Robert Gulik - The Chinese Bell Murders

'Pending the approval of this proposal, I shall send by courier an official letter to the magistrate of your native district requesting that he make enquiries about your family. Perhaps August Heaven has granted that your parents are still alive. And should they have passed away, other members of your family will certainly be located to receive you. I shall have you conducted there as soon as a military transport leaves for Hunan Province.'

Judge Dee smiled kindly at the two girls and went on:

'You shall have a letter of introduction to the local authorities, recommending you to their care. With the reward of the government you will be able to purchase some land or open a shop. No doubt your family will in due time arrange a suitable marriage for you.'

Apricot and Blue Jade knelt bowing their heads to the floor several times in expression of gratitude.

Judge Dee rose and took leave of his ladies.

On the way back to the tribunal Judge Dee passed the open corridor that led through the garden to the front gate of his mansion. Suddenly he heard light footsteps behind him. Turning round, he saw Apricot standing there alone, her eyes downcast.

She bowed deeply but did not speak.

'Well, Apricot,' Judge Dee said kindly, 'if there is anything else I can do, please don't hesitate to speak!'

'My lord,' Apricot said softly, 'it is true that one's heart always longs for one's native place. Yet, since a propitious fate has placed my sister and myself under Your Honour's protection, both of us feel extremely reluctant to leave this mansion which has become dear to us. And since Your Honour's First Lady kindly said that it would gratify her if____________________'

Judge Dee raised his hand and said with a smile:

'That meetings end in separation is the way of this world! You will soon realise that you are happier as the first wife of an honest fanner of your own village rather than as the fourth or fifth wife of a district magistrate. Pending the closing of this case you and your sister will honour my mansion as guests.'

Having thus spoken Judge Dee bowed and persuaded himself that the drops he had seen glistening on Apricot's cheek were a trick of the moonlight.

As he entered the main courtyard, Judge Dee noticed that all the rooms of the chancery were still brilliantly lighted. There the scribes and the clerks were still busy writing out the report that had been drafted that afternoon.

In his private office the judge found his four lieutenants. They were listening to the headman of the constables who, on the order of Sergeant Hoong, had made the round of the watch-posts near Lin Fan's mansion. It appeared, however, that nothing had happened there during their absence.

Judge Dee dismissed the headman and, having seated himself behind his desk, looked through the other official documents that had come in. Putting three letters apart he said to Sergeant Hoong:

'These are the reports from three military posts along the canal. They stopped and searched several junks bearing the markings of Lin Fan's firm, but found nothing but bona fide cargo. It seems that we are too late for obtaining proof of Lin Fan's smuggling.'

The judge then disposed of the rest of the correspondence, jotting down directions for the scribe in the margin of each document with his vermilion brush.

Then he drank a cup of tea and settled back in his arm-chair.

'Last night,' he said to Ma Joong, 'I went in disguise to the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom and paid a visit to your friend Sheng Pa. I had a close look at that deserted temple. It seems that something queer is going on inside. I heard some strange sounds,'

Ma Joong glanced doubtfully at Sergeant Hoong, and Chiao Tai looked uncomfortable. Tao Gan slowly pulled at the three hairs that grew from the mole on his left cheek. No one said a word.

Their manifest lack of enthusiasm did not perturb the judge.

'That temple,' he continued, 'has excited my curiosity. This morning we had ample experience with a Buddhist temple. Why should we not supplement that tonight with a sample of a Taoist sanctuary?'

Ma Joong smiled bleakly. Rubbing his big hands on his knees he said:

'Your Honour, I dare say that in a single combat I fear no man in the Empire. But as to mixing with the denizens of the other world____________________'

'I am not,' Judge Dee interrupted him, 'an incredulous man and I would be the last to deny that on occasion phenomena of the Nether World are found in the daily life of common mortals. On the other hand I am firmly convinced that he whose conscience is clear need fear neither ghosts nor goblins. Justice reigns supreme in both worlds, the seen and the unseen.

'Moreover, I shall not hide from you, my loyal friends, that the events of today and the period of waiting preceding them, have not left me undisturbed. I expect that an investigation in that Taoist temple will rest my mind.'

Sergeant Hoong tugged thoughtfully at his beard. He observed:

'If we go there, Your Honour, what about Sheng Pa and his gang? I take it that our visit will have to be a secret one.'

'I have thought of that,' Judge Dee replied. 'You, Tao Gan, will now go to the warden of that quarter. Tell him to go to the Temple of Transcendental Wisdom and inform Sheng Pa that he must leave that place immediately. Those fellows are shy of the authorities and they will have disappeared before the warden has finished talking! But tell the headman anyway to go there also with ten constables, in case the warden needs assistance.

'In the meantime we shall change into inconspicuous robes and go to the neighbourhood in an ordinary palankeen, as soon as Tao Gan has returned. I shall take nobody but the four of you. But don't forget to bring four paper lanterns and a good supply of candles with you!'

Tao Gan went to the quarters of the guards and ordered the headman to collect ten constables.

Tightening his girdle, the headman remarked with a broad smile to the others:

'Isn't it curious how soon a magistrate will improve if he has an experienced headman like me? Look, when His Excellency arrived here he immediately went all out for that vulgar murder in Half Moon Street, where there was not one single copper cash to be earned. Soon after, however, he became interested in the Buddhist temple and that place looks like the abode of the God of Wealth himself! I anticipate with pleasure more work there, when the decision of the higher authorities has come in.'

'I thought,' a constable said nastily, 'that your inspection of the watchpost near Lin Fan's mansion this afternoon was not unprofitable either!'

'That,' the headman sternly rebuked him, 'was just an exchange of amenities between two gentlemen. Mr Lin Fan's steward wished to express his appreciation of my courteous attitude.'

'That steward's voice,' another constable observed, 'had a remarkably silvery ring.'

With a sigh the headman extracted one silver piece from his girdle and threw it to the constable, who caught it dexterously.

'I am not a stingy man,' the headman said, 'and you may divide that among yourselves. Since you rascals keep an eye on everything you may as well hear the whole story. The steward presented me with a few silver pieces, asking if tomorrow I could take for him a letter to a friend. I replied that I would certainly do so if I were there tomorrow. Since tomorrow I shall not be there, I shall not be able to accept that letter. Thus I don't disobey His Excellency's orders, I don't offend a gentleman by declining a courteous gift and I don't depart from the standard of rigid honesty I have set for myself.'

The constables agreed that that was an eminently reasonable attitude. All left the guard house to join Tao Gan.

When the second nightwatch was being sounded Tao Gan came back. The judge drank a cup of tea, then changed into a simple blue robe and put a black skull cap on his head. Accompanied by his four lieutenants he left the tribunal by a small side gate.