Poets and Murder

XV

The judge went first to his own quarters, for he had to prepare his visit carefully. Relatives of a man executed for high trea­son, no matter how distant, are always mortally afraid of the authorities. Even after the lapse of many years, new evidence may come to light involving them in dangerous complications. He took a slip of red paper from the writing-box, and wrote SOONG LIANG on it in big letters. On the right he added 'Com­mission Agent', on the left an imaginary address in the city of Canton. Having changed into a plain blue cotton robe, and put a small black skull-cap on his head, he left the tribunal by the side gate.

On the street corner he found a small litter for hire. When he ordered the bearers to take him to Hwang's hardware shop, they protested that it was a long way, and to a poor district where the roads were bad. But after the judge had agreed to the fare without haggling, and added a generous tip in advance, they cheerfully carried him away.

The prosperous-looking shops in the main street reminded the judge of the fact that Hwang was in arrears with the payment of his fees to the guild. That meant the man must be desperately poor. He told the bearers to halt, and invested a silver piece in a large bolt of the best blue cotton. In the shop next door he bought two smoked ducks, and a box with moon-cakes. Having made these purchases, he continued his journey.

After the market they passed a residential quarter which the judge recognized as the ward where the tea-merchant Meng lived. Then they entered a quarter of the poor, crossed by narrow, smelly back streets, with irregular cobblestones. The half-naked children playing among the rubbish stopped to gape at the litter, a vehicle rarely seen in that neighbour­hood. Not wanting to draw undue attention to his visit, the judge ordered the bearers to put him down in front of a small tea-house. One bearer could wait there by the litter, the other was to go on with him on foot, and carry the bolt of cloth and the basket with the ducks. The judge was glad he had taken the man, for soon they were in the midst of a veritable rabbit-warren of crooked alleys, where the bearer had to ask directions in the local dialect.

Hwang's shop consisted of an open street-stall, its patched canvas awning attached to the roof of a mud-brick shed be­hind. A row of cheap earthenware teapots hung on a cross-pole over a trestle table stacked with bowls and platters. Be­hind the improvised counter a broad-shouldered, shabbily dressed man was laboriously putting a dozen coppers on a string. When Judge Dee put the red card on the counter, the man shook his head. 'I can only make out the name Soong,' he said in a surly, coarse voice. 'What do you want?'

'My card says I am Soong Liang, a commission agent from Canton,' the judge explained. 'I am a distant cousin of your wife, you see. Came to look you up, on my way to the capital.'

Hwang's swarthy face lit up. Turning round to the woman sitting on the bench against the wall, bent over the needle­work in her lap, he called out, 'At last one of your relatives seems to have remembered you, woman! It's cousin Soong Liang, from Canton! Please come inside, sir, you've a long journey behind you!'

She quickly came to her feet. The judge ordered the bearer to hand her his purchases, then to wait for him in the street-stall opposite.

The hardware dealer took him into the small room that served as bed-sitting-room and kitchen. While Hwang quickly wiped the greasy table with a rag, the judge sat down on a bamboo stool and told the woman:

'Third Uncle wrote me from the capital that your parents have died, cousin, but he gave me your address. Passing through here, I thought I'd drop in to offer you a few small gifts, for today's festival.'

She had opened the package and was looking with wide eyes at the bolt of cloth. He put her age at about forty. Her face was regular, but thin and deeply lined. Hwang exclaimed, startled:

'You're much too generous, cousin! Merciful Heaven, all that beautiful cloth! How could I ever return such a costly ...'

'Simple! By allowing a lonely traveller to have his Mid-autumn meal with his own relatives! I brought a trifling contribution along.' He lifted the lid of the basket, and gave Hwang the box with moon-cakes. Hwang's eyes were on the contents of the basket.

'Two whole ducks! Cut them up carefully, woman! And take a new bowl and cups from the shop! I have saved a small jar of wine for today's festival, but I'd never have dreamed we'd have meat with it! And such expensive smoked duck!’

He poured the judge a cup of tea, then made polite in­quiries about his guest's family in Canton, his business, and the journey he had behind him. Judge Dee told a convincing story, adding that he had to travel on that same afternoon. Then he said, 'We'll have one duck now; the other'll serve for tonight.'

Hwang raised his hand.

'Calamities of heaven and man may interfere between now and tonight, Cousin,' he declared solemnly. 'We'll eat our fill here and now!’ He turned to his wife, who had been listening to the conversation with a pleased smile on her care-worn face. 'I promise, woman, that not one bad word about your family shall ever pass my lips again!' She gave the judge a shy look and said:

'After that terrible affair, Cousin, nobody dared to come to see us any more, you see.'

'The general's case was talked about even down south,' the judge remarked. 'It was very sad that your sister did away with herself before the disaster, but when you look at it from the broader point of view of our family's interest, it was all for the best. It saved us from being drawn into the affair.' As Hwang and his wife nodded ponderously, he asked, 'What happened to I-wen?'

Hwang sniffed. 'I-wen? Only heard a couple of years ago that he had become a man of letters. Far too snooty to remem­ber his aunt!’

'Why did your sister do away with herself, Cousin? Was she treated badly in the general's house?'

'No, she wasn't,' the woman replied slowly. 'She was treated well, especially after she had borne I-wen, a sturdy, good-looking boy. But my sister was ...'

'She was a blasted ...' Hwang began. But his wife inter­rupted quickly: 'Mind your nasty tongue!’ And to the judge: 'She couldn't help it, really. Perhaps it was Father's fault, after all ...' She heaved a sigh and poured out the wine. 'Till she was fifteen she was a very quiet, obedient girl, you know, fond of animals. One day she came home with a small fox-baby she had found. When Father saw it, he became ter­ribly afraid, for it was a black one, you see, a vixen. He killed it at once. Then my sister got a fit, and she was never the same afterwards.'

The hardware dealer gave the judge an uneasy look. 'That lewd fox-spirit went into her.'

His wife nodded. 'Father hired a Taoist priest, and he said many spells, but he couldn't get the fox-spirit out. When she was sixteen, she was making eyes at every young man in sight. Since she was a looker, mother had to keep an eye on her from morning till night. Then an old woman who peddled combs and powder in the big house told father that the First Lady of General Mo was looking for a concubine for the old master. Father was very glad, and when sister had been taken to see the First Lady and she approved of sister, the deal was concluded. All went well; she had to work hard in the big house, but the First Lady gave her a new dress at each and every festival, and after she had borne I-wen, she wasn't beaten even once.'

'Had to spoil everything herself, the slut!' Hwang mut­tered. He hastily emptied his cup. His wife pushed a greying lock away from her forehead.

'One day I met the First Lady's maid in the market, and she said I was lucky to have a sister who didn't forget her own, who insisted on seeing her parents once every week. Then I knew there was something terribly wrong, for my sister hadn't come to see us for more than half a year. She did come afterwards, however. She was with child, and it wasn't the general's. I took her to a midwife who gave her all kinds of things to drink, but it didn't help. She bore a girl, told the general it had been a miscarriage, and had the child aban­doned in the street.'

'That's what she was!’ Hwang shouted angrily. 'A cruel, heartless fox-woman!’

'She was sorry she had to do it!' his wife protested. 'Wrapped the child up in a fine piece of brown Indian wool so that it wouldn't catch cold. That expensive saffron stuff, the Buddhists use to ...' Seeing Judge Dee's startled face, she went on quickly, 'Sorry, Cousin, it's not a nice story at all! It's so long ago, but I still ...' She began to weep.

Hwang patted her shoulder. 'Come on, no tears on this fine day!’ And to the judge: 'We've no children ourselves, you see. Talking about it always gets her that way! Well, to cut a long story short, the old general found out, you see. One of his chair-coolies told us that the old man shouted he'd drag her and the fellow to the hall, and cut their heads off with his own sword! She hanged herself, and the general didn't get round to cutting off her lover's head, for the very next day the Emperor's soldiers came, and they cut off his head! It's a strange world, Cousin! Let's have another drink. Here, you take one too, woman!’

'Who was her lover?' the judge asked.

'She never told me, Cousin,' the woman said, wiping her eyes. 'Only said he was a very learned gentleman who could go in and out of the big house.'

'Glad I chose the right sister!’ Hwang shouted. His face had become flushed. 'My old woman works hard, takes in sew­ing and so we make both ends meet! But she doesn't know nothing about men's affairs, mind you! Wanted me to stop paying my fee to my guild! I says no, sell our winter clothes! If a man doesn't belong somewhere, he's nothing more than a stray dog! I was right there too, for that fine bolt of yours, Cousin, that'll keep us dressed up nicely for years to come! It's good for my business too, a well-dressed man behind the counter!’

After the judge had finished his rice, he told the woman:

'Take my card tomorrow to the back gate of the magistrate's residence, Cousin. I have done business with the housemaster, and he'll see to it that you get the sewing there.' He got up.

Hwang and his wife pressed him to stay, hut he said he had to be in time for the ferry across the river.

The bearer took him back to the tea-house where the litter was waiting. He was carried back to the main street, his thoughts in a turmoil. Having paid the bearers off on the corner, he walked on to the tribunal. While the doorkeeper was admitting him by the side-gate, he learned from him that Magistrate Lo was in the ante-room, on the ground floor of the main building. Apparently the poetical gathering in the library had not yet started. The judge went quickly to his own courtyard.

He took from the drawer Lo's dossier on the case of the poetess. Standing at the table, he leafed through it till he found the text of the anonymous letter which had warned the magistrate that a dead body was buried under the cherry tree of the White Heron Monastery. Then he pulled the anony­mous letter accusing General Mo Te-ling from his sleeve, and laid it beside the other. Slowly stroking his black beard, he compared the two. Both being chancery copies in the im­personal hand of clerks, the style had to show whether or not they could have been written by one and the same person. Doubtfully shaking his head, the judge put the two sheets in his sleeve, and went to the main courtyard.

The small magistrate was sitting at the tea-table, which was strewn with papers, a writing-brush in his hand, his lips pursed. He looked up and said eagerly:

'I am sifting out and correcting my recent work, Dee. Do you think the Academician would approve of the recurrent rhyme of this ballad?' He was going to recite the poem he had been correcting, but Judge Dee said quickly:

'Another time, Lo! I have a strange discovery to report.' He sat down opposite his colleague. 'I shall be brief, for you'll have to go presently to your library. It's getting on for four o'clock.'

'Oh, no, there's plenty of time, elder brother! The luncheon out in my fourth courtyard turned out to be a protracted affair, you know! The Court Poet and Yoo-lan wrote a few poems, and we discussed those, with lots of wine! All my four guests went straight to their rooms for a siesta, and none of them has shown up yet.'

'Good! So none of them went out, and so you needn't bother to mobilize your housemaster's agents to follow them. Now then, the mother of the murdered student was a con­cubine of General Mo Te-ling. Later she committed adultery with an unknown person, and their illegitimate daughter was abandoned. She's none other than Saffron, the guardian of the Black Fox Shrine.' Seeing Lo's astonished face, he raised his hand and went on, 'The abandoned child had been wrapped up in a piece of saffron wool, and people often call foundlings after the dress they had on when found. This means that Saffron is Soong's half-sister, and that's why the student told Saffron he could never marry her. It also means that Saffron's father and the student's murderer are one and the same man. One day before the old general was arrested, he told his concubine that he had discovered she had com­mitted adultery with one of his friends, adding that he would kill them both with his own hands. The concubine promptly hanged herself. And the general was arrested the next day, before he could settle with her lover.'

'Good gracious! Where did you find all that, Dee?'

'In your archives, mainly. The student Soong was evidently convinced that his mother's lover had falsely accused the general of high treason in an anonymous letter, to prevent the general from accusing him as an adulterer. Soong was wrong as to the first point. I read through the official record, and I am convinced the general was guilty. And his concu­bine's lover must have been in the plot. As to the second point, Soong was perfectly right. The man did write the anonymous letter, because he knew it would take the Censor some time to get round to the general, and he wanted to make sure that the general was arrested on the very first day of the investigation, so as to prevent him from taking action against him.'

Magistrate Lo raised his hand.

'Not so fast, Dee! If the general was guilty of high treason, why then should his denouncer have murdered the student? The chap had done a meritorious deed by informing against the general!'

'He must occupy a prominent position, Lo, and therefore he can't afford to have an adultery charge brought against him. Also, he evidently was deeply involved in the general's plot, else he wouldn't have known where the incriminating letters from the Ninth Prince were hidden. That's why he didn't come forward, although the government had promised him a reward.'

'Holy heaven! Who is the fellow, Dee?'

'I am afraid it must be one of your three guests, Shao, Chang or Loo. No, don't protest! I have irrefutable proof that it must be one of the three. Saffron shall tell us who. Even though her father kept his face covered when he visited her, I trust she'll be able to recognize him by his voice and general appearance.'

'You can't be serious about Sexton Loo, Dee! What woman would ever take that ugly man as a lover?'

'I am not so sure about that, Lo. The student's mother was a perverse woman. Her family ascribes that to her being possessed by the spirit of a lewd black vixen, by the way. However that may be, a perverse and frustrated woman — she was barely seventeen when she entered the general's house, and he getting on for sixty — might well have felt attracted to the sexton because of his very ugliness. Besides, he has a masterful and extraordinary strong personality, and many women are susceptible to such men. During the poetical gathering you might try to find out whether Chang and the sexton were here in Chin-hwa at the time of General Mo's trial, Lo. We know that the Academician was here, serving as Prefect of this area. Could you have your housemaster called?'

Lo clapped his hands, and gave an order to the boy servant. Judge Dee resumed:

'I would like you to find out also, Lo, whether any of our three suspects was in the Lake District this spring, at the time Yoo-lan was arrested in the White Heron Monastery.'

'Why do you want to know, Dee?' his colleague asked, astonished.

'Because in Yoo-lan's case too the authorities took action on the basis of an anonymous letter, written by a scholarly gentleman. And a criminal always likes to keep to one and the same method. In the case of General Mo's high treason the accusation was true; but by denouncing him the anony­mous letter-writer achieved at the same time an ulterior purpose, namely preventing the general from taking action against him. Now, eighteen years later, the scholarly gentle­man may well have again resorted to an anonymous letter to report another crime, namely the murder of the maidservant, and again to achieve some ulterior purpose. Therefore ...' The judge broke off, for the housemaster came in.

Judge Dee took Lo's brush and jotted down on a scrap of paper the name and address of the hardware dealer Hwang, and the name Soong Liang. Handing it to the housemaster, he said, 'Mrs Hwang will come to the back door of the resi­dence tomorrow morning, with the visiting-card of Mr Soong Liang. His Excellency wants you to see to it that she gets the sewing here. Detain her in conversation for a while, for we may want to see her. Now ask Mr Kao to come here.'

When the housemaster had left with a deep bow, Lo asked peevishly:

'Mr Soong Liang, you said? Who the hell is he?'

'It's me, as a matter of fact.' He gave his colleague a brief account of his visit to the hardware dealer, and concluded, 'They're a decent couple, and they have no children. I was toying with the idea of proposing to you that you entrust Saffron to them, after the poor girl has completely recovered. I must go to fetch her now, together with your counsellor.' Taking the two anonymous letters from his sleeve, he con­tinued, handing them to Lo, 'These are chancery copies of the two anonymous letters. You are an expert on delicate nuances in literary style. Please have a good look at them, and see whether there's any indication of their having been composed by one and the same scholar. Put them in your sleeve, man! I see your counsellor coming!’

When the counsellor had made his bow, the small magis­trate told him:

'I want you to accompany my colleague to the Black Fox Shrine, near the South Gate, Kao. I have decided to have that piece of wasteland cleaned up, and the first step is to get the half-witted woman away who acts as guardian of the shrine.'

'We shall go there together in an official palankeen, Mr Kao,' Judge Dee added. 'The house physician and the matron will follow us in a second, closed palankeen, for I have heard that the woman there is gravely ill.'

The counsellor bowed.

'I shall see to it at once, sir.' And to the magistrate: 'The Academician's boy servant is outside, Your Honour, with the message that His Excellency is now ready to receive his guests.'

'Holy heaven, my poems!’ Lo exclaimed.

Judge Dee helped him to collect and sort out the papers strewn over the table. He accompanied his colleague to the second courtyard, then walked on alone to the tribunal.

Counsellor Kao was waiting for him at the gatehouse, where a large official palankeen stood ready.

'The physician and the matron are in that closed litter, sir,' he informed the judge. While they were being carried out­side through the monumental arched gate, Kao resumed, 'The wasteland could be made into a public park, sir. It won't do to have right within our city walls an area where all kinds of ruffians can gather. Don't you agree, sir?'

'I do.'

'I hope you found in the archives what you were looking for this morning, sir.'

'I did.'

Perceiving that the judge was not in the mood for a leisurely conversation, Counsellor Kao kept silent. When they were passing through Temple Street, however, he began again:

'Yesterday morning I visited Sexton Loo in the temple at the end of this street, sir. I had quite some difficulty in per­suading him to accept His Excellency's invitation. The sexton accepted only after I had told him you were a guest in the residence too.'

Judge Dee sat up.

'Did he say why?'

'He mentioned your great reputation as a criminal investi­gator, sir. And something about an interesting experiment, about foxes, if I remember correctly.'

'I see. Do you have any idea what he could've been refer­ring to?'

'No, sir. The sexton is a very strange person. He seemed particularly keen on stressing he had arrived here the night before, but ... Heavens, why are we halting here?' He looked outside.

The foreman of the bearers came up to the window, and reported to the counsellor:

'There's a crowd blocking the road, sir. Just one moment, please, I told them to make way.'

Judge Dee heard the confused noise of excited voices. Their palankeen went on for a while, then halted again. A sergeant of the guard appeared at the window. Saluting sharply, he told Kao:

'I am sorry, sir, but you had better not go on. The witch from the deserted temple has got the dog's madness. She ...'

The judge quickly pulled the door-screen aside and stepped down from the palankeen. Six guards with levelled spears had formed a cordon across the street, keeping a small group of curious people away. Further down Saffron was lying sprawl­ed on her back by the roadside, her still figure pitifully slight in the tattered, soiled robe. Two soldiers had pinned her neck down to the ground, with a forked thiefcatcher's stick ten feet long. A little further, in the middle of the empty road, other soldiers were lighting a bonfire.

'Better not come near, sir,' the sergeant warned Judge Dee. 'We're going to burn the dead body, to be quite sure. Don't know too much about how the sickness is transmitted.'

Counsellor Kao had come up to them. 'What happened, Sergeant?' he asked sharply. 'Is that woman dead?'

'Yes, sir. Half an hour ago, my men sitting in that street-stall heard wild screams from the brushwood over there, and a weird barking sound. Thinking that a mad dog was attack­ing someone, they rushed to the guardhouse, and we came back here with forked sticks. Just as I was about to enter that old gate there, the witch came running outside, scream­ing at the top of her voice. Her face was distorted something terrible, and there was foam coming from her mouth. She made for us, but one of my men caught her throat in the fork of his stick, and threw her on to the ground. She grabbed at the stick, thrashing about so violently that it needed a second man to keep her pinned down. At last her hands drop­ped away, and she was dead.' The sergeant pushed his iron helmet back and wiped his moist brow. 'What a wonderful man our magistrate is, sir! He must have been expecting something like this to happen! I got orders to post a few of my men in that stall there and keep an eye on the old gate. That's why we could be on the spot before she had attacked some of the passers-by.'

'Our magistrate is a deep one!’ a soldier said with a grin.

Judge Dee beckoned the physician who had stepped down from the other litter.

'The dead woman had rabies,' he told him curtly. 'You agree the body should be burned?'

'Certainly, sir. Also the forked stick she was caught with. And the brushwood she came from had better be burned down too. It's a terrible disease, sir.'

'Stay here and see that everything is done properly,' the judge ordered Counsellor Kao. 'I am going back to the tribunal.'