The Lacquer Screen
- Автор: ван Гулик Роберт Ханс
- Серия: Judge Dee #8
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «The Lacquer Screen». Краткое содержание книги:
Early in his career, Judge Dee visits a senior magistrate who shows him a beautiful lacquer screen on which a scene of lovers has been mysteriously altered to show the man stabbing his lover. The magistrate fears he is losing his mind and will murder his own wife. Meanwhile, a banker has inexplicably killed himself, and a lovely lady has allowed Dee's lieutenant, Chiao Tai, to believe she is a courtesan. Dee and Chiao Tai go incognito among a gang of robbers to solve this mystery, and find the leader of the robbers is more honorable than the magistrate.
One of the most satisfyingly devious of the Judge Dee novels, with unusual historical richness in its portrayal of the China of the T'ang dynasty.-—New York Times Book Review
Even Judge Dee is baffled by Robert van Gulik's new mysteries in The Lacquer Screen. Disguised as a petty crook, he spends a couple of precarious days in the headquarters of the underworld, hobnobbing with the robber king. Dee's lively thieving friends furnish some vital clues to this strange and fascinating jigsaw.-—The Spectator
So scrupulously in the classic Chinese manner yet so nicely equipped with everything to satisfy the modern reader.-—New York Times
Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.
He nodded and said :
'Crudely expressed, but unfortunately quite true.' Then he suddenly sat up. His eye had fallen on a poem of four lines. The first couplet was written in the same unconventional, artistic hand as the inscription on the painting of the lotus flowers which he had seen in Leng Chien's office, on the wall behind the banker's chair. The second couplet was written in the very small, precise calligraphy taught to girls of good family. There was no signature. He slowly read out aloud the first couplet:
And then the second couplet, which ran:
According to the old poetic custom, the man had written down a couplet, and the woman had capped it with a second. It would seem to fit. The poem with its allusions to fallen blossoms and short-lived earthly pleasures could well refer to an illicit relationship. The beggar had described Mrs Teng's lover as a well-dressed young man with red cheeks. Those red patches need not have been caused by indulging in wine, they could be the tell-tale signs of the lingering lung disease Leng Te had died from. And the young painter's predilection for depicting lotus flowers would seem to supply further proof. He said to Carnation:
'This poem could have been written by Mrs Teng and her lover together.'
'I don't quite get the meaning,' the girl said, 'but it sounds to me like a sad poem. Did you recognize her lover's handwriting?'
'I think so. But, even if I am right, it won't help us much in finding Mrs Teng's murderer. The young man who wrote the first couplet is dead.' He thought for a while, then went on: 'You'd better go downstairs now and try to get that woman to give you a good description of the couple.'
'You're very anxious to get rid of me, aren't you?' the girl said curtly. 'You'll have to bear with my company a little longer, though. We must keep up appearances.'
'I am sorry!' Judge Dee said with an apologetic smile. He had not thought that the girl was so sensitive. And she was quite right, of course. 'I am a bit preoccupied,' he added quickly, 'but I like your company very much. How about bringing that tea-tray here? Then we can eat and drink a little, and talk some more.'
Carnation silently climbed down from the bedstead and fetched the tray. When she had placed it on the bedmat between them, she poured out two cups of tea. She ate a piece of candy. Suddenly she said:
'It must be a nice change for you to be in a real bed again, like the one you have at home.'
'What is that?' the judge asked, startled from his thoughts. 'At home? You know very well that men of my profession have no home!'
'Oh, stop that nonsense!' Carnation exclaimed, annoyed. 'You act the part fairly well, so you needn't fear that the Corporal or his men'll find you out. But don't think you can fool an experienced woman when you are in bed with her!'
'What do you mean?' Judge Dee asked, irritated.
She leaned over and pulled his robe down. Quickly feeling his shoulder, she said contemptuously:
'Look at that smooth skin! A daily bath, and expensive ointments! And do you want me to believe that your hair got that gloss from the wind and rain? You are strong, but your skin is white and without a single scar. Those muscles of yours you got from fencing and boxing in the training-hall, with the other young gentlemen! And the cheap way you're treating me! You may think I am not worth a second look, but let me tell you that no real highwayman or vagrant crook would be sitting calmly on the bedmat with me here, daintily sipping his tea! Those men get a chance at a woman like me only once in a while; even if they were on a job they'd grab me as soon as I had lowered my trousers, and worry about the job afterwards! They can't afford to be as casual as you, with your four or five fawning wives and concubines at home who coddle you day and night, and who have expensive powder instead of stripes on their behinds! I don't know who or what you are, and I care less, but I won't be insulted by you and your haughty airs!'
Judge Dee was taken aback by this sudden outburst. He did not quite know what to say. The girl went on in a bitter voice:
'Since you don't belong to us, why come and spy on us? Why spy on the Corporal, a fine fellow who trusts you completely? To laugh and joke about us later when you're back with your own people, I suppose?'
Angry tears had come into her eyes.
'You are right,' the judge said quietly, 'I am indeed acting a part. But certainly not as a cheap joke. I am an official engaged in a criminal investigation, and you and the Corporal, without knowing it, are giving me exactly the assistance I had been hoping for when I assumed my role. As to me not belonging to you, there you are completely wrong. I have sworn to serve the state and the people, and that includes the Prefect's First Lady as well as you, the Prime Minister as well as your Corporal. We, the great Chinese people, all belong to each other, Carnation. That is our eternal glory, and that makes us, the cultured people of the Middle Kingdom, different from the uncouth barbarians of the rest of the world, who hate and devour each other like wild beasts. Am I making myself clear?'
The girl nodded, somewhat mollified, and wiped her face with her sleeve.
'Another thing,' Judge Dee went on. 'Let me assure you that I think you are a very attractive woman, you have a sweet face and a splendid figure. If I didn't happen to have a lot of other things on my mind just now, I would be very happy indeed if you would grant me your favours!'
'It probably isn't true,' Carnation said with a thin smile, 'but it sounds nice anyway. You do look tired. Lie down and I'll fan you!'
Judge Dee stretched himself out on the soft mat. The girl let the robe slip down from her shoulders, took the palm-leaf fan that hung in a comer of the bedstead, and started to fan him. Before he knew it he was sound asleep.
When he woke up he saw Carnation standing fully dressed in front of the bed.
'You had a good nap,' she said, 'and I had a good talk downstairs. The woman paid me a decent commission, too. I'll use that for buying myself a present from you!'
'How long have I slept?' Judge Dee asked anxiously.
'A couple of hours. The woman downstairs remarked that you must be an ardent lover. She also told me that the couple came here twice, just like old Drip-eye said. She was a slight woman, but very distinguished, quite a lady. The young man was also of good family, but he didn't seem very strong; he was suffering from a bad cough. He paid handsomely. The woman also said that both times the couple had been followed.'