Sax Rohmer

“ I happen to be in Egypt at the time, and he is a friend of mine. Your thief, Ali, left a small piece of the pot behind, and I am entrusted to make it complete!"
"You have succeeded!" said Halesowen, grimly, all the time furtively watching the beautiful Isis.
"Yes," rumbled Moris Klaw. "I am the instrument of poetic justice. Isis, those cool beverages. Let us drink to poetic justice!"
He sprayed his ample brow with verbena.
In conclusion, you may ask if the value of the potsherd justified the elaborate and costly mode of its recovery. ”

“ I said. "Who was he?"
"Called himself Zeda—Dr. Louis Zeda. He quite lost his temper when I declined to sell, and I've not set eyes on him since."
He relocked the fragment in his cabinet, and we lapsed into silence, to sit gazing meditatively across the Common, picturesque in the dim autumn twilight.
"By the way, Halesowen," I said, "I see that the flat next door, same floor as this, is to let."
"That's so," he replied. "Why don't you men take it?"
"We'll think about it," yawned Lesty, stretching his long limbs. "Might look over it in the morning." ”

“ Moris Klaw! The devil's come for you!"
That signal brings Moris Klaw from his hiding place. He shuffles into the shop, a figure appropriate to its surroundings. Imagine a tall, stooping man, enveloped in a very faded blue dressing gown. His skin is but a half-shade lighter than that of a Chinaman; his hair, his shaggy brows, his scanty beard, defy one to name their colour. He wears pince-nez.
When upon this particular occasion I introduced my companion, and Moris Klaw acknowledged the introduction in his rumbling voice, I saw Halesowen stare. ”

“ Lost was the key to the book of wisdom; closed was that book to man for all time!"
"Go on!" said Halesowen, harshly, for Zeda had paused again.
"You do not grasp?" asked the doctor. "Well, then, know that the sentence was 'Until the parts of this vase be made whole again.' Five fragments there were: a large one, which is your potsherd, and four smaller. The four smaller, after twenty years of untiring search, I have recovered and joined together. What if we now make whole that which was broken? ”

“ Knocking and ringing proved ineffectual, and the door was too strong to be burst open. We stood in dismayed silence, staring at one another.
"Off your balcony, on to his and through the French window!" said Lesty, suddenly; so back we all ran again.
I had never before realized how easy it was to get from one balcony to another, until I saw Lesty swing himself across. Halesowen and I followed in a trice, and we all blundered into the dark room through the open window and made for the electric switch beside the mantelpiece. We turned on the light. The room was unfurnished! ”

“ Halesowen rented a flat commanding a similar prospect; and, at the time of which I write, he had but recently returned from a protracted visit to Egypt.
Halesowen was a tall, fair man, clean-shaven, very fresh coloured, and wearing his hair cropped close to his head. He was well travelled and no mean antiquary. He lived entirely by himself; and Lesty and I frequently spent the evening at his place, which was a veritable museum of curiosities. ”

“ On the following day we lunched with Doctor Zeda and were surprised at the orderly state of his establishment. Everything, from floor to ceiling, was in its proper place.
"It hasn't taken you long to get things straight," commented Lesty.
"Ah, no," replied the other. "These big firms, they do it all in a day if you insist—and I insist, see?"
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, for he proved an excellent host, and I think even Lesty grew less suspicious of him. During the weeks that followed, the doctor came several times to our rooms, and we frequently met at Halesowen's. ”

“ At about nine o'clock, we walked over, in the dark, to our friend's flat, where we had to grope for and light an oil lamp which he had, Zeda declaring that something in the atmosphere was propitious and that the electric light would tend to disturb these favourable conditions. He seemed to be strung to high tension, perhaps with expectancy, but was not so preoccupied as to forget his black cigars, one of which he lighted as he was about to go out for the iron box. ”

“ Retiring, for a few minutes, to his own establishment, Zeda returned with the iron box and explained what he proposed to do.
"Around this small table we sit, as at séance," he said; "but no medium—only the potsherd. With these flexible bands I will attach, temporarily, the parts, and stand the vase in Mr. Halesowen's frame, here by the window—so. Beside it we will place the lamp, shaded thus—so that a dim light is upon it. We can just see from where we sit in the dark. We will now wait until it is more dusk." ”

“ At the change of the moon in the sacred month, Methori, a maiden selected from a noble house for her beauty and purity, and for a whole year dedicated to the service of the gods, held in her hands the sacred thing—held it aloft that the initiated might worship, until the first white beam lit up the receptacle, when all bowed down their heads and chanted the 'Hymn of the Souls Who Are Passing.' Then was it locked again within the three-and-thirty doors, there to remain for another year. ”

“ I say!" drawled Lesty. "You'll come to a bad end, young fellow!"
"The position is a peculiar one," replied Halesowen, smiling. "Neither of us had any legal claim to the sherd—whilst we were upon Egyptian territory. Therefore, even if the Professor learnt that I had the thing—and he may suspect—he couldn't prosecute me!"
"Devilish high-handed!" commented Lesty.
"Yes. But remember we were well off the map—miles away from Cook's route. The possession of this potsherd ought to make a man's reputation—any man who knows a bit about the subject. ”

“ The possibility, however, had not been overlooked, since she took the precaution to lock the door after her."
"A clever rogue!" I declared. "But wasn't the first attempt—for I suppose we must classify the mysterious arm under that head—more than a trifle indiscreet?"
"No doubt," agreed Lesty. "But we didn't know, then, that Zeda was in London, and the flat was still unfurnished. Also, they may have thought Halesowen was in bed; or the woman (whom he has so cleverly kept out of sight) may have exceeded her instructions in attempting to touch the potsherd while any one remained in the room." ”

“ His more recent and elaborate device has turned out all that could be desired—from Zeda's point of view!"
"But how has he got away?" said Halesowen, in bewilderment.
"Motor waiting at the corner," replied Lesty, promptly. "Heard it come up. When the reading lamp was capsized, and whoever had crept from his balcony to yours and in behind the screen had returned the same way—with the vase!—Zeda overturned the table and pushed you two men backward in your chairs. Then, before I could reach him, he bolted out and locked the door after him. ”

“ It is good, I think, to have open the windows, but this Japanese screen will keep out that too much light and shelter the vase. To-morrow we will observe these things."
This, then, concluded our second sitting, and brings me to the final episode of that affair which, strange enough in its several developments, was stranger still in its dénouement. ”