In the hall we waited. We heard in the distance the tinkling indeterminate timbre of Chinese music and then a servant came to conduct us into Chan Cho Lan’s presence.

She was seated on a cushion and rising, gracefully swayed towards us.

She joined her closed hands and lifted them three times to her head.

“Haou? Tsing Tsing,” she said in her soft musical voice.

She looked at Jason and gave him the same greeting. He now understood that he must return it in the same way.

She said something to Lottie who told me: “Chan Cho Lan say you have very fine son.”

We sat down; she clapped her hands, the long nail shields tapping against each other.

A servant ran in and she spoke to him so quickly that I could not follow. I guessed she was asking that tea be brought to her guests.

But it was not tea that came in. It was another servant holding by the hand a small boy.

He was exquisite, that boy; his black hair was combed flat about his head; his eyes were bright and like Lottie’s were more round than almond shaped; his skin was the same magnolia petal shade. He was dressed in blue silk trousers and jacket.

Chan Cho Lan looked at him impassively.

Then she signed and he came forward and bowed low to us.

Jason and he studied each other curiously. There was a deep silence in the room. Chan Cho Lan was watching the boys intently as though comparing them.

Jason said to the boy: “How old are you?”

The boy laughed. He did not understand.

“Is Chin-ky,” said Chan Cho Lan.

I said I had heard the name before.

“Is name for great warrior,” Lottie explained. “He be great warrior one day.”

Chan Cho Lan talked rapidly to the boy who looked at Jason rather shyly.

“Chan Cho Lan say Chin-ky should show Jason his kite.”

At the mention of the kite Jason was immediately interested.

“What sort of kite have you, Chin-ky? Have you a dragon one? I have a dragon one. My father and I can fly them higher than anyone else.”

Chin-ky laughed. He was clearly fascinated by Jason who seemed so much bigger than he was himself.

Chan Cho Lan spoke to Lottie who rose.

“Chan Cho Lan say I take them to play in the courtyard.” She waved her hand and I saw the courtyard beyond the window.

I nodded and Lottie went out with the boys.

As she did so, tea was brought in.

Chan Cho Lan and I sat by the window. The boys appeared. They were carrying a kite which was almost the size of Chin-ky. Lottie sat down on a seat there and watched them.

My cup was brought to me by Chan Cho Lan’s servant. I sipped the beverage. It was hot and refreshing.

She said: “Your son… my son.”

“He is a beautiful boy, your Chin-ky,” I said.

“Two beautiful boy. They play happy.”

The dried fruits were brought to me. I helped myself to one with a two-pronged little fork.

“Play kite,” she said. “East and West. Yet…”

She did not seem to be able to go on. Yet I had the idea that she was trying to tell me something.

Jason and Chin-ky were able to communicate better than we were. Their heads were close as they released the kite. They stood legs apart watching it as it soared upwards, and as I watched them I thought how much alike they were.

Chan Cho Lan seemed to read my thoughts. She said: “They look… one like other?”

“Yes,” I said. “I was thinking that.”

“Your son… my son…” She pointed at me and then at herself. She smiled nodding her head.

“Two boys… boys better than girl child. You glad.”

“I rejoice in my son,” I said.

She understood that and nodded.

Somewhere in the house a gong sounded. It was like a knell because her next words were: “My son… your son… both have English father.”

She smiled nodding but there was a glitter in her eyes which was malevolent.

Oh God, I thought, what is she telling me?

And then far off in the house I heard the gong again.

I was not sure how long we sat there watching the children in the courtyard. Jason was shrieking wildly as the kite mounted and Chin-ky leaped about in an ecstasy of pleasure. Every now and then he would pause to look at Jason and they would both laugh as though at some shared secret.

I was so much aware of her—her delicate perfume, the graceful swaying body, the tiny tiny feet in little black slippers, the beautifully expressive hands. I felt awkward and clumsy beside her. She was exquisite; she had been trained to captivate men. Everything about her was alien. I thought of my mother who had wanted me to be big and strong and who had bought new shoes for me when she couldn’t afford them so my feet would have plenty of room for growing. It seemed a strange thought to have on such an occasion but then I was trying to shut out that suspicion which had come to me.

She was trying to tell me something and I dared not ask myself too insistently what it was. I knew that Joliffe came here. I had seen him, emerging from this house. He had only told me he had been here when I pressed him to. How often did he come here? What was his relationship with this alien yet beautiful and fascinating woman? He had been in Hong Kong at intervals since he was a boy. He knew so much more about it than I did. He visited this woman. Why? Was he telling me the truth? How could I know?

And when he was not with me and I remembered what had gone before, hideous suspicions insisted on creeping into my mind.

And this strange enigmatical woman, why had she invited me here? Why had she arranged for her son to play with mine while we watched them? Why had she wished me to see them together? Was it to show me the resemblance—yes there was an undoubted resemblance—between her son and mine?

They both had English fathers. Was she implying that they shared the same one?

At last the visit was over. Chan Cho Lan sent a servant to bring Jason in from the courtyard. He came reluctantly. Gracefully, Chan Cho Lan was indicating that we were expected to go.

Jason chattered about Chin-ky as we went back to The House of a Thousand Lanterns. He was nice but funny, he commented. His kite wasn’t quite as good as Jason’s own, but almost. “He can’t fly it as high as my father can,” he said complacently.

Lottie was watching me covertly.

“You like visit?” she asked.

I said it had been very interesting. “Why did she ask me?” I said.

“She want show her son… see yours.”

Lottie giggled and I asked myself: How much does Lottie know? Or does she merely suspect?


* * *

I brooded on that visit to Chan Cho Lan. I said to Joliffe: “Chan Cho Lan invited me to her house.”

“Ah. She likes to be on good terms with the family.”

“She has a son… a little younger than Jason. She seemed very anxious for me to see him.”

“The Chinese are proud of their sons. It would have been different had it been a daughter.”

“Then I suppose she would have trained her to make some… alliance.”

“Doubtless she would.”

“She said the boy had an English father.”

“She should know,” replied Joliffe.

He seemed imperturbable and I was ashamed of my suspicions when I was in his presence. It was only when I was alone that the doubts returned.

Soon after that visit my health began to deteriorate. The dizzy spells were more frequent, the listlessness more persistent. What’s the matter with me? I asked myself. All sorts of fears obsessed me. Suspicions kept coming into my mind. Chan Cho Lan… and her son; Bella and her untimely end. What did it all mean? I didn’t believe these suspicions and yet I couldn’t rid myself of them.

Sometimes I tried to talk to Joliffe about them, but when I was with him I thought they seemed ridiculous. How could I say to him: Are you the father of Chan Cho Lan’s son? That was the suspicion which had come to me. But how could I say such a thing? When he was there, bantering, tender, his eyes full of love for me, how could I in seriousness ask such a question?

And there was Bella. I wanted to know more of Bella. What had been the true relationship between them when she had thrown herself out of that window?

Joliffe hedged away every time I got near the subject. There was one thing I did understand about him. He wanted to live all the time in the sunshine. He lived for the moment. Some people said this was how life should be lived. He believed that everything would come right in the end; he wanted to push aside difficulties, anything that might seem unpleasant.

I was different. I liked to look unpleasant things in the face and decide what to do about them. I would always be the sort of person who looked ahead. I had done this when I married Sylvester. I had been looking then to Jason’s future. Perhaps the basis of our attraction for each other was in the difference in our natures. If I upbraided Joliffe for his rather reckless and impulsive outlook, he teased me about my careful one.

I didn’t talk to him about the change in my health. I tried to ignore it; sometimes when the awful listlessness was creeping over me I would go up to our bedroom and lie down for a while. A short sleep very often was all I needed. But it was a strange feeling and I kept thinking of Sylvester and how tired he had been on some days.

Lottie knew about it. She would creep in and draw the blinds; sometimes I would find her little face creased into lines of anxiety She would lift her shoulders; the half-moon brows would shoot up and then she would give her nervous giggle.

“Sleep,” she would say, “and then better.”

One afternoon I slept longer than usual and awoke with a start. Something had aroused me. Perhaps it was a bad dream. Then I was aware that I was not alone. Someone… some thing was in the room. I raised myself on my elbow. A movement caught my eye. Then I saw that the door was slightly open and something evil was there.

I caught my breath. I was dreaming. I must be. The thing was there at the door… and luminous eyes were watching me from a cruel face.

It was not human.

I gave a little scream for I thought it was going to rush at me. Time seemed to slow down and I felt as though my limbs were paralyzed and I could not move, such utter terror possessed me I was completely defenseless.

But, mercifully, instead of approaching me the thing disappeared. I caught a flash of red as it moved.

I sat up looking about me. My heart was beating so fast that it was like a drum in my ears. It could only have been a nightmare. But what a vivid one. I could have sworn I had awakened and seen the thing. But I was awake now. I couldn’t have been dreaming.

Was I becoming so vague that I didn’t know whether I was asleep or awake?

I got off the bed. My legs were trembling. I noticed that the door was open. Surely I had not left it open?

I went to it and looked out into the corridor. At the end of this was the figure of the goddess. I half expected her to move.

I forced myself to walk up to her.

I put out a hand and touched her. “Nothing but an image,” I whispered.

It was a dream… a dream when I was half waking. What else could it have been? I wasn’t suffering from hallucinations.

No. It was a dream, but it had shaken me thoroughly.

I put on a dress and combed my hair. While I was doing this Lottie came in.

“You sleep long,” she said.

“Yes, too long,” I answered.

She looked at me oddly.

“You feel well?”

“Yes.”

“You look like you been frightened.”

“I had an unpleasant dream, that’s all. It’s time the lanterns were lighted.”


* * *

Joliffe went away for a few days. He was going to Canton to buy jade.

“I’m worried about you,” he said. “When I come back we should go away for a while—you, I, and Jason.” He took my face in his hands. “Don’t take any notice of the old prophets of evil. They’re bound to say that the goddess is displeased because part of her face fell off. That statue has been standing there for years and bits have been falling off for as long as I remember. But they’ll make something out of it if they can.”

“Don’t be away too long,” I begged.

“You can be sure I’ll be back at the earliest possible moment.”

When he had gone I went to the Go-Down. Toby was now recovered and was busy, he told me, catching up on everything that had piled up while he had been away. I tried to be animated about some bronze goblets we had acquired, but I obviously failed for Toby looked at me anxiously and said: “You’re not well, Jane.” His voice was tender. “Is anything wrong?”