Then,
there is a doorway in a little court, and Mrs. Sin's husband sits
inside a smelly room with a positively ferocious raven who shrieks
about legs and policemen! Oh! Can I ever forget it!"
"One moment, miss, one moment," said Kerry, keeping an iron control
upon himself. "What is the name of Mrs. Sin's husband?"
"Oh, let me think! I can always remember it by recalling the croak of
the raven." She raised one hand to her brow, posing reflectively, and
began to murmur:
"Sin Sin Ah . . . Sin Sin Jar . . . Sin Sin--Oh! I have it! Sin Sin
Wa!"
"Good!" rapped Kerry, and made a note on the block. "Sin Sin Wa, and
he has a pet raven, you say, who talks?"
"Who positively talks like some horrid old woman!" cried Mollie. "He
has only one eye."
"The raven?"
"The raven, yes--and also the Chinaman."
"What!"
"Oh! it's a nightmare to behold them together!" declared Mollie,
clasping her hands and bending forward.
She was gaining courage, and now looked almost boldly into the fierce
eyes of the Chief Inspector.
"Describe the house," he said succinctly. "Take your time and use your
own words."
Thereupon Mollie launched into a description of Sin Sin Wa's opium-
house. Kerry, his eyes fixed upon her face, listened silently.
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