ned his eyes
on the Burman, staring with a gaunt, fierce look that saw many things,
and when he spoke his words grated and rattled and his voice was almost
beyond his control.

"See now, O servant of Justice, I am learned in the matter of silks, and
without doubt this comes surely from but one place."

Again he fell to touching the silk, and his crooked fingers shook as he
explained that the fragment was one he could identify. It was not the
product of the silk looms of Burma, or Shantung; it could not be
procured even in Japan. It was a rare and special product fashioned by
certain lake-dwellers in the Shan states, and so small was their output
that it went to no market.

"In one shop only in Mangadone," he said; "nay, in one shop only in the
whole world may such silk be found. Thus, in his craft, hath mine enemy
overreached himself."

"Thou art certain of this?"

"As I am that the sun will rise."

Coryndon looked again at the silk, and sat silently thinking.

"The piece is cut off roughly," he said, after a moment of reflection.
"Yet, could it be fitted into the space left in the roll, then thou art
cleared, and hast just cause against Mhtoon Pah."

"If thy madness comprehends so much, let it carry thee further still, O
stricken and afflicted," said Leh Shin, imploring him with voice and
gesture. "Night after night have I stood outside his shop, but who may
enter through a locked door? A breath, a shadow, or a flame, but not a
man." He lay on the ground and dug his nails into the floor. "I know the
shop from within and without, and I know that the lock opens with
difficulty but to one key, the key that hangs on a chain around the neck
of Mhtoon Pah."

Silence fell again as Leh Shin wrestled with the problem that confronted
him.

"What saidst thou?" said the Burman, suddenly coming to life. "A key?"

He gave a low, chuckling laugh and rocked about in his corner.

"Knowest thou of the story of Shiraz, the Punjabi?"

"I have no mind for tales," said Leh Shin, striking at him with a futile
blow of rage.

"Nay, restrain thy wrath, since thou hast spoken of a key. With a key
that was made by sorcery, he was enabled to open the treasure-box of the
Lady Sahib, and often hath he told me that all doors may be opened by
it, large or small. It is not hard for me to take it from under his
pillow while he sleeps."

The Chinaman's jaw dropped, and he cast up his hands in mute
astonishment. If this was madness, sa