Judge Dee hit his fist on the table.

"I have been too late!" he exclaimed ruefully. He jumped up and started striding round the room. After a while he stood still and said angrily:

"It's all the fault of that silly bungler, Candidate Djang! If I had known sooner that the professor was innocent-" He pulled angrily at his beard. Then he said suddenly: "Tao Gan, go and bring Councilor Liang's secretary here, at once! There's still time to question him before the session begins!"

After Tao Gan had hurried outside, he continued to Sergeant Hoong:

"Liu's flight is a bad setback, Hoong! A murder is important, but there are things which are more important still!"

Hoong wanted to ask for some further explanation of that remark, but seeing Judge Dee's tight-lipped face he thought better of it. The judge resumed his pacing; then he stood himself in front of the window, his hands on his back.

In a surprisingly short time Tao Gan came back with Liang Fen. The young man seemed even more nervous than when the judge had seen him last. Judge Dee leaned against his desk; he didn't ask Liang Fen to sit down. Folding his arms across his chest and looking with great deliberation at the young man, he spoke.

"This time I'll speak in plain terms, Mr. Liang! I tell you that I suspect you of being concerned in a despicable crime. It's because I want to spare the old Councilor's feelings that I question you here instead of presently during the session of the court."

Liang's face turned ashen. He wanted to speak but the judge raised his hand.

"In the first place," he continued, "your touching story about the Councilor's reckless spending can also be explained as an attempt to cover up the fact that you are taking advantage of his condition for appropriating his money. Second, I have found in the room of the dead dancer, Almond Blossom, love letters written in your hand. The most recent letters proved that you wanted to break off the relationship, presumably because you had fallen in love with Willow Down, the daughter of Han Yung-han."

"How did you find that out?" Liang Fen burst out. "We had-" But again Judge Dee cut him short, saying:

"You can't have murdered the dancer because you were not on board the flower boat. But you did have a liaison with her, and had secret meetings with her in your room. You could easily let her in by the back door of your small garden. No, I haven't finished! I can assure you that I haven't the slightest interest in your private life; as far as I am concerned you may entertain all the damsels of the Willow Quarter. But you shall tell me all about your affair with the dead dancer. One foolish young man has already obstructed my investigation, and I will not have another repeating that stunt! Speak up, and tell the truth!"

"It isn't true, I swear it, Your Honor!" the young man wailed, wringing his hands in despair. "I don't know that courtesan, and I have never appropriated one copper of my master's money! I admit, however, and do so gladly, that I am in love with Willow Down, and I have reason to assume that my feelings are reciprocated. I have never spoken to her but I see her often in the temple garden, and- But since Your Honor knows this, my deepest secret, you must also know that all the rest is not true!"

Judge Dee handed him one of the dead dancer's letters and asked:

"Did you write this or not?"

Liang Fen carefully examined it. Giving it back to the judge, he said calmly:

"The handwriting resembles mine; it even reproduces some personal peculiarities. Yet I didn't write it. The person who forged it must have had many examples of my handwriting at his disposal. That is all I can say!"

The judge gave him a baleful look. He said curtly:

"Wan I-fan has been arrested; I shall presently question him. You shall attend the session. You can go to the court hall now."

When the young man had taken his leave, Sergeant Hoong remarked:

"I think that Liang spoke the truth, Your Honor."

Judge Dee made no response. He motioned the sergeant to help him don his official robe.

Three beats on the gong announced the evening session. Judge Dee left his private office, followed by Hoong and Tao Gan. When he had seated himself behind the bench, he saw that there were only a dozen or so spectators. The citizens of Han-yuan had apparently for the time being given up hope of hearing sensational news. But he noticed Han Yung-han and Liang Fen standing in the front row, and behind them Guildmaster Soo.

As soon as he had called the roll, Judge Dee filled in a form for the warden of the jail. He gave it to the headman and ordered him to lead Wan I-fan before the bench.

Wan I-fan seemed completely unperturbed by his arrest. He gave the judge an impudent glance, then knelt down and answered in a steady voice the formal questions about his name and profession. Then Judge Dee spoke:

"I have obtained proof that you have lied to this court. It was you who tried to persuade Dr. Djang to buy your daughter. Do you want to hear the details, or do you confess?"

"This person," Wan I-fan replied respectfully, "acknowledges that he has misled Your Honor. He let himself be led astray by his eagerness to help his friend and patron, Mr. Liu Fei-po, in the latter's case against the professor. Since, according to the law, I can be freed on bail for this offense, pending the payment of a fine, I beg Your Honor to fix the amount due. No doubt Mr. Liu Fei-po will be found willing to put up bail, and pay the required sum."

"Second," Judge Dee said, "this court has also proof that you, taking advantage of the Councilor's lapsing into his second childhood, persuaded him to engage in reckless financial transactions, to your own personal gain."

This second accusation didn't seem to make any impression on Wan either. He said placidly:

"I deny emphatically ever having financially injured Councilor Liang. Mr. Liu Fei-po had introduced me to His Excellency; it is on Mr. Liu's advice that I recommended the Councilor to sell some of his estates which in the expert opinion of Mr. Liu were due to diminish considerably in value in the near future. I beg Your Honor to have Mr. Liu deliver testimony."

"I shan't be able to do that," Judge Dee said curtly. "Mr. Liu Fei-po has left without any previous warning, taking away with him his liquid funds and important papers."

Wan I-fan jumped up. His face had a deadly pallor as he shouted:

"Where did he go to? To the capital?"

The headman wanted to press Wan down on his knees again, but the judge quickly shook his head. He said:

"Mr. Liu has disappeared and his household is ignorant of his whereabouts."

Wan I-fan was rapidly losing his self-control. Sweat pearled on his forehead. He muttered, half to himself: "Liu has fled…" Then he looked up at the judge and said slowly: "In that case I shall have to reconsider some of my previous statements." He hesitated, then went on: "I beg Your Honor to grant me time for reflection."

"Your request is granted," Judge Dee replied at once. He had seen the look of frantic entreaty in Wan's eyes.

When Wan had been led back to jail, Judge Dee raised his gavel to close the session. But just at that moment Guildmaster Soo came forward, together with two members of his guild. One proved to be a jadeworker, the other a retail dealer in jade. The latter had sold to the artisan a block of jade, but upon splitting it up into smaller pieces the jadeworker had found it had a defect, and he refused to pay. Since he had discovered that the block was faulty only after he had cut it up, he couldn't return it to the dealer either. Soo had tried to make them accept a compromise, but the men had rejected all his proposals.

Judge Dee listened patiently to the long-winded explanations of both parties. Letting his eyes rove over the court hall, he noticed that Han Yung-han had left. When Soo had again summed up the position, Judge Dee spoke to the dealer and the jadeworker: