Part 13 (1/2)
Dread a.s.sailed her, and dropping on to one of the divans, she hid her face in her hands.
”My G.o.d!” she whispered. ”My G.o.d! Give me strength--give me courage.”
For a long time she remained there, listening for any sound which should disperse the silence. She thought of her husband, of the sweet security of her home, of the things which she had forfeited because of this mad quest of adventure. And presently a key grated in a lock.
Lady Pat started to her feet with a wild, swift action which must have reminded a beholder of a startled gazelle. The drapery masking the door which she had first investigated was drawn aside. A man entered and dropped the curtain behind him.
Exactly what she had expected she could not have defined, but the presence of this perfect stranger was a complete surprise. The man, who wore embroidered slippers and a sort of long blue robe, stood there regarding her with an expression which, even in her frantic condition, she found to be puzzling. He had long, untidy gray hair brushed back from his low brow; eyes strangely like the eyes of Lou Chada, except that they were more heavy-lidded; but his skin was as yellow as a guinea, and his gaunt, cleanshaven face was the face of an Oriental.
The slender hands, too, which he held clasped before him, were yellow, and possessed a curiously arresting quality. Pat imagined them clasped about her white throat, and her very soul seemed to shrink from the man who stood there looking at her with those long, magnetic, inscrutable eyes.
She wondered why she was surprised, and suddenly realized that it was because of the expression in his eyes, for it was an expression of cold anger. Then the intruder spoke.
”Who are you?” he demanded, speaking with an accent which was unfamiliar to her, but in a voice which was not unlike the voice of Lou Chada. ”Who brought you here?”
This was so wholly unexpected that for a moment she found herself unable to reply, but finally:
”How dare you!” she cried, her native courage rea.s.serting itself. ”I have been drugged and brought to this place. You shall pay for it. How dare you!”
”Ah!” The long, dark eyes regarded her unmovingly. ”But who are you?”
”I am Lady Rourke. Open the door. You shall bitterly regret this outrage.”
”You are Lady Rourke?” the man repeated. ”Before you speak of regrets, answer the question which I have asked: Who brought you here?”
”Lou Chada.”
”Ah!” There was no alteration of pose, no change of expression, but slightly the intonation had varied.
”I don't know who you are, but I demand to be released from this place instantly.”
The man standing before the curtained door slightly inclined his head.
”You shall be released,” he replied, ”but not instantly. I will see the one who brought you here. He may not be entirely to blame. Before you leave we shall understand one another.”
Tone and glance were coldly angry. Then, before the frightened woman could say another word, the man in the blue robe robe withdrew, the curtain was dropped again, and she heard the grating of a key in the lock. She ran to the door, beating upon it with her clenched hands.
”Let me go!” she cried, half hysterically. ”Let me go! You shall pay for this! Oh, you shall pay for this!”
No one answered, and, turning, she leaned back against the curtain, breathing heavily and fighting for composure, for strength.
IV
ZANI CHADA, THE EURASIAN
”I can't help thinking, Chief Inspector,” said the officer in charge at Limehouse Station, ”that you take unnecessary risks.”