Tao Gan to saw the shaft of the writing brush in two. They had seen the clot of resin at the bottom of the shaft, and the thin rattan staves stretched out along its inside.
When Headman Fang had shown Candidate Ding in, Judge Dee turned to his lieutenants and said:
Your presence is no longer required!'
They rose and left for the corridor. Chiao Tai, however, remained standing in front of Judge Dee's desk.
'Your Honour', he said stiffly, 'I beg to be allowed to stay!'
Judge Dee raised his eyebrows and shot a curious look at Chiao Tai's impassive face. Then he nodded and motioned to a footstool by the side of his desk.
Chiao Tai sat down and Candidate Ding made a move to follow his example. But as the judge did not ask him to be seated, after some hesitation the young man remained standing where he was. Then Judge Dee spoke:
'Candidate Ding, I refrained from denouncing your late father in public. Were it not for some special reason which I shall specify presently, I would not denounce him before you who are his only son.
I know exactly why your father was compelled to resign. The confidential documents relating to that case happened to pass through the Office of Records and Compilation in the capital when I was working there. There were no details, for not a single eye-witness to your father's black deed survived the disaster. Commander Woo, however, collected sufficient secondary evidence to show beyond doubt that your father was responsible for the massacre of one entire regiment of our Imperial army.
When political considerations prevented the authorities from indicting your father, Governor Yoo decided that he himself would execute him as he deserved. The old Governor was a fearless man, he would have killed your father openly were it not that that would have involved the Governor's own family. Therefore he decided that the deed would be done after he had placed himself beyond the pale of human justice.
I would not make bold to pass judgement on the Governor's actions, a man like he can never be measured by ordinary standards. I only wish to make it perfectly clear to you that I know all the facts.'
Candidate Ding did not answer. It was evident that he knew of his father's crime. He had bent his head and stood there looking silently at the floor.
Chiao Tai was sitting quite still. He looked straight in front of him with unseeing eyes.
Judge Dee silently stroked his long beard for a few moments. Then he said:
'Having thus disposed of your father's case, Candidate Ding, I now come to you yourself!'
Chiao Tai rose.
'I beg to be excused, Your Honour!'
Judge Dee nodded. Chiao Tai left the room.
The judge did not speak for a while.
At last Candidate Ding looked up fearfully. He shrank back as he saw the burning eyes of the judge bore into his.
Gripping the arms of his chair the judge leaned forward and said contemptuously:
'Look at your magistrate, you miserable wretch!'
The young man looked at him with deadly fear in his eyes.
'You despicable fool!', Judge Dee spat in a voice trembling with wrath, 'you thought you could deceive me, your magistrate, with your foul plot!'
With an effort the judge mastered himself. When he spoke again his voice was steady. But it had a merciless metal ring that made Candidate Ding cringe with fear.
'It was not Woo Feng who planned to kill your father with poison. It was you, his only son!
Woo's arrival in Lan-fang supplied you with the idea for covering the crime you were contemplating. You started rumours about Woo, you spied on him. It was you who, sneaking into Woo's studio when he was out or in the midst of one of his drinking bouts, abstracted a piece of paper bearing an impression of his seal!'
Candidate Ding opened his mouth.
Judge Dee crashed his fist on the desk.
'Be silent and listen!', he barked.
'On the night of your father's anniversary you had the box with poisoned plums ready in your sleeve. When your father left the hall you, his dutiful son, escorted him to his library. The steward walked behind you.
Your father unlocked the door. You knelt down and wished him good night. The steward stepped inside and lighted the two candles on the desk. Then you took the box from your sleeve and silently presented it to your father. Probably you bowed. The inscription on top of the box made any explanation superfluous. Your father thanked you and put the box in his left sleeve.
At that very moment the steward stepped out again. He thought he saw your father put the key back into his sleeve, and he thought that the words of thanks he heard your father say referred to your wishing him good night. But there is an unexplained interval of two minutes or so, the time during which the steward lighted the two candles. Why should your father have been standing there with the key in his hand? Of course he had put it back in his sleeve as soon as he had unlocked the door. It was the box with the poisoned plums that the steward saw him putting in his sleeve. The instrument with which a depraved son planned to kill his own father!'
Judge Dee's eyes bored like daggers into Ding's. The young man had started to tremble all over, but the could not avert his eyes from Judge Dee's compelling gaze.
'You did not murder your father', the judge continued in a low voice. 'Before he had even opened the box, the hand of the dead Governor struck.'
JUDGE DEE CONFRONTS A CRIMINAL WITH THE EVIDENCE
Candidate Ding swallowed several times. Then he cried out in an unnatural voice:
'Why, why should I want to kill my own father?'
The judge rose. He took up the roll with his notes on the Ding case. Standing in front of Candidate Ding he said in a terrible voice:
'You utter fool! You dare to ask this question? You dare to ask why, while in your sordid scribblings you not only clearly mentioned the depraved woman who was the cause of your hatred for your father, but also betrayed your sinful
relations?'
Throwing the roll into Ding's face the judge continued: 'Re-read what you wrote in your miserable poem about 'breasts white as snow', and 'the moon that is not marred by its spots'. It so happened that a maid servant reported to me that the fourth wife of your father has an unsightly mole on her left breast. You are guilty of the descipable crime of adultery with one of your father's wives!' A deep silence reigned in the room. When the judge spoke again his voice was tired. 'I could accuse in the tribunal you and your paramour of this shameful adultery. But the main purpose of the law is to restore the damage caused by a criminal act. In this case there is nothing to restore. What we can and shall do, however, is to prevent the rot from spreading further.
You know what gardeners do when a branch of a tree is rotten to the core. They cut that branch off so that the tree itself may live. Your father is dead, you are his only son, and you have no children yourself. You will realize that this line of the Ding clan must be cut off. That is all, Candidate Ding!'
Candidate Ding turned round. He left the office walking as a man in a dream.
A knock sounded on the door.
Judge. Dee 's face lit up as he saw Chiao Tai come in.
'Sit down, Chiao Tai!' he said with a tired smile.
Chiao Tai seated himself on a footstool, his face pale and drawn. He began without any preliminary, speaking in a toneless voice, as if reading aloud an official report.
'Ten years ago, in the autumn, General Ding Hoo-gwo with seven thousand men met with a slightly superior force of barbarians across the northern border. If he had offered battle he would have had an even chance to win.
But he did not want to risk his life. He opened secret negotations and bribed the barbarian general to withdraw. Then the barbarian insisted that his warriors could not return to their tents without several hundred enemy heads to show their prowess in battle.
General Ding ordered the sixth battalion of the left wing to detach themselves from the main army and take up
