'The almond blossoms are out very early, this spring!'
And I said:
'It is the unexpected joys that are the greatest!'
'Are they always?' she asked with a mocking smile. 'Come, I shall show you where I was sitting just now.'
She went among the trees, and I followed her into a small clearing just off the road. We sat down side by side among the tall grass on a low ridge. The blossom-laden branches of the almond trees hung over us like a canopy.
'How strange this is!' I said, delighted, as I took her small, cool hand in mine. 'It is as if we were in another world!'
She just smiled and gave me a sidelong glance. I put my arm round her waist and pressed my mouth on her moist, red lips.
And she took away the spell that had maimed me. Her embrace healed me, our burning passion cauterized the gaping wound in my soul. I thought exultantly that all would still be well.
When I was idly tracing with my finger the shadows cast by the branches on her beautiful body, white and smooth like the finest white jade, I suddenly found myself telling her about the spell she had broken for me. She leisurely brushed away the blossoms that had fluttered down on her perfect breasts. Sitting up, she said slowly:
'One time, long ago, I heard something similar.' And then, after some hesitation: 'Tell me, aren't you a judge?'
I pointed at my cap where I had hung it on a low branch, the moonlight shining on its golden insignia of rank. Then I replied with a wry smile:
'Even better than that, I am a Court Investigator!'
She nodded sagely, then lay back in the grass, folding her rounded arms under her shapely head.
'That old story,' she said pensively, 'ought to interest you. It concerns a clever judge, who served as magistrate here in Han-yuan many centuries ago. At that time…'
I know not for how long I listened to her soft, compelling voice. But when she fell silent a cold fear had gripped my heart. I rose abruptly, donned my robe and wound the long sash round my waist. As I placed my cap on my head I said hoarsely:
'You need not try to fool me by a fanciful tale! Speak up, woman. How did you come to know my secret?'
But she only looked up at me, her charming mouth trembling in a provoking smile.
Her utter loveliness swept away my anger. Kneeling by her side, I exclaimed:
'What does it matter how you knew! I care not who you are or who you have been. For I tell you that my plans are better laid than those you told about, and I swear that you and you only shall be my queen!' Looking at her tenderly, I took up her dress and added: 'A breeze is blowing in from the lake; you'll be cold!'
She slowly shook her head. But I rose and covered her naked body with the silk dress. Then I suddenly heard loud voices nearby.
Several men came into the clearing. Greatly embarrassed, I stood myself in front of the woman reclining in the grass. An elderly man, whom I recognized as the magistrate of Han-yuan, shot a quick look past me. Then he bowed deeply and said in an admiring voice:
'So you have found her, sir! When tonight we searched her room in the Willow Quarter and found her message, we came to look in this direction. For there is a current in the lake that comes into this bight. It is indeed astonishing how you succeeded in finding out all this before we did! But you needn't have troubled to get her here from the shore, sir!' Turning to his men he ordered: 'Bring that stretcher here!'
I swung round and looked. The white dress, clinging to her body like a shroud, was dripping wet, and slimy water weeds tangled with her tresses stuck to her still, lifeless face.
Dusk was falling as Judge Dee sat sipping a cup of tea on the open terrace, up on the second floor of the tribunal. Sitting straight in an armchair near the low, carved marble balustrade, he surveyed the scene spread out before him.
One by one lights went on in the town below, a solid mass of roofs. Farther down there was the lake, a wide stretch of smooth, dark water. The opposite bank was hidden by a mist hovering at the foot of the mountains over on the other side.
It had been a hot and sultry day that was changing now into an oppressive night. Not a leaf stirred in the trees in the street below.
The judge shifted his shoulders uncomfortably in his formal robe of stiff brocade. The old man who was standing silently by his side gave his master a solicitous look. That night the gentry of Han-yuan were giving a banquet in honor of Judge Dee, on a flower boat out on the lake. He reflected that unless the weather changed it would hardly be an enjoyable affair.
Slowly caressing his long black beard, the judge followed aimlessly the course of a boat, a small dot at that distance, being sculled to the pier by a belated fisherman. When it had disappeared from his view, the judge suddenly looked up and said:
'I still have to get used to living in a town that is not surrounded by a wall, Sergeant. Somehow or other it makes one feel… uncertain.'
'Han-yuan is only about sixty miles from the capital, Your Honor,' the elderly man remarked. 'Thus we are here within easy reach of the Imperial Guards. Besides, the provincial garrisons are-'
'Of course, I am not referring to military problems!' the judge interrupted him impatiently. 'I am talking about the situation here inside the town. I have a feeling that there is much going on in this city that we are kept ignorant of. In walled cities the gates are closed at nightfall, one then feels that the situation is in hand, so to speak. But this open city, sprawling at the foot of the mountains, and those suburbs along the bank of the lake… All kinds of people can leave or enter here at their own sweet will!'
The other tugged at his frayed white beard; he did not know what to say. His name was Hoong Liang. He was Judge Dee's faithful assistant. In the olden days he had been a retainer of the judge's family; he had carried the judge in his arms when he was still a child. When, three years before, Judge Dee had been appointed district magistrate of Peng-lai, his first post in the provinces, Hoong had insisted on accompanying him, despite his advanced age. The judge had then made him sergeant of the tribunal. But he did that mainly to give Hoong official status. Hoong's main task was to act as Judge Dee's confidential adviser, with whom he could discuss unreservedly all his problems.
'Two months have elapsed since we arrived here, Hoong,' Judge Dee resumed, 'and not a single case of any importance has been reported to this tribunal.'
'That means,' the sergeant said, 'that the citizens of Han-yuan are law-abiding people, Your Honor!'
The judge shook his head.
'No, Hoong,' he said. 'It means that they keep us ignorant of their affairs. As you just said, Han-yuan lies near to the capital. But because of its location on the shore of this mountain lake, it has always been a more or less isolated district; few people from elsewhere have settled here. If anything happens in such a closely-knit community, they'll always do their utmost to keep it hidden from the magistrate, whom they consider an outsider. I repeat, Hoong: there is more going on here than meets the eye. Further, those weird tales about this lake-'
He did not complete his sentence.
'Does Your Honor give any credit to those?' the sergeant asked quickly.
'Credit? No, I would not go as far as that. But when I hear that in the past year four persons drowned there and their bodies were never found, I-'
At that moment two stalwart men dressed in plain brown robes and wearing small black caps walked out on the terrace. These were Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, Judge Dee's other two assistants. Both were over six feet tall and had the broad shoulders and thick necks of experienced boxers. After having greeted the judge respectfully, Ma Joong said:
'The hour set for the banquet is approaching, Your Honor! The palanquin is standing ready below.'
Judge Dee rose. He let his eyes rest for a moment on the two men standing in front of him. Both Ma Joong and Chiao Tai were former 'brothers of the green woods'-a flattering term for highwaymen. Three years before they had once attacked the judge on a lonely road, but he had so impressed them by his fearless and forceful
