Free The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer Page B

having dismissed my few
patients, I busied myself collating my notes upon the renewed
activity of the Yellow Doctor, and was thus engaged when the 'phone
bell disturbed me. It was Smith who was wanted, however; and he
went out eagerly, leaving me to my task.
    At the end of a lengthy conversation, he returned from the
'phone and began, restlessly, to pace the room. I made a pretense
of continuing my labors, but covertly I was watching him. He was
twitching at the lobe of his left ear, and his face was a study in
perplexity. Abruptly he burst out:
    "I shall throw the thing up, Petrie! Either I am growing too old
to cope with such an adversary as Fu-Manchu, or else my intellect
has become dull. I cannot seem to think clearly or consistently.
For the Doctor, this crime, this removal of Slattin, is
clumsy—unfinished. There are two explanations. Either he, too, is
losing his old cunning or he has been interrupted!"
    "Interrupted!"
    "Take the facts, Petrie,"—Smith clapped his hands upon my table
and bent down, peering into my eyes—"is it characteristic of
Fu-Manchu to kill a man by the direct agency of a snake and to
implicate one of his own damnable servants in this way?"
    "But we have found no snake!"
    "Karamaneh introduced one in some way. Do you doubt it?"
    "Certainly Karamaneh visited him on the evening of his death,
but you must be perfectly well aware that even if she had been
arrested, no jury could convict her."
    Smith resumed his restless pacings up and down.
    "You are very useful to me, Petrie," he replied; "as a counsel
for the defense you constantly rectify my errors of prejudice. Yet
I am convinced that our presence at Slattin's house last night
prevented Fu-Manchu from finishing off this little matter as he had
designed to do."
    "What has given you this idea?"
    "Weymouth is responsible. He has rung me up from the Yard. The
constable on duty at the house where the murder was committed,
reports that some one, less than an hour ago, attempted to break
in."
    "Break in!"
    "Ah! you are interested? I thought the circumstance
illuminating, also!"
    "Did the officer see this person?"
    "No; he only heard him. It was some one who endeavored to enter
by the bathroom window, which, I am told, may be reached fairly
easily by an agile climber."
    "The attempt did not succeed?"
    "No; the constable interrupted, but failed to make a capture or
even to secure a glimpse of the man."
    We were both silent for some moments; then:
    "What do you propose to do?" I asked.
    "We must not let Fu-Manchu's servants know," replied Smith, "but
to-night I shall conceal myself in Slattin's house and remain there
for a week or a day—it matters not how long—until that attempt is
repeated. Quite obviously, Petrie, we have overlooked something
which implicates the murderer with the murder! In short, either by
accident, by reason of our superior vigilance, or by the clumsiness
of his plans, Fu-Manchu for once in an otherwise blameless career,
has left a clue!"

Chapter 10 THE CLIMBER RETURNS
    In utter darkness we groped our way through into the hallway of
Slattin's house, having entered, stealthily, from the rear; for
Smith had selected the study as a suitable base of operations. We
reached it without mishap, and presently I found myself seated in
the very chair which Karamaneh had occupied; my companion took up a
post just within the widely opened door.
    So we commenced our ghostly business in the house of the
murdered man—a house from which, but a few hours since, his body
had been removed. This was such a vigil as I had endured once
before, when, with Nayland Smith and another, I had waited for the
coming of one of Fu-Manchu's death agents.
    Of all the sounds which, one by one, now began to detach
themselves from the silence, there was a particular sound, homely
enough at another time, which spoke to me more dreadfully than the
rest. It was the ticking of the clock upon the mantelpiece; and I
thought how this sound must have been familiar to Abel