'What a story!' Kee-yu said with disdain. 'Well, what would we have done afterwards, according to your fantastic theory?'
'That's simple. When the Flying Tigers were storming this house, Yen would disappear in the general confusion, and join you up in the loft. After the bandits had put everybody to the sword, ransacked the house and left, you two would come out of your hiding place, and wait till the flood had subsided. You knew that the bandits would not set the house on fire, as is their custom, for they would fear that the blaze would attract the attention of the sentries of the fort. Then you two would flee together to the city, with the gold, of course. Having lain low there for a suitable period, Kee-yu would go to the tribunal, with a long tale of woe: that she had been kidnapped by the Flying Tigers, who led her a terrible life till at last she succeeded in escaping from their clutches. Then she would claim the estate, as the rightful heir. The two of you could go to some distant place, get married and live happily ever after. You would have sacrificed your old parents and about fifty other persons, but I don't think that would have bothered you very much.'
As Kee-yu and the bailiff remained silent, the judge resumed:
'Well, it was your bad fortune that I had to ask for shelter here last night. I discovered the murder, and I located you, Miss Min, in your hiding place. But you are an intelligent girl, I said so once and I'll say it again. You foisted on me a fairly plausible story. If I had believed it, you would presently have "discovered" the gold, the ransom would have been paid, and all would have been well. You had got rid of Aster, and you and Yen would in due time have evolved another scheme for eloping together and for getting the Min property into your hands.'
A dull rumbling sound came from below. The battering-ram was being rolled over the uneven ground towards the gate of the country house.
Kee-yu fixed the judge with her wide, burning eyes. 'The hungry heart,' he said to himself as he watched her pale, distorted face. Suddenly she burst out:
'You spoiled it all, you dog-official! But I shan't tell you where I hid the gold. So now we shall all die, and you with us!'
'Don't be a fool!' the bailiff shouted at her. He cast a horrified glance over the balustrade at the new group of bandits that came galloping down the slope, brandishing their swords. 'Holy Heaven, you must tell us where the gold is! You can't let me be slaughtered by those beasts! You love me!'
'And therefore you would like to put all the blame on me, eh? Nothing doing, my friend! We shall all die together, go the same way as that little strumpet of yours, your dear Aster!'
'Aster ... she ...' Yen stammered. 'What a fool I was not to have stuck to her! She loved me, and asked nothing in return! I didn't want her to be killed, but you, you said she had to go, for our own safety. And I, stupid fool, chose your money and you, you ugly, mean wretch with that large head of yours!' As Kee-yu staggered backwards, the bailiff went on with a choking voice: 'What a splendid woman she was! Think of it, I could have clasped that perfect, pulsating body in my arms, every night! Instead I made love to you, you measly bag of bones, had to join your ineffectual, filthy little games! I hate you, I tell you, I ...'
An agonized cry sounded behind the judge. He swung round, but he was too late. Kee-yu had thrown herself over the balustrade.
'We are lost!' Yen Yuan shouted. 'Now we can't get the gold! She never told me where ...'
He broke off, staring down over the balustrade in speechless horror. One of the bandits had jumped from his horse. He walked up to the dead woman lying among the boulders, her head at an unnatural angle. The bandit stooped and tore the rings from her ears. Then he felt in her sleeves. He righted himself, his hands empty. With an angry shout he drew his sword and with one savage, slashing blow cut her belly open.
The bailiff turned round, retching violently. Clasping his hands to his middle he began to vomit. Judge Dee took his arm and pulled him up roughly.
'Speak up!' he snarled. 'Confess how you murdered the woman you loved!'
'I didn't murder her!' the bailiff gasped. 'She said that Aster had seen her when she took the gold, and that she must die. The she-devil had given me a thin blade, she said I would have to do it. But when Kee-yu was facing Aster, and when the poor girl denied having spied on her, she suddenly took the dagger out of my hand. "You liar!" she hissed, pointing the dagger at her breast. "Strip and show me the charms you used to bewitch my man!" After the frightened girl had undressed, she made her stand against the bed-post, and raise her arms above her head. Aster was shivering in the cold room, but she stiffened in nameless fear as that hideous creature began to touch her breasts and all the rest of her body with the flat of the dagger, making horrible, obscene remarks all the time. Aster moaned in abject terror, every so often she tried to turn away, but the she-devil would let her feel the point of the dagger, and mutter hideous, unspeakable threats at her. And I, I had to stand there helpless, in a deadly fear that in her frenzy she would wound or mutilate the poor, defenceless girl. At last, when Kee-yu let the dagger drop for a moment, I grabbed her shoulders and shouted at her to stop. Kee-yu gave me a contemptuous look. She told the trembling girl haughtily to turn round. Coolly feeling with her left hand for the edge of the shoulder-blade, she plunged the dagger deep into her back.
'I GRABBED HER AND SHOUTED AT HER TO STOP ...'
'I stumbled back, sought support against the wall. Half-stunned, I looked on as she laid Aster on the floor, carefully staunched the bleeding and cleaned the wound, all the time humming a horrible little tune. After she had put a plaster on the wound, she made a neat bundle of Aster's clothes, and dressed her in one of her own white robes. Then she told me to help her lay the dead body on the bed. She tied the girl's sash, as calmly as if she were knotting her own, in front of her dressing-table. It was ... it was unspeakable, I tell you!'
He buried his face in his hands. When he looked up he asked, making a desperate effort to keep his voice under controclass="underline" 'How did you find us out?'
'I was set on the right trail by the old landowner's indirect warning, namely his insisting on my staying in his daughter's room. He was fond of her, but he knew how her morbid brooding over her weak health had warped her mind, and he suspected there had been some devilry connected with her death. When I talked to her up in her room, she had herself well under control. But passion is a dangerous thing. One word in praise of Aster, and a few critical remarks about you sufficed to make her betray herself. As to you, Mr Yen, you aren't as good at play-acting as she. The fear of death pervaded this house and all its inmates, except you. You did not, however, impress me as a man of courage. On the contrary, I thought you were a coward — quite correctly, as has now been proved. Yet you spoke in a nearly flippant manner about our impending fate. That was because your thoughts were not on death. They were on life, life in ease and comfort, on your paramour's inherited money. And the elaborate bow of Aster's sash you mentioned just now clinched the case. For only a woman could have tied it in exactly that way. It came so naturally to Kee-yu that it never occurred to her that she was leaving a clue that pointed directly at her.'