Assuming that Cohen
had opened one of the cases and had alarmed old Huang Chow, what
steps had the latter taken to deal with the intruder which had
resulted in so ghastly a death? And how had he disposed of the
body?
As Durham stood there musing and looking down through the plate-
glass at the delicate porcelain beneath, a faint sound intruded
itself upon the stillness. It gave him another idea. Part of
the floor was stone-paved, but part was wood.
Upon a portion of the latter, where no carpet rested, Durham
dropped flat, pressing his ear to the floor.
A faint swishing and trickling sound was perceptible from some
place beneath.
"Ah!" he murmured.
Remembering that the premises almost overhung the Thames, he
divined that the cellars were flooded at high tide, or that there
was some kind of drain or cutting running underneath the house.
He stood up again, listening intently for any sound within the
building. He thought he had detected something, and now, as he
stood there alert, he heard it again--a faint scuffling, which
might have been occasioned by rats or even mice, but which, in
some subtle and very unpleasant way, did not suggest the
movements of these familiar rodents.
Even as he perceived it, it ceased, leaving him wondering, and
uncomfortably conscious of a sudden dread of his surroundings.
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