The Phantom of the Temple

Lee respectfully conducted them to the door.

'That slick artist is a damned liar, sir!' Ma Joong burst out when they were walking down the street. 'The old geezer in the curio-shop was sure he had bought the box from Lee. And he doesn't make any mistakes about his business. Not he!'

'At first,' Judge Dee said slowly, 'Lee impressed me rather favourably. Later, however, I wasn't so sure.' He halted. 'While I am going on to the tribunal, you might as well ask in a shop or so around here what they think of Lee. And also ask about that assistant of his. Just to round out the picture, so to speak.'

Ma Joong nodded.

He saw only one prominent shop-sign in the narrow alley. It proclaimed in large letters that there gauze fine as gossamer was cut accurately to measure. The tailor was rolling up a bolt of silk. In the rear of the shop four elderly women were gathered round a long, narrow table, busy stitching and embroidering. The tailor greeted Ma Joong civilly enough. But his face fell when he asked whether he knew the painter.

'As poor as a starving rat!’ he said disgustedly. 'I see him pass by here occasionally, but he has never yet bought a stitch of clothing! And that assistant of his, he's just a tramp. Keeps irregular hours, and associates with all kinds of hoodlums. He often rouses this decent, quiet neighbourhood when he comes home singing and shouting, as drunk as a lord!’

'Young men of letters like a gay night, now and then,' Ma Joong said soothingly.

'Young man of letters, my foot! Yang is just a vaga­bond! Still likes to doll himself up, though. He has bought a new robe from me, worse luck! Hasn't paid me one copper! I would've raised a row about that, but ...'He leaned over the counter and looked the street up and down. 'I have to be careful, you see. Wouldn't like him to come here with his hoodlums some day and throw garbage buckets over my fine stock of silk... .'

'If Yang is such a good-for-nothing, why does Mr Lee keep him in his service?'

'Because Mr Lee isn't one jot better than him! Birds of a feather, that's what those two are, sir! And why doesn't Mr Lee marry, I ask you? It's true he's poor, but no matter how poor a man is, he can always find a girl who is poorer still, so that he can establish a regular household, as every decent man should. The two of them are all alone in that rambling shack, sir; they don't even have a char-woman come in. Heaven only knows what goes on there of nights!'

The tailor gave Ma Joong an expectant look, but when the tall man didn't ask for details, the tailor bent his head close and resumed in a low voice, 'I am not a one to tell tales, mind you. Live and let live, I always say. There­fore I'll say only this: some time ago my neighbour saw a woman slip inside there; at midnight it was, he said. And when I told that to our grocer, he remembered hav­ing seen Lee let a woman out, at dawn, if you please! Such goings-on give a neighbourhood a bad name, sir. And that affects my custom.'

Ma Joong remarked that it was a sad world. After he had learned that the student's full name was Yang Mou-te, he said goodbye. He strolled back to the tribunal, cursing the heat.