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…"