“The drama was complicated by the presence of a fourth character—­the daughter of Cohenberg.  Realizing that a small fortune had slipped through his fingers, the old moneylender dispatched his daughter in pursuit of Hi Wing Ho, having learned upon which vessel the latter had sailed.  He had no difficulty in obtaining this information, for he is in touch with all the crooks of the town.  Had he known that the diamond had been stolen by an agent of Huang Chow, he would no doubt have hesitated.  Huang Chow has an international reputation.

“However, his daughter—­a girl of great personal beauty—­relied upon her diplomatic gifts to regain possession of the stone, but, poor creature, she had not counted with Ah Fu, who was evidently watching your chambers (while Hi Wing Ho, it seems, was assiduously shadowing Ah Fu!).  How she traced the diamond from point to point of its travels we do not know, and probably never shall know, but she was undeniably clever and unscrupulous.  Poor girl!  She came to a dreadful end.  Mr. Nicholson, here, identified her at Bow Street to-night.”

Now the whole amazing truth burst upon me.

“I understand!” I cried.  “This”—­and I snatched up the pigtail—­

“That my pigtail,” moaned Hi Wing Ho feebly.

Mr. Nicholson pitched him unceremoniously into a corner of the room, and taking the pigtail in his huge hand, clumsily unfastened it.  Out from the thick part, some two inches below the point at which it had been cut from the Chinaman’s head, a great diamond dropped upon the floor!

For perhaps twenty seconds there was perfect silence in my study.  No one stooped to pick the diamond from the floor—­the diamond which now had blood upon it.  No one, so far as my sense informed me, stirred.  But when, following those moments of stupefaction, we all looked up—­Hi Wing Ho, like a phantom, had faded from the room!

THE HOUSE OF GOLDEN JOSS

I

THE BLOOD-STAINED IDOL

“Stop when we pass the next lamp and give me a light for my pipe.”

“Why?”

“No! don’t look round,” warned my companion.  “I think someone is following us.  And it is always advisable to be on guard in this neighbourhood.”

We had nearly reached the house in Wade Street, Limehouse, which my friend used as a base for East End operations.  The night was dark but clear, and I thought that presently when dawn came it would bring a cold, bright morning.  There was no moon, and as we passed the lamp and paused we stood in almost total darkness.

Facing in the direction of the Council School I struck a match.  It revealed my ruffianly looking companion—­in whom his nearest friends must have failed to recognize Mr. Paul Harley of Chancery Lane.

He was glancing furtively back along the street, and when a moment later we moved on, I too, had detected the presence of a figure stumbling toward us.