Sax Rohmer

“ Treating us to a long vacant stare and leaving us standing on the step, the maid (in whose hand I perceived a greasy fork) shuffled along the passage and began to mount the stairs. An unmistakable odor of frying sausages now reached my nostrils. Harley glanced at me quizzically, but said nothing until the Cinderella came stumbling downstairs again. ”

“ He said: "I'll give you a year's salary to knock a man's hat off!"
As Bampton spoke words he glanced at us with twinkling eyes, but although for my own part I was merely amused, Harley's expression had grown very stern. "Of course, I laughed," continued Bampton, "but when the man drew out a fat wallet and counted ten five-pound notes on the table I begun to think seriously about his proposal. Even supposing he was cracked it was absolutely money for nothing. ”

“ Now it is all discovered, and Harry will know."
"That, I fear, is unavoidable Lady Ireton," declared Harley. "May I ask where Lord Ireton is at present?"
"He is in Africa after big game."
"H'm," said Harley, "in Africa, and after big game? I can offer you one consolation, Lady Ireton. In his own interests Meyer will stick to his first assertion that Mr. De Lana was dining alone."
A strange, horribly pathetic look came into the woman's haunted eyes. "You—you—are not acting for?" she began.
"I am acting for no one," replied Harley tersely. ”

“ Gray at the temples, having a dark heard and mustache, and a very tanned face?"
"Yes! yes!" tried Meyer, and his astonishment was patently unfeigned. "It is a friend of yours?"
"A friend of mine, yes," said Harley absently, but his expression was very grim. "What time did he finally leave?"
"He waited until after 11 o'clock. The dinner is spoiled. He pays, but does not complain."
"No," said Harley musingly, "he id nothing to complain about. One more question, my friend. ”

“ Illustrated by J. C. Coll
"HULLO, Brace," said Paul Harley as his secretary entered. "Some one is making a devil of a row outside."
"This is the offender, Mr. Harley," said Brace, and handed my friend a visiting card.
Glancing at the card, Harley read aloud: "Maj. J. E. P. Ragstaff, Cavalry Club, London "
Meanwhile a loud, harsh voice, which would have been audible in a full gale, was roaring in the lobby. "Nonsense!" I could hear the major shouting. "Balderdash! There's more fuss than if I had asked for an interview with the prime minister!" ”

“ Knox. Simply tell me in as few words as possible what led you to court arrest in that manner."
"Right," replied' Bampton. "I will." He half closed his eyes reflectively. "I was having tea in the Lyons Cafe, to which I always go, last Monday afternoon, about 4 o'clock, when a man sat down facing me and got into conversation."
"Describe him."
"He was a man rather above medium height. I should say about my build: build; dark, going gray. He had a neat mustache and a short beard, and the look of a man who had traveled a lot. His skin was very tanned, almost as deeply as yours Mr Harley. ”

“ From his wallet he took a second newspaper cutting, smaller than the first, and gummed to a sheet of club note paper. Harley took it and read as follows:
"Mr. De Lana, a well known member of the stock exchange, who met with a serious accident recently, is still in a precarious condition."
****
THE puzzled look on Harley's face grew more acute, and the major watched him with an expression which I can only describe as one of fierce enjoyment. "You're thinkin' I'm a damned old fool, ain't you?" he shouted suddenly. ”

“ He replied that he had been looking for some time for the right man: a man who was strong enough physically to accomplish the thing, and some one"—Bampton's eyes twinkled again—"with a bit of dash in him, but at the same time a man who could be relied upon to stick to his guns and not to give the game away." ”

“ And now finally what was it that she left behind?"
"Ach, Gott!" moaned the man, dropping into a chair and resting his arms upon the table. "It is all a great panic, you see. I hurry her out by the back stair from the landing and she forgets her bag." ”

“ If you drag me any farther into the limelight. I'll never get another job in England."
"My dear fellow," replied Harley, soothingly, at the same time extending his cigarette case, "you misapprehend the object of my call. I am not a reporter."
“What!" said Bampton, pausing in the act of taking a cigarette—"then what the devil are you?"
"My name is Paul Harley, and I am a criminal investigator"
"HE'S DEAD!" DECLARED MAJ. RAGSTAFF. "DEAD AS THE BEGUM OF BANGALORE! HE DIED AT 6 O'CLOCK."
He spoke the words deliberately, his eyes fixed upon the other's face ”

“ De Lana is dining alone. It is as much my interest as the lady's."
"Of course! I quite understand. I will trouble you no more, Mr. Meyer, except to step into your office and to relieve you of the incriminating evidence, the lady's bag and her ring."
"Do you understand, Knox?" said Harley as the cab bore us toward Hamilton place. ”

“ As a matter of fact, his sudden request had positively astounded me, but before I had time for any reply a door suddenly banged open above and a respectable-looking woman, who might have been some kind of upper servant, came quickly down the stairs. Without seeming to notice our presence, she brushed past us and went out into the street.
"Off you go, Knox!” said Harley.
****
SEEING myself committed to an unpleasant business. I slipped out of the doorway and saw the woman five or six yards away hurrying in the direction of Piccadilly. ”

“ I've heard hundreds of death yells, but"—he took up his malacca cane and beat it loudly on the table—"I haven't woke up of a night dreamin' I heard 'em again."
"In a word, you suspect foul play?"
"I don't suspect anything!" cried the other excitedly, "but some one mentioned your name to me at the club—said you could see through concrete and all that—and here I am. ”

“ The man in the white hat was described to me and the exact time and place or the meeting. I just had to grab his while hat, smash it and face the music. I agreed. I don't deny that I had a couple of stiff drinks before I set out, but the memory of that fifty pounds locked up here in my room, and the further hundred promised, bucked me up. It was impossible to mistake my man: I could see him coming toward me as I waited just outside a sort of little restaurant called the Cafe Dame. As arranged, I bumped into him, grabbed his hat and jumped on it. ”