She was seated with her back
to the window, talking to a grey-haired old lady--probably the
doctor's housekeeper. Impatiently I waited for this old lady to depart,
and the moment that she did so, the visitor stood up, turned and ...
it was _Zara el-Khala!_
It was only with difficulty that I restrained the cry of triumph which
arose to my lips. On the instant that the study door closed, Zara
el-Khala began to try a number of keys which she took from her handbag
upon the various drawers of the bureau!
"So!" I said--"they are uncertain of the drawer!"
Suddenly she desisted, looking nervously at the open windows; then,
crossing the room, she drew the curtains. I crept out into the road
again and by the same roundabout route came back to the empty house.
Feeling my way in the darkness of the shrubbery, I found the motor
bicycle which I had hidden there and I wheeled it down to the further
gate of the drive and waited.
I could see the doctor's door, and I saw him returning along the road.
As he appeared, from somewhere---I could not determine from where--came
a strange and uncanny wailing sound, a sound that chilled me like an
evil omen.
Even as it died away, and before Dr. Stuart had reached his door I
knew what it portended--that horrible wail. Some one hidden I knew not
where, had warned Zara el-Khala that the doctor returned! But stay!
Perhaps that some one was the dark-skinned chauffeur!
How I congratulated myself upon the precautions which I had taken to
escape observation.
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