“I often see him carrying a cage of young birds, but we have no birds in the house.”
“How perfectly extraordinary!” muttered Durham.
“I distrust Ah Fu,” whispered the girl. “I am glad he did not see me with you.”
“Young birds,” murmured Durham absently. “What kind of young birds? Any particular breed?”
“No; canaries, linnets—all sorts. Isn't it funny?” The girl laughed in a childish way. “And now I think Ah Fu will have gone in, so I must say good night.”
But when presently Detective Durham found himself walking back along West India Dock Road, his mind's eye was set upon the slinking figure of a Chinaman carrying a birdcage.
VI
A HINT OF INCENSE
One Chinaman more or less does not make any very great difference to the authorities responsible for maintaining law and order in Limehouse. Asiatic settlers are at liberty to follow their national propensities, and to knife one another within reason. This is wisdom. Such recreations are allowed, if not encouraged, by all wise rulers of Eastern peoples.