undertaker and his two men. As they were kneeling down he asked the undertaker:
'Do you remember whether the window of the bridal room where you washed the corpse was open or closed?'
The man looked, dumfounded, at his assistants. The younger one replied at once:
'It was closed, Your Honor! I wanted to open it because it was rather hot in the room, but the crossbar had become stuck, and I could not push it back.'
The judge nodded. Then he asked again:
'Did you notice while you were washing the body any signs of violence? Wounds, bruises or discolored spots?'
The undertaker shook his head.
'I was rather astonished by all that blood, Your Honor, and therefore examined the body with special care. But there was no wound, not even a scratch! I may add that the girl was sturdily built. She must have been rather strong for a young lady of her class.'
'Did you place the body immediately in the coffin after you had washed it and put it in the shroud?' Judge Dee asked.
'We did, Your Honor. Mr. Koong had ordered us to bring a temporary coffin, because the parents would have to decide later on when and where she would be buried. The coffin was made of thin boards, and it took little time to nail the lid on.'
In the meantime the coroner had spread out a thick reed mat on the floor in front of the coffin. He now placed there a copper basin with hot water.
Then Liu Fei-po and Guildmaster Wang came in. After they had greeted Judge Dee, he went to sit in the armchair behind the table. He rapped three times with his knuckles and said:
'This special session of the tribunal has been convened to settle some doubts that have arisen concerning the manner in which Mrs. Djang Hoo-piao,
On a sign of the judge a constable lighted two bundles of incense sticks. One he laid on the edge of Judge Dee's table, the other he put in a vase which he placed on the floor next to the coffin. When the thick gray smoke filled the hall with its acrid smell, Judge Dee ordered the undertaker to open the coffin.
He inserted his chisel under the lid. His assistants started to pry loose the nails.
As the two men were lifting the lid, the undertaker suddenly backed away with a gasp. His frightened assistants let the lid clatter to the floor.
The coroner quickly stepped up to the coffin and looked inside.
'A ghastly thing has happened!' he exclaimed.
Judge Dee rose at once and rushed over to his side. After one look he drew back involuntarily.
In the coffin lay the body of a fully dressed man. His head was a mass of clotted blood.
Seventh Chapter
They stood silently round the coffin, staring with unbelieving eyes at the hideous corpse. The forehead had been cleft by a fearful blow. Covered with dried blood, the head presented a sickening sight.
'Where is my daughter?' Liu Fei-po suddenly screamed. 'I want my daughter!' Guildmaster Wang put his arm round the shoulder of the stricken man and led him away. He was sobbing wildly.
Judge Dee turned round abruptly and went back to the bench. He rapped the table hard and said testily:
'Let everyone return to his appointed place! Ma Joong, go and search this temple! Undertaker, let your assistants take the body out of the coffin!'
Slowly the two men lifted the stiff corpse from the coffin and lowered it onto the reed mat. The coroner knelt by its side and carefully removed the bloodstained clothes. The jacket and trousers were of rough cotton, showing clumsy patches. He folded these articles and put them in a neat pile. Then he looked up expectantly at the judge.
Judge Dee took his vermilion writing brush and wrote at the head of an official form: 'One male person of unknown identity.' He gave the form to the scribe.
The coroner dipped a towel in the copper basin and removed the blood from the head, revealing the terrible, gaping wound. Thereafter he washed the entire body, examining it inch by inch. Finally he rose and reported:
'One body of a male person, musculature well developed, age approximately fifty years. Rough hands with broken nails, pronounced callosity on the right thumb. Thin, short beard and gray mustache, bald head. Cause of death: one wound in the middle of the forehead, one inch broad and two inches deep, presumably inflicted by a two-handed sword or a large ax.'
When the scribe had entered these details on the form, the coroner added his thumbmark on it and presented the paper to the judge. Then Judge Dee ordered him to search the clothes of the dead man. The coroner found in the sleeve of the jacket a wooden ruler, and a soiled scrap of paper. He laid these objects on the table.
The judge gave the ruler a casual look, then smoothed out the piece of paper. He raised his eyebrows. While putting the scrap of paper in his sleeve he said:
'All present shall now file past the corpse and try to identify it. We shall begin with Liu Fei-po and Master Wang.'
Liu Fei-po looked cursorily at the disfigured face, then shook his head and quickly passed on. His face was of a deadly pallor. Guildmaster Wang wanted to follow his example but suddenly he uttered an astonished cry. Suppressing his aversion he stooped over the corpse, then exclaimed:
'I know this man! It's Mao Yuan, the carpenter! Last week he came to my house to repair a table!'
'Where did he live?' the judge asked quickly.
'That I don't know, Your Honor,' Wang replied, 'but I'll ask my house steward; it was he who called him.'
Judge Dee silently caressed his side whiskers. Then he suddenly barked at the undertaker:
'Why didn't you, a professional undertaker who is supposed to know his job, immediately report to me that the coffin had been tampered with? Or isn't it the same one in which you placed the dead woman? Speak up and tell the truth!'
Stuttering with fear the undertaker answered:
'I… I swear it's the same coffin, Your Honor! I bought it myself two weeks ago and burnt my mark in the wood. But it could easily be opened, Your Honor! Since it was only a temporary coffin we didn't hammer the nails in very carefully and-'
Judge Dee cut him short with an impatient gesture.
'This corpse,' he announced, 'shall be properly clad in a shroud and replaced in the coffin. I shall consult the family of the deceased regarding the burial. Until then two constables shall stand guard in this hall, lest also this corpse disappear! Headman, bring the caretaker of this temple before me! What is that dog's-head doing anyway? He should have presented himself here!'
'The caretaker is a very old man, Your Honor,' the headman said quickly. 'He lives on a bowl of rice that some pious people bring twice daily to his cell next to the gatehouse. He is deaf, and nearly blind.'
'Blind and deaf, forsooth!' the judge muttered angrily. He said curtly to Liu Fei-po:
'I shall without delay institute an investigation into the whereabouts of your daughter's body.'
Then Ma Joong came back into the hall.
'I respectfully report,' he said, 'that I have searched this entire temple, including the garden behind it. There is no trace of a dead body having been concealed or buried there.'
'Go now back with Master Wang,' Judge Dee ordered him, 'find out the address of the carpenter, and proceed
