-probably assisted by her brother,
although he denies it--from the person and garments of the dead man,
every scrap of evidence. They had not by any means finished the task
when you knocked at the door, Gray. But they completed it, faultlessly,
after you had gone.

"Their unconscious victim, and the figure of Kazmah, as well as every
paper or other possible clue, they carried up to the Cubanis office, and
from thence across the roof to Sir Lucien's study. Next, while Mareno
went for the car, Mrs. Sin rifled the safe, bureaus and desks in Sir
Lucien's flat, so that we had the devil's own work, as you know, to find
out even the more simple facts of his everyday life.

"Not a soul ever came forward who noticed the big car being driven into
Albemarle Street or who observed it outside the flat. The chances run by
the pair in conveying their several strange burdens from the top floor,
down the stairs and out into the street were extraordinary. Yet they
succeeded unobserved. Of course, the street was imperfectly lighted, and
is but little frequented after dusk.

"The journey to Limehouse was performed without discovery--aided, no
doubt, by the mistiness of the night; and Mareno, returning to the West
End, ingeniously inquired for Sir Lucien at his club. Learning, although
he knew it already, that Sir Lucien had not been to the club that night,
he returned the car to the garage and calmly went back to the flat.

"His reason for taking this dangerous step is by no means clear.
According to his own account, he did it to gain time for the fugitive
Mrs. Sin. You see, there was really only one witness of the crime (Mrs.
Irvin) and she could not have sworn to the identity of the assassin.
Rashid was warned and presumably supplied with sufficient funds to
enable him to leave the country.

"Well, the woman met her deserts, no doubt at the hands of Sin Sin
Wa. Kerry is sure of this. And Sin Sin Wa escaped, taking with him an
enormous sum of ready money. He was the true genius of the enterprise.
No one, his wife and Mareno excepted--we know of no other--suspected
that the real Sin Sin Wa was clean-shaven, possessed two eyes, and no
pigtail! A wonderfully clever man!"

The native servant appeared to announce that dinner was served; African
dusk drew its swift curtain over the desert, and a gun spoke sharply
from the Citadel. In silence the party watched the deepening velvet of
the sky, witnessing the birth of a million stars, and in