Judge Dee at Work

Mr Yee set his cup down and gave Ho and Hwa Min a question­ing look. It was time for them to take their leave.

Suddenly the door opened and Sergeant Hoong, Judge Dee's trusted old adviser, came in. He stepped up to the desk and said: 'There's someone outside with an urgent message, Your Honour.'

Judge Dee had caught his look. 'Excuse me for one moment,' he said to his three guests. He rose and followed the sergeant outside.

When they were standing in the corridor, the sergeant told him in a low voice, 'It's Mr Ho's house steward, sir. He came to report to his master that Mrs Ho has committed suicide.'

'Almighty heaven!’ the judge exclaimed. 'Tell him to wait. I'd better break this bad news to Ho myself. How did she do it?'

'She hanged herself, Your Honour. In their garden pavilion, during the siesta. The steward came rushing out here at once.'

'Too bad for Mr Ho. I like the fellow. A bit on the dry side, but very conscientious. And a clever jurist.'

He sadly shook his head, then re-entered his office. After he had sat down again behind his desk, he addressed Ho gravely: 'It was your house steward, Mr Ho. He came with shocking news. About Mrs Ho.'

Ho grasped the armrests of his chair. 'About my wife?'

'It seems that she committed suicide, Mr Ho.'

Mr Ho half-rose, then let himself sink back again into his chair. He said in a toneless voice, 'So it happened, just as I feared. She ... she was very depressed, these last weeks.' He passed his hand over his eyes, then asked: 'How ... how did she do it, sir?'

'Your steward reported that she hanged herself. He is waiting now to take you home, Mr Ho. I'll send the coroner along at once, to draw up the death certificate. You will want to have the for­malities over and done with as quickly as possible, of course.'

Mr Ho did not seem to have heard him. 'Dead!' he muttered. 'Only a few hours after I had left her! What shall I do?'

'We'll help you with everything of course, Mr Ho,' Hwa Min said consolingly. He added a few words of condolence, in which Yee Pen joined. But Ho did not seem to have heard them. He was staring into space, his face drawn. Suddenly he looked up at the judge and spoke after some hesitation:

'I need time, sir, a little time to ... I don't like to presume upon your kindness, sir, but ... would it perhaps be possible for Your Honour to get someone to attend to the formalities on my behalf? Then I can go home after ... after the autopsy, and when the dead body has been ...' He let his voice trail off, giving the judge a pleading look.

'Of course, Mr Ho!' Judge Dee replied briskly. 'You remain here and have another cup of tea. I'll go personally to your house with the coroner, and a temporary coffin will be prepared. It's the least I can do. You have never grudged me your valuable advice, and today again you have devoted your entire afternoon to the business of this tribunal. No, I insist, Mr Ho! You two look after our friend, gentlemen. I'll be back here in half an hour or so.'

Sergeant Hoong was waiting in the courtyard, together with a small rotund man with a black goatee. Hoong presented him as Ho's house steward. Judge Dee told him, 'I have informed Mr Ho already; you can return now, steward. I'll be along presently.' He added to Sergeant Hoong, 'You'd better go back to the chan­cery, Hoong, and sort out the official papers that have come in. We'll have a look at them together after I get back. Where are my two lieutenants?'

'Ma Joong and Chiao Tai are in the main courtyard, sir, putting the guards through their drill.'

'Good. I need only the headman and two of his men to go to Mr Ho's house. They'll place the dead body in the coffin. When Ma Joong and Chiao Tai are through with the drill, they can retire. I shan't need them tonight. Get the coroner and have my official palankeen brought out!'

In the small front courtyard of Mr Ho's modest residence the small, obese steward stood waiting for the judge. Two red-eyed maids were hovering near the gatehouse. The headman helped Judge Dee to alight from his palankeen. The judge ordered him to wait with the two constables in the courtyard, then told the steward to conduct him and the coroner to the pavilion.

The small man led them along the open corridor that circled the house to an extensive garden, surrounded by a high wall. He took them down a well-kept path winding among the flowering shrubs to the farthest corner. There, in the shade of two tall oak trees, stood an octagonal pavilion, built on a round brick platform. The pointed, green-tiled roof was topped by a gilded globe, and the pillars and the intricate lattice-work of the windows were lacquered a bright red. The judge went up the four marble steps and pulled the door open.

It was hot in the small but high room, the pungent smell of some outlandish incense hung heavily in the close air. Judge Dee's eyes went at once to the bamboo couch against the wall on the right. The still figure of a woman was stretched out on it. The face was turned to the wall; he saw only the thick strands of glossy hair spilling out over her shoulders. She was clad in a summer robe of white silk, her small feet were shod in white satin shoes. Turning round to the coroner, Judge Dee said: