irit, and not
a cat of flesh and blood which appeared to Lady Coverly. I leave each
to choose his own explanation, but let it suffice that Lady Coverly
was awakened some time during the night by the appearance at her
bedside of this gaunt and hungry-eyed creature. The result was an
illness of a kind very dangerous to one in her delicate state of
health.

Reflecting, then, upon these matters, I presently came to the official
residence of Sir Burnham Coverly, and my expectations regarding the
nature of the case were realized....[1]

[Footnote 1: Part of the statement which immediately followed, being
of a purely technical nature, is omitted here.]

* * * * *

My house in the narrow street so near to the Bab-es-Zuwela and the
minarets of Muayyad was admirably adapted for my new purpose. For here
in the very heart of native Cairo, with my great house (which had been
built, as are all Oriental houses, to guard secrets) I was as safe
from unwelcome intrusion as one upon a desert island, whilst at the
same time I was denied none of the conveniences and facilities of
civilization.

Lady Coverly, then, never set eyes upon her firstborn, and Sir
Burnham, who did, readily reconciled himself to the loss of such a
daughter. The announcement which should have appeared joyfully under
the press-heading "Births" was unobtrusively inserted under "Deaths,"
and Sir Burnham being fortunately far from the haunts of the social
paragraph writers, this unfortunate event aroused comparatively little
comment in the English journals; beyond one or two formal condolences
it passed unnoticed.

The fever of research at last had led me into my first definite crime
against society--if so it can be called. I had rescued alive the most
perfect example of a _psycho-hybrid_ with which throughout my
extensive special inquiries, I had ever come in contact. Lady Coverly
never knew her unnatural child, and Sir Burnham--as well as the old
family nurse who had accompanied them out from England--never doubted
that it had died in the hour of birth.

I set to work with enthusiasm upon my last and greatest experiment.

To a half-caste woman upon whom I knew I could rely--for she was
deeply indebted to me--I entrusted the fostering of the infant hybrid.
I personally supervised every detail of the secret nursery, Cassim
procuring for me everything necessary for the rearing of this delicate
and fragile creature.

Over the ear