I left Chundermeyer to his opulent cigar without regret. That he was an astute man of affairs and an expert lapidary I did not doubt, for he had offered to buy my Hatshepsu scarab ring at a price exactly ten per cent below its trade value; but to my mind there is something almost as unnatural about a Hindu-Hebrew as about a Græco-Welshman or a griffin. Of course, Daphne Collis was not ready; and, Sir Bertram going up to their apartments to induce her to hurry, I strolled out again into the gardens for a quiet cigarette and a cocktail. As I approached a suitable seat in a sort of charming little arbor festooned with purple blossom, a man who had been waiting there rose to greet me. With a certain quickening of the pulse, I recognized Abû Tabâh, arrayed, as was his custom, in black, only relieved by a small snowy turban, which served to enhance the ascetic beauty of his face and the mystery of the wonderful, liquid eyes. He inclined his head in that gesture of gentle dignity which I knew; and: "I have been awaiting an opportunity of speech with you, Kernaby Pasha," he said, in his flawless, musical English, "upon a matter in which I hope you will consent to aid me." Since this mysterious man, variously known as "the _imám_" and "the Magician," but whom I knew to be some kind of secret agent of the Egyptian Government, had recently saved me from assassination, to decline to aid him was out of the question. We seated ourselves in the arbor. "I should welcome an opportunity of serving you, my friend," I assured him, "since your services to me can never be repaid." His lips moved slightly in the curiously tender smile which a poor physiognomist might have mistaken for evidence of effeminacy, bending towards me with a cautious glance about. "You are staying at this hotel throughout the Christmas festivities?" he asked. "Yes; I have temporarily deserted Shepheard's in order to accept the hospitality of Sir Bertram Collis, a very old friend. I shall probably return on the Tuesday following Christmas Day." "There is to be a carnival and masquerade ball here to-morrow. You shall be present?" "I hope so," I replied in surprise. "To what does all this tend?" Abû Tabâh bent yet closer. "Many of your friends and acquaintances possess valuable jewels?" "They do." "Then warn them--individually, in order to occasion no general alarm--to guard these with the utmost care." My surprise increased. "You alarm me," I said. "Are there rogues in our midst?" "No," answered the _imám_, fixing his melancholy gaze upon my face; "so far as my knowledge bears me, there is but one, yet that one is worse than a host of others." "Do you mean that he is here--in the hotel?" Abû Tabâh shrugged his slim shoulders.