The street outside looked comparatively
deserted, and prompted, primarily, by an emotion which I did not pause
to analyse, I adopted a singular measure; without doubt I relied upon
the unusual powers vested in Nayland Smith to absolve me in the event
of error. I made as if to go out into the street, then turned, leapt
past the shopman, ran behind the counter, and grasped at the silver
Buddha!
That I was likely to be arrested for attempted larceny I cared not;
the idea that Karamaneh was concealed somewhere in the building ruled
absolutely, and a theory respecting this silver image had taken
possession of my mind. Exactly what I expected to happen at that
moment I cannot say, but what actually happened was far more startling
than anything I could have imagined.
At the instant that I grasped the figure I realized that it was
attached to the woodwork; in the next I knew that it was a handle ...
as I tried to pull it toward me I became aware that this handle was
the handle of a door. For that door swung open before me, and I found
myself at the foot of a flight of heavily carpeted stairs.
Anxious as I had been to proceed a moment before, I was now trebly
anxious to retire, and for this reason: on the bottom step of the
stairs, facing me, _stood Dr. Fu-Manchu!_
CHAPTER XIX
DR. FU-MANCHU'S LABORATORY
I cannot conceive that any ordinary mortal ever attained to anything
like an intimacy with Dr.
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