‘What rumours?’
‘He has been saying that you had improper relations with that actor.’
Lin’s face fell.
‘With Tien-jan Hsiu? That I am some sort of… sodomite?’
Po Ku wrenched his arm from my grasp and fell on his knees before Lin. He had understood enough of our conversation to know that he stood accused of some bad deed, and babbled a denial in rapid Chinee. Lin lifted him up by his shoulders and calmed Po Ku. He looked over the youth’s shoulder at me.
‘This boy can hardly be an agent for Ko. Look at him.’ He turned the terrified youth to face me. Tears were streaming down his face. ‘Besides, how could Ko communicate with him while he is here with us?’
‘By letter, of course. You know how fast the Yam postal system is.’
Lin smiled.
‘But I also happen to know for a fact that Po Ku cannot read or write. So not only could he not take written orders from Ko, he couldn’t send information back about any… meetings I might have had with Tien-jan. It would also be pointless for him to examine my notes.’
I was puzzled.
‘But you asked him to collect your papers only the other day.’
‘Yes, to gather them, but not to arrange them.’ Lin stepped close and whispered in my ear. ‘It pleases him to imagine that he is my secretary. I often have to tidy the papers up afterwards.’
I realized that Po Ku was another of Lin’s lame ducks — people who he strove to help because they reminded him of himself as a poor, peasant youth sold to the Mongol court as a child. I think I had once fallen into that category of lame duck when I had turned up at Kubilai’s court. I had wheedled my way into a banquet, and into a position where I had to uncover a murderer, or be accused of the murder myself. Lin had seen me floundering with unfamiliar Mongol ways and helped me.
‘But, if it was not Po Ku who spread the rumours, who was it?’
Lin looked a little shamefaced.
‘You will not be angry, if I tell you?’
‘You mean you know? And you haven’t told me before now?’
Lin raised his hands, palms facing me in apology.
‘I had to be sure myself. And I only learned it by accident. Ko’s messenger was careless, and I saw a letter in Ko’s script being brought to this house.’
‘Who was it for?’
‘Tadeusz.’
NINETEEN
‘ Tadeusz? But he’s so loyal? It can’t have been him.’
I was astounded at Lin’s revelation, but he was very sure of himself. And I knew he never acted precipitately. I looked at his solemn face.
‘How long have you suspected?’
‘A few days now. That’s why I was glad he went on that mission to find the doctor. It has kept him out of the town for a while.’ He paused, a blush appearing on his smooth, boy-like face. ‘And it allowed me a chance to find this.’
He produced a letter from his stack of documents and handed it over to me. I took it, but it meant nothing as it was written in Chinee. I stared dumbly at the swirling script. Lin explained.
‘It is the letter from Ko that I saw in his possession. In it Ko is suggesting that my name be smeared by spreading rumours about my
… liaison with a certain young actor.’ He looked down at his neatly-shod feet. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t tell me yourself.’
‘About the rumours? I wanted to find out the source first, and …’
I paused too long, and Lin filled in the gap for me.
‘And you thought they were true.’
‘Now, look here, old friend, this is none of my business.’ I knew I was blustering from embarrassment, but I couldn’t stop myself babbling. ‘Your life is your own, and if you are so inclined as to-’
‘He is my nephew.’
I stopped in my tracks.
‘Your nephew? You mean, what I saw in T’ai Yuan Fu wasn’t…’
It seemed as though I was fated not to get the ending of my sentences out. Lin, a hurt look in his eyes, gazed at me.
‘I don’t know what you thought you saw, Nick. But it is true, Tien-jen Hsiu’s real name is a mundane Lin Jen-pu. He is my brother’s boy, and he ran away from the family farm to pursue his dream of being a performer. And though I am his uncle and therefore biased, I think he has found his true calling in life. His father — my brother — is a peasant born and bred. He will never recognize that Jen-pu made the right choice. I do, and saw it was him as soon as he removed his make-up that day at the theatre. I didn’t want him to think that every member of his family had cast him out. So that is why he came to my rooms late at night. An actor keeps strange hours, and we talked a lot. Into the early hours, actually.’
I bowed my head in shame at thinking the rumours spread by Tadeusz in the town had been true. Though, even so, I didn’t care about a man having yearnings for another man. Stranger things have happened at sea, as they say. I only regretted that Lin was disappointed in me. But then, we had the matters to sort out as a result of all this. Not least how to deal with Tadeusz Pyka.
‘You are right by the way.’
Lin looked at me with curiosity.
‘About what?’
‘Your nephew is a fine actor, and can fool an audience into believing he is anything other than a callow youth. Believe me, I know. But now I have an errand to carry out. We will talk later about this. Tadeusz has got some explaining to do.’
I left Lin to think about what we would say to Pyka, and hurried back towards the town square. I was sure I had left enough time for Ho to have gone to the temple and collected his money in exchange for the information I wanted. When I entered the building, I could see that an elderly couple stood at the shrine of lost objects. The old priestess was hovering beside them, but they seemed unable to decide on the contribution they were going to make to the gods. Impatiently, the priestess left them to their deliberations, and, seeing me, disappeared behind the shrine. Moments later, she returned with a packet in her hands. She hobbled over to me, and passed the packet over. It was a bulky object wrapped in a dirty cloth, and I hefted it to assess whether it had the weight of a book. It felt right. I leaned down and whispered in the ear of the bent old crone.
‘And did the gods give you a name to pass on to me?’
The old woman’s grey head nodded.
‘I am to say to you just one name. Geng.’
She winked broadly at me and turned back to her elderly clients. I raised the book in my hand, and spoke out loud for them to hear.
‘I give thanks to the god of lost things. My property is restored.’
The couple looked excited and passed some gold coins over to the priestess. I left them to their further negotiations.
When I got back to the house, Tadeusz was standing in the courtyard talking to Lin. He had returned, but I could see from Lin’s eyes that he had not yet plucked up the courage to tell Pyka that we knew of his betrayal. On the contrary, the little silversmith was gesticulating excitedly with both hands. He caught Lin’s glance over his shoulder and turned to look at who had just arrived. When he saw me, his face lit up, and he rushed across the dusty yard.
‘I have found him. The doctor. He was practising in the village in the hills just as I had been told. But when I eventually got there, he had been called to some remote farm. He is not due back for a couple of days, so I thought I would return. The village is less than a day away, and I reckon it would be better for you to be there when he returns, Nick. If he proved reluctant to talk, I could do nothing. And by the time I came back for you, he might have been scared off. This way, you can be in the village with me before he even returns.’
‘How do you know he is our man? Sun is a common name, I believe.’
Tadeusz laughed, and the flame-scorched side of his face turned even redder.