The Island Where Time Stands Still (50 page)

Next day Mr. Lin Wân had stressed the extreme danger she would be in if she remained in San Francisco, and offered her a comfortable home in his wife's care if she liked to accompany him back to his house near Yen-an. He had not pressed her for an immediate answer, but suggested that she should take the day to think it over.

That evening, she had told him about Foo, and said that she would be glad to accept his offer of a home provided
that Foo, if he were willing, should be allowed to accompany them to China. Mr. Lin Wân had at once agreed; so she had written a letter to Foo explaining the circumstances in which she found herself, and asking if, for love of her, he would sacrifice his career as a lawyer. To the letter she had had no reply; so she had sadly come to the conclusion that he put a higher value on his prospects as a citizen of the United States, than on herself. Two days later the ship had left San Francisco.

While at Yen-an, she said, she had received nothing but kindness, particularly from Madame Fan-ti and Mr. Lin Wân, to whom she could never be sufficiently grateful for having saved her; and now that her brave Foo had so clearly demonstrated his love, her cup of happiness was overflowing.

Foo, of course, had never received her letter; and, although Gregory kept the thought to himself, he had little doubt that the reason for that was because Lin Wân had never posted it. By this time, too, he was also extremely sceptical about Chiang Kai-shek's offer and the Communist threat. To him they looked remarkably like inventions by Lin Wân to induce Josephine to accompany him to China. But there was still no direct evidence of that, or what part, if any, Kâo had played in this extraordinary plot.

During the few days before the wedding, Gregory saw quite a lot of Josephine and came both to like and admire her greatly. In appearance, she was as unlike Shih-niang as a small gay delicately tinted butterfly is to a big richly-marked moth, and the difference in mentality between the two girls was still more strongly defined. As was only to be expected, having been sold into a brothel in her early teens, Shih-niang had been almost illiterate, whereas little Josephine was widely read in both the Chinese and European classics. Moreover, she was highly intelligent, possessed charming manners and had a good sense of humour. But the thing that impressed Gregory most about her was the remarkable way in which she overcame her terrible disability. Although she was incapable of uttering a word, by
frequent small gestures and the constant change of expression on her lovely features she somehow succeeded in conveying the impression that she was actively participating in every conversation.

On her wedding day she looked positively radiant and everyone declared that they had never seen a more handsome couple than the bride and bridegroom. Both were apparelled in costly garments provided from the cedar store chests of the house and as they moved their elaborate headdresses scintillated with the sparkle of scores of jewels. Yet, above all, it was their faces which attracted all eyes, for the ecstatic happiness which glowed upon them seemed heaven-inspired and a benediction on the spectators.

As they approached, Tû-lai whispered to Gregory, ‘How right you were to insist on this; I would have committed a crime had I endeavoured to prevent it.' But, all the same, he had no thought of abandoning his plans for taking them to the island.

From the morning of the wedding, for three whole days the great House of Lin was given over to revelry and feasting. After that, the newly-weds were to be allowed seven days' retreat in a pavilion set apart for them. At the end of the week, if Tû-lai's arrangements went as he expected they were to leave with Gregory and himself for Shanghai, where they would all board one of the family ships.

Of Tü-lai's elder brothers, one was in the United States and the other in hospital, in Pekin, recovering from an operation; so he had sent for the brother next in seniority to himself to come up from Shanghai and take over affairs at the family headquarters. In the meantime, he continued to spend several hours each day going through his father's papers.

Although he had already found three secret drawers in different bureaux, there had been nothing among their contents to throw further light on the conspiracy between Kâo and Lin Wân, and it was not until three days after the wedding celebrations were completed that the latter's secret diaries were discovered. They would not have been
found then, had it not been for the arrival of Tû-lai's brother, who said he had an idea that their father had kept his most personal papers in a cache up in the ceiling. After an hour's fumbling among the elaborately-carved scrollwork they found a boss which when pressed released a sliding panel, and on the woodwork all round it lay more piles of papers.

That evening Tû-lai took Gregory to the room and showed him the relevant entries in the diaries. They still left certain matters unexplained, but with the few more bits of information that Tû-lai had wrung from P'ei, and some admissions that Foo had got out of him after beating him up, they practically completed what now transpired to be an extraordinarily grim picture of ruthlessness and double-dealing.

After they had discussed the matter for some while, Gregory asked, ‘How do you feel about going to the Island now,'

Tû-lai shrugged. ‘I see no reason why this should make any difference to my plans. As Kâo's elder brother is still alive, he is not yet even a member of the Council; so he still has a long way to go before he can achieve his ambitions. He is bound to meet with much opposition, and I may be able to help thwart them. Besides, I have a personal reason for wishing to go there.'

‘There is a lot in what you say,' Gregory agreed, uneasily aware that Tû-lai's ‘personal reason' was A-lu-te. ‘And since you have the means of getting me there I shall certainly go with you. To some extent I am under an obligation to do so; and now we know the game Kâo is playing, I intend to do my utmost to spike his guns. It was of Josephine that I was thinking. In the light of our new knowledge I don't think it would be right to take her.'

‘I don't see why we shouldn't. We have known for the past fortnight, from P'ei's confession, that Kâo gave him orders to kill her. But her circumstances are now very different; and forewarned is forearmed, so she should be quite safe with her husband and ourselves to protect her.'

‘That's true; but is there any real point in taking her there now she is married?'

‘As far as I am concerned, no. There is no longer any reason why the Council should reward me for doing so; but I am quite prepared to buy a property there if they will let me. As far as Josephine is concerned, I feel that the risk to her is small and that she has everything to gain by going. She has no fortune of her own and Foo is in no position to support her. Life in either China or the United States must prove a hard struggle for a young couple with no money, particularly in view of Josephine's disability. Whereas, since she is a daughter of the Imperial House, the Council are virtually bound to give her an honourable position, and there is still a possibility that they may yet decide to make her Empress.'

Gregory nodded. ‘It is certainly a gamble I would take myself, were I in her shoes; although I've a feeling that you underestimate the risk. Anyhow, in fairness to them I think we ought to put all the cards on the table and let them decide for themselves.'

‘To that I am quite agreeable,' Tû-lai replied. ‘But the sooner we get there now the better our chance of upsetting Kâo's applecart; so we must ask them to decide without delay. In the circumstances, I feel we should be justified in breaking in on their blissful solitude and putting the matter to them tomorrow afternoon.'

Accordingly, the following day Foo and Josephine came to confer with Gregory and Tû-lai. Gregory did most of the talking, and, having explained to them the implications of the passages in Lin Wân's diaries, he summed the situation up by saying to Foo:

‘So you see, it is now clear beyond dispute that Kâo Hsüan is an evil and dangerous man. The fact that Josephine is now married, of course, greatly lessens the risk that he will attempt anything further against her; but one must not count on that. It depends largely on how far he has progressed with his plans when we reach the island. As he presumably left Tung-kwan on October the 11th, he should
get home about November the 18th. We shall be able to make the journey considerably faster, as Tû-lai can provide papers which will enable us to travel from Tung-kwan to Shanghai by rail. But even so, as it is November the 4th today, if we start in four days' time we can't hope to get there before the first week in December. That means that Kâo will have had at least a fortnight in which to play around. A fortnight is not very much for a man who has been developing a long-term policy; all the same, it may have been long enough for him to strengthen his position in some way which would give him temporary jurisdiction over us. I think that is the only real danger; and it would be asking a bit much of the gods to expect to win a position of security and ease for life overnight, without taking some chances. Nevertheless, if you feel that you would prefer to shield Josephine from the least possibility of harm by remaining here, Tû-lai and I will perfectly understand, and not think any the less of you.'

Foo made a little bow. ‘Thank you for putting the position so fairly.'

Then Josephine, who had been following the whole conversation with her usual animated glances, wrote rapidly on the tablet she always carried and handed it to Gregory.

She had written, ‘May I ask what you think is the best we could expect if all went well?'

To that he replied: ‘It is just possible that they might make you Empress; although I think that very improbable. You see, to be frank, I don't think they would accept you as their ruler now that you have a husband who is not of noble birth.'

‘Oh, but I am!' Foo said quickly. ‘As I told you on our way back here, my real name is Feng Yu-ch'un; and although I did not mention it at the time, my great grandfather was Captain of one of the Eight Banner Corps under the Great Empress Mother Yehonala.'

‘That would certainly make a considerable difference to their regard for you,' Tû-lai remarked. ‘I doubt if the Council would agree to anyone outside one of the Seven Families
becoming Emperor; but your noble blood would make it possible for them to place Josephine on the throne with you as her Consort.'

‘Yes; I think they might do that,' Gregory supplemented. ‘Because, although they observe the outward forms of Old China, the island is actually a Limited Monarchy. The real power has always been retained by the Council.'

For a moment Foo remained silent, and evidently a prey to conflicting emotions, then he said, ‘I am not ambitious for myself, and I would be quite content to work to support Josephine in a small house of our own; but her birth entitles her to expect much more, so it is a great temptation to attempt to secure for her at least a life of honourable ease on an allowance from the Council. Nevertheless, I will not make the attempt, because I could not bring myself to expose her wantonly to danger of any kind.'

Josephine again wrote on her tablet. She handed it to Foo, and when he had read it, signed that he should pass it on to Gregory.

Taking the tablet Gregory saw that she had written, ‘Beloved. Last spring the only remaining representatives of our ancient civilisation invited me to accept their throne. It is my right that I should present myself to them, and offer to serve them in any capacity they may wish.'

With a slow smile Gregory stood up, took her hand, kissed it and murmured, ‘Your Highness, the gods have always loved courage. In you I believe that I salute another Empress Yehonala.'

Tû-lai and Foo had also come to their feet. The strain of decision had now left the latter's face, and it had taken on a look of resolution as he exclaimed:

‘So be it then! We will try for a throne!'

Four days later, with the blessings of Madame Fan-ti and all other members of the family, they left the great House of Lin. The journey down to the coast was uneventful, and although the weather was overcast for the first part of the voyage they encountered no storms. The only delay they met with was on approaching the Island, as its position
was charted only approximately, and they had to cruise about for two days before they found it.

A little before three o'clock the ship dropped anchor outside the reef, opposite the forbidding cliffs through which a narrow canyon led to the harbour; and twenty minutes later the party was ready to go ashore. They had discussed at great length the procedure they should adopt on their arrival, and it had been mooted that they should take with them a bodyguard of armed sailors. But the idea had been ruled out; first because such a display of distrust and force might arouse the antagonism of the islanders; secondly because it seemed extremely unlikely that they would be offered violence; and thirdly because if they were, the whole ship's company would have been insufficient to have any hope of rescuing them. It was, however, agreed that the ship should lie off shore until further orders, in case their reception proved so unfriendly that they felt the only sensible thing to do was to sail away in her; and, as a precaution against any personal vendetta that might be launched by Kâo, all four members of the party carried loaded pistols concealed upon them.

In those fortunate latitudes, although it was December the 5th the sea was a deep blue, the sky cloudless and, as the ship's launch carried them ashore, the heady scent of tropical flowers was wafted to them on the balmy air.

When the launch entered the harbour they saw that quite a crowd had assembled along the wharf, as fishing junks had already reported the arrival of the ship. On their coming alongside, the majority of the watching crowd showed only curiosity, but several men ran forward and willingly assisted in securing the boat to a flight of stone steps. Jumping ashore first, Gregory ran up them to come face to face with a tall man, better dressed than the rest, who bowed courteously and said: