Naturally enough, this circumstance excited my curiosity and,
distracting the woman's attention for a moment--I asked her to
bring me something from a table at the opposite side of the
room--I lightly raised this wayward lock and immediately replaced
it again.
"'Do you know what it concealed, Mr. Brinn?'
"I assured him that I did not.
"'A mark, apparently natural, resembling a torch surmounted by a
tongue of fire!'
"I was amazed, gentlemen, by Sir Charles's story. He was given
his fee and driven back to his quarters. But that he had succeeded
where I had failed, that he had actually looked upon Fire-Tongue
in person, I could not doubt. I learned from this, too, that the
Prophet of Fire did not always remain in his mountain stronghold,
for Delhi is a long way from the Secret City.
"Strange though it must appear, at this time I failed to account
for Sir Charles confiding this thing to me. Later, I realized
that he must have seen the mark on my arm, although he never
referred to it.
"Well, the past leapt out at me, as you see, and worse was to
come. The death of Sir Charles Abingdon told me what I hated to
know: that Fire-Tongue was in England!
"I moved at once. I inserted in the Times the prearranged
message, hardly daring to hope that it would come to the eye of
Naida; but it did! She visited me. And I learned that not only
Sir Charles Abingdon, but another, knew of the mark which I bore!
"I was summoned to appear before the Prophet of fire!
"Gentlemen, what I saw and how I succeeded in finding out the
location of his abode are matters that can wait.
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