The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-28
The Knocking on the Door

Accord ngy l followed Weymouth up
stairs and was admitted by his wife to
neat little bedroom, where the grief-stricken
woman lay. wany pathetic sight.
Did you administer the sleeping draught.
as directed" / asked.
Mrs James Weymouth nodded She was
a kindly looking woman. with the same dread
haunting her hazel eyes as that when lufNea
In her husband blue ones
The patient was sleeping soundly. Some
whispered instructions gave TO the faithful
nurse and descended TO the sitting room. IL
was a warm night. and Weymouth sat by
the open window smoking. The dim Hight
from the lamp on the table lent him an almost
startling likeness to his brother. and for
moment 7 stood at the foot of the stairs
scarce able to trust my reason. Then ne
turned his face fully toward me. and the iia-
sion was lost
DO you think she Is likely to wake
DOCTOR? he asked
IT think not" l replied
Haviand smith stood upon the rug before
the hearth, swinging from one foot TO tho
other In his nervously restless way Inc
room was foggy with the fumes OF t"oaeco.
FOR he TOO. was smoking. At intervals OF
some Ave to ten minutes. his biackened hr1ar
(which I never knew him to clean or scrape'
wound go out / think Smith used more
watches than any other smoker nave ever
me. and he invariably carried three boxes III
various pockets OF. his garments
Tho tobacco habit is infectious, and seat~
ing myself in an armchair. / lighted cigar
cite. For this dreary vigil | had come pre-
pared with bundle of rough notes, writing
block and a fountain pen. ! settled down 10
work upon my record OF the Fu-Manchu case.
silence fell upon Maple Cottage. Save for
the shuddertng sigh which Whispered through
the overhanEfng cedars and Smiths eternal
match striking nothing was there 10 oAsluFo
me In my task. Yet / could make niue
progress. Between my mind and the chapter
upon which / was at work certain sentence
oersistently intruded Itself. II was as though
an unseen hand held the written page closely
hefore my eyes This was the sentence:
Imagine person. tall. lean and feline
htph-shouldered with a brow IKE Shake
speare and a face like Satan. close~shaVen
skuu and long magnetic eyes OF the true
cat-green investing him with all the cruel
cunning Of an entire eastern race, accumu-
lated In one giant Intellect
Doctor Fu-Manchui Fu-Manchu as smith
had described ham to me on that night wnich
now seemed remotely distanF-the night
upon which I had learned OF the existence or
the wonderful and evil being born OF that
49,
Of the yellow races
AS Smith. for the ninth or tenth time
knocked out his pipe a bar of the CRATE
the cuckoo clock in the kitchen proclaimed
the hour.
TWO" said James Weymouth.
abandoned my task, replacing notes ana
writing block in the bag that / had with
me- Weymouth adjusted the lamp, which
had begun to smoke.
.tt,t4.ea to e-esa4Es a-aa, stepping softly
assembled to the sick room. All was quiet.
and Mrs Weymouth whispered to me that
the patient still slept soundly. / returned to
find Maryland Smith pacing about the room
In that state of suppressed excitement
habitual with him In the approach of any
crisis At quarter past two the breeze
dropped entirely, and stiffness reigned all
about US such as I could not have supposed
possible so near to the ever throhning heart
OF the great metropolis. Plainly could hear
weymouth's heavy breathing, He sat at the
window and looked out into the black shad-
ows under the cedars, Smith ceased his pac-
ing and stood again on the rug very stiii. he