uld
shine through the raised lath, and it was for that sight that his eyes
strained and ached with intense concentration. The patience of the
Chinaman made Coryndon feel that he was watching for something definite
to happen, and at length a yellow bar cut suddenly across the dark.
Coryndon's heart beat so loud that he feared its sound might be heard
across the narrow street, and he gripped his hands together. The curio
shop was no longer dark, for someone had come in with a lamp; Coryndon
crept forward, his eyes on the Chinaman, who had slipped back on to the
ground and had raced up the steps, beating against the door violently.

"Come out, father of lies, come out and speak with me. I have news of
thy Absalom."

The beggar was at the foot of the steps now, close beside the dancing
image, who smiled and called his attention to the rigid figure of Leh
Shin.

"So thou hast news for me, unclean one? Of this shall the police hear
full knowledge two hours after dawn. Where hast thou hidden the body of
the boy who was the light of mine eyes, who was ever eager and honest in
business?"

"Thou knowest, traitor," said the Chinaman, his voice hoarse with
passion, "what is dark unto others is clear unto me. Have I not the tale
of thy years written in the book of my mind?"

For a moment there was dead silence, and then a voice full of smooth
malice and cruelty made answer to Leh Shin.

"Get thee to thy bed, fool."

"I wait," Leh Shin's voice cracked and trembled, "and when the hour that
is already written for thy destruction comes like the night-bat, it is
_I_ who shall proclaim it to thee; thus I have demanded, and thus it
shall fall out."

"O fruitful boaster, O friend of many years, thy words cause me great
mirth. Get thee to thy kennel, lest I do indeed come forth and twist thy
vulture's neck."

A laugh of scorn was the only response to Mhtoon Pah's threat, and the
Chinaman turned and came down the steps.

"Alms, alms," whined a sleepy voice. "The poor are the children of the
Holy One. I am blind and I know not the faces of men. Alms, alms, that
thy merit may be written in the book."

"Ask of him that is in that house," said Leh Shin, pointing to the curio
shop. "Strike him with thy pestilence that his fatness fall from him and
his bones melt, and I will give thee golden rewards."

The secret passion of the words was so intense that the beggar was
silenced, and Leh Shin passed on. He went from Paradise Street to