Dorian? Let us study this point for a moment.
"In the first place we can only accept her words with a certain
skepticism. Her story may be nothing but a fabrication. However, it is
interesting because she claims to be the unwilling servant of a
dreaded master. She lays stress upon the fact that she is an Oriental
and does not enjoy the same freedom as a European woman. This is
possible, up to a point. On the other hand she seems to enjoy not
only freedom but every luxury. Therefore it may equally well be a lie.
Some slight colour is lent to her story by the extraordinary mode of
life which she followed in Paris. In the midst of Bohemianism she
remained secluded as an odalisque in some harem garden of Stambul,
whether by her own will or by will of another we do not know. One
little point her existence seems to strengthen: that we are dealing
with Easterns; for Zara el-Khala is partly of Eastern blood and her
follower Chunda Lal is a Hindu. _Eh bien._
"Consider the cowled man whose shadow Dr. Stuart has seen on two
occasions: once behind the curtain of his window and once cast by the
moonlight across the lawn of his house. The man himself he has never
seen. Now this hooded man cannot have been 'Le Balafre', for
'Le Balafre' was already dead at the time of his first appearance.
He may be 'The Scorpion'!"
Max paused impressively, looking around at those in the Commissioner's
room.
"For a moment I return to the man of the Wu Men Bridge.
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