The Island Where Time Stands Still by Dennis Wheatley Page A

she remained behind. When she appeared at the harbour to meet them the news that they had been drowned threw her into a frenzy of remorse. She snatched a knife from one of the Harbour-Master’s people, ran off behind a hut, and before she could be stopped stabbed herself to death.’
    As Gregory had seen a coolie half-persuade, half-pull the amah in through the doorway of one of the warehouses, he felt that in having lured the woman from her duty the man was as much to blame as she was; but since he could not have given the vaguest description of the coolie there seemed nothing to be gained by mentioning the matter. After a moment, he asked:
    â€˜Will the Emperor be succeeded by a younger brother, or some more distant relative?’
    â€˜Neither. He was an only son; and, most unfortunately, the last of his line.’
    â€˜To whom will the throne go, then?’
    A-lu-te shook her head. ‘I have no idea. It lies with the Council of State to decide. The problem is an intensely worrying one for my father and his fellow Mandarins.’
    â€˜When a Monarch dies without an heir-apparent, it is usual for him to nominate his successor in his will. Didn’t the Emperor leave even an indication of his wishes?’
    â€˜No. Until less than a month ago the succession was assured by his two healthy sons. As he was still quite young it was natural for him, and everyone else, to assume that he would make good their loss by begetting others; so no provision at all was made to meet a situation so unexpected as this.’
    â€˜How about the Empress? Could she not be made ruler?’
    â€˜Oh no; that is quite out of the question.’
    â€˜Why? The old Empress Dowager reigned in China for nearly as long as Queen Victoria reigned in England.’
    â€˜You are mistaken. The Great Empress Mother acted only as Regent for her son, and later for other members of the Imperial Family.’
    â€˜Whatever her status this one would have infinitely less power. She would be no more than a figurehead, and entirely in the hands of her Council.’
    â€˜They would never agree to that,’ A-lu-te asserted. ‘The fact that she is not of the Imperial blood rules her out absolutely.’
    Gregory could see that A-lu-te was a prey to acute anxiety, and he guessed the reason. Giving her a shrewd glance he asked, ‘Who are the two strongest personalities in the island?’
    Without hesitation she replied, ‘Ho-Ping’s elder brother and my uncle, Kâo Hsüan. The one is already a Mandarin and the other, as my father’s nearest male relative, will be when he dies. Both of them are extremely ambitious.’
    â€˜I see,’ Gregory nodded. ‘Then, since the Emperor has no legitimate successor, you are afraid that these two will fight it out between them, and that this island paradise is about to become a field of blood?’

5
The Imperial Family
    This question of the succession seemed to occupy A-lu-te’s mind to the exclusion of nearly everything else, and when she came out to join Gregory in the garden the following afternoon she told him that the Council had held another long but unsatisfactory meeting. Ho-Ping’s brother Tsai-Ping had pointed out that as the Council of State had always done the real governing in the name of an Emperor, there was no reason why it should not continue to do so without one.
    To this the other Mandarins were strongly opposed; both because the creation of any form of Republic would have been entirely contrary to their cherished traditions, and because they feared that without an Emperor to wield permanent authority over them Tsai-Ping’s ambitious nature might lead him into attempting to become a dictator. But the sudden extinction of their own branch of the Imperial Family had left them at their wits’ end, as they could think of no male member of any other branch whom they would care to invite to ascend the throne.
    â€˜Surely,’