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Picture Post, September
9, 1
~39
PICTURE POST SERIAL: INSTALMENT 2
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SUMMARY OF THE FIRST INSTALMENT
Philip Callighan, a successful ex–
port merchant just back from Brazil,
finds himself subject to periodical
spasms of terror, accompanied by
momentary paralysis, which no doctor
can begin to explain. Harry Fenton,
playboy son of Callighan's dead .
business partner, tries to snap him out
of his depressio,n by plying him with ,
all the typical West End attractions.
But no sooner has Callighan set foot
inside the first night club they m;e to
visit than he collapses mysteriously
on the
fi007
and is carried to a
ta~.
A
T two o'clock in the mom–
-
ing-the exact hour when
Harry Fenton was taking
the dazed Philip Callighan
back to his Kensington hotel in a
taxi-an old - Oriental was sitting
on the floor of . his bed.room in
Limehouse, holding ·an earnest dis–
cussion-with 'a python. They had
only arrived that day; but both of
them-snake "find man-found the
room sympathetic and the house
congenial. .
From the outside, and to the out–
sid~r,
none of the houses in the
street looked attractive. They were
typical of the tens of thous'ands of
other sordid dwellings in the slum
district -off the West India Dock
Road. That bpuse with the orange
curtains, a little farther down the
street, for instance-to all appear–
ances the ground floor was occupied
by a shop. In the window stood a
statuette of Buddha and some Chin–
ese vases. On the wooden sign–
boards by the door was the legend:
"Chang Ling Kai
General Provisions."
Actually, Chang Ling Kai did sell
General Provisions , as well.
Th~s
was proved by the fact that at least
once a day a customer would come
out with a jar of ginger ora bag of
water chestnuts. It is true that a
:. certain number of customers went
in at the door who never seemed to
come out again; bUS-the neighbours
didn't bother their heads about that.
58
It
was at this house with the
orange
cUIt~ins
that there had ap":
peared, the evening before, a
.
~
...
by
IVAN · DAX
wrinkled' little man of cunous . let furnished rooms. But we
will
Mrs.. Monteiro named the rent
appearance-curiou"S, even for the find a way. You will wish to stay for which she had got from former
West India Di>ck Road. He was .a long tiIp-e?"
tenants: "Six shillings," she said.
. evidently well over sixty. A few
"Until I have finished my
~usi-
'-'Weekly. In advance." .
strands of white hair showed under ness. Perhaps in
a
few days. - Per- .-. "That will suit me, Mrs:-Mon-
the silk turban_wound round his haps never."
teiro. When can I move in?"
head. His skin looked like-crease<:{ .
"If
I can be of some
I
trivial assis-
"To-night? You
like~?"
parchment, but the black beady,eyes tance to you in this matter .. :" .
"Excellent. You.are not English,
gave the ord faee a mischievous live-
"I am ' grateful.
It
is the one I
t;hinIO"
liness. He wore a short, loose jacket matter which I have still to settle ..."
"Mrs. Monteh:o is a Portuguese
and a sarong reaching to his ankles.
1he
conversati~n
was interrupted from Macao," " explained Chang
With a silent salutation the old by the entr ance of a buxom; blo;wsy Ling Kai. "The little Portuguese
--man put his travelling bag down on woman with a laundry basket.
colony
nea~
Hong-Kong.
She
the floor. He unfastened the straps
Chang Ling Kai had an idea.
- speaks quite good Chinese."
of a wiGker basket
he
was carrying
"Listen, Isabel," he said, "you
"Excellent." The Burman
on his back and placed it carefully used to take
a
lodger
in
your house, nodded his satisfaction with the
on the co.unter.., Is the toam free .now?"
I
.
arrangemen~
"Then we ' are
In deference to his visitor's age,
"Free?" said.. $e woman suspi- agreed?"
rChang Ling Kai rose and, bowing ciously. "You joke me? Of course
Mrs. Monteiro and Chang Ling
politely, offered him tea and cakes. it is
free.'~ ·
.
'"
~
Kai
exchanged glances. . Then the
The stranger accepted in silerice.
"I have a new lodger for YQu,
Chit;J.aIfian put on'a bQld front:. .
When he had recovered his breath Isabel." The Chinaman waved his . "I think you should know, Tun
he began speaking in brQken -but hand in the direction of Tun Pe. "A Pe, that something
has
happened–
intelligible Yunnan Chinese:
friend of my family' on his-nrst visit twice-in Mrs. ; Monteiro's room.
"You are Chang Ling Kai of to Europe}'
To be frank, two murders have been
Tallfu in the pl'ovince of Yjlnnan? - The woman gave the stranger a committed there. : 'Eight years
ago~
I am a Burman ftoII,l Bhamo. I quick glance and put her lips close before she went to live there, a
bring a
lett~r
from your mother's to the .Chinaman's ear;
( Lascar robbed and killed a ship:::-
. brother, Hung Su Kiang. He has _ "Woman opposite, she's a very mate."
been my friend and
.n~ighbour
for . bad woman: she tells everything
"That was before my
tim~,
mis-'
many years."
rightaway,"
~he
complained.
ter,t said Isobel.staunohly. ' .
Chang Ling Kai swelled
wit~
def-
"Naturallywe musHell rum first,"
"And the second murded"
erence anc;l amiability. He thanked said Chang · Ling Kai with un- asked TUn Pe; coolly.
the Burman for the letter and bounded frankness. "Perhaps he will
"That was nearly a year ago,"
begged his permission to read if in not mind. Your hOMse is quiet: I ' replied the Chinaman. "A YO'qng
his presence.
think it is exactly what he wants. lorry driver strangled a girI-out of
"Your wishes are my eommands, -Anyway, there is nothing wrong jealousy."
Tun Pe," he announced with polite with the hOMse otherwise."
"She was not a good girl," ex-
pomposity when he had read it. "So
Isabel shrugged her shoulders. . plained Mrs. M0nteir0.
good a friend of my uncle' is as dear . "You tell him, Mr. Chang? You
The Burman's face betrayed no
to me as'1:he person now before you. put it nicely, eh?"
horror. He seemed rather amused.
.What can I do for- you ?"
The Chinaman nodded and drew "Bad girl, eh? And jealous? Two
"First I would beg you to help me the woman nearer to his guest. murders
in
one room! A strange
find a lodging," replied the Burman. "This is Mrs. Monteiro, whom I coincidence! Wen. ... no-one is
"If
you would deign to accept the have known for many years. She likely to want to murder
an'
old· man
use of a poor room in my unworthy can let y'ou have a r0.om. She takes like me and ..."
house...."
in a little. washing and lives alone
"You sure no murder nobody"-
"I thank you for .your kindness. with her two children. You could Mrs. Monteiro jestingly eompleted
But I would prefer to liveJn a house be as undisturbed there as you wish." the sentence. '
.
where no strangers pas!, in and out..
Tun Pe looked the woman over
."I?" The old man: tittered softly
I cannot afford much. The room with a friendly smile.
to himself. "You never know, Mrs.
. can be infinitely small ·and humble,
"Very kind of you to
hAt
Vfiliwg
tow
1IJohtHp. rYfI)us.n6Ver
tnoW)¥
provided only that I am undis- receive an old man likB' C
.
.
Isabel .
turbed."
much does the room
.
e . receiv
Pe's
,,', Chang Ling Kai
stro~ed
his chin. spoke for the fir,st time
,i.
ORI!D
ghter.
Hm, hm. . . . that wlll not be so
com~ctly
and Wlth an
0
e .
1
JU{tn
d
. nt in
easy. Here in this district few people pronunciation.
advance. And the deal was dosed.
-/.
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PICTURE POST