Necklace and Calabash

IV

'What does this nonsense mean?' Judge Dee asked coldly.

'It means that my mother wants to see you,' the girl snapped. 'Her name is Hydrangea; she is the Chief Lady-in-waiting of Her Highness.'

'Is your mother ill?'

'Wait till we are out in the forest.'

The judge decided to wait till he knew more about her mys­terious errand before putting this forward young lady in her place. The bearers were slackening their pace. Now it was very still outside.

After about a quarter of an hour, the girl suddenly pulled the window-curtain open. They were moving along a forest road, lined by tall pine trees. The girl took off the hood with a careless gesture. Her hair was done up in a simple but elegant coiffure, with a gold filigreed comb in front. Her small, slightly uptilted nose gave her face a pert expression. Turning to the judge, she said in the same peremptory voice:

'I must tell you here and now that I don't know what all this is about! I am just following instructions. So you needn't bother me with questions.' She groped under the bench and came up with a flat box of red-lacquered pigskin, the sort that doctors use to carry their prescriptions. Putting it on her lap, she resumed, 'In this box you'll find a package of prescription blanks, a dozen of your name-cards, and ...'

'I have prepared cards myself, thank you,' Judge Dee said curtly.

'Never mind. There are also some plasters and six folders con­taining a quite innocent powder. Have you ever been to the town of Wan-hsiang, eighty miles upriver?'

'I passed through there once.'

'Good. Behind the Temple of the War God lives the Honourable Kuo, retired secretary of the Palace Archives. He knew you from the capital, and he summoned you last week because he is suffer­ing from asthma. Now you are on your way back to the capital. Can you remember all that?'

'I'll try,' the judge replied dryly.

'The Honourable Kuo wrote to my mother that you would be passing through here, so she had you called for a consultation. She suffers from asthma too, and yesterday she had a bad attack.' She darted a quick look at him and asked, annoyed, 'Why do you carry a sword? It'll make a bad impression. Put it under the bench!’

Judge Dee slowly unstrapped the sword. He knew that outsiders were not allowed to enter any palace armed.

After they had been carried along through the silent forest for some time, the road broadened. They passed under a double-arched stone portal of massive structure, then crossed a broad marble bridge with elaborately carved balustrades. On the other side of the moat loomed the high double-gate of the Water Palace. The girl pulled the window-curtain close. The judge heard shouted commands, and the palankeen stopped abruptly. The foreman of the bearers exchanged a few whispered words with the sentries; then they were carried up a flight of stairs. The grating sounds of bolts being drawn and chains released indicated that the gate was being thrown open. More shouted orders, and the palankeen was carried ahead for some distance, then lowered to the ground. The door- and window-curtains on both sides of the palankeen were drawn aside at the same moment. The glaring light that fell inside temporarily blinded Judge Dee's eyes. When he opened them he was looking at the face of a sergeant of the guard, close by the window. Behind him stood six guardsmen in their gilt armour, drawn swords in their hands. The sergeant told the girl curtly:

'You are all right, of course, miss.' And to the judge: 'State name, profession and purpose of visit!’

'I am Doctor Liang Mou, summoned by the Lady Hydrangea, Chief Lady-in-waiting of Her Imperial Highness.'

'Step down, please!'

Two guards searched the judge quickly and expertly. They even felt in his boots and brought out his identity paper. The sergeant inspected it. 'All right. You'll get it back when you leave, sir. The doctor's box please, miss!’ The sergeant opened the flat box and rummaged with his thick forefinger among the contents. Giving it to the judge, he held up his hand for the calabash. He uncorked it, shook it in order to verify there was no small dagger inside, then gave it back. 'You may now change to the palace chair.'

He barked an order. Four bearers in beautiful silk livery approached, carrying an elegant litter with gilt shafts and brocade curtains. After the judge and the young woman had stepped in­side, it was born noiselessly across the marble-paved courtyard, the sergeant marching in front. The spacious court was brilliantly lit by countless silk lampions, each on a high, red-lacquered stand. A few dozen guardsmen were loitering there, all in full armour and carrying crossbows and quivers packed with long arrows. The next yard was quiet; courtiers in flowing blue robes were flit­ting about among the heavy pillars that lined the open corridors. Judge Dee pointed at the lotus ponds and murmuring water-conducts.

All that water comes from the river, I suppose?'

"That's why it's called the Water Palace,' the girl snapped.

At a double-gate of gilt trellis work, two sentries carrying long halberds stopped the litter. The sergeant explained the purpose of the visit, then marched off. The sentries closed the curtains and fastened them on the outside. The two occupants were sitting in the dark again.

'Outsiders are not allowed to see the layout of the inner palace,' the girl deigned to explain.

The judge remembered that on the map in Captain Siew's office the Water Palace was represented by a blank square. The authori­ties were nothing if not thorough in their security measures. He tried to guess what course they were following but soon lost count of all the corners they turned, all the steps they were carried up and down. At last the litter was lowered to the ground. A giant in heavy armour and a spiked helmet decorated with long coloured plumes told them to descend. His colossal colleague knocked with the hilt of his naked broadsword on a double-door of tooled iron. The judge got a glimpse of a paved yard, surrounded by a high wall painted a bright purple; then the iron doors swung open and a fat man motioned them to enter. He was clad in a long, gold-embroidered robe, and wore a conical, black-lacquered hat. His round placid face with its broad fleshy nose was completely hairless. Nodding familiarly at the girl, the obese eunuch addressed the judge in a high reedy voice:

'His Excellency the Chief Eunuch wants to see you before you cross the Golden Bridge, Doctor.'

'My mother is in distress,' the girl quickly intervened. 'The doctor must see her immediately, for ...'

'His Excellency's orders were explicit,' the moon-faced man told her placidly. 'You'll kindly wait here, miss. This way, sir.' He pointed down a long, silent passage.