, but it lay in my own
mind that if there was one man in that room who might be trusted to find
his way out of the maze in which we were wandering, that man was Dr.
Lorrimore's servant.

It was Lorrimore who, at the detective's request, explained to Wing
why we had sent for him. The Chinaman nodded a grave assent when
reminded of the Salter Quick affair--evidently he knew all about it.
And--if one really could detect anything at all in so carefully-veiled
a countenance--I thought I detected an increased watchfulness in his
eyes when Scarterfield began to ask him questions arising out of what
Lorrimore had said.

"There is evidence," began the detective, "that this man Salter Quick,
and his brother Noah Quick, were mixed up in some affair that had
connection with a trading steamer, the _Elizabeth Robinson_, believed
to have been lost in the Yellow Sea, between Hong-Kong and Chemulpo,
in October 1907. On board that steamer was a certain Chinaman, who,
two years later, turned up in London. Now, Dr. Lorrimore tells me that
when you and he were in London, some little time ago, you spent a good
deal of time amongst your own people in the East End, and that you
also visited some of them in Liverpool, Cardiff, and Swansea. So I
want to ask you--did you ever hear, in any of these quarters, of a man
named Chuh Fen? Here--in London--two years after the _Elizabeth
Robinson_ affair--that's three years back from now."

The Chinaman moved his head very slightly.

"No," he answered. "Not in London--nor in England. But I knew a man
named Chuh Fen ten, eleven, years ago, before I went to Bombay and
entered my present service."

"Where did you know him?" asked Scarterfield.

"Two--perhaps three places," said Wing. "Singapore, Penang, perhaps
Rangoon, too. I remember him."

"What was he?"

"A cook--very good cook."

"Would you be surprised to hear of his being in England three years
ago?"

"Not at all. Many Chinamen come here. I myself--why not others? If
Chuh Fen came here, three years ago, perhaps he came as cook on some
ship trading from China or Burma. Then--go back again."

"I wonder if he did!" muttered the detective. "Still," he continued,
turning to Wing, "a lot of your people when they come here, stop,
don't they?"

"Many stop in this country," said Wing.

"Laundry business, eating-houses, groceries, and so on?" suggested
Scarterfield. "And chiefly in the places I've mentioned, eh?--the East
End of London, Liver