Sax Rohmer

“ Paul Harley nodded grimly. The storm he had foreseen was approaching; but Van Dean buried his face in his hands and groaned,
“I shall never live to see it published!”
“Pull yourself together, man!” cried Harley sharply. “There, in that safe, lies material which, when it is made public will wake up the white peoples of the world to a peril of which they have scarcely dreamed. Yet it grows and grows, like the storm over yonder. One day, if we fail, it will burst on the white races like a second deluge. Remember, nothing to the women.” ”

“ Where once in ancient days the moat had flowed, was now a stagnant, nettle-grown ditch, This had been rendered impassable by the introduction of a quantity of barbed wire, many thousand feet of which had been delivered at the Abbey, giving rise to sensational rumors in the neighborhood. Once the gates had been locked by Mohammed Khán, it would have taken a clever man to gain access to the Abbey grounds ”

“ Bates, the chauffeur, had formerly lived at the gate lodge, where later, Parker, the gardener, had also slept. But latterly, by Mr. Van Dean's orders, accommodation had been found in the main building for both of these.
An undefinable air of mystery had begun to manifest itself from the time that the wealthy and distinguished American traveler took up his habitation there. Several servants had left, but had been replaced by others sent down from London. Mohammed Khán, the butler, and Parker, the gardener, were comparatively newcomers ”