The Haunted Monastery

by Robert Van Gulik

  The novice gave him an astonished look. He said doubtfully: "We'll have to go a long way, Sir! We must first descend two floors to get to the passage that connects the two buildings, then we must go up again two…"

  "Lead the way!" Judge Dee ordered curtly.

  Tao Gan gave the judge a curious look. Seeing his impassive face, however, he refrained from asking the question that was on his lips.

  They descended the dark stairs in silence. The novice led them through a narrow passage; then they went up a steep staircase. On top was a landing, surrounding a large square well. The heavy scent of Indian incense wafted up through the lattice work screen that lined the well on all four sides.

  "Deep down there is the nave of the monastery's temple," the novice explained. "Here we are on the same level as Your Honour's floor in the east wing." Entering a long, narrow corridor he added: "This leads to the store-room—"

  Judge Dee stood still. Smoothing down his long black beard he looked at the three high windows in the plaster wall on his right. Their sills were only about two feet above the floor.

  The novice had pushed a heavy door open. He preceded the two men into an oblong, low-ceilinged room. The light of two candles shone on piles of boxes and bundles.

  "Why are those candles burning here?" the judge asked.

  "The monks go in and out of here all the time, sir, to fetch the masks and the stage dresses," the novice replied. He pointed at the row of large wooden masks and gorgeous brocade robes that covered the wall on their left. The wall on the right was taken up entirely by a wooden rack, stacked with halberds, spears, tridents, flagpoles and other paraphernalia used in the mystery plays. The judge noticed that neither wall had a single window; there were only two small ones in the back wall opposite them. He estimated that those two windows must be facing east, in the outer wall of the monastery. He turned to the novice and said: "Wait for us outside."

  Tao Gan had been surveying the room, pensively playing with the three long hairs that sprouted from a wart on his left cheek. Now he asked in a low voice: "What is wrong with this store-room, Your Honour?"

  Judge Dee told him about the weird scene he had witnessed when looking out of the window in the guest building opposite. "The prior remarked," he concluded, "that there is no window in the wall of this store-room facing the building where our quarters are, and apparently he was right. Yet I could hardly have dreamt it all! The naked woman must have lost her left arm some time ago, for I didn't notice any blood. If I had, I would have rushed to her at once to investigate, of course."

  "Well," Tao Gan said, "it shouldn't be too difficult to find a one-armed woman; there can't be many of them running about in this monastery. Could you see anything of the furnishings of the room, sir?"

  "No. I told you I got only one brief glimpse, didn't I?" Judge Dee said crossly.

  "In any case it must have happened here in this store-room," Tao Gan remarked cheerfully. "I'll examine the wall; perhaps there's a window concealed behind all those spears and banners there. Perhaps even a trick window."

  Judge Dee followed his assistant's movements as he busied himself about the arm-rack. Tao Gan pulled the dusty silk banners aside, looked among the shafts of the spears and tridents, and occasionally rapped the wall with his hard knuckles. He went about it quickly and efficiently, for this work belonged to his former trade. Tao Gan had originally been an itinerant swindler. One year before, shortly after the judge had taken up his post as magistrate of Han-yuan, he had extricated Tao Gan from a nasty situation, and then the wily trickster had mended his ways and entered Judge Dee's service. His wide knowledge of the ways of the underworld, and his skill in locating secret passages and forcing complicated locks, had proved very useful in the tracking down of elusive criminals, and helped the judge to solve more than one difficult case.

  Leaving Tao Gan at his work, Judge Dee walked along the left wall, picking his way among the bags and boxes piled on the floor. He looked with distaste at the grotesque masks that were ogling him from the wall. He muttered half to himself, half to Tao Gan: "A weird creed, Taoism! Why should one need all that mummery of mystery plays and pompous religious ceremonies while we have the wise and crystal-clear teachings of our Master Confucius to guide us? One can only say for Taoism that it is at least a purely Chinese creed, and not an importation from the barbarous west, like Buddhism!"

  "I gather that the Taoists had to institute monasteries and all that in order to be able to compete with the Buddhist crowd," Tao Gan remarked.

  "Bah!" the judge said angrily. His head was aching; the clammy atmosphere of the room penetrated even his padded robe. "Look at this, sir!" Tao Gan suddenly exclaimed.

  The judge quickly joined him. Tao Gan had pulled a gaudy silk banner aside that hung against the wall near the large antique cupboard in the farthest corner. Under the dusty plaster that covered the brick wall one could still distinguish the outline of a window.

  Judge Dee and Tao Gan in the Store-Room

  Silently the two men stared at the wall. Then Tao Gan looked uncomfortably at Judge Dee's impassive face. He said slowly: "There was indeed a window here, but it must have been walled up a long time ago."

  Judge Dee looked up with a start. He said in a toneless voice: "It is near the corner of the building. That means that it's about opposite the window through which I looked out."

  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 he
re 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.

  The abbot nodded slowly.

  "I think I know what cases Your Honour has in mind. Yes, there was a young lady from the capital, a Miss Liu who fell ill here last year. The learned Master Sun personally treated her, but…"

  He suddenly broke off and looked fixedly at the door. Judge Dee turned around in his chair to see who had come in, but he only saw the door close again.

  "Those insolent actors!" the abbot exclaimed angrily. "They come barging in without even bothering to knock!" Noticing Judge Dee's astonished look, he quickly resumed: "As usual we have hired a small troupe of professional actors to assist the monks with the staging of the mystery plays that are performed on our commemoration day. They also play interludes, mainly acrobatics and juggling, and provide other light entertainment. They are quite useful, but they know, of course, nothing of monastic rules and behaviour." He angrily stamped his staff on the floor and concluded: "Next time we'll dispense with their services!"

  "Yes," Judge Dee said, "I remember now that one girl of the surname Liu died of a lingering disease. May I ask you, just to get my record straight, who performed the autopsy?"

  "Our prior, Your Honour. He is a qualified physician."

  "I see. Wasn't there another girl who committed suicide?"

  "That was a sad case!" the abbot replied with a sigh. "Quite an intelligent girl, but the very excitable type, you know. She suffered from hallucinations. I shouldn't have admitted her to begin with, but since she was so eager and since her parents insisted… One night Miss Gao had been very nervous, and she took poison. The body was returned to the family, and she was buried in her native place."

  "And the third? I seem to remember that that was also a suicide, wasn't it?"

  "No, it was an unfortunate accident, sir. Miss Huang was also a talented girl, deeply interested in the history of this monastery. She was always exploring the temple and adjacent buildings. Once the balustrade on the top floor of the southeast tower gave way when she was leaning over it, and she fell down into the ravine that borders our monastery on the east side."

  "There was no autopsy report attached to Miss Huang's documents," the judge remarked.

  The abbot sadly shook his head.

  "No, Your Honour," he said slowly, "the remains could not be recovered. At the bottom of the ravine there is a cleft over a hundred feet deep. Nobody has ever succeeded in exploring it."

  There was a pause. Then Judge Dee asked: "Is the tower she fell from the one built on top of the store-room? In that case it's right opposite the east wing, where my quarters are."

  "Yes. It is." The abbot
took a sip from his tea. Evidently he thought that it was time to conclude the interview. But Judge Dee made no move to take his leave. He caressed his long side-whiskers for a while then asked: "You don't have nuns staying here permanently, do you?"

  "No, fortunately not!" the abbot answered with a thin smile. "My responsibilities are sufficiently heavy without that! But since this place, quite undeservedly, of course, enjoys a high reputation in this province, many families which have daughters desirous of entering religion, insist that they be initiated here. They receive instruction for a few weeks, and when nun's certificates have been bestowed upon them they leave and settle in one of the nunneries elsewhere in our province."

  Judge Dee sneezed. When he had wiped off his moustache with his silk handkerchief, he said affably: "Many thanks for your explanations! You'll understand, of course, that my questions were a mere formality. I never thought for one moment that there had been irregularities here."

  The abbot nodded gravely. The judge emptied his teacup then resumed: "Just now you mentioned a Master Sun. Is that by any chance the famous scholar and writer Sun Ming, who a few years ago served in the Palace as Tutor of His Imperial Majesty?"

  "Yes, indeed! The Master's presence greatly honours this monastery! As you know, His Excellency had a most distinguished career. He served many years as Prefect of the capital, and retired after his two wives had died. Then he was appointed Imperial Tutor. When he left the Palace, his three sons had grown up and entered official life, so he decided to devote his remaining years to his metaphysical researches, and chose this monastery as his abode. His Excellency has been staying here now for two years already." He nodded slowly, then went on with evident satisfaction: "The Master's presence is a signal honour indeed! And far from keeping himself aloof, he takes a most gratifying interest in all that goes on here, and regularly attends our religious services. Thus His Excellency is completely conversant with all our problems, and never grudges us his valuable advice."