"’Must there be a major error?’ I asked, falling into the mood of Lee Fu’s exaggerated concern ’He’s carried it off so far with the greatest ease’ "’Yes, with the greatest ease’ said Lee Fu thoughtfully ’Yet I begin to wonder whether he has been properly put to the test. See how the world protects him! Sometimes I am appalled. It is as if we wrapped the doers of evil in cotton wool, so that not even rudeness might disturb them. He has merely maintained a perfect silence, and the world has done the rest. It has seemed more anxious to forget his crime than he to have it forgotten. So he lives with impunity, as it were. But he is not invulnerable. Life will challenge him yet ... it must be ... life, which is truth, and not the world. Can a man escape the anger and justice of the gods? That is why I concern myself with him—to know his final destiny’ "’You admit, then, that he’s not the incarnate criminal you once thought him’ I chaffed, unable to take the matter so deeply to heart ’He may be only a stupid fool with a wooden face and naturally good manners....’ "’Not stupid’ Lee Fu interrupted ’Yet, on the other hand, not exceptional, not superior to life. Such faultless power of will is in itself no mean part of ability. He is, as you might say, self-centred—most accurately self-centred. But the challenge of the gods displaces the centre of all. He will be like a top that is done spinning. A little breath may topple him at last. Wait and see.... But, for the present, it is evident that were is nothing more to be learned. The mask is inscrutable’ "Thinking the case over at sea, I often laughed to myself over Lee Fu’s intensity. Voyage followed voyage; at one time when I had just come in from Bankok and was on my way from the Jetty to Lee Fu’s office, I passed Captain Wilbur on the opposite side of Queen’s Road. He waved a hand to me as he turned the corner: at once it flashed across my mind that I hadn’t observed the _Speedwell_ in the roadstead as I came in. When I had finished my business with Lee Fu, I asked him for an explanation of Wilbur’s presence in Hong Kong without his vessel. "’You are mistaken, Captain—it has little significance’ he answered with a quizzical smile ’So, after all, you pay a little attention? The fact is, the successful Captain Wilbur has retired from active service on the sea. He is now a ship owner, nothing more, and has favoured Hong Kong above all other ports as the seat of his retirement. He resides in a fine house on Graham Terrace, and has three chairmen in white livery edged with crimson.... Captain Nichols, you should steal a ship’ "’Who has gone in the _Speedwell_?’ I inquired "’An old friend of ours, one Captain Turner’ said Lee Fu slowly, glancing in my direction. "’Not Will Turner?’ "’The same’