He was below middle height and sat in the shadow thrown by a wall pillar.

He too rose, but bowed his head.
"A Chinaman, eh ?" said Lyne, looking at this unexpected apparition with curiosity.

"Oh, of course, Mr.Tarling, I had almost forgotten that you've almost come straight from China.

Won't you sit down ?" He followed the other's example, threw himself into a chair and offered his cigarette case.
"The work I am going to ask you to do I will discuss later," he said.
"But I must explain, that I was partly attracted to you by the description I read in one of the newspapers of how you had recovered the Duchess of Henley's jewels and partly by the stories I heard of you when I was in China.

You're not attached to Scotland Yard, I understand ?" Tarling shook his head.
"No," he said quietly.