Excerpt: In out of the darkness-for the stair lights had been extinguished-staggered a woman; a woman whose pale face exhibited despite the ravages of sorrow or illness signs of quite unusual beauty.

Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, better known as Sax Rohmer, (1883 - 1959) was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu.