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'In the tenement houses here live several families of market vendors,' she said. 'They don't come home till late at night, that's why it's so quiet here. Well, here we are. Mind the stairs, they are very steep.'

This was the moment to say good-bye, but he told himself that since he had come as far as this, he might as well find out more about this strange girl. Thus he followed her up the creaking, dark staircase. On the landing she guided him to a door, pushed it open and said:

'You'll find a candle on the table directly to your right.'

Tao Gan lit it with his tinderbox and surveyed the small, bare room. The floor consisted of wooden boards; three walls were covered with cracked plaster, but the front was open. There only a bamboo balustrade divided the room from the flat roof of the adjoining house. In the distance the curved roofs of higher build­ings stood out against the evening sky. The room was scrupu­lously clean, and a faint breeze had dispelled the stifling heat that still hung about in the streets. Next to the candle stood a cheap tea-basket, a cup of earthenware, and a platter bearing a few slices of cucumber and a long, thin knife. In front of the table was a low stool of plain wood, and against the side wall a narrow bench. At the rear he saw a high bamboo screen.

'I haven't much to offer, as you see,' she said gravely. 'I took you here because there's nothing I hate more than incurring debts. I am young, and not too bad-looking. If you want to sleep with me, you may do so. My bed is behind that screen.' As he stared at her in speechless astonishment, she added placidly, 'You need have no qualms, for I am not a virgin. I was raped by four drunken soldiers last year, you see.'

Tao Gan looked sharply at her still, pale face. He said slowly:

'You are either thoroughly depraved, or else utterly, unbeliev­ably sincere. Whatever it is, I am not interested in your offer. I am interested, however, in human types, and yours is a new one to me. So a brief talk and a cup of tea will nicely settle the debt you think you owe me.'

She smiled faintly.

'Sit down! I'll change, this torn robe.'

She disappeared behind the screen. Tao Gan poured himself a cup from the pot in the basket. Sipping his tea, he looked curi­ously at the row of small boxes that hung by bamboo hooks on a pole suspended under the eaves. There were about a dozen of them, each of different size and shape. Turning round, he saw on the shelf above the bench four large pots of green earthenware, with tight-fitting covers of woven bamboo. He listened intently, with a perplexed frown. Above the confused noise of the city he heard a persistent, whirring sound that he couldn't place at all. It seemed to come from the small boxes.

He rose and went to stand by the balustrade, scrutinizing them. Every box was perforated with small holes, and the noise came from there. He suddenly understood. They contained crickets. He himself was not particularly interested in those insects, but he knew that many people love to listen to their chirruping, and keep a few of them about the house, often in costly small cages of carved ivory or silver wire. Others are addicted to cricket-fighting. They match their champions in wine-houses and in the market place, putting a pair of these bellicose insects in a tube of carved bamboo and tickling them with thin straws to urge them on. Con­siderable bets were laid on these fights. He now noticed that each cricket made a slightly different sound. All were dominated, how­ever, by the clear, sustained note coming from a tiny calabash hanging at the end of the row. It began low, then gradually rose to a high pitch of astonishing clarity. He took the calabash down and held it close to his ear. Suddenly the vibrating note changed into a low buzz.

The girl came out from behind the screen, now dressed in a simple, olive-green robe with black borders and a thin black belt. She came up to him quickly and frantically groped in the air for the small cage.

'Be careful with my Golden Bell!' she cried out.

Tao Gan put the calabash into her hands.

'I was just listening to its nice sound,' he said. 'Do you sell these insects?'

'Yes,' she replied, hanging the calabash back on the pole again. 'I sell them either on the market, or directly to good customers. This is my best one; it's very rare, especially here in the south. The experts call it the "Golden Bell".' Sitting down on the bench and folding her slender hands in her lap, she added, 'In the pots on the shelf behind me I keep a few fighting-crickets. They are rather pitiful; I hate to think of their sturdy legs and beautiful long feelers getting broken in fights. But I have to keep them in stock, for there's a steady demand for them.'

'How do you catch them?'

TAO GAN MEETS THE GOLDEN BELL

'I just walk at random along the outer walls of gardens and old buildings. I recognize good crickets by their song and use sliced fruit as bait. The tiny creatures are very clever; I even think they know me. When I let them loose in this room, they always come back to their boxes as soon as I call them.'

'Is no one looking after you?'

'I don't need anyone, I can look after myself quite well.'

Tao Gan nodded. Then he looked up sharply. He thought he had heard the stairs creak outside.

'Didn't you say that your neighbours here come home only late at night?'

'They do indeed,' she replied.

He listened intently. But now he only heard the singing of the crickets. He must have been mistaken. He asked dubiously:

'Is it all right for you to be all alone in this building most of the time?'

'Oh yes! You can speak your own language, by the way. I am quite familiar with it.'

'No, I much prefer to practise my Cantonese. Do you have no family here in the city?'

'I have. But after the accident with my eyes I left the house. My name is Lan-lee, by the way. And I still think you are an officer.'

'Yes, you are right. I am a sort of clerk, a member of the suite of an official from the capital. My name is Tao. Do you earn enough from these crickets for your daily needs?'

'Enough and to spare! I only need money for an oil-cake in the morning and at night, and for a bowl of noodles at noon. The crickets cost me nothing, and they sell at a good price. Take that Golden Bell, for instance. He is worth one silver piece, you know! Not that I'd ever think of selling him, though! I was so happy this morning when I woke up and heard him sing.' She smiled, then went on, 'I got him only last night, you see. It was a wonder­ful piece of luck. I happened to walk along the west wall of the Hwa-ta ... do you know that Buddhist temple?'

'Of course. The Temple of the Flowery Pagoda, in the west quarter.'

'Exactly. Well, I suddenly heard his voice there; it sounded frightened. I put a slice of cucumber at the foot of the wall and called him, like this.' She pursed her lips and made a sound that curiously resembled the chirruping of a cricket. 'Then I squatted down, waiting. At last he came; I heard him munching the cucumber. When he had eaten his fill and was quite happy, I coaxed him into that hollowed-out calabash I always carry in my sleeve.' Raising her head, she said, 'Listen! Now he sings very nicely again, doesn't he?'

'He certainly does!'

'I think that you too might become fond of them, in course of time. Your voice sounds kind; you can't be a bully. What did you do to those two men who assaulted me? They seemed to be in great pain.'

'Well, I am not a fighter. I am an elderly man, you know. About twice your age. But I have been around a lot and have learned how to take care of myself. I hope you'll learn to do so too, Lan-lee, from now on. The world is full of nasty persons who are out to take advantage of a girl like you.'

'Do you really think so? No, I have found people rather kind-hearted, on the whole. And if they are nasty, it's mainly because they are unhappy or lonely, or can't get the things they want; or have got too many of the things they want, perhaps. Anyway, I'll wager that those two men didn't even have enough to buy them­selves a square meal, let alone a woman! They frightened me, because I thought they'd beat me senseless after they were through with me. But now I realize that they wouldn't have done that after all, because they'd know that I, being blind, could never denounce them.'