CHAPTER IX

THE CHINESE COIN


Deep in reflection, Stuart walked alone along the Embankment. The full
facts contained in the report form Paris the Commissioner had not
divulged, but Stuart concluded that this sudden activity was directly
due, not to the death of M. Max, but to the fact that he (Max) had
left behind him some more or less tangible clue. Stuart fully
recognized that the Commissioner had accorded him an opportunity to
establish his reputation--or to wreck it.

Yet, upon closer consideration, it became apparent that it was to Fate
and not to the Commissioner that he was indebted. Strictly speaking,
his association with the matter dated from the night of his meeting
with the mysterious cabman in West India Dock Road. Or had the
curtain first been lifted upon this occult drama that evening, five
years ago, as the setting sun reddened the waters of the Imperial
Canal and a veiled figure passed him on the Wu-Men Bridge?

"Shut your eyes tightly, master--the Scorpion is coming!"

He seemed to hear the boy's words now, as he passed along the
Embankment; he seemed to see again the tall figure. And suddenly he
stopped, stood still and stared with unseeing eyes across the muddy
waters of the Thames. He was thinking of the cowled man who had stood
behind the curtains in his study--of that figure so wildly bizarre
that even now he could scarcely believe that he had ever actually seen