The Willow Pattern

Lew paused. Looking up at the judge, he said earnestly: 'I believed her, my lord. I knew that Mr Mei did indeed have a weak heart, and he had been working much too hard, lately. Then, however, she went on that she was terribly worried that people would start gossiping if she told the true facts. Neither she nor her husband ever used the guest-room, she said, and malicious people would whisper that evidently her husband had surprised her there with a lover, and that the lover had struck him down. I thought that was rather far-fetched. I asked to see the body, but she said she had dragged it to the stairs in the hall. Would I help her, and tell the coroner that her husband had fallen down the staircase after dinner the night before and that she had then called me at once? I hesitated, but she ... she is a very persuasive woman, my lord. She practically pushed me outside, saying, "Go now and fetch the coroner. If we wait too long, he'll get suspicious!"'

Doctor Lew wiped his moist face with his sleeve. Even in this high-ceilinged hall the heat was oppressive. He resumed:

'Now I come to the most painful part of my confession, my lord. I want to state formally that I fully realize that, by making this statement, I lay myself open to the charge of suppressing vital evidence. But the truth must be told. Well, I fetched the coroner, and told him that I had tried to find him the previous night; I could safely say that, for I knew he had to go every night to the communal pyre. Upon entering the hall, together with the coroner and his assistant, however, I got a terrible shock. I saw at once that Mei's skull had been crushed by a fearful frontal blow, a wound that could never have been caused by his hitting his head on the corner of the bedstead. Moreover, the suicide-scene had been so carefully set up, that I suspected that there had been an accomplice. Some blood and matter had even been smeared on the top of the newel! While the coroner was conducting his examination, I was thinking furiously. Now I understood that Mrs Mei's remarks about people gossiping about her husband having surprised her with a lover, were founded on truth: the truth, with a few judicious alterations! I realized the predicament I was in: she had made me an accomplice to murder! The only way out was to tell the coroner then and there that I was a fool, and denounce Mrs Mei. But ...' He suddenly fell silent.

'Why didn't you do so, then?' Judge Dee asked evenly.

Doctor Lew hesitated. He cleared his throat a few times, before he began, haltingly:

'Well, my lord, before the coroner was through, she called me. We ... we had a talk, in the side-room. She begged me on her knees to save her. Her husband had indeed caught her with her lover, they had quarrelled, and the other man had hit Mei. He had intended to stun him, then to flee. They had been distracted with fear when they saw he was dead, and after a long consultation had hit upon the suicide-scheme. She told me that no one would ever suspect that Mei hadn't actually fallen down the steep staircase, and ...'

'Who was her lover?' the judge cut him short.

'She wouldn't tell me, sir. I——' Suddenly he jumped up and clasped his hand to his forehead. 'Merciful Heaven!' he shouted. 'What an incredible fool I am! She will of course say it was me!' He fell to his knees again. 'Don't believe that woman, my lord! I beseech you, don't believe her! She is a depraved, deceitful creature, she——'

Judge Dee raised his hand.

'You are a very clever man, Lew!’ he remarked coldly. 'I never doubted that. Captain, let the orderlies read out the accused's statement.'

The two men read out their notes in a sing-song voice, occasionally stopping to make a small correction where their records differed. The captain gave the document to Lew, who impressed his thumbmark on it. The doctor wanted to address the court again, but on a sign from Judge Dee the two soldiers grabbed his arms and dragged him outside.

'The dirty rat!’ Chiao Tai whispered at Ma Joong. 'He hopes to put all the blame on his mistress, and get off with a stiff term in prison.'

The judge rapped his gavel.

'Lead the accused, Mrs Mei, before me, Captain,' he ordered.

The two soldiers came back at once, together with an elderly woman, dressed in black. It was the matron of the municipal women's jail.

'I beg to report, my lord,' she spoke, 'that the prisoner Mrs Mei is ill. She vomited several times, and I think she is running a fever. I advised her to request medical atten­tion, and file a petition for a deferred hearing. But she wouldn't listen to me. She insisted on appearing in court as soon as she was summoned. 'What is your lordship's pleasure?'

The judge reflected a moment, vexedly tugging at his beard. Then he spoke:

'Since a brief statement will suffice now, you can bring her before me. But warn the coroner to examine her directly after the hearing.'

Judge Dee looked worriedly at Mrs Mei as she slowly advanced to the bench, very slender in her long white mourning robe. The matron had wanted to support her, but she had refused peremptorily. As she made to kneel, the judge said quickly:

'The accused is allowed to remain standing. This court now ...'

'I killed my husband,' she interrupted him in a strange, hoarse voice. Fixing the judge with her large, too brilliant eyes she went on: 'I killed him, because I couldn't stand any longer the ineffectual attentions of that old man. I had married him because ...' Her voice trailed off. She raised her head, the blue stones in her ear-pendants sparkling in the light of the torches. Looking over Judge Dee's head, into some unseen distance, she went on: 'I married him because life owed me a large debt. I was fifteen when I was sold to the brothel in the old city. I was beaten and kicked, humiliated and maltreated in every conceivable way. I was cruelly whipped, and compelled to beg for more. It was ...' She put her hands to her face.

When she spoke again, her voice had regained some of its former rich timbre.

'Then I met someone who loved me. I was happy, for some time. Then I found our love was not enough to even the debt. I wanted more than love alone. So I married Mei. I then had everything I wanted .. . except love. I had lovers, many lovers. Mostly I found them clumsy louts who left me more miserable than before. The others ... I felt soiled by their greedy lust, degraded by their shameless demands for money. My husband discovered my affairs, and his pity-humiliated me. Humiliated me more than the worst whip­pings in the brothel. And after I had killed him, I had to beg for pity, beg that mean doctor, had to promise I would agree to his sordid proposals. ... I always wanted more. And the more I got, the more I lost. I fully realize that now. Too late.' A racking cough shook her frame.