Munsey's Magazine, January 1919

The Golden Scorpion by Sax Rohmer

A serial mystery opening in Munsey's Magazine (January 1919). Dr. Keppel Stuart, a brilliant physician and former tropical medicine researcher, awakens in his London suburban home to inexplicable disturbances—mysterious clicking sounds, an unearthly wailing, and the apparition of a cowled figure silhouetted against his study window. Uncertain whether the incident was nightmare or reality, Stuart discovers his papers apparently disturbed. By morning, finding everything undisturbed and windows secure, he dismisses it as a vivid dream. The narrative establishes Stuart's personal melancholy (a failed engagement) and introduces Mlle. Dorian, a wealthy foreign woman claiming insomnia who visits him repeatedly, arousing his housekeeper Mrs. McGregor's protective concern. Mrs. McGregor cryptically warns of "the pibroch of the McGregors"—a family omen foretelling danger.