Stuart had been left as a lure. By one
of those tricks of fate which sometimes perfect the plans of men but
more often destroy them, the body of "Le Balafre" had been so
disfigured during the time that it had been buffeted about in the
Thames that it was utterly unrecognizable and indescribable. But even
the disk had not deceived Dunbar. He had seen in it another ruse of
his brilliant confrere, and his orders to the keeper of the mortuary
to admit no one without a written permit had been dictated by the
conviction that Max wished the body to be mistaken for his own. In
Inspector Dunbar, Gaston Max immediately had recognized an able
colleague as Mrs. M'Gregor had recognized "a grand figure of a man."
The Assistant Commissioner broke the silence.
"There have been other cases," he said reflectively, "now that one
considers the matter, which seemed to point to the existence of such
a group or society as you indicate, M. Max, notably one with which,
if I remember rightly, Inspector"--turning his dark eyes towards
Dunbar--"Inspector Weymouth, late of this Branch, was associated?"
"Quite right, sir. It was his big case, and it got him a fine billet
as Superintendent in Cairo if you remember?"
"Yes," mused the Assistant Commissioner--"he transferred to Egypt--a
very good appointment, as you say. That, again, was before my term of
office, but there were a number of very ghastly crimes connected with
the case and it was more or less definitely established, I believe,
that some extensive secret society did actually exist throughout the
East, governed, I fancy, by a Chinaman.
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