"No one knows, because no one has ever seen his face! Ah! you are laughing! But I swear before heaven I speak the truth! Indoors he wears a Chinese dress and a green veil. In passing from place to place, which he always does at night, he is attired in a kind of cowl which only exposes his eyes----" "But how _can_ such a fantastic being travel?" "By road, on land, and in a steam yacht, at sea. Why should _you_ doubt my honesty?" She suddenly raises her glance to Stuart's face and he saw that she had grown pale. "I have risked what I cannot tell you, and more than once--for you! I tried to call you on the telephone on the night that he set out from the house near Hampton Court to kill you, but I could get no reply, and----" "Stop!" said Stuart, almost too exited to note at the time that she had betrayed a secret. "It was _you_ who rang up that night? "Yes. Why did you not answer?" "Never mind. Your call saved my life. I shall not forget." He looked into her eyes. "But can you not tell me what it all means? What or whom is 'The Scorpion'?" She flinched. "The Scorpion is--a passport. See." From a little pocket in the coat of her costume she drew out a golden scorpion! "I have one." She replaced it hurriedly. "I dare not, dare not tell you more. But this much I had to tell you, because ... I shall never see you again!" "What!" "A French detective, a very clever man, learned a lot about 'The Scorpion' and he followed one of the members to England. This man killed him. Oh, I know I belong to a horrible organization!" she cried bitterly. "But I tell you I am helpless and _I_ have never aided in such a thing. You should know that! But all he found out he left with you--and I do not know if I succeeded in destroying it. I do not ask you. I do not care. But I leave England to-night. Good-bye." She suddenly stood up. Stuart rose also. He was about to speak when Miska's expression changed. A look of terror crept over her face, and hastily lowering her veil she walked rapidly away from the table and out of the room! Many curious glances followed the elegant figure to the door. Then those glances were directed upon Stuart. Flushing with embarrassment, he quickly settled the bill and hurried out of the hotel. Gaining the street, he looked eagerly right and left. But Miska had disappeared! CHAPTER V THE HEART OF CHUNDA LAL Dusk had drawn a grey mantle over the East-End streets when Miska, discharging the cab in which she had come from Victoria, hurried furtively along a narrow alley tending Thamesward. Unconsciously she crossed a certain line--a line invisible except upon a map of London which lay upon the table of the Assistant Commissioner in New Scotland Yard--the line forming the "red circle" of M. Gaston Max. And, crossing this line, she became the focus upon which four pairs of watchful eyes were directed.