pool, and the two big Welsh towns? Now, I want to
ask you a question. This man I'm talking of, Chuh Fen, was certainly
in London three years ago. Are there places and people in London where
one could get to hear of him?"

"Where I could get to hear of him--yes," answered Wing.

"You say--where you could get to hear of him," remarked Scarterfield.
"Does that mean that you would get information which I shouldn't get?"

The very faintest ghost of a smile showed itself in the wrinkles about
the Chinaman's eyes. He inclined his head a little, politely, and
Lorrimore stepped into the arena.

"What Wing means is that being a Chinaman himself, naturally he could
get news of a fellow-Chinaman from fellow-Chinamen where you, an
Englishman, wouldn't get any at all!" he said with a laugh. "I dare
say that if you, Mr. Scarterfield, went down Limehouse way seeking
particulars about Chuh Fen, you'd be met with blank faces and stopped
ears."

"That's just what I'm suggesting, doctor," answered the detective,
good-humouredly. "I'll put the thing in a nutshell--my profound belief
is that if we want to get at the bottom of these two murders we've got
to go back a long way, to the _Elizabeth Robinson_ time, and that Chuh
Fen is the only person I've heard of, up to now, who can throw a light
on that episode. And it seems to me, to be plain about it, that Mr.
Wing there could be extremely useful."

"How?" asked Lorrimore. "He's at your service, I'm sure."

"Well, by finding out if this Chuh Fen, when he was here, three years
since, made any revelations to his Chinese brethren in Limehouse or
elsewhere," replied Scarterfield. "He may have known something about
the brothers Quick and concerning that _Elizabeth Robinson_ affair
that would help immensely. Any little thing!--a mere scrap of
information--just a bit of chance gossip--a hint--you don't know how
valuable these things are. The mere germ of a clue--you know!"

"I know," said Lorrimore. He turned to his servant and addressed him
in some strange tongue in which Wing at once responded: for some
minutes they talked together, volubly: then Lorrimore looked round at
Scarterfield.

"Wing says that if Chuh Fen was in London three years ago he can
engage to find out how long he was here, whence he came and why, and
where he went," he said. "I gather that there's a sort of freemasonry
amongst these men--naturally, they seek each other out in strange
lands, and there are places in Lond