So saying, the Chinaman opened the door of the room and brought Cleve into the back of a large store stocked with Oriental wares.
With calm demeanor, Moy Chen led his companion to the front of the shop, stopping now and then to point out some attractive piece of merchandise. At the door to the street, the Chinaman became silent and stood blinking, as though expecting a statement from the man beside him.
“Thanks,” said Hugo Barnes, in a voice that varied greatly from the tones of Cleve Branch. “I like your shop. Best place I’ve seen in Chinatown. I’ve got my eye on a couple of things I want. I’ll come back in a few days to buy them.”
Moy Chen bowed, silently and with courtesy. He watched with approving eyes as Hugo Barnes shuffled from the shop with a slow, indifferent gait, no longer Cleve Branch.
THE man who called himself Hugo Barnes smiled in a peculiar manner as he sauntered along the street. Cleve Branch was eliminated for the present. This new identity would mean new lodgings at another hotel. The abode of Cleve Branch would temporarily be unoccupied.
Hugo Barnes affected indifference as he passed the Mukden Theater. The first part of the game was ended. Hidden watchers could stare in vain. Keen eyes could not detect the presence of this disguise. The watched had become the watcher.
Tomorrow, Cleve Branch, in a new identity, would meet in person members of the Wu-Fan. But in the meantime, Hugo Barnes was on the lookout for a mysterious shadow. Now, he felt sure, that shadow would not move away as it had gone before.
There was a patch of darkness on the sidewalk beyond the Mukden Theater.
No shadow could have been visible there. Perhaps that was why the alert eyes of Hugo Barnes failed to see a tall, dark figure that stood motionless in a blackened doorway.
But the watching form saw Hugo Barnes. When the disguised man rambled by, the silent figure moved.