She had picked up some Chinese articles on a table, including the box that Long had left there.  It had a peculiar odor.

“Opium!” she whispered, showing it to Elaine.

The two looked at each other, Elaine genuinely worried now.

Just then, the Chinaman entered and stood a moment gazing at them.  They turned and Elaine recoiled from him.  Long bowed.

“Oh sir,” cried Mary, “We’ve made a mistake.  Can’t you tell us how to get out?”

Long’s only answer was to spread out his hands in polite deprecation and shrug his suave shoulders.

“No speke Englis,” he said, gliding out again from the room and closing the door.

Elaine and Mary looked about in despair.

“What shall we do?” asked Elaine.

Mary said nothing, but with a hasty glance discovered on the wall the knife which Long had already told her about.  She took it from its scabbard.  As she did so the Chinaman returned with a tray on which were queer drinks and glasses.

At the sight of Mary with the knife he scowled blackly, laid the tray down, and took a few steps in her direction.  She brandished the knife threateningly, then, as if her nerve failed her, fainted letting the knife fall carefully on the floor so that it struck on the handle and not on the blade.

Long quickly caught her as she fainted and carried her out of the room, banging shut the door.  Elaine followed in a moment, loyally, to protect her supposed friend, but found that the door had a snap lock on the other side.

She looked about wildly and in a moment Long reappeared.  As he advanced slowly and insinuatingly, she drew back, pleading.  But her words fell on seemingly deaf ears.

She had picked up the knife which Mary had dropped and when at last Long maneuvred to get her cornered and was about to seize her, she nerved herself up and stabbed him resolutely.

Long staggered back—­and fell.

As he did so, he pressed the bladder which he had already placed under his coat.  A dark red fluid, like blood, oozed out all over him and ran in a pool on the floor.

Elaine, too horror-stricken at what had happened even to scream, dropped the knife and bent over him.  He did not move.  She staggered back and ran through the now open door.  As she did so, Long seemed suddenly to come to life.  He raised himself and looked after her, then with a subtle smile sank back into his former assumed posture on the floor.

When Elaine reached the other room, she found Mary there with the Chinese servant who was giving her a glass of water.  At the sight of her, the servant paused, then withdrew into another room further back.  Mary, now apparently recovering from her faintness, smiled wanly at Elaine.

“It’s all right,” she murmured.  “He is a Chinese prince who thought we were callers.”

At the reassuring nod of Mary toward the front room, Elaine was overcome.