And in upon these dreary musings
broke an altercation between Mrs. Sin and her husband.
"Keep the blasted thing covered up!" she cried hoarsely.
"Tling-a-Ling wantchee catchee bleathee sometime," crooned Sin Sin Wa.
"Hello, hello!" croaked the raven drowsily. "Smartest--smartest--
smartest leg."
"You catchee sleepee, Tling-a-Ling," murmured the Chinaman. "Mrs. Sin
no likee you palaber, lo!"
"Burn it!" cried the woman, "burn the one-eyed horror!"
But when, carrying a lighted lantern, Sin Sin Wa presently came into
the inner room, he smiled as imperturbably as ever, and was unmoved so
far as external evidence showed.
Sin Sin Wa set the lantern upon a Moorish coffee-table which once had
stood beside the divan in Mrs. Sin's sanctum at the House of a Hundred
Raptures. A significant glance--its significance an acute puzzle to
the recipient--he cast upon Chief Inspector Kerry. His hands tucked in
the loose sleeves of his blouse, he stood looking down at the woman
who lay moaning on the bed; and:
"Tchee, tchee," he crooned softly, "you hate no catchee die, my
beautiful. You sniffee plenty too muchee 'white snow,' hoi, hoi! Velly
bad woman tly makee you catchee die, but Sin Sin Wa no hate got for
killee chop.
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