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acquaintances.' He said again, 'Your father is considered a man of merit.' He looked, briefly, like an octopus spreading its tentacles from one side of the known world to the other. He said, 'You will have to accept my word that my, um'—he paused—'my small success in the material world was gained honestly.' He asked, 'Do you accept that?'
    Tentatively, O'Yee nodded. He thought, "I've heard about this man. All he has to say is 'Hmm,' and you spend the rest of your life with the same credit rating as the Rockefellers and two Swiss banks combined." He said, 'You're relatively speaking, a very anonymous man.'
    Conway Kan smiled again. That pleased him. One did not advertise wealth, especially when the Spring kidnapping season was on. He said, 'One tries neither to advertise good works nor wealth.' He added quickly, 'If one possesses it.'
    O'Yee thought, "Wealth or good works?" He thought, "What am I getting into?"
    Conway Kan said, 'I am unmarried, Mr O'Yee.' (Briefly, O'Yee looked worried.) He said, 'The family affection I hold is for my parents who are, sadly, no longer in person on this earth.' He said, 'As well as treasuring their memory I have an irrational affection for certain material objects that, to me, have their associations attached to them;' He went on quickly in case his meaning was not crystal clear, 'My father was a poor man. I refer therefore to objects which may appear to be of little monetary worth.' He glanced at the pictures on the wall representing the days of a fixed Empire and China's place at the centre of the world, 'It is, of course, very important to me that I appear to be completely in control of my faculties.' He asked pleasantly, 'You take my drift, of course?'
    O'Yee nodded. There was nothing worse for business than a millionaire without all his marbles. He asked, 'How can I help you?' He thought, "This is getting a little too Chinese for me." He said, 'Sometimes I don't feel very Chinese.'
    Conway Kan looked at him.
    'I don't know why I said that.'
    Conway Kan said, 'I do.' O'Yee wanted to ask him whether it was true about dismembered bodies and crowds and mythologies. Conway Kan said, 'It is how other people think of you that is important.' He glanced at the series of pictures on the wall, 'There is a sale of pictures quite soon in the Connaught Room of the Mandarin Hotel.' He asked, 'Were you aware of the sale?'
    'I read about it somewhere.'
    'Do you intend to bid on any of the pictures?'
    O'Yee thought, "You must be joking!" He said, 'No.'
    Conway Kan said urbanely, 'Lot number twenty-six will be extremely reasonable in price. It is generally thought to be a later copy of a work by a famous eighteenth century artist.' He said, 'My experts tell me that it is, on the contrary, genuine.' He said, 'A thrifty man would be well-advised to invest in such a work.' He said, 'I mention it in passing because I, alas, will be indisposed by illness at the time of the sale and will not therefore be able to bid on the work.' He said, 'I believe the sale will be held sometime in the next three or four weeks.'
    O'Yee paused. He tried being Chinese. 'I'm sorry to hear about your future illness.'
    It worked. Conway Kan said, 'I appreciate your solicitude.'
    O'Yee said, 'I'm glad we met. It is a good thing for a police officer to be well acquainted with the people his duty it is to assist.' He said, 'Small matters he might be in a position to deal with might otherwise not come to his attention.' He said, 'The concerns of the law-abiding are as much his task as the calumnies of criminals.' He thought, "That was a good one." He thought, "I wish I had the nerve to try a few proverbs."
    Conway Kan said, 'Men are good or bad according to their conduct; and their misery or happiness depends on themselves.' He repeated in Mandarin, ' Shan o sui jen tso 'huo fu tzu chi chao. ' He smiled.
    O'Yee said, 'Good men get cheated as good horses get ridden.' He changed from Cantonese to Mandarin and said, ' Jen chung yu chih