At the first sound of the voice crying outside, the Chinaman beside Li
Choo leaped thrice in front of the brazier, the mat and the moveless
body.
At that moment the Young Doctor came forward. He who had leaped stood
between him and the body of Li Choo.
"You must not come. Li Choo, the superior man, is dead," he protested.
"I am a doctor," was the reply. "If he is dead, the law will not touch
him, and you shall be alone with him, but the law must know that he is
dead. That is the way that prevails among the 'low people,'" he added
ironically.
The Chinaman stood aside, and the Young Doctor stooped, felt the pulse,
touched the heart and lifted up the head and looked into Li Choo's
sightless eyes.
"He is dead," he said, and he came back again to the Coroner and the
others. "Let's get out of this," he added. "He is beyond our reach now.
No need for an inquest here. He has killed himself." Then he caught
Orlando's hand in a warm grip.
As they left the chamber, the kinsman of Li Choo was gently laying the
body down upon the bamboo mat. At the doorway the other son of the Duke
Ki was still monotonously calling back the departed spirit.
The inquest on Joel Mazarine was ended presently, and Nolan Doyle and the
Young Doctor set out to tell Louise that a "low man," once her husband,
had paid a high price for all that he had bought of the fruits of life
out of due season.
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