Judge Dee at Work

'The treacherous dog!’ she shouted. 'He swore he didn't keep one scrap of paper relating to ...' She suddenly stopped and angrily bit her red lips.

'I know everything,' the judge said evenly. 'Wang wanted more than his weekly visits. Thus he endangered your affair with Magistrate Lo, an affair that would not only bring in a lump sum of money for you and Mrs Kwang, but also set you up for life. Therefore you had to kill your lover.'

'Lover?' she screamed. 'Do you think I allowed that disgusting cripple ever to touch me here? It was bad enough to have to submit to his odious embraces before, when we were still in the capital!’

'Yet you allowed him to share your bed here,' Judge Dee re­marked with disdain.

'You know where he slept? In the kitchen! I wouldn't have allowed him to come at all, but he made himself useful by answer­ing my love letters for me, and he paid for and tended those orchids there, so that I would have flowers to wear in my hair. He also acted as doorman and brought tea and refreshments when one of my lovers was here. What else do you think I allowed him to come here for?'

'Since he had spent his entire fortune on you I thought per­haps ...' Judge Dee said dryly.

'The damnable fool!.' she burst out again. 'Even after I had told him that I was through with him, he kept on running after me, saying he couldn't live without seeing my face now and then  — the cringing beggar! His ridiculous devotion spoilt my reputa­tion. It was because of him that I had to leave the capital and bury myself in this dreary place. And I, fool that I was, trusted that simpering wretch! Leaving a note accusing me! He's ruined me, the dirty traitor!'

Her beautiful face had changed into an evil mask. She stamped her small foot on the floor in impotent rage.

'No,' Judge Dee said in a tired voice, 'Wang didn't accuse you. What I said just now about that note wasn't true. Beyond a few paintings of orchids which he did when thinking of you, there wasn't one clue to you in his room. The poor, misguided man remained loyal to you, to his very end!’ He clapped his hands. When the headman and the two constables had come rushing inside, he ordered: 'Put this woman in chains and lock her up in jail. She has confessed to a foul murder.' As the two constables grabbed her arms and the headman started to chain her, the judge said: 'Since there is not a single reason for clemency, you shall be beheaded on the execution ground.'

He turned round and left, followed by Sergeant Hoong. The woman's frantic cries were drowned by the loud shouts and laughter of a happy group of youngsters who came surging through the street, waving brightly coloured lanterns.

When they were back in the tribunal, Judge Dee took Hoong straight to his own residence. While walking with him to the back hall, he said, 'Let's just have one cup of tea before we go and join the dinner in my women's quarters.'

The two men sat down at the round table. The large lantern hanging from the eaves, and those among the shrubs in the garden had been extinguished. But the full moon lit up the hall with its eerie light.

Judge Dee quickly emptied his cup, then he sat back in his chair and began without further preliminaries:

'Before we went to see Guildmaster Ling, I knew only that the beggar was no beggar, and that he had been murdered elsewhere by having the back of his skull bashed in, probably with a flower pot — as suggested by the fine sand and white grit. Then, during our interview with Ling, I suspected for a moment that the guild­master was involved in this crime. He hadn't said a word about Wang's disappearance when he came to visit me, and I thought it strange that later he didn't inquire what exactly had happened to Wang. But I soon realized that Ling is that unpleasant kind of person who doesn't take the slightest interest in his personnel, and that he was cross because I had interrupted his family party. What the steward told me about Wang brought to light a fairly clear pattern. The steward said that Wang's family life had been broken up because he squandered his wealth, and his mentioning Mrs Wang's jealousy pointed to another woman being involved. Thus I deducted that Wang had become deeply infatuated with a famous courtesan.'

'Why not with some decent girl or woman, or even with a common prostitute?' the sergeant objected.

'If it had been a decent woman, Wang would not have needed to spend his fortune on her; he could have divorced his wife and married his lady-love. And if she had been a common prostitute, he could have bought her out at a moderate price, and set her up in a small house of her own — all without sacrificing his wealth and his official position. No, I was certain that Wang's mistress must have been a famous courtesan in the capital, who could afford to squeeze a lover dry, then discard him and go on to the next. But I assumed that Wang refused to let himself be thrown away like a chewed-out piece of sugar cane, and that he made a nuisance of himself. That she fled from the capital and came to Poo-yang in order to start her game all over again. For it's well known that many wealthy merchants are living here in this district. I assumed that Wang had traced her here and had forced her to let him visit her regularly, threatening to expose her callous racket if she refused. Finally, that after she had caught my foolish colleague Lo, Wang began to blackmail her, and that therefore she had killed him.' He sighed, then added: 'We now know that it was quite different. Wang sacrificed everything he had for her, and even the pittance he received as tutor he spent on orchids for her. He was quite content to be allowed to see and talk to her every week, frustrating and humiliating as those few hours were. Sometimes, Hoong, a man's folly is engendered by such a deep and reckless passion that it lends him a kind of pathetic grandeur.' Sergeant Hoong pensively pulled at his ragged grey moustache. After a while he asked, 'There are a great many courtesans here in Poo-yang. How did Your Honour know that Wang's mistress must belong to the house of Mrs Kwang? And why did it have to be his mistress who murdered him and not, for instance, an­other jealous lover?'