The physician smiled at his visitor. The girl was beautiful in the soft light of the Oriental room. The jet-blackness of her hair made her face seem molded of ivory.
She typified all that was alluring in femininity. The daring lines of her stylish gown added to her seductiveness.
Approval gleamed in Palermo’s eyes, and Thelda, detecting the man’s expression, rewarded him with a sophisticated smile as she seated herself close beside him.
“It seems a long time since I was here,” said Thelda softly. “Yet actually it was but a few nights ago. You told me then — you told me that it would not be long before — before you and I would—”
She paused, and gazed at the impassive face of the man beside her.
“It will not be long, I hope,” replied Palermo. “Still, we must wait. That night, when you were here, I had an unexpected visitor.”
The girl seemed to sense something ominous in Palermo’s words. She gripped his arm in momentary alarm, but the man remained as impassive as before.
“But you sent for me, tonight,” protested Thelda.
“Only to tell you of our danger,” was the reply. “The man who came here called himself The Shadow.”
“I have only heard of The Shadow,” said Thelda, “but I know that he is a strange, unaccountable man of mystery. No one has ever found him.”