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SPIDERS IN THEIR WEBS

He was in Liard&039;s experience, the district&039;s evil reputation ell-deserved More naht than Silver Knife could account for in three , the hansoh an archway then came to a dead halt The cabby ripped the hilt of his sword-cane The doors were opened for hilittered in the dark

&039;Sorry for the inconvenience, Beauregard,&039; purred a silky voice, male but not entirely masculine, &039;but I trust you&039;ll understand It&039;s a sticky wicket&039;

He stepped down from the cab and found himself in a yard off one of the warren of streets near the docks The fog here ispy, hanging like undersea fronds of yellow gauze There were people all about The one who spoke was an Englishood coat and soft hat, face in darkness His posture, studied in its langour, suggested an athlete in repose; Beauregard would not care to go four rounds with hitailed and bowed, hands in their sleeves Most arm but a massive fellow by the cab-door was new-born, naked to the waist to show off his dragon tattoos and an un-dead indifference to autuht caught his youthful face He had pretty eyelashes like a woet six sixes from six balls in &039;85,&039; he said &039;In Madras Gentleed modestly &039;You play what&039;s chucked at you, I always say&039;

He had heard the new-born&039;s na but so jewel robberies He supposed the sports confirmed that he was indeed the author of those crientleainst the Gentlemen

&039;This way,&039; said the a a wet stretch of stone wall The new-born Chinese pressed a brick and a section of the wall tilted upwards, for a hatch-like door &039;Duck down or you&039;ll bash your bean Deuced small, these chinks&039;

He followed the new-born, who could see in the dark better than he, and was in turn followed by the rest of the party As the vaons on his shoulder-blades silently roared and flapped They proceeded down a sloping passageway, and he realised they were below street level The surfaces were da, the air cold and bad: these chambers must be close to the river As they passed a chute froard was re this place the source of quite a few of their nue widened and he deduced this part of the labyrinth dated back centuries Objets d&039;art, mostly of undoubted antiquity and oriental appearance, stood at significant junctures After many turns and descents and doors, his kidnappers were sure he could never find his way unescorted to the surface He was pleased to be underesti chattered behind a wall and he flinched He could not identify the animal din The new-born turned to the noise and yanked the head of a jade caterpillar A door opened and Beauregard was ushered into a di room There were no s, just chinoiserie screens The centrepiece was a large desk, behind which sat an ancient Chinaernails tapped like knifepoints on his blotter There were others, in coed in a half-circle about the desk The unseen chattering thing quieted

Onea Devil&039;s mask of his face He was a vaard,&039; began the Celestial, &039;you are so kind to join our wretched and unworthy selves&039;

&039;You are so kind to invite me&039;

The Chinaman clapped his hands, and nodded to a cold-faced servant, a Burmese

&039;Take our visitor&039;s hat, cloak and cane&039;

Beauregard was relieved of his burdens When the Burular earring, and the ritual tattooing about his neck

&039;A dacoit?&039; he enquired

&039;You are so very observant,&039; affirmed the Chinaman

&039;I have some little experience of the world of secret societies&039;

&039;Indeed you have, Mr Beauregard Our paths have crossed three tihai You caused ard realised to who, and tried to sies, Doctor&039;

The Chinaernails clacking He had the brow of a Shakespeare and a s Satan

&039;Think nothing of it&039; He brushed away apologies &039;Those were trivial matters, of no import beyond the ordinary I shall not prosecute any personal business in this instance&039;

Beauregard tried not to show his relief Whatever else he was, the criminal mandarin was known to be a man of his word This was the person they called &039;the Devil Doctor&039; or &039;the Lord of Strange Deaths&039; He was one of the Council of Seven, the ruling body of the Si-Fan, a tong whose influence extended to all the quarters of the Earth Mycroft reckoned the Celestial aerous h,&039; the China to take place very far to the East, I fancy its agenda would not be so pleasant for you and, I confess, for ard did, all too well Theyof truce, but it would be lowered as soon as the Diogenes Club again required hiainst the Si-Fan

&039;Those affairs are not of interest to us at this ht and faces beca burst into its screech and was quelled only by a olden cage, built as if for a parrot with a six-foot wingspan, containing a long-tailed ape It bared yellow teeth in bright pink gums that took up two-thirds of its face The Chinaard had cause to recall whenever he used his snakeskin-handled boot scraper

&039;Business,&039; snorted avampire, &039;time is money, remember&039;

&039;A thousand pardons, Colonel Moran In the East, things are different Here, we must bow to your Western ways, hurry and bustle, haste and industry&039;

The cigar-s a frock coat marked around the pockets with chalk The Colonel deferred to hi The smoker&039;s head oscillated fro over his lower lip

&039;My associate is a business friend is a dilettante, Griffin over there is a scientist, Captain Macheath - who, by the way, sends his apologies - is a soldier, Sikes is continuing his family business, I am a mathematician, but you, my dear doctor, are an artist&039;

&039;The Professor flatters ard had heard of the Professor too Mycroft&039;s brother, the consulting detective, had a craze of sorts for hied

&039;With two of the three erous men in the world in one room,&039; he observed, &039;I have to ask ht be?&039;

&039;I see our naard,&039; said the China I believe hesoer concerns us He has his own interests&039;

Beauregard looked at the others in the , those still unaccounted for Griffin, whom the Professor had round Sikes was a pig-faced man, warm, short, burly and brutal With a loud striped jacket and cheap oil on his hair, he looked out of place in such a distinguished gathering Alone in the coe of a criminal

&039;Professor, if you would care to explain to our honoured guest&039;