The Haunted Monastery

XVII

Judge Dee had to knock for a long time before Miss Ting opened. She wore only a thin bed-robe. Looking the judge up and down with sleep-heavy eyes she said: "You could be my husband, using my room at all hours!"

"Shut up and get out of the way!" the judge said crossly. She stepped back and looked dumbfounded at the two men as they carried their burden inside. While they were putting the unconscious girl on Miss Ting's bed, Judge Dee said to her: "Fan the coals in that brazier and heat up this room. Prepare a large pot of hot tea and make her drink as much as possible. She was exposed naked for many hours in a cold and damp gallery, and although the coat of plaster on her body may have acted as a protection, she still may have got a dangerous chill. Then soak the plaster thoroughly with warm water and remove it with a towel. Be careful, the wound on her breast is only superficial, but the bruises on her arms and legs may be worse than they seem. Verify also whether her back is injured. As an acrobat you know all about sprained muscles and bone-setting, don't you?"

Miss Ting nodded. She cast a pitying glance at the still figure on the bed.

"I'll get some drugs and plasters now," the judge added. "These two men will stand guard outside the door. Set to work!"

Miss Ting asked no questions but immediately began to revive the coals in the brazier with a bamboo fan. Judge Dee took Tao Gan and Tsung Lee outside. He said: "Fetch Mr. Kang. If Mo should appear, arrest him. Not too gently!" He rushed upstairs, to his own quarters on the third floor.

He roused the sleeping maids. When they had opened the door, he went into the bedroom, which was lighted only by two burned-down candles. Through the open bed curtains he saw that his three wives were sleeping peacefully, lying close together under the embroidered quilt.

He tiptoed to their medicine chest and rummaged about in its drawers till he had found the box with the oil-plasters and a few small boxes with salves and powders. As he turned around, he saw that his First Lady had awakened. She raised herself to a sitting position. Pulling her night robe up to cover her bare torso she looked at him with sleep-heavy eyes. Judge Dee gave her a reassuring smile, then went out again.

Back in front of Miss Ting's room, Tao Gan reported that Kang I-te's room was empty. Neither he nor his bear were there. They had seen no one.

"Go to Mrs. Pao's room," the judge ordered, "and bring her here."

"Who was the fiend who tortured her, Your Honour?" Tsung Lee asked tensely. His face was distorted with anger and anxiety. "We'll know soon!" the judge answered curtly.

Tao Gan came back. The door of Mrs. Pao's room had been locked. He had forced it open but nobody was there. He had found only a bundle of clothes belonging to White Rose. Mrs. Pao's luggage was missing, and neither of the two beds had been slept in.

Judge Dee made no comment. He started pacing up and down the corridor, his hands on his back. After a long wait Miss Ting opened the door and beckoned the judge.

"I'll call you when I am ready," he said to the two men, and followed her inside.

He walked up to the bed. Miss Ting folded the covers back. While she held the candle close Judge Dee examined the bruises on the white body. The girl was still unconscious, but her lips twitched when the judge probed the deep cuts left by the clamps. He righted himself and took a small box from his sleeve.

"Dissolve the contents in a cup of hot tea," he ordered. "It's a pain-stilling soporific."

Then he further examined the girl's body. He didn't like the heart-beat, but there seemed to be no internal lesions. She was a virgin, and there were no signs that she had been beaten except for a bluish spot on her left temple. He put salve on the bruises, then covered them with thick oilplasters. He saw to his satisfaction that Miss Ting had pasted the membrane of an egg over the wound on her breast. The judge covered her up again. He took a pinch of white powder from another box he had brought and inserted it in White Rose's nostrils.

Miss Ting handed him the cup with the medicine. On a sign from the judge she raised the girl's head. The girl sneezed and opened her eyes. The judge made her drink the medicine, then let her lie back again. He sat down on the edge of the bed. The girl stared up at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

"Call the two men here!" Judge Dee ordered Miss Ting. "Soon she'll be able to talk, and I want them to be present as witnesses."

"Her condition isn't… dangerous?" Miss Ting asked anxiously.

"Not too bad," Judge Dee said. Giving her a quick smile he patted her on the shoulder and added: "You did very well. Now get those two fellows!"

As Tao Gan and Tsung Lee came in, the judge said softly to White Rose: "You are safe now, my dear. Presently you'll have a nice long sleep."

He didn't like the queer stare in the girl's eyes. "You talk to her!" he ordered Tsung Lee.

The poet bent over her and softly called her name. Suddenly the girl seemed to understand. She looked at him and asked in a barely audible voice: "What happened? Did I have a nightmare?"

Judge Dee made a peremptory sign to Tsung. The poet knelt down by the side of the bedstead and took the girl's hand in his, stroking it softly. The judge said to the girl reassuringly: "Whatever it was, it's all past and done with now!"

"But I still see it all before me!" she cried out. "All those horrible faces!"

"Tell me about it!" Judge Dee said encouragingly. "You know how it is with bad dreams, don't you? Once you have told them, they lose their power over you, and they are gone, gone forever. Who took you up to the gallery?"

A Young Girl in the Hands of Evil Persons

White Rose heaved a deep sigh. Staring at the curtains above her she said slowly: "I remember that after watching the stage show I felt very confused. I have always been close to my brother. I had been terribly frightened when that man threatened him with his sword. I muttered some excuse to Mrs. Pao, and joined my brother backstage. I told him that I was in awful difficulties, and that I wanted to talk with him alone. He told me to go up to his room, posing as him. He had disguised himself as an actress, you know."

She gave the judge a questioning look.

"Yes, I know all about that," Judge Dee said. "What happened after you met us up in the corridor?"

"When I had rounded the corner I ran into Mrs. Pao. She was very angry; she cursed me soundly and practically dragged me to our room. There she made some excuses. She said she was responsible for me, and couldn't allow me to associate with an actress of dubious reputation. I was angry because of her rude behaviour, and that gave me the courage to tell her that I wasn't sure that I wanted to become a nun after all. I added that I wanted to talk things over with Miss Ou-yang, whom I said I had known well in the capital.

"Mrs. Pao took this information rather calmly. She said that the decision was of course up to me, but that the monastery would have started preparations for my initiation, and that she would have to inform the abbot immediately. When she came back, she told me that the abbot wanted to see me."

Turning her eyes to Tsung Lee she continued: "Mrs. Pao took me over to the temple. We went up the staircase on the right. After having gone up and down a few flights of steps we entered a small dressing room. Mrs. Pao said I would have to change into a nun's cowl, as that was the proper dress in which to be received by the abbot. I suddenly realized that they were going to try to force me to become a nun. I refused.

"Then Mrs. Pao flew into a rage. I didn't recognize her any more; she called me awful names. She tore my clothes off. I was so stupefied by the unbelievable change in her that I hardly resisted. She pushed me naked into the next room."

She gave the judge a pitiable look. He quickly made her drink another cup of tea. She went on in a low voice: "I saw a large, luxuriously appointed bedroom. A couch stood against the back wall; the yellow brocade curtains were half drawn. A muffled voice spoke from there: ‘Come here, my bride, you shall now be properly initiated!' I knew at once that I had fallen into a trap set by evil people, and that I must try to escape. I turned round to the door, but the woman grabbed me and quickly bound my hands behind my back. Then she started dragging me by my hair to the couch. I kicked her and screamed for help as loud as I could. ‘Leave her!' the voice said. ‘I want to have a good look at her!' Mrs. Pao forced me down on my knees in front of the couch, then stepped back. I heard a chuckle from the bedstead. It sounded so horrible that I burst out crying. ‘that's better!' Mrs. Pao said. ‘Now be a good girl and do as he says!' I shouted at her that they would have to kill me first. ‘Shall I get the whip?' the loathsome woman asked. But the voice said: ‘No, it wouldn't do to break that nice skin. She needs a little time, to reflect. Put her to sleep!' Mrs. Pao stepped up to me and hit me a sharp blow on the side of my head. I fainted."

Tsung Lee wanted to say something, but Judge Dee raised his hand. After a brief pause White Rose went on: "An excruciating pain in my back made me regain my senses. I was half lying, half hanging over some hard thing. I couldn't see well because my hair was hanging over my face. I tried to open my mouth but I had been gagged. My arms and legs were held by clamps that cut into my flesh at the slightest attempt to move. My back was aching and my skin taut all over, I felt it was covered with a crust of something.

"I felt terrible, but I forgot all pain when I saw through the hair a horrible blue face leering at me. I thought I had died and that I was in the Nether World. I fainted from sheer terror. It was again the pain in my arms and legs that made me come to. By breathing hard through my nose I could blow the hairs apart a little. I realised that the devil pressing the spear to my breast was in fact a wooden statue. I understood that I had been made to replace one of the statues in the Gallery of Horrors and that my body had been painted over with a coat of plaster. My relief at still being alive was soon replaced by a new terror. Someone must be standing behind me with a candle. What new torture were they planning for me, lying there completely defenceless? Then the light went out. All was pitch-dark. I heard the sound of soft footsteps, moving away. I made a frantic attempt to open my mouth, anything was better than being left lying there alone in the dark. Soon the silence was broken by the sounds of rats scurrying about…"

She closed her eyes, a long shiver shook her body. Tsung Lee started to cry. His tears dropped on her hand. She looked up and continued wearily to the judge: "I don't know how long I was there; I was half crazed by pain and fear, and the damp cold seemed to penetrate to my very bones. At last I saw a light and heard voices. I recognized yours, sir, and did my utmost to give you a sign. I tried to move my feet and my fingers, but they were completely numb. I heard you make a remark on my unseemly exposure, but… but I did have a loincloth, at least?" She gave him an embarrassed look.

"Certainly!" Judge Dee replied quickly. "The other statues hadn't, though. Hence my remark."

"I thought so!" she said relieved. "But I didn't know for certain, because of the layer of plaster, you see. Well, then… then you went on.

"I knew my only hope was to draw your attention when you passed again on your way back. I forced myself to think clearly. Suddenly it came to me that if I could move my breast in such a way that the spearpoint resting against it would cut into my flesh, the blood would show clearly on the white plaster and thus might catch your eye. With a supreme effort I succeeded in moving my torso a little. The pain of the spear entering my flesh was nothing compared to the agonizing pain in my back and arms. The plaster coat prevented me from feeling whether much blood had come out. But then I heard a drop fall on the floor. I knew I had succeeded, and that gave me courage.

"Soon I heard footsteps again. Someone came running through the gallery, he rushed past me without another look. I knew that you would come too, but it took a very long time, it seemed. At last you came…"

"You are a very brave girl!" Judge Dee said. "I have only two questions to ask you, then you must have a rest. You gave a general description of how Mrs. Pao took you to the room where that man was waiting for you. Could you give me some more details about the way you went?"

White Rose frowned, in an effort to remember.

"I am certain," she said, "that it was in one of the buildings east of the temple. But as to the rest … I had never been there before, and we made so many turns…"

"Did you pass perhaps a square landing, with a screen of lattice-work all around it?"

She shook her head forlornly.

"I really don't remember!" she replied.

"It doesn't matter. Tell me only whether you recognized the voice that came from the bedstead. Could it have been the abbot?" Again she shook her head.

"I still hear that hateful voice in my ears, but it doesn't remind me of anyone I know. And I have good ears," she added with a faint smile. "I recognized Tsung Lee's voice when you entered the gallery the first time, though I only heard it in the distance. The relief when…"

"It was Tsung Lee who gave me the idea that you were in the gallery," Judge Dee remarked. "Without him I wouldn't have found you."

She turned her head and looked affectionately at the kneeling youngster. Then she lifted her head to the judge and said weakly: "I feel so peaceful and happy now! I can never repay you for…"

"You can!" Judge Dee said dryly. "Teach this fellow to make better poetry!"

As he rose, the girl smiled faintly. Her eyelids fluttered; the sleeping drug was taking effect. Turning to Miss Ting, the judge whispered: "As soon as she is asleep, throw that youngster out and rub her gently all over with this ointment here."

There was a knock on the door. Kang I-te came in, dressed as a man.

"I just put my bear outside," he said. "What is all this commotion?"

"Ask Miss Ting!" the judge said gruffly. "I have other things to do." He beckoned Tao Gan to follow him.

Miss Ting had been staring at Kang with wide eyes. Now she gasped:

"You are a man!"

"That ought to solve your problem," Judge Dee remarked to her. Kang had eyes only for her; he had hardly noticed the poet and the still figure on the bed. The last Judge Dee saw him do was clasp Miss Ting in his arms.