlisted against the bulldog force of the Chief Inspector.

Still through half-closed eyes Zani Chada watched his visitor, who
stood, feet apart and chin thrust forward aggressively, staring with
wide open, fierce blue eyes at the other.

"I'm going to say one thing," declared Kerry, snapping out the words
in a manner little short of ferocious. He laid his hat and cane upon a
chair and took a step in the direction of the narrow, laden table. "Make
me any kind of offer to buy back the evidence you think I've got, and
I'll bash your face as flat as a frying-pan."

The yellow hands of Zani Chada clutched the metal knobs which ornamented
the arms of the chair in which he was seated. The long eyes now
presented the appearance of being entirely closed; otherwise he remained
immovable.

Following a short, portentous silence:

"How grossly you misunderstood me, Chief Inspector," Chada replied,
speaking very softly. "You are shortly to be promoted to a post which no
one is better fitted to occupy. You enjoy great domestic happiness, and
you possess a son in whom you repose great hopes. In this respect Chief
Inspector, I resemble you."

Kerry's nostrils were widely dilated, but he did not speak.

"You see," continued the Eurasian, "I know many things about you.
Indeed, I have watched your career with interest. Now, to be brief, a
great scandal may be averted and a woman's reputation preserved if you
and I, as men of the world, can succeed in understanding one another."

"I don'