Tao Gan knocked on the wall. There was no doubt that it was solid. He took out his knife and with its point pried loose a piece of the plaster that covered the bricks with which the window had been blocked. He probed into the grooves among the bricks, and along the outline of the window. He shook his head perplexedly. After some hesitation he said diffidently: "This monastery is very old, Your Honour. I have often heard people say that mysterious, inexplicable things will sometimes happen in such places. Scenes of times long gone by are seen again, and…" His voice trailed off.
The judge passed his hand over his eyes. He said pensively: "The man I saw indeed wore a helmet of a type that is obsolete now; it was used by our soldiers more than a hundred years ago …. This is strange, Tao Gan, very strange." He thought for a long while, staring at the brick wall. Suddenly he looked hard at Tao Gan and said: "I think I noticed a suit of armour of that same antiquated type among the stage costumes hanging on the wall. Yes, there it is!"
He walked up to a mail coat with iron breastplates moulded like crouching dragons that was hanging under the row of leering devil masks. A pair of iron gloves and the empty scabbard of a long sword hung by its side.
"The round, close-fitting helmet belonging to that outfit is missing," Judge Dee went on.
"Many of those costumes are incomplete, sir. Just odd pieces."
The judge hadn't heard him. He continued: "I couldn't see what the man was wearing on his body. I had the impression it was something dark. He had a broad back, and he was quite tall, I think." He looked at Tao Gan with startled eyes. "Almighty Heaven, Tao Gan, am I seeing ghosts?"
"I'll go and measure the depth of the window niches," Tao Gan said. While he was gone, Judge Dee pulled his robe closer to his body: he felt shivery. He took a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his watering eyes. He reflected that he probably had fever. Could it have been a hallucination?
Tao Gan came back.
"Yes," he said, "the wall is quite thick, nearly four feet. But still not thick enough for a secret room where a man can play about with a naked woman!"
"No, it isn't!" Judge Dee said dryly.
He turned to the old cupboard. The black-lacquered double doors were decorated with a pair of dragons, facing each other and surrounded by a pattern of stylised flames. He pulled the doors open. The cupboard was empty but for a pile of folded monks' cowls. The design of the two dragons was repeated on the back wall. "A fine antique specimen," he remarked to Tao Gan, then added with a sigh: "Well, I think that for the time being we better forget about the scene I saw, or thought I saw, and keep to the problems in hand. Three girls have died here in this monastery, and that has happened during the past year, mind you, not a hundred years ago! You'll remember that the one called Liu was said to have died from illness; Miss Huang committed suicide; and Miss Gao had a fatal accident — they said. I'll utilize this opportunity for asking the abbot for some more information about those three cases. Let's go down!"
When they stepped out into the corridor, they found the novice standing stock-still close to the door, peering ahead of him and listening intently. Seeing his pale face, the judge asked astonished: "What are you doing?"
"I… I thought I saw someone looking around the corner over there," the novice stammered.
"Well," Judge Dee said testily, "you said yourself that people are coming and going here all the time, didn't you?"
"It was a soldier!" the boy muttered.
"A soldier?"
The novice nodded. He listened again, then said in a low voice: "A hundred years ago there were many soldiers here. Rebels had occupied this monastery, and fortified themselves here together with their families. The army took it, and slaughtered all of them — men, women and children." He looked at the judge, his eyes wide with fear. "They say that on stormy nights like this their ghosts walk here and act over again all those horrible scenes … Can't you hear anything, sir?"
Judge Dee listened.
"Only the rain!" he said impatiently. "Take us downstairs; there's a draught here!"
IV
The novice led them through a maze of passages down to the ground floor of the east wing. Downstairs was a spacious corridor, lined with high, red-lacquered pillars, decorated with intricate gilded wood carving. It represented dragons sporting among clouds. The floor boards had been polished to a beautiful dark sheen by the felt shoes of the countless feet that had passed there during past generations. When they arrived in front of the assembly hall, Judge Dee said to Tao Gan: "While I am talking with the abbot, you go to the prior and tell him about that broken axle. I hope they can mend and replace it tonight." Then he added in a whisper: "Try to get from the prior or someone else a good floor plan of this dismal place!"
The reception room was located near the entrance to the main hall. When the novice showed the judge in, he noticed with satisfaction that the room was well heated by a brazier heaped with glowing coals. Costly brocade wall-hangings kept the warmth inside.
A tall, thin man rose from the gilded couch in the back of the room and advanced across the thick carpet to meet the judge. He was a stately figure, looking taller still because of his long flowing robe of yellow brocade and a high yellow tiara, decorated with red tassels that hung down his back. As the abbot bade him welcome, the judge noticed that the abbot had curious, slate-coloured eyes that seemed as immobile as his long, austere face, smooth but for a thin moustache and a short, wispy beard.
They sat down in high-backed armchairs by the side of the couch. The novice prepared tea on the red-lacquered table in the corner.
"I feel embarrassed," Judge Dee began, "that my visit coincides with the big commemoration festival here. You'll have many guests staying in the monastery. I greatly fear that my staying here overnight will inconvenience you."
The abbot fixed him with his still eyes. Although their gaze was directed at him, Judge Dee had the weird impression that in fact it was turned inward. The abbot raised his long, curved eyebrows. He replied in a low, dry voice: "Your Honour's visit doesn't inconvenience us in the least. The east wing of our poor monastery has on the second and third floor more than forty guest rooms — though none of those is of course good enough for accommodating such a distinguished guest as our magistrate!"
"My quarters are most comfortable" the judge assured him hastily. He accepted the cup of hot tea which the novice offered him respectfully with both hands. He had a throbbing headache now; he found it difficult to formulate the usual polite inquiries. He decided to come directly to the point and said: "I would have given myself the pleasure of visiting this famous monastery soon after I had taken up my duties in Han-yuan. However, all through the past summer pressing official business prevented me from leaving Han-yuan. In addition to benefiting by your instruction and admiring this interesting ancient building, I had planned also to ask you for some information."
"I am entirely at Your Honour's service. What information might be required?"
"I would like to have a few more details about three deaths that occurred here last year," the judge said. "Just to complete my files, you see!"
The abbot gave the novice a sign to leave. When the door had closed behind the youngster, the abbot said with a deprecating smile: "We have more than a hundred monks living here, Your Honour, not to speak of the lay-brothers, novices, and occasional guests. Human life being submitted to the limitations set by Heaven, people fall ill and die, here as everywhere else. What particular deaths might Your Honour be referring to?"
"Well," Judge Dee replied, "going over the files in my tribunal I found, among the copies of death certificates forwarded to Han-yuan by this monastery, no less than three that referred to girls from outside. I gather that they had come to stay here to be initiated as nuns." As he saw the abbot knitting his thin eyebrows, he added with a quick smile: "I don't recollect their names and other particulars. I would have looked them up before coming here, but since my present visit was quite accidental …" He did not finish the sentence, looking expectantly at his host.