The Crystal Claw

The Crystal Claw by William Le Queux

Rex Yelverton, a young London solicitor with a taste for winter sports and wireless telegraphy, narrates events from three years past that began at the Kürhaus hotel in Mürren, Switzerland, where he holidays alongside his friend Dr. Feng Tsu'tong, an elderly, cultured Chinese physician steeped in Yogi philosophy. There Rex meets newlyweds Stanley Audley and his bride Thelma, a vivacious former London girl not yet nineteen. When Stanley is abruptly summoned back to London for business, he asks Rex to look after Thelma until his return, and Rex agrees. While alone with Rex, Thelma receives an anonymous gift from Peking: a diamond-and-crystal pendant shaped like a peacock's claw. Dr. Feng recognizes it as the badge of the Thu-tseng, a Manchu secret society, and deduces it was sent in gratitude for services Thelma's late naval-officer father once rendered a Chinese revolutionary, Sung-tchun, whose escape from Russian imprisonment he had secretly financed. The jewel signifies goodwill, not threat, but its arrival visibly shakes both Feng and, later, a fellow guest, the crippled financier Hartley Humphreys, who conceals violent alarm at the sight of it. Stanley fails to return. Rex overhears Thelma at night furiously refusing to disclose her husband's whereabouts to Harold Ruthen, a foppish acquaintance who claims Stanley is in grave danger and accuses Thelma of falling for Rex. Thelma and Rex return to England together; her marriage is unraveling into mystery, and she admits fear that Stanley can never return to her, though she won't say why. Back in London, Rex's investigation uncovers a startling switch: the "Stanley Audley" who lodged in Half Moon Street was actually named Graydon by his landlord, while the true bridegroom—Thelma's husband—had used the name Audley outside those lodgings, borrowing it from the other tenant. The real Graydon is a wealthy young man of good family; the false "Audley" consorted with a card-sharping invalid named Davies (who matches Humphreys' description) and ran with a card-cheating, forgery-tainted crowd including Ruthen. Rex also meets Marigold Day, a mannequin and former sweetheart of the false Audley, who reveals Stanley had proposed to her before apparently marrying Thelma, and that Ruthen believes Stanley is hiding in Paris. Rex traces Thelma's husband to a private hotel in Lancaster Gate, run by ex-butler Seton, who confirms the missing man is indeed "Mr. Graydon." Arriving moments too late, Rex finds Graydon has vanished from a locked, sealed room, having burned clothing and a fifty-pound note and cut his hand—evidence, it emerges, that the notes are forgeries from a South American counterfeiting ring, and that Graydon/Audley slipped out by turning the key from outside with pliers. Meanwhile, threatening typewritten letters begin arriving at Rex's flat, warning him to abandon his search and his friendship with Thelma "at the cost of your own life." Undeterred despite his partner Hensman's exasperation, Rex learns via Marigold that Ruthen claims Stanley died in a motor accident near Saumur, France, while touring with confederates distributing forged banknotes. Rex travels to Saumur himself and confirms through French police that a man using the name "Stanley Audley" did die there—but the corpse and photographs prove it was the false Audley (Graydon's friend), not Thelma's true husband, who dies expressing remorse and a wish for "little Thelma's" happiness. Rex cables Thelma the relief that her husband lives. Further threats follow, tracking Rex's movements uncannily closely. Rex also witnesses Dr. Feng secretly meeting Thelma at night in Bexhill, deepening his suspicion that Feng, ostensibly warning him away from danger, is playing a concealed role alongside Humphreys and Ruthen, who turn out to be intimates despite pretending otherwise at Mürren. Rex overhears Thelma has been told, by an unnamed "friend" under a vow of secrecy, that Stanley may be dead—information Rex suspects came from Feng himself. Lured to Stamford by a fraudulent phone call impersonating a client's son, Rex is drugged and nearly poisoned at the ancient Cross Keys inn by a mysterious "commercial traveler" bearing an eye-shaped scarf pin, who rigs a locked-room fake suicide against him, complete with a forged confession note. Feng and Thelma rush to his side; forensic examination of the inn reveals the assassin escaped via a rope rigged between windows. Feng, now openly protective yet still urging Rex to abandon the affair entirely, hints ominously that further attempts on Rex's life are certain, and that the forces protecting Stanley Audley's secret—whether a forgery ring, the Thu-tseng, or something else—will stop at nothing. The section closes with Rex still unraveling the true relationships binding Feng, Humphreys, Ruthen, the dead and living "Audleys," and Thelma, whose loyalty and knowledge remain the central, unresolved enigma driving the story forward.

By William Le Queux · First published 1924 · Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Romance · 22 chapters · 77,377 words

First lines

"Yes, an extremely pretty girl," remarked old Dr. Feng, bending towards me and speaking softly across the _table-à-deux_ at which we were dining at the Kürhaus hotel at Mürren, high-up in the snow-clad Alps. "A honeymooning couple, no doubt," he went on -- "nice place this for a honeymoon! " and the white-haired old Chinese who -- most unusual in one of his race, had a long white beard -- smiled as he poured out a tiny glass of white curacao, the only form of alcohol I ever saw him indulge in.

What this Textopian page supports

The Crystal Claw is listed on Textopian as a novel by William Le Queux, dated 1924 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Genres

Tags

mystery · crime fiction · detective story · thriller · suspense · British fiction · early twentieth century · investigation · secretive characters · criminal conspiracy · clues · danger

Contents

More by William Le Queux