Judge Dee at Work

Ho righted himself. He asked coldly: 'Why should I want to murder my wife?'

'I'll tell you. You had found out about her secret meetings with Fung, and when she told you she was pregnant you decided to destroy them both, with one and the same blow. You assumed that Fung was the father of the unborn child and ...'

'He was not!' Ho suddenly shrieked. 'Do you think that miserable wretch could ever have ... No, it was my child, do you hear? The only thing those two were capable of was sicken­ing, sentimental drivel! And all the kind words I overheard them saying about me! ... the decent but rather dull husband, who was entitled to her body, mind you, but who could of course never understand her sublime mind. I could, I could have ...' He began to stutter in impotent rage. Then he took hold of him­self and went on in a calmer voice, 'I didn't want the child of a woman with the mind of a streetwalker, a woman who ...'

'That'll do!’ Judge Dee said curtly. He clapped his hands. When the headman came in he said, 'Put this murderer into chains and lock him up. I shall hear his full confession tomorrow, in the tribunal.'

After the headman had led Ho away, the judge continued to Yee Pen, 'The clerk shall see you out, Mr Yee.' Turning to the other shipowner, he added, 'As for you, Mr Hwa, you'll stay a few moments: I want a word with you in private.'

When the two men were alone, Hwa said unctuously, 'Your Honour solved this crime in a remarkably short time! To think that Ho ...' He sadly shook his head.

Judge Dee gave him a sour look. 'I was not too happy with Fung as a suspect,' he remarked dryly. 'The evidence against him fitted too neatly together, while the manner of the murder was totally inconsistent with his personality. I made my palankeen bearers bring me back here by a roundabout way, so as to have a little time to think. I reasoned that since the evidence could only have been rigged by an insider, it had to be Ho — the well-known motive of the deceived husband who wants to take ven­geance on his adulterous wife and her lover, both at the same time. But why did Ho wait so long? He knew everything about Mrs Ho sending messages to Fung; he must have discovered all about their secret meetings long ago. When I saw from the autopsy report that Mrs Ho had been pregnant, I took it that it was this news that had made her husband resolve to act. And I was right, though we now know that his emotional reaction was different from what I had assumed.' Fixing the shipowner with his sombre eyes, he continued, 'The false evidence could have been fabricated only by an insider, familiar with the incense-clock and with Mrs Ho's handwriting. That saved you from being accused of this murder, Mr Hwa!'