Robert van Gulik

The Haunted Monastery

Judge Dee (born A.D. 630, died A.D. 700) After an old Chinese woodcut. The top inscription, in archaic script, reads: "Portrait of Dee, Duke of Liang."

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

It should be noted that in China the surname — here printed in capitals — precedes the personal name.

Main characters:

DEE Jen-djieh, magistrate of Han-yuan, the mountain district where the Monastery of the Morning Clouds is located.

TAO Gan, one of Judge Dee's Lieutenants.

Persons connected with "The Case of the Embalmed Abbot":

True Wisdom, abbot of the Monastery of the Morning Clouds.

Jade Mirror, former abbot of the same monastery.

SUN Ming, a Taoist sage, former Imperial Tutor, who lives retired in the monastery.

Persons connected with "The Case of the Pious Maid":

Mrs. Pao, a widow, from the capital.

White Rose, her daughter. Tsung Lee, a poet.

Persons connected with "The Case of the Morose Monk":

KUAN Lai, director of a theatrical troupe.

Miss Ting, an actress.

Miss Ou-Yang, an actress.

MO Mo-te, an actor.

A Map of the Monastery

I

The two men sitting close together in the secluded room, up in the tower of the old monastery, listened for a while silently to the roar of the storm that was raging among the dark mountains outside. Violent gusts of wind were tearing at the tower; the cold draught penetrated even the solid wooden shutters.

One of the men looked uneasily at the flickering flame of the single candle that cast their weirdly distorted shadows on the plaster wall. He asked in a tired voice: "Why do you insist on doing it tonight?"

"Because I choose to!" the second replied placidly. "Don't you think that today's feast is a most appropriate occasion?"

"With all those people about here?" the first asked dubiously.

"You are not afraid, are you?" his companion asked with a sneer. "You weren't afraid on that former occasion, remember?"

The other made no reply. Thunder rumbled in the distant mountains. Then there came a torrential downpour. The rain clattered against the shutters with a rattle as of hail stones. Suddenly he said: "No, I am not afraid. But I repeat that the face of the morose fellow looks familiar to me. It worries me that I can't remember when or where I…"

"You distress me!" the man opposite him interrupted with mock politeness.

The first frowned, then resumed: "I wish you wouldn't kill her, this time. People might remember, and start wondering why three…"

"It all depends on her herself, doesn't it?" His thin lips curved in a cruel smile. Rising abruptly he added: "Let's go back, they'll notice our absence in the hall below. We must never forget to act our parts, my friend!"

The other got up also. He muttered something but his words were drowned in another roll of thunder. It seemed very near, this time.

II

Farther down in the mountains on the southern border of Han-yuan, that thunderclap made Judge Dee lift his head in the pouring rain and anxiously inspect the dark, wind-swept sky. He pressed himself close to the side of the high tiltcart, drawn up under the cliff that overhung the mountain road. Wiping the rain from his eyes he said to the two coachmen who stood before him huddled in their straw rain cloaks: "Since we can't go on to Han-yuan this evening, we'd better pass the night right here in our cart. You could fetch some rice for our evening meal from a farm in the neighbourhood, I suppose?"

The elder coachman pulled the piece of oil-cloth closer to his head, the ends were flapping in the strong wind. He said: "It isn't safe to stay here, sir! I know these autumn storms in the mountains; it's only just beginning! Soon there'll be a real gale. It might blow our cart over into the ravine on the other side of the road."

"We are high up in the mountains," the other coachman added. "There is not a hut or farm for miles around; there's only the old monastery up there. But of course you wouldn't like to…"

A flash of lightning lit up the wild mountain scene. For one brief moment Judge Dee saw the high, scraggy mountains that loomed on all sides, and the red mass of the old monastery, towering on the slope above them, on the other side of the ravine. There was a deafening clap of thunder, and all was dark again.

The judge hesitated. He pushed his long black beard further into the fold of his drenched travelling cloak. Then he made a decision.

"You two run up to the monastery," he said curtly, "and tell them that the magistrate of this district is here and wants to stay overnight. Let them send down a dozen lay brothers with closed litters, to carry my womenfolk and luggage up there." The elder coachman wanted to say something, but Judge Dee barked: "Get going!"

The man shrugged his shoulders resignedly. They set off at a trot; their storm lanterns of oiled paper were two dancing spots of light in the dark.

Judge Dee felt his way along the tilt cart till he found the step ladder. He climbed inside and quickly closed the canvas flap behind him. His three wives were sitting on the bed rolls, their padded travelling cloaks drawn close to their bodies. In the back of the cart the maids cowered among the bags and boxes. Their faces white with fear, they pressed close to each other at each peal of thunder. It was dry inside, but the cold wind blew right through the thick canvas of the hood.

As the judge sat down on a clothes box, his First Lady said: "You shouldn't have gone outside! You are wet through and through!"

"I tried to help Tao Gan and the coachmen to fix that broken axle," he said with a wan smile, "but it's no use; it'll have to be replaced. Anyway, the horses are tired and the storm is only beginning. We'll stay the night in the Morning Cloud Monastery. That's the only inhabited place in this neighbourhood."

"Do you mean that huge red building with the green-tiled roofs we saw high up on the mountain slope, when we passed here two weeks ago?" his second wife asked.

The judge nodded.

"You won't be too uncomfortable there," he said. "It's the largest Taoist monastery in the entire province, and many people visit it during the religious feasts. I am sure they'll have good guest quarters."

He took the towel his third wife gave him and tried to rub his beard and whiskers dry.

"We'll manage all right!" his First Lady resumed. "During our holiday in the capital we were so spoilt in your uncle's mansion that a little hardship won't matter! And it'll be interesting to see what that old monastery looks like inside!"

"Perhaps there are spooks!" his Third Lady said with a smile. She moved her shapely shoulders in an exaggerated shudder. Judge Dee knitted his thick eyebrows.

"There isn't much to see," he said slowly. "It's just an old monastery. We'll have the evening meal in our room and go to bed early. If we leave tomorrow morning at dawn, as soon as the grooms of the monastery have replaced the axle, we'll be back in Han-yuan before the noon rice."

"I wonder how the children have been getting along!" his second wife said in a worried voice.

"Old Hoong and the steward will have looked after them," the judge said reassuringly. They talked about household matters till loud shouts outside announced the arrival of the men from the monastery. Tao Gan, one of Judge Dee's lieutenants, poked his long, gloomy face inside and reported that four litters were standing ready for the ladies.