Judge Dee murmured a suitable comment. Then he asked:
"Since the Governor was such a famous man, I suppose that many people here in Lan-fang cultivated his friendship?"
Yoo Kee smiled disdainfully.
"This border place", he replied, "has not one single man with whom my late father cared to converse. Barring, of course, Your Honour! How my revered father would have enjoyed talking with Your Honour! He always was so interested in administrative affairs… No, my father was greatly occupied by his own literary studies and spent all his spare time supervising the work of the peasants on his land. That is why that woman was able to make up to him… Well, well, how I am chattering away!"
Yoo Kee clapped his hands and ordered more tea.
Judge Dee silently stroked his beard. He reflected that his host was an extremely astute man. He said so much that he said practically nothing.
While Yoo Kee prattled on and on about the inclement climate of Lan-fang, Judge Dee slowly sipped his tea.
Suddenly he asked:
"Where did your father paint his pictures?"
Yoo Kee gave his guest a bewildered look. He did not reply for a few moments. He scratched his chin. Then he answered:
"Wei, not being much of an artist myself…Let me see now. Yes, my father did his painting in a pavilion behind the country mansion. Lovely place, right at the back of the garden, near the entrance of the maze. I believe that the large table my father used to work on is still there. At least if the old doorkeeper has taken proper care of it. Your Honour knows, those old servants…"
Judge Dee rose.
Yoo Kee insisted that he should stay a little longer. He set out on another, confused story.
It was not without difficulty that the judge at last succeeded in taking leave of his host.
Sergeant Hoong was waiting for his master in the gatekeeper's lodge. They returned to the tribunal.
As Judge Dee sat down behind his desk he heaved a deep sigh.
"What a tiring man is that Yoo Kee!", he remarked to Sergeant Hoong.
"Did Your Honour discover new data?", the sergeant asked eagerly.
"No", the judge replied, "but Yoo Kee said one or two things that may perhaps prove to be important. I did not succeed in securing a specimen of the Governor's handwriting to compare with the testament Tao Gan found inside the scroll. Yoo Kee claims that his father ordered him to destroy all his writings after his death. I thought that perhaps the Governor's friends here in Lan-fang might possess some, but Yoo Kee avers that his father had not one single friend. What is your impression of that mansion, Sergeant?"
"While I was waiting in the gatekeeper's lodge", Sergeant Hoong replied, "I had a long talk with the two doormen. They think that their master is a bit queer in the head. He is as eccentric as his father but he lacks the Governor's brilliant mind.
Although Yoo Kee himself is far from an athlete, he has a great love of boxing, wrestling and swordfighting. Most of the servants in that mansion have been selected for their physical prowess. Yoo Kee likes nothing better than to see them practise. He has made the second courtyard into a kind of arena and he will sit there for hours, shouting encouragement to the fighters and giving prizes to the winners."
Judge Dee slowly nodded his head.
"Weak men", he observed, "will often have an exaggerated veneration for physical strength."
"The servants say", the sergeant continued, "that Yoo Kee once lured the best fencing master of Chien Mow's mansion away by offering him a huge bribe. Chien was very angry. Yoo Kee is not a brave man, he expects every day that the barbarians will come and raid the city. That is the reason why he insists that his servants must be good fighters. He has even hired two Uigur warriors from over the river to instruct his servants in Uigur fighting methods!"
"Did the servants say anything about the old Governor's attitude to Yoo Kee?", inquired Judge Dee.
"Yoo Kee must have stood in deadly fear of his father", Sergeant Hoong replied. "Even the old Governor's death did not alter this. After his burial Yoo Kee sent all the old servants away because they reminded him too much of the awful presence of the old Governor. Yoo Kee has executed all his father's last instructions to the letter, including that everything on the country estate had to be left exactly as it was. Yoo Kee has never gone there since his father's death. The servants say that he changes colour if one as much as mentions that place!"
Judge Dee stroked his beard.
"One of these days", he said pensively, "I shall visit that country mansion and have a look at the famous maze. In the meantime you will inquire where Mrs. Yoo and her son are living and invite them to come and see me. Perhaps Mrs. Yoo has kept some specimens of the old Governor's handwriting. Then I can also verify Yoo Kee's statement that his father had no friends here in Lan-fang.
As to the murder of Magistrate Pan, I have not yet given up hope entirely of obtaining a clue to that mysterious visitor of Chien Mow's. I instructed Chiao Tai to question all the former guards of Chien's mansion, and Headman Fang would interrogate Chien's second counsellor in jail. I am also considering whether to send Ma Joong to investigate the haunts where the low-class criminals of this city gather. If it was that mysterious man in the background who murdered Magistrate Pan, he must have had accomplices."
"And at the same time, Your Honour", the sergeant remarked, "Ma Joong might make inquiries there about the headman's eldest daughter, White Orchid. We talked it over with Fang this morning and he admits that very likely she was kidnapped and sold to a brothel."
The judge said with a sigh:
"Yes, I fear that that is indeed what happened to that poor girl."
After a while Judge Dee continued:
"As yet we have made very little progress with General Ding's murder. I shall order Tao Gan to go tonight to the Temple of the Three Treasures and see whether Woo or that unknown woman he is so fond of depicting shows up there."
The judge took a document from the pile that Tao Gan had brought during his absence. Sergeant Hoong, however, seemed reluctant to go. After some hesitation he said:
"Your Honour, I cannot get it off my mind that we overlooked something in General Ding's library. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that the clue to that riddle is to be found there!"
Judge Dee put the document down and looked intently at the sergeant.
He opened a small lacquer box and took out the replica of the small dagger that Tao Gan had made for him. While he let it rest on his palm he said slowly:
"Sergeant, you know that I have no secrets from you. Although I am considering various vague theories about the background of General Ding's murder, I must state frankly that I have not the faintest idea how this dagger was used, or how the murderer entered and escaped!"
Both were silent for some time.
Suddenly the judge made a decision.
"Tomorrow morning, Sergeant, we shall again go to the Ding mansion and search that library. Perhaps you are right and it is there that we must look for the solution of this crime!"
Fourteenth Chapter
The next morning the weather was fine. It promised to be a clear and sunny day.
After he had had his breakfast Judge Dee informed Sergeant Hoong that he planned to go the Ding mansion on foot.