“Did you know her father was a naval officer and was for many years on the China Station?” I asked.
Feng started violently, “Is that so?” he asked quickly.
“Yes,” I replied, “she told me so only today.”
The old man sank back into his chair and pondered deeply.
“That may explain it,” he said slowly. “It is just possible the claw has been sent to her in recognition of something her father did. But, if so, it must have been something of very great importance. How long has her father been dead?”
“About a year,” I replied.
“Well,” he said, after another period of thought, “there must have been some reason why the sending of the claw was delayed. But,” he went on with growing animation, “you can take it from me she has powerful friends. With that claw in her possession she could ask almost anything she liked in any part of China today. It would be a magic talisman there.”
Of course, I was as completely bewildered and amazed as Dr. Feng. But I could only assume that his solution of the mystery was correct. Mrs. Audley apparently knew next to nothing of her father’s life abroad: certainly she would and could know nothing of his political activities there. But Feng was confident he had somehow been associated with powerful members of the Thu-tseng.
“I will send some cables tomorrow,” he said, as we parted for the night. “I am deeply interested in this affair. China is the land of mysteries, and this is beyond me. The last time I saw the crystal claw was when I was in Tibet twenty years ago. It was worn by a monk of a Buddhist monastery there. But, of course, I could never find out why he got it.”