Instantly it flashed upon him
that this was the same box he had seen at Miriam's. She had sent it to
him, and Shan Tung had been her messenger. The absurd thought was in
his head as he took up a small white square of card that lay on top of
the box. The upper side of this card was blank; on the other side, in a
script as exquisite in its delicacy as the carving itself, were the
words:
"WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF SHAN TUNG."
In another moment Keith had opened the box. Inside was a carefully
folded slip of paper, and on this paper was written a single line.
Keith's heart stopped beating, and his blood ran cold as he read what
it held for him, a message of doom from Shan Tung in nine words:
"WHAT HAPPENED TO DERWENT CONNISTON? DID YOU KILL HIM?"
XI
Stunned by a shock that for a few moments paralyzed every nerve center
in his body, John Keith stood with the slip of white paper in his
hands. He was discovered! That was the one thought that pounded like a
hammer in his brain. He was discovered in the very hour of his triumph
and exaltation, in that hour when the world had opened its portals of
joy and hope for him again and when life itself, after four years of
hell, was once more worth the living.
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