The Willow Pattern

She shrugged her broad, bony shoulders.

'I tell you that the master was a dissolute lecher. Used to have the lowest sluts from the gutter up here, nearly every day. And what for? To watch them doing their dirty dances — if you care to call those filthy pranks dances — on that platform there,' Seeing that the judge was about to make an angry remark, she added quickly: 'The master got all kinds of nasty diseases from those women, which was just what he deserved. But he passed them on to his poor wife, and that's what ruined her health. But he didn't care. Not he!’

'Your master's body is hardly cold yet, woman!' Judge Dee burst out angrily. 'Do you realize that his spirit may still be present here, and hear all those terrible things you are saying?'

'I am not afraid of ghosts. This old, evil house is full of them. You can hear them wail, on stormy nights. The ghosts of the men and women maimed or tortured in this same gallery, or starved to death in the dungeons.'

'You are referring to things that happened one hundred years ago,' the judge said with disdain.

'His father and his grandfather were as bad as him. Savage beasts, that's what they were, all of them. But I needn't go back to the past to prove that. Oh no! Six years ago the master whipped a bondmaid to death, here, on that same couch you are sitting on, sir.'

'Have you found a record of that case?' Judge Dee asked Tao Gan sharply.

'No sir. The only charge ever brought against Yee was that of usury. And he was aquitted.'

'You are telling a pack of lies, woman!’ the judge barked.

'It's the truth, sir. Have your men dig up the cluster of bamboos on the south side of the back yard and you'll find her bones. But who in this house would have wanted to accuse the master? Our parents served his father, our grandparents his grandfather. He was a bad man, but he was our master. Heaven willed it so.'

Judge Dee gave her a thoughtful look. After a brief pause he asked, pointing at the whip on the floor:

'Have you seen that thing before?'

She sniffed.

'Of course! One of the master's favourite toys.'

'What about Mr Hoo?' the judge asked again. 'Is he a man of the same ilk as your master?'

Her impassive face suddenly came to life.

'Don't you dare to slander the Honourable Hoo!' she cried. 'He is a fine, straightforward gentleman. A famous hunter and a great warrior, as his forebears were. And now, now he isn't even allowed to wear a sword! That silly ruling is an insult to a man like him.'

'He could have applied for a commission in the Imperial army,' Judge Dee remarked dryly.

'A commission! The heads of the Hoo family were always field-marshals, sir.'

The judge took his fan from his sleeve. The close air in the gallery was becoming oppressive. He fanned himself for a while, then asked abruptly:

'Who killed your master?'

'A newcomer,' she replied at once. 'No one in the "old world" would have raised his hand against the marquis. Must have been some whore's tout the master let into the house tonight.'

'Has your master had many visitors, lately?'

'No sir. Before the sickness came, the master used to have loose women and their touts here nearly every night. But after some of the servants had died of the sickness, those wretches didn't want to come any more. Mr Mei and Mr Hoo called occasionally. Mr Hoo lives right opposite, across the canal.'

Judge Dee snapped his fan shut. 'By the way,' he asked, 'who was the physician attending upon your mistress?'

'Doctor Lew. A good doctor, they say. But a lecher, of the same sort as the master. He often took part in the parties up here in the gallery. Took part in them up to a point, that is. Everyone knows that Lew can't have a woman.'

'You had better watch that poisonous tongue of yours!' the judge said angrily. 'There's a law on slander. Go and send your son here with a new candle.'

'Very well, sir.'

She went to the door in her ungainly stride.

Judge Dee pensively stroked his moustache.

'Astounding!' he muttered. 'This odd mixture of hate and blind, unquestioning loyalty!'

'It was typical of the time of upheaval, sir, one hundred years ago.' Tao Gan remarked. 'Our empire being then divided into a number of warring states, there was no central authority, no rule of law. For their livelihood, for their very lives, indeed, the people had to rely completely upon their feudal masters. Having a bad master was better than having none — which meant being enslaved by the barbarian invaders, or starving to death.'

The judge nodded. Then he asked, vexedly:

'If Yee was really such a perverted degenerate, why didn't Merchant Mei draw my attention to his doings?'

Tao Gan shrugged.

'Mei was a man of progressive ideas, but he was born and bred in the "old world", sir.'

'And Yee will have taken good care to keep his excesses inside these four walls. In any case, that maid would rather die than give us a clue to his murderer. Her son might tell us more, though. Being so young, he is probably less obsessed by the prejudices of the past. What have you got there?'