 CHAPTER 1 IN WHICH WE BEGIN NOT TO UNDERSTAND. It is not without a certain emotion that I begin to recount here the extraordinary adventures of Joseph Roul-Tabille. Down to the present time, he had so firmly opposed my doing it that I had come to despair of ever publishing the most curious of police stories of the past fifteen years. I had even imagined that the public would never know the whole truth of the prodigious case known as that of the Yellow Room, out of which grew so many mysterious, cruel and sensational dramas with which my friend was so closely mixed up, if proposed of a recent nomination of the illustrious Dangerson to the great of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, an evening journal in an article miserable for its ignorance or audacious for its perfidy, had not resuscitated a terrible adventure of which Joseph Roul-Tabille had told me he wished to be forever forgotten. The Yellow Room, who now remembers this affair which caused so much ink to flow fifteen years ago, events are so quickly forgotten in Paris, has not the very name of the naive trial and the tragic history of the death of little Manaldo passed out of mind. And yet the public attention was so deeply interested in the details of the trial that the occurrence of a ministerial crisis was completely unnoticed at the time. Now the Yellow Room trial, which preceded that of the Naves by some years, made far more noise. The entire world hung for months over this obscure problem. The most obscure, it seems to me, that has ever challenged the perspicacity of our police or text the conscience of our judges. The solution of the problem baffled everybody who tried to find it. It was like a dramatic rebus of which old Europe and New America alike became fascinated. That is, in truth, I am permitted to say because there cannot be any author's vanity in all this, since I do nothing more than transcribe facts on which an exceptional documentation enables me to throw a new light. That is because, in truth, I do not know that, in the domain of reality or imagination, one can discover or recall to mind anything comparable in its mystery with the natural mystery of the Yellow Room. At which nobody could find out, Joseph Roltabé, aged eighteen, then a reporter engaged on a leading journal succeeded in discovering. But when, at the Assise Court, he brought in the key to the whole case, he did not tell the whole truth. He only allowed so much of it to appear as a feast to ensure the acquittal of an innocent man. The reasons which he had for his reticence no longer exist. Better still, the time has come for my friend to speak out fully. You are going to know all, and without further preamble, I am going to place before your eyes the problem of the Yellow Room as it was placed before the eyes of the entire world on the day following the enactment of the drama at the Chateau du Glan die. On the twenty-fifth of October, eighteen-nineteen-two, the following note appeared in the latest edition of The Temps. A frightful crime has been committed at the Glan die, on the border of the forest of Saint-Jean-Viev, above Epine-sur-Orge, at the house of Professor Stangerson. On that night, while the master was working in his laboratory, an attempt was made to assassinate Mademoiselle Stangerson, who was sleeping in a chamber adjoining this laboratory. The doctors could not answer for the life of Mademoiselle Stangerson. The impression made on Paris by this news may be easily imagined. Already at that time, the learned world was so deeply interested in the labours of Professor Stangerson and his daughter. These labours, the first that were attempted in radiography, served to open the way for Monsieur and Madame Thurie to the discovery of radium. It was expected the professor would shortly read to the Academy of Sciences a sensational paper on his new theory, The Dissociation of Matter, a theory destined to overthrow from its base the whole of official science, which based itself on the principle of the conservation of energy. On the following day, the newspapers were full of the tragedy. The Matin, among others, published the following article, entitled A Supernatural Crime. These are the only details, wrote the anonymous writer in the Matin. We have been able to obtain, concerning the crime of the Château du Glendier, the state of despair in which Professor Stangerson is plunged, and the impossibility of getting any information from the lips of the victim, have rendered our investigations and those of justice so difficult that at present we cannot form the least idea of what has passed in the yellow room in which Manoise Stangerson, in her nightdress, was found lying on the floor in the agonies of death. We have at last been able to interview Daddy Jacques, as he is called in the country. An old servant in the Stangerson family. Daddy Jacques entered the room at the same time as the Professor. This chamber adjoins the laboratory. Laboratory and yellow room are in a pavilion at the end of the park, about three hundred meters, a thousand feet, from the château. It was half past twelve at night, this honest old man told us, and I was in the laboratory where Mr. Stangerson was still working, when the thing happened. I had been cleaning and putting instruments in order all the evening, and was waiting for Mr. Stangerson to go to bed. Mademoiselle Stangerson had worked with her father up to midnight, when the twelve strokes of midnight had sounded by the cuckoo clock in the laboratory. She rose, kissed Mr. Stangerson, and laid him good night. After me, she said, bonsoir Daddy Jacques, as she passed into the yellow room. We heard her lock the door and shoot the bolt, so that I could not help laughing, and said to Mr. Stangerson, there's Mademoiselle doppelocking herself in. She must be afraid of the bed du bon Dieu. Mr. Stangerson did not even hear me. He was so deeply absorbed in what he was doing. Just then we heard the distant meowing of a cat. Was that going to keep us awake all night, I said to myself? For I must tell you, monsieur, that to the end of October I live in an attic of the pavilion over the yellow room, so that Mademoiselle should not be left alone through the night in the lonely park. It was the fancy of Mademoiselle to spend the fine weather in the pavilion. No doubt she found it more cheerful than the château, and for the four years it had been built. She had never felt to take up her lodging there in the spring. With the return of winter Mademoiselle returns to the château, for there is no fireplace in the yellow room. We were staying in the pavilion then, Mr. Stangerson and me. We made no noise. He was seated at his desk. As for me, I was sitting on a chair, having finished my work and looking at him, I said to myself, what a man, what intelligence, what knowledge! I attached importance to the fact that we made no noise, for because of that the assassins certainly thought that we had left the place, and suddenly, while the cuckoo was sounding the half after midnight, a desperate clamor broke out in the yellow room. There was the voice of Mademoiselle, quite murder, murder, help! The afterwards revolver shots rang out, and there was a great noise of tables and furniture being thrown to the ground, as if in the curse of a struggle, and again the voice of Mademoiselle calling murder, help! Papa! Papa! You may be sure that we quickly sprang up, and that Mr. Stangerson and I threw our self upon the door. But alas, it was locked, fast locked, on the inside by the care of Mademoiselle, as I have told you, with key and vault. We tried to force it open, but it remained firm. Mr. Stangerson was like a madman, and truly it was enough to make him one, for we heard Mademoiselle still calling, help! Help! Mr. Stangerson showered terrible blows on the door, and wept with rage and sobbered with despair and helplessness. It was then that I had an inspiration. The assassin must have entered by the window, I cried. I will go to the window. And I rushed from the pavilion and ran like one out of his mind. The inspiration was that the window of the yellow room looks out in such a way that the park wall, which about in the pavilion, prevented my at once reaching the window. To get up to it, one has first to go out of the park. I ran towards the gate and, on my way, met Bernier and his wife, the gatekeepers, who had been attracted by the pistol-reports and by our cries. In a few words, I told them what had happened, and directed the concierge to join Mr. Stangerson with all speed, while his wife came with me to open the park gate. Five minutes later, she and I were before the window of the yellow room. The moon was shining brightly, and I saw clearly that no one had touched the window. Not only were the bars that protected intact, but the blinds inside of them were drawn, as I had myself drawn them early in the evening, as I did every day, though Mademoiselle, knowing that I was tired from the heavy work I had been doing, had begged me not to trouble myself, but leave her to do it, and they were just as I had left them, fastened with an iron catch on the inside. The assassin, therefore, could not have passed either in or out that way. But neither could I get in. It was unfortunate, enough to turn one's brain. The door of the room locked on the inside, and the blinds on the only window also fastened on the inside, and Mademoiselle still calling for help. No, she had ceased to call. She was dead, perhaps, but I still heard her father, in the pavilion, trying to break down the door. With the concierge I hurried back to the pavilion. The door, in spite of the furious attempts of Mr. Stangerson and Bernier to burst it open, was still holding firm. But, at length, it gave way before our united efforts. And then, what a sight met our eyes. I should tell you that, behind us, the concierge held a laboratory lamp, a powerful lamp, that lit the whole chamber. I must also tell you, monsieur, that the yellow room is a very small room. Mademoiselle had furnished it with a fairly large iron bedstead, a small table, a night commode, a dressing table, and two chairs. By the light of the big lamp, we saw all at a glance. Mademoiselle, in her night dress, was lying on the floor in the midst of the greatest disorder. Tables and chairs had been overthrown, showing that there had been a violent struggle. Mademoiselle had certainly been dragged from her bed. She was covered with blood, and had terrible marks of fingernails on her throat. The flesh of her neck having been almost torn by the nails. In the woods, on the right temple, a stream of blood had run down and made a little pool on the floor. When Monsieur Stangerson saw his daughter in that state, he threw himself on his knees beside her, uttering a cry of despair. He ascertained that she still breathed. As to us, we searched for the wretched who had tried to kill our mistress. And I swear to you, Monsieur, that if we had found him, it would have gone hard with him. But how to explain that he was not there, that he had already escaped? It passed all imagination. Nobody under the bed, nobody behind the furniture. All that we discovered were traces, bloodstained marks of a man's large hand on the walls and on the door. A big hand-cut of red with blood, without any initials, an old cap, and many fresh footmarks of a man on the floor, footmarks of a man with large feet, whose boot sores had left a sort of sooty impression. How had this man got away? How had he vanished? Don't forget, Monsieur, that there is no chimney in the yellow room. He could not have escaped by the door, which is narrow, another threshold of which the concierge stood with the lamp, while her husband and I searched for him in every corner of the little room, where it is impossible for anyone to hide himself. The door, which had been forced open against the wall, could not conceal anything behind it, as we assured ourselves. By the window, still in every way secured, no flight had been possible. But then, I began to believe in the devil. But we discovered my revolver on the floor. Yes, my revolver. Oh, that brought me back to the reality. The devil would not have needed to steal my revolver to kill Mademoiselle. The man who had been there had first gone up to my attic and taken my revolver from the drawer where I kept it. Then then ascertained, by counting the cartridges, that the assassin had fired two shots. How it was fortunate for me that Monsieur Stangerson was in the laboratory when the affair took place, and had seen with his own eyes that I was there with him. For otherwise, with this business of my revolver, I don't know where we should have been. I should now be under lock and bar. Justice wants no more to send the men to the scaffold. The editor of the matin added to this interview the following lines. We have, without interrupting him, allowed Daddy Jacques to recount to us roughly all he knows about the crime of the Yellow Room. We have reproduced it in his own words, only sparing the reader of the continual lamentations with which he garnished his narrative. It is quite understood, Daddy Jacques, quite understood, that you are very found of your masters, and you want them to know it, and never cease repeating it, especially since the discovery of your revolver. It is right, and we see no harm in it. We should have liked to put some further questions to Daddy Jacques, Jacques Louis Moustier. But the inquiry of the examining magistrate, which is being carried out at the château, makes it impossible for us to gain admission at the Glendier, and, as to the oak word, it is guarded by a wide circle of policemen, who are jealously watching all traces that can lead to the pavilion, and that may perhaps lead to the discovery of the assassin. We have also wished to question the concierges, but they are invisible. Finally, we have waited in a roadside inn, not far from the gate of the château, for the departure of Monsieur de Marquet, the magistrate of Corbeille. At half-past five, we saw him and his clerk, and, before he was able to enter his carriage, had an opportunity to ask him the following question. Can you, Monsieur de Marquet, give us any information as to this affair, without inconvenience to the course of your inquiry? It is impossible for us to do it, replied Monsieur de Marquet. I can only say, it is the strangest affair I have ever known. The more we think we know something, the further we are from knowing anything. We asked Monsieur de Marquet to be good enough to explain his last words, and this is what he said, the importance of which no one will fail to recognise. If nothing is added to the material facts so far established, I fear that the mystery which surrounds the abominable crime of which Mademoiselle Stangerson has been the victim, will never be brought to light. But it is to be hoped, for the sake of our human reason, that the examination of the walls and of the ceiling of the yellow room, and examination which I shall tomorrow entrust to the builder who constructed the pavilion four years ago, will afford us the proof that may not discourage us. For the problem is this, we know by what way the assassin gained that mission. He entered by the door and hid himself under the bed, awaiting when was Stangerson. But how did he leave? How did he escape? If no trap, no secret door, no hiding place, no opening of any sort is found, if the examination of the walls, even to the demolition of the pavilion, does not reveal any passage practicable, not only for a human being, but for any being whatsoever, if the ceiling shows no crack, if the floor hides no underground passage, one must really believe in the devil, as Daddy Jack says. And the anonymous writer in the Matin added in this article, which I have selected as the most interesting of all those that were published on the subject of this affair, that the examining magistrate appeared to place a peculiar significance to the last sentence. One must really believe in the devil, as Jack says. The article concluded with these lines. We want to know what Daddy Jack meant by the cry of the bed du bon dieu. The landlord of the Donjon Inn explained to us that it is the particularly sinister cry, which is uttered sometimes at night by the cats of an old woman, Mother Agenoux, as she is called in the country. Mother Agenoux is a sort of saint, who lives in a hut in the heart of the forest, not far from the grotto of Saint-Jean-Viev. The yellow room, the bed du bon dieu, Mother Agenoux, the devil, Saint-Jean-Viev, Daddy Jack, here is a well-entangled crime, which the stroke of a pickaxe in the wall may disentangle for us tomorrow. Let us at least hope that, for the sake of our human reason, as the examining magistrate says, meanwhile it is expected that Mademoiselle Stangerson, who has not ceased to be delirious and only pronounces one word distinctly, murderer, murderer, will not live through the night. In conclusion, and at a late hour, the same journal announced that the chief of the sureté had telegraphed to the famous detective, Frederick Larson, who had been sent to London for an affair of stolen securities, to return immediately to Paris. CHAPTER II OF THE MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org. Recording by Stuart Bell. THE MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM by Gaston LaRue CHAPTER II IN WHICH JOSEPH RUTEBILL APPEARS FOR THE FIRST TIME I remember, as well as if it occurred yesterday, the entry of young Rutebill into my bedroom that morning. He was about eight o'clock, and I was still in bed reading the article in the matter relative to the Glondier crime. But before going further, it's time that I present my friend to the reader. I first knew Joseph Rutebill when he was a young reporter. At that time I was a beginner at the bar, and often met him in the corridors of examining magistrates when I had gone to get a permit to communicate for the prison of Mazas or for Saint Lazar. He had, as they say, a good nut. He seemed to have taken his head, round as a bullet, out of a box of marbles. And it's from that, I think, that his comrades of the press, all determined billiard players, had given him that nickname, which was to stick to him and be made illustrious by him. He was always as red as a tomato, now gay as a lark, now grave as a judge. Hell, while still so young, he was only sixteen and a half years old when I saw him for the first time, had he already won his way on the press. That was what everybody who came into contact with him might have asked if they had not known his history. At the time of the affair of the woman cut in pieces in the row over scumf, another forgotten story, he had taken to one of the editors of the Epoch, a paper then rivalling the Matan for information, the left foot, which was missing from the basket in which the gruesome remains were discovered. For this left foot, the police had been vainly searching for a week, and young Routabil had found it in a drain where nobody had thought of looking for it. To do that, he had dressed himself as an extra sewer man, one of a number engaged by the administration of the city of Paris, owing to an overflow of the Seine. When the editor-in-chief was in possession of the precious foot and informed as to the train of intelligent deductions the boy had been led to make, he was divided between the admiration he felt for such detective cunning in a brain of a lad of sixteen years, and delighted at being able to exhibit in the maul window of his paper the left foot of the row over scumf. This foot, he cried, will make a great headline. Then when he had confided the gruesome packet to the medical lawyer attached to the journal, he asked the lad, who was shortly to become famous as Routabil, what he would expect to earn as a general reporter on the Epoch. Two hundred francs a month, the youngster replied modestly, hardly able to breathe and surprise at the proposal. You shall have two hundred and fifty, said the editor-in-chief, only you must tell everybody that you have been engaged on the paper for a month. Let it be quite understood that it was not you but the Epoch that discovered the left foot of the row over scumf. Here my young friend, the man is nothing, the paper everything. Having said this, he begged the new reporters to retire, but before the youth had reached the door he called him back to ask his name. The other replied, Joseph Joseph's scene. That's not a name, said the editor-in-chief, but since you will not be required to sign what you write, it is of no consequence. The boy-faced reporter speedily made himself many friends, for he was serviceable and gifted with a good humour that enchanted the most severe temper and disarmed the most zealous of his companions. At the bar café, where the reporters assembled before going to any of the courts or to the prefecture in search of their news of crime, he began to win a reputation as an unraveler of intricate and obscure affairs which found its way to the office of the Chief of the Suratay. When the case was worth the trouble, Andrew Tobill, he had already been given his nickname, had been started on the scent by his editor-in-chief. He often got the better of the most famous detective. It was at the bar café that I became intimate, the acquainted with him. Criminal lawyers and journalists are not enemies, the former needed advertisement and the latter information. We chatted together and I soon warmed towards him. His intelligence was so keen and so original and he had a quality of thoughts such as I have never found in any other person. Sometime after this I was put in charge of the law news of the Kareed Nibboulavad. My entry into journalism could not but strengthen the ties which united me to Ruta Bil. After a while, my new friend being allowed to carry out an idea of a judicial correspondence column which he was allowed to sign business in the epoch, I was often able to furnish him with the legal information of which he stood in need. Nearly two years passed in this way and the better I knew him, the more I learned to love him, for in spite of his careless extravagance I had discovered in him what was, considering his age, an extraordinary seriousness of mind. Accustomed as I was to seeing him gay and indeed often too gay, I would many times find him plunged in the deepest melancholy. I tried then to question him as to the cause and this change of humour, but each time he laughed and made me no answer. One day, having questioned him about his parents, of whom he never spoke, he left me, pretending not to have heard what I said. While things were in this state between us, the famous case of the Yellow Room took place. It was this case which was to rank him as the leading newspaper reporter and to obtain for him the reputation of being the greatest detective in the world. It should not surprise us to find in the one man the perfection of two such lines of activity, if we remember that the daily press was already beginning to transform itself and to become what it is today, the Gazette of Crime. Morose-minded people may complain of this. For myself I regarded it a matter for congratulation. We can never have too many arms public or private against the criminal. To this, some people may answer that by continually publishing the details of crimes, the press ends by encouraging their commission. But then with some people, we can never do right. Ruta Bill, as I have said, entered my room that morning of the 26th of October, 1892. He was looking redder than usual and his eyes were bulging out of his head as the phrase is, and altogether he appeared to be in a state of extreme excitement. He waved the matter with a trembling hand and cried, well, my dear Sinclair, have you read it? The Glondier Crime? Yes, the Yellow Room. What do you think of it? I think that it must have been the Devil or the Bed-de-Bondier that committed the crime. Be serious. Well, I don't much believe in murderers who make their escape through walls of solid brick. I think Daddy Jack did wrong to leave behind him the weapon with which the crime was committed, and as he occupied the attic immediately above Maroiselle Stangerson's room, the builder's job ordered by the examining magistrate will give us the key of the enigma. It won't be long before we learn by what natural trap or by what secret door the old fellow was able to slip in and out and return immediately to the laboratory to Maroiselle Stangerson without his absence being noticed. And that, of course, is only a hypothesis. Rootabill sat down in an armchair, lit his pipe, which he was never without, smoked for a few minutes and silence, though doubt to calm the excitement which visibly dominated him, and then replied, Young man, he said, in a tone the sad irony of which I will not attempt to render. Young man, you are our lawyer, and I doubt not your ability to save the guilty from conviction. But if you were a magistrate on the bench, how easy it would be for you to condemn innocent persons. You are really gifted, young man. He continued to smoke energetically, and then went on. No trap will be found, and the mystery of the yellow room will become more and more mysterious. That's why it interests me. The examining magistrate is right. Nothing stranger than this crime has ever been known. Have you any idea of the way by which the murderer escaped, I asked? None, replied Rootabill. None for the present. But I have an idea as to the revolver. The murderer did not use it. Good heavens, by whom then was it used? Why, by Maroiselle Stangerson. I don't understand. Or rather, I've never understood, I said. Rootabill shrugged his shoulders. Is there nothing in this article in the matter by which you were particularly struck? Nothing, I found the whole of the story, it tells, equally strange. Well, at the locked door, with the key on the inside. That's the only perfectly natural thing in the whole article. Really? And the bolt? The bolt? Yes, the bolt, also inside the room, a still further protection against entry. Maroiselle Stangerson took quite extraordinary precautions. It's clear to me that she feared someone. That was why she took such precautions, even that he jacked a revolver without telling him of it. No doubt she didn't wish to alarm anybody, and least of all, her father. What she dreaded took place, and she defended herself. There was a struggle, and she used the revolver skillfully enough to wound the assassin in the hand, which explains the impression on the wall, and on the door of the large blood-stained hand of the man who was searching for a means of exit from the chamber. But she didn't fire soon enough to avoid the terrible blow on the right temple. Then the wound on the temple was not done with the revolver. The paper doesn't say it was, and I don't think it was, because logically it appears to me that the revolver was used by Maroiselle Stangerson against the assassin. Now what weapon did the murderer use? Well, the blow on the temple seems to show that the murderer wished to stun Maroiselle Stangerson after he had unsuccessfully tried to strangle her. He must have known that the attic was inhabited by Daddy Jack, and that was one of the reasons I think why he must have used a quiet weapon, a life preserver, or a hammer. All that doesn't explain how the murderer got out of the yellow room, I observed. Evidently replied her to be arising, and that is what has to be explained. I am going to the Chateau du Glondier, and have come to see whether you will go with me. I? Yes, my boy, I want you. The APOC has definitely entrusted this case to me, and I must clear it up as quickly as possible. But in what way can I be of any use to you? Bonjour Robert D'Azac is at the Chateau du Glondier. That's true, his despair must be boundless. I must have a talk with him. Routabil said it in a tone that surprised me. Is it because you think there's something to be got out of him? I asked. Yes. That was all he would say. He retired to my sitting room, begging me to dress quickly. I knew Bonjour Robert D'Azac from having been of great service to him in a civil action while I was acting as secretary to Métro-Barbe de la Tour. Bonjour Robert D'Azac, who was at that time about 40 years of age, was a professor of physics at the Sabon. He was intimately acquainted with the Stangersons, and after an assiduous seven years' courtship of the daughter had been on the point of marrying her. In spite of the fact that she has become, as the phrase goes, a person of a certain age, she was still remarkably good-looking. While I was dressing, I called out to Routabil, who was impatiently moving about my sitting room. Have you any ideas on the murderer's station in life? Yes, he replied. I think if he isn't a man in society, he is at least a man belonging to the upper class. But that, again, is only an impression. What has led you to form it? Well, the greasy cap, the common handkerchief, and the marks of the rough boots on the floor, he replied. I understand, I said. Murderers don't leave traces behind them which tell the truth. We shall make something out of you yet, my dear Sinclair, concluded Routabil. End of Chapter 2. Recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge, UK. Chapter 3 of the Mystery of the Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by J. C. Guarn. The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Le Roux. Chapter 3. A man has passed, like a shadow through the blinds. Half an hour later, Routabil and I were on the platform of the Orlean station, awaiting the departure of the train, which was to take us to Epinez sur Orge. On the platform, we found M. de Marquet and his registrar, who represented the judicial court of Corbeille. M. Marquet had spent the night in Paris, attending the final rehearsal at the Scala, of a little play of which he was the unknown author, signing himself simply Castigarri d'Indo. M. de Marquet was beginning to be a noble or gentleman. Generally, he was extremely polite and full of gay humor, and in all his life had had but one passion, that of dramatic art. Throughout his magisterial career, he was interested solely in cases capable of furnishing him with something in the nature of a drama. Though he might very well have aspired to the highest judicial positions, he had never really worked for anything but to win a success at the romantic Porte Saint-Martin, or at the sombre Audion. Because of the mystery which shrouded it, the case of the Yellow Room was certain to fascinate so theatrical in mind. He had interested him enormously, and he threw himself into it, less as a magistrate eager to know the truth, than as an amateur of dramatic and broglios, tending wholly to mystery and intrigue, who dreads nothing so much as the explanatory final act. So that, at the moment of meeting him, I heard M. de Marquet say to the registrar what he saw. I hope, my dear M. Malin, this builder with his pickaxe will not destroy so fine a mystery. Have no fear, replied M. Malin. His pickaxe may demolish the pavilion perhaps, but it will leave our case intact. I have sounded the walls and examined the ceiling and floor, and I know all about it. I am not to be deceived. Having thus reassured his chief, M. Malin, with a discrete movement of the head, drew M. de Marquet's attention to us. The face of that gentleman clouded, and as he saw Rolta B approaching, hat in hand, he sprang into one of the empty carriages saying, half-aloud to his registrar, as he did so. Above all, no journalists. M. Malin replied in the same tone. I understand, and then tried to prevent Rolta B from entering the same compartment with the examining magistrate. Excuse me, gentlemen, this compartment is reserved. I am a journalist, M. sir, engaged on the epoch, said my young friend, with a great show of gesture and politeness. And I have a word or two to say to M. de Marquet. M. sir is very much engaged with the inquiry he has in hand. Ah, his inquiry, pray believe me, is absolutely a matter of indifference to me. I am no scavenger of odds and ends, he went on with infinite contempt in his lower lip. I am a theatrical reporter, and this evening I shall have to give a little account of the play at the Scala. Get in, sir, please, said the registrar. Rolta B was already in the compartment. I went in after him and seated myself by his side. The registrar followed and closed the carriage door. M. de Marquet looked at him. Ah, sir, Rolta B began. You must not be angry with M. de Malin. It is not with M. de Marquet that I desire to have the honour of speaking, but with M. Castigar and Dando. Permit me to congratulate you, personally, as well as the writer for the epoch. And Rolta B, having first introduced me, introduced himself. M. de Marquet, with a nervous gesture, caressed his beard into a point, and explained to Rolta B, in a few words, that he was too modest an author to desire that the veil of his pseudonym should be publicly raised. And that he hoped the enthusiasm of the journalist for the dramatist's work would not lead him to tell the public that M. Castigar and Dando and the examining magistrate of Corbeille were one and the same person. The work of the dramatic author might interfere, he said, after a slight hesitation, with Dutch of their magistrate, especially in a province where one's labours are little more than routine. Oh, you may rely on my discretion, cried Rolta B. The train was in motion. We have started, said the examining magistrate, surprised at seeing a still in the carriage. Yes, M. de Marquet, juice has started, said Rolta B, smiling amiably, on its way to the Château du Glondier, a fine case, M. de Marquet, a fine case. An obscure, incredible, unfathomable, inexplicable affair, and there is only one thing I fear, M. Rolta B, that the journalist will be trying to explain it. My friend felt this, a wrap on his knuckles. Yes, he said simply, that is to be feared, they meddle in everything. As for my interest, M., I only referred to it by mere chance. The mere chance of finding myself in the same train with you, and in the same compartment of the same carriage. Where are you going, then? asked M. de Marquet. To the Château du Glondier, replied Rolta B, without turning. You're not getting, M. Rolta B. Will you prevent me? said my friend, already prepared to fight. Not I. I like to press, and journalists, too well to be in any way disagreeable to them. But M. Stangerson has given orders for his door to be closed against everybody, and it is well guarded. Not a journalist was able to pass through the gate of the Glondier yesterday. M. de Marquet compressed his lips, and seemed ready to relapse into obstinate silence. He only relaxed a little when Rolta B no longer left him in ignorance of the fact that we were going to the Glondier for the purpose of shaking hands with an old and intimate friend, M. Robert Darzak, a man whom Rolta B had perhaps seen once in his life. Poor Robert, continued the young reporter. This dreadful affair may be his death. He is so deeply in love with M. Stangerson. His sufferings are truly painful to witness. Escaped like a regret from the lips of M. de Marquet. But it is to be hoped that M. Stangerson's life will be saved. Let us hope so. Her father told me yesterday that if she does not recover, it will not be long before he joins her in the grave, what an incalculable loss to science his death would be. The one under her temple is serious, is it not? Evidently, but by a wonderful chance, it has not proved mortal. The blow was given with great force. Then it was not when the revolver she was wounded, said Rolta B, glancing at me in triumph. M. de Marquet appeared greatly embarrassed. I didn't see anything. I don't want to see anything. I will not see anything, he said. And he turned towards his registrar, as if he no longer knew us. But Rolta B was not to be so easily shaken off. He moved nearer to the examining magistrate, and, drawing a copy of de Matin from his pocket, he showed it to him and said, There is one thing, monsieur, which I may inquire of you without committing an indiscretion. You have, of course, seen the account given in de Matin. It is absurd, is it not? Not in the slightest, monsieur. What? The yellow room has but one barred window, the bars of which have not been moved, and only one door, which had to be broken open, and the assassin was not found. That's so, monsieur. That's so. That's how the matter stands. Rolta B said no more, but plunged into thought, a quarter of an hour thus past. Coming back to himself again, he said, addressing the magistrate, How did Matin was as dangerous and wear her hair on that evening? I don't know, replied monsieur de Marquet. That's a very important point, said Rolta B. Her hair was done up in bands, wasn't it? I feel sure that, on that evening, the evening of the crime, she had her hair arranged in bands. Then you were mistaken, monsieur Rolta B, replied the magistrate, but was as dangerous on that evening, had her hair drawn up in a knot on the top of her head, her usual way of arranging it, her forehead completely uncovered. I can assure you, for we have carefully examined the wound. There was no blood on the hair, and the arrangement of it has not been disturbed since the crime was committed. You are sure? You are sure that, on the night of the crime, she had not her hair in bands? Quite sure, the magistrate continued, smiling, because I remember the doctor saying to me, while he was examining the wound, it is a great pity Matin was as dangerous and was in the habit of drawing her hair back from her forehead. If she had worn it in bands, the blow she received on the temple would have been weakened. It seems strange to me that you should attach so much importance to this point. Oh, if she had not her hair in bands, I give it up, said Rolta B, with a despairing gesture. And was the wound on her temple a bad one, he asked presently. Terrible! With what weapon was it made? That is a secret of the investigation. Have you found the weapon, whatever it was? The magistrate did not answer, and the wound in her throat. Here, the examining magistrate readily confirmed the decision of the doctor, that if the murderer had pressed her throat a few seconds longer, Mademoiselle Stangerson would have died of strangulation. The affair, as reported in the Matin, said Rolta B eagerly, seems to be more and more inexplicable. Can you tell me, monsieur, how many openings there are in the pavilion? I mean doors and windows. There are five, replied Monsieur de Marquet, after having coughed once or twice. But no longer resisting the desire, he felt, to talk of the whole of the incredible mystery of the affair he was investigating. There are five, of which the door of the vestibule is the only entrance to the pavilion. A door always automatically closed, which cannot be opened, either from the outer or the inside, except with the two special keys which are never out of possession of either Daddy Jacques or Monsieur Stangerson. Mademoiselle Stangerson had no need for one, since Daddy Jacques enlarged in the pavilion and because, during the daytime, she never left her father. When they all four rushed into the yellow room after breaking open the door of the laboratory, the door in the vestibule remained closed as usual, and of the two keys for opening it, Daddy Jacques had one in his pocket, and Monsieur Stangerson, the other. As to the windows of the pavilion, there are four, the one window of the yellow room and those of the laboratory looking out onto the country, the window in the vestibule looking into the park. It is by that window that he escaped from the pavilion, cried Rôle Tabille. How do you know that? demanded Monsieur de Marquet, fixing a strange look on my young friend. We'll see later how he got away from the yellow room, replied Rôle Tabille. But he must have left the pavilion by the vestibule window. Once more, how do you know that? How? Oh, the thing is simple enough. As soon as he found, he could not escape by the door of the pavilion. His only way out was by the window in the vestibule, unless he could pass through a grated window. The window of the yellow room is secured by iron bars, because it looks out upon the open country. The two windows of the laboratory have to be protected in like manner for the same reason. As the murderer got away, I could see that he found a window that was not barred, that of the vestibule which opens onto the park, that is to say, into the interior of the estate. There's not much magic in all that. Yes, said Monsieur de Marquet, but what you have not guessed is that this single window in the vestibule, though it has no iron bars, has solid iron blinds. Now these iron blinds have remained fastened by their iron latch, and yet we have proof that the murderer made his escape from the pavilion by that window. Traces of blood on the inside wall, and on the blinds as well as on the floor, and footmarks of which I have taken the measurement attest the fact that the murderer made his escape that way. But then how did he do it, seeing that the blinds remained fastened on the inside? He passed through them like a shadow, but what is more bewildering than all is that it is impossible to form any idea as to how the murderer got out of the yellow room, or how he got across the laboratory to reach the vestibule. Ah yes, Monsieur Roul Tabet, it is altogether, as you said, a fine case, the key to which will not be discovered for a long time, I hope. You hope, Monsieur? Monsieur de Marquet corrected himself. I do not hope so, I think so. Can that window have been closed and refastened after the flight of the assassin, asked Roul Tabet? That is what occurred to me for a moment, but it would imply an accomplice, or accomplices, and I don't see. After a short silence, he added, Ah, if Mademoiselle Stangerson were only well enough today to be questioned. Roul Tabet followed up his thought and asked, and the attic, there must be some opening to that. Yes, there is a window, or rather skylight, in it, which, as it looks out towards the country, Monsieur Stangerson has had barred like the rest of the windows. These bars, as in the other windows, have remained intact, and the blinds, which naturally opened inwards, have not been unfastened. For the rest, we have not discovered anything to lead us to suspect that the murderer had passed through the attic. It seems clear to you, then, Monsieur, that the murderer escaped. Nobody knows how, by the window in the vestibule. Everything goes to prove it. I think so, too, confessed Roul Tabet gravely. After a brief silence, he continued, If you have not found any traces of the murderer in the attic, such as the dirty footmarks similar to those on the floor of the yellow room, you must come to the conclusion that it was not he who stole Daddy Jacques's revolver. There are no footmarks in the attic other than those of Daddy Jacques himself, said the magistrate, with a significant turn of his head. Then, after an apparent decision, he added, Daddy Jacques was with Monsieur Stangerson in the laboratory, and it was lucky for him he was. Then what part did his revolver play in the tragedy? It seems very clear that this weapon did less harm to Mademoiselle Stangerson than it did to the murderer. The magistrate made no reply to this question, which doubtless embarrassed him. Monsieur Stangerson, he said, tells us that the two bullets have been found in the yellow room, one embedded in the wall stained with the impression of a red hand, a man's large hand, and the other in the ceiling. Oh, oh, in the ceiling, matred rotavi, in the ceiling, that's very curious, in the ceiling. He puffed a while in silence at his pipe, enveloping himself in the smoke. When we reached Savigny-sur-Orge, I had to tap him on the shoulder to arouse him from his dream and come out onto the platform of the station. There, the magistrate and his registrar bowed to us, and by rapidly getting into a cab that was awaiting them, made us understand that they had seen enough of us. How long would it take to walk to the Château du Glondier, rotavi asked, one of the railway's porters? An hour and a half or an hour and three quarters, easy walking, the man replied. Rotavi looked up at the sky, and no doubt, finding its appearance satisfactory, took my arm and said, Come on, I need a walk. Are things getting less entangled? I asked. Not a bit of it, he said. More entangled than ever. It is true I have an idea. What's that? I asked. I can't tell you what it is just at present. It's an idea involving the life or death of two persons at least. Do you think there were accomplices? I don't think it. We fell into silence. Presently, he went on. It was a bit of luck, our falling in with that examining magistrate and his registrar, eh? What did I tell you about that revolver? His head was bent down. He had his hands in his pockets, and he was whistling. After a while, I heard a murmur. Poor woman. Is it one was as dangerous in your pitting? Yes. She is a noble woman, and worthy of being pitied. A woman of great, very great character, I imagine. I imagine. You know her, then? Not at all. I have never seen her. Why, then, do you say that she is a woman of great character? Because she bravely faced the murderer. Because she courageously defended herself. And above all, because of the bullet in the ceiling. I looked at Hultaby, and inwardly wondered whether he was not mocking me, or whether he had not suddenly gone out of his senses. But I saw that he had never been less inclined to laugh, and the brightness of these keenly intelligent eyes assured me that he retained all his reason. Then, too, I was used to his broken way of talking, which only left me puzzled as to his meaning, till, with a very few clear, rapidly uttered words, he would make the drift of his ideas clear to me. And I saw that what he had previously said, and which had appeared to me void of meaning, was so thoroughly logical that I could not understand how it was I had not understood him sooner. THE MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM BY GASTON LE ROUX CHAPTER IV IN THE BUSUM OF WILD NATURE The Château du Glandier is one of the oldest châteaux in the Île de France, where so many building remains of the feudal period are still standing. Built originally in the heart of the forest, in the reign of Philippe Lebel, it now could be seen a few hundred yards from the road, leading from the village of Saint-Jean-Vierve-tomperie. A mass of inharmonious structures, it is dominated by a Danjean. When the visitor has mounted the crumbling steps of this ancient Danjean, he reaches a little plateau where, in the 17th century, Georges Philippe de Saint-Gouigny, Lord of the Glandier, Masson Nouve and other places, built the existing town in an abominably Rococo style of architecture. It was in this place, seemingly belonging entirely to the past, that Professor Stangerson and his daughter installed themselves. To lay the foundations for the science of the future. Its solitude in the depths of the woods was what, more than all, had pleased them. They would have none to witness their labours and intrude on their hopes, but the aged stones and grand old oaks. The Glandier, ancient Glandierum, was so called from the quantity of glands, acorns, which, in all times, had been gathered in that neighbourhood. This land, of present mournful interest, had fallen back, owing to the negligence or abandonment of its owners, into the wild character of primitive nature. The buildings alone, which were hidden there, had preserved traces of their strange metamorphoses. Every age had left on them its imprint, a bit of architecture, with which was bound up the remembrance of some terrible event, some bloody adventure. Such was the chateau in which science had taken refuge, a place seemingly designed to be the theatre of mysteries, terror, and death. Having explained so far, I cannot refrain from making one further reflection. If I have lingered a little over this description of the Glandier, it is not because I have reached the right moment for creating the necessary atmosphere for the unfolding of the tragedy before the eyes of the reader. Indeed, in all this matter, my first care will be to be as simple as is possible. I have no ambition to be an author, and author is always something of a romancer, and God knows the mystery of the yellow room is quite full enough of real tragic horror to require no aid from literary effects. I am, and only desire to be, a faithful reporter. My duty is to report the event, and I place the event in its frame, that is all. It is only natural that you should know where the things happened. I return to Monsieur Stangerson. When he bought the estate fifteen years before the tragedy with which we are engaged occurred, the Château de Glandier had for a long time been unoccupied. Another old château in the neighborhood, built in the 14th century by Jean de Belmont, was also abandoned, so that that part of the country was very little inhabited. Some small houses on the side of the road leading to Corbeille, an inn called the Au Bairge de Donjon, which offered passing hospitality to wagoners, these were about all to represent civilization in this out-of-the-way part of the country, but a few leagues from the capital. But this deserted condition of the place had been a determining reason for the choice made by Monsieur Stangerson and his daughter. Monsieur Stangerson was already celebrated. He had returned from America, where his works had made a great stir. The book which he had published at Philadelphia, on the Dissociation of Matter by Electric Action, had aroused opposition throughout the whole scientific world. Monsieur Stangerson was a Frenchman, but of American origin. Important matters relating to a legacy had kept him for several years in the United States, where he had continued the work begun by him in France, wither he had returned in possession of a large fortune. This fortune was a great boon to him, for though he might have made millions of dollars by exploiting two or three of his chemical discoveries relative to new processes of dying, it was always repugnant to him to use for his own private gain the wonderful gift of invention he had received from nature. He considered he owed it to mankind, and all that his genius brought into the world went, by this philosophical view of his duty, into the public lap. If he did not try to conceal his satisfaction at coming into possession of this fortune, which enabled him to give himself up to his passion for pure science, he had equally to rejoice, it seemed to him, for another cause. Madame Moselle Stangerson was, at the time when her father returned from America and bought the Glendier estate twenty years of age. She was exceedingly pretty, having at once the Parisian grace of her mother, who had died in giving her birth, and all the splendor, all the riches of the young American blood of her paternal grandfather, William Stangerson. A citizen of Philadelphia, William Stangerson had been obliged to become naturalized in obedience to family exigencies at the time of his marriage with a French lady. She who was to be the mother of the illustrious Stangerson. In that way, the professor's French nationality is accounted for. Twenty years of age, a charming blonde with blue eyes, milk-white complexion, and radiant with divine health, Matilde Stangerson was one of the most beautiful, marriageable girls in either the old or the new world. It was her father's duty, in spite of the inevitable pain which a separation from her would cause him, to think of her marriage, and he was fully prepared for it. Nevertheless, he buried himself and his child at the Glendier at the moment when his friends were expecting him to bring her out into society. Some of them expressed their astonishment, and to their questions he answered, It is my daughter's wish. I can refuse her nothing. She has chosen the Glendier. Interrogated in her turn, the young girl replied calmly, Where could we work better than in this solitude? For Mademoiselle Stangerson had already begun to collaborate with her father in his work. It could not at the time be imagined that her passion for science would lead her so far as to refuse all the suitors who presented themselves to her for over fifteen years. So secluded was the life led by the two, father and daughter, that they showed themselves only at a few official receptions and, at certain times in the year, in two or three friendly drawing-rooms, where the fame of the professor and the beauty of Matilde made a sensation. The young girl's extreme reserve did not at first discourage suitors, but, at the end of a few years, they tired of their quest. One alone persisted with tender tenacity and deserved the name of eternal fiancé, a name he accepted with melancholy resignation. That was Monsieur Robert Darzac. Mademoiselle Stangerson was now no longer young, and it seemed that, having found no reason for marrying at five and thirty, she would never find one. But such an argument evidently found no acceptance with Monsieur Robert Darzac. He continued to pay his court, if the delicate and tender attention with which he ceaselessly surrounded this woman of five and thirty could be called courtship, in face of her declared intention never to marry. Suddenly, some weeks before the events with which we are occupied, a report to which nobody attached any importance, so incredible that it sound, was spread about Paris, that Mademoiselle Stangerson had at last consented to crown the inexhaustible flame of Monsieur Robert Darzac. It needed that Monsieur Robert Darzac himself should not deny this matrimonial rumour to give it an appearance of truth, so unlikely did it seem to be well founded. One day, however, Monsieur Stangerson, as he was leaving the Academy of Science, announced that the marriage of his daughter and Monsieur Robert Darzac would be celebrated in the privacy of the Château du Glendier, as soon as he and his daughter had put the finishing touches to their report, summing up their labours on the disassociation of matter. The new household would install itself in the Glendier, and the son-in-law would lend his assistance in the work to which the father and daughter had dedicated their lives. The scientific world had barely had time to recover from the effect of this news, when it learned of the attempted assassination of Mademoiselle under the extraordinary conditions which we have detailed, and which our visit to the Château was to enable us to ascertain with yet greater precision. I have not hesitated to furnish the reader with all these retrospective details, known to me through my business relations with Monsieur Robert Darzac. On crossing the threshold of the Yellow Room he was as well posted as I was. End of Chapter 4 Recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Stuart Bell The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Laroux Chapter 5 In which Joseph Routabil makes a remark to Monsieur Robert Darzac, which produces its little effect. Routabil and I had been walking for several minutes by the side of a long wall bounding the vast property of Mongeau Stangerson, and it already came within sight of the entrance gate when our attention was drawn to an individual who half bent to the ground seemed to be so completely absorbed in what he was doing as not to have seen us coming towards him. At one time he stooped so low as almost to touch the ground. At another he drew himself up and attentively examined the wall. Then he looked into the palm of one of his hands and walked away with rapid strides. Finally he set off running, still looking into the palm of his hand. Routabil had brought me to a standstill by a gesture. Hush! Frederick Glassn is at work. Don't let us disturb him. Routabil had a great admiration for the celebrated detective. I had never before seen him, but I knew him well by reputation. At that time, before Routabil had given proof of his unique talent, Lausanne was reputed as the most skillful unraveler of the most mysterious and complicated crimes. His reputation was worldwide, and the police of London and even of America often caught him into their aid when their own national inspectors and detectives found themselves at the end of their wits and resources. No one was astonished then that the head of the suraté had, at the outset of the mystery of the illa room, telegraphed his precious subordinate to London, where he had been sent in a big case of stolen securities, to return with all haste. Frederick, who at the suraté was called the great Frederick, had made all speed, doubtless knowing by experience, that if he was interrupted in what he was doing, it was because his services were urgently needed in another direction. So, as Routabil said, he was that morning already at work. We soon found out in what it consisted. What he was continually looking at in the palm of his right hand was nothing but his watch, the minute hand of which he appeared to be noting intently. Then he turned back, still running, stopping only when he reached the park gate, where he again consulted his watch, and then put it away in his pocket, shrugging his shoulders with a gesture of discouragement. He pushed open the park gate, reclosed and locked it, raised his head, and through the bars perceived us. Routabil rushed after him, and I followed. Frederick Larson waited for us. Mongeur Fred, said Routabil, raising his hat and showing the profound respect based on admiration which the young reporter felt for the celebrated detective. Can you tell me whether Mongeur Robert Darzak is at the Chateau at this moment? Here is one of his friends of the Paris Bar who desires to speak with him. I really don't know, Mongeur Routabil, replied Fred, shaking hands with my friend, whom he had several times met in the course of his difficult investigations. I have not seen him. The concierges will be able to inform us, no doubt, said Routabil, pointing to the lodge, the door and windows of which were closed shut. The concierges will not be able to give you any information, Mongeur Routabil. Why not? Because they were arrested half an hour ago. Arrested, cried Routabil, then they are the murderers. Frederick Larson shrugged his shoulders. When you can't arrest the real murderer, he said, with an air of supreme irony, you can always indulge in the luxury of discovering accomplices. Did you have them arrested, Mongeur Fred? Not I. I haven't had them arrested. In the first place, I am pretty sure that they have not had anything to do with the affair and then because of what? asked Routabil eagerly. Because of nothing, said Larson, shaking his head. Because there were no accomplices, said Routabil. You have an idea, then, about this matter, said Larson, looking at Routabil intently. Yet you have seen nothing, young man. You have not yet gained admission here. I shall get admission. I doubt it. The orders are strict. I shall gain admission if you let me see Mongeur Robert Dazak. Do that for me. You know we're old friends. I beg of you, Mongeur Fred. Do you remember the article I wrote about you on the gold bar case? The face of Routabil at the moment was really funny to look at. It showed such an irresistible desire to cross the threshold beyond which some prodigious mystery had occurred. It appealed with so much eloquence, not only of the mouth and eyes, but with all its features, that I could not refrain from bursting into laughter. Frederick Larson, no more than myself, could retain his gravity. Meanwhile, standing on the other side of the gate, he calmly put the key in his pocket. I closely scrutinized him. He might be about 50 years of age. He had a fine head, his hair turning grey, a colourless complexion, and a firm profile. His forehead was prominent, his chin and cheeks clean shaven. His upper lip, without moustache, was finely chiseled. His eyes were rather small and round, with a look in them that was at once searching and disquieting. He was of middle height and well built, with a general bearing elegant and gentlemanly. There was nothing about him of the vulgar policeman. In his way he was an artist, and one felt that he had a high opinion of himself. The sceptical tone of his conversation was that of a man who had been taught by experience. His strange profession had brought him into contact with so many crimes and villainers that it would have been remarkable if his nature had not been a little hardened. Larson turned his head at the sound of a vehicle which had come from the chateau and reached the gate behind him. We recognised the cab, which had conveyed the examining magistrate in his registrar from the station at Epene. Ah, said Frederick Larson, if you want to speak with Monsieur Robert Darzak, he is here. The cab was already at the park gate, and Robert Darzak was begging Frederick Larson to open it for him, explaining that he was pressed for time to catch the next train leaving Epene for Paris. Then he recognised me. While the Sam was unlocking the gate, Monsieur Darzak inquired what had brought me to the glondier at such a tragic moment. I noticed that he was frightfully pale, and that his face was lined as if from the effects of some terrible suffering. His man was out getting better, I immediately asked. Yes, he said, she will be saved, perhaps. She must be saved. He did not add, or it will be my death, but I felt that the phrase trembled on his pale lips. Routabil intervened. You're in a hurry, Monsieur, but I must speak with you. I have something of the greatest importance to tell you. Frederick Larson interrupted. May I leave you? He asked of Robert Darzak. Have you a key, or do you wish me to give you this one? Thank you. I have a key, and will lock the gate. Larson hurried off in the direction of the chateau, the imposing pile of which could be perceived a few hundred yards away. Robert Darzak, with knit brow, was beginning to show impatience. I presented Routabil as a good friend of mine, but as soon as he learnt that the young man was a journalist, he looked at me very reproachfully, excused himself under the necessity of having to reach Epene in 20 minutes, bowed, and whipped up his horse. But Routabil had seized the bridle, and to my utter astonishment stopped the carriage with a vigorous hand. Then he gave utterance to a sentence which was utterly meaningless to me. The presbytery has lost nothing of its charm, nor the garden its brightness. The words had no sooner left the lips of Routabil than I saw Robert Darzak quail. Pale as he was, he became paler. His eyes were fixed on the young man in terror, and he immediately descended from the vehicle in an inexpressible state of agitation. Come, come, come in, he stammered. Then, suddenly, and with a sort of fury, he repeated, let us go, mongeur. He turned up by the road he had come from the chateau, Routabil still retaining his hold on the horse's bridle. I addressed a few words to mongeur Darzak, but he made no answer. My looks questioned Routabil, but his gaze was elsewhere. End of Chapter 5 Recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge, UK Recording by J. C. Guan, the mystery of the yellow room, by Gaston Le Roux, Chapter 6 In the heart of the oak grove Re-reach the chateau, and, as we approached it, saw four gendarmes pacing in front of a little door in the ground floor of the donjon. We soon learned that in this ground floor, which had formerly served as a prison, Monsieur and Madame Bernier, the concierges, were confined. Monsieur Robert Darzak led us into the modern part of the chateau by a large door, protected by a projecting awning, a marquise, as it is called. Routabil, who had resigned the horse and the cab to the care of the servant, never took his eyes of Monsieur Darzak. I followed his look, and perceived that it was directed sorely towards the gloved hands of the Sorbonne Professor. When we were in a tiny sitting-room fitted with old furniture, Monsieur Darzak turned to Routabil and said sharply, What do you want? The reporter answered, in an equally sharp tone, to shake you by the hand. Darzak shrank back. What does that mean? Evidently, he understood. What I also understood, that my friend suspected him of the abominable attempt on the life of Mademoiselle Stangerson. The impression of the blood-stained hand on the walls of the yellow room was in his mind. I looked at the man closely. His haughty face, with its expression ordinarily so straightforward, was at this moment strangely troubled. He held out his right hand, and, referring to me, said, As you are a friend of M. St. Clair, who has rendered me invaluable services in a just cause, Monsieur, I see no reason for refusing you my hand. Routabil did not take the extended hand. Lying with the utmost audacity, he said, Monsieur, I have lived several years in Russia, where I have acquired the habit of never taking any but an ungloved hand. I thought that the Sorbonne Professor would express his anger openly, but, on the contrary, by a visibly violent effort, he calmed himself, took off his gloves, and showed his hands. They were unmarked by any sycotricks. Are you satisfied? No, replied Routabil. My dear friend, he said, turning to me, I am obliged to ask you to leave us alone for a moment. I bowed and retired, stupefied by what I had seen and heard. I could not understand why M. Robert Arzak had not already shown the door to my impertinent, insulting, and stupid friend. I was angry myself with Routabil at that moment, for his suspicion, which had led to this scene of the gloves. For some twenty minutes I walked about in front of the château, trying vainly to link together the different events of the day. What was in Routabil's mind? Was it possible that he thought M. Robert Arzak to be the murderer? How could it be thought that this man, who was to have married Mademoiselle Stangerson in the course of a few days, had introduced himself into the yellow room to assassinate his fiancé? I could find no explanation as to how the murderer had been able to leave the yellow room, and so long as that mystery, which appeared to me so inexplicable, remained unexplained, I thought it was the duty of all of us to refrain from suspecting anybody. But then, that seemingly senseless phrase, the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm, nor the garden, its brightness, still rang in my ears. What did it mean? I was eager to rejoin Routabil and question him. At that moment the young man came out of the château in the company of M. Robert Arzak, and, extraordinary to relate, I saw, at a glance, that they were the best of friends. We are going to the yellow room. Come with us, Routabil said to me. You know, my dear boy, I am going to keep you with me all day, we'll breakfast together somewhere about here. You'll breakfast with me here, gentlemen. No thanks, replied the young man. We shall breakfast at the Donjon Inn. You'll fare very badly there, you'll not find anything. Do you think so? Well, I hope to find something there, replied Routabil. After breakfast, we'll set to work again. I'll write my article, and if you'll be so good as to take it to the office for me. Would you come back with me to Paris? No, I shall remain here. I turned towards Routabil. He spoke quite seriously, and M. Robert Arzak did not appear to be in the least degree surprised. We were passing by the Donjon and heard wailing voices. Routabil asked, why have these people been arrested? It is a little my fault, said M. Arzak. I happened to remark to the examining magistrate yesterday that it was inexplicable that the concierges had had time to hear the revolver shot, to dress themselves, and to cover so great a distance as that which lies between their lodge and the pavilion, in the space of two minutes, for not more than that interval of time had lapsed after the firing of the shots when they were met by Daddy Jacques. That was suspicious, evidently. And were they dressed? That is what is so incredible. They were dressed, completely, not one part of their costume wanting. The woman wore sabbots, but the man had unlaced boots. Now they asserted that they went to bed at half past nine. On arriving this morning, the examining magistrate brought with him from Paris a revolver of the same caliber as that found in the room, for he couldn't use the one held for evidence, and made his register fire two shots in the yellow room while the doors and windows were closed. We were with him in the lodge of the concierges, and yet we heard nothing, not a sound. The concierges have lied, of that there can be no doubt. They must have been already waiting, not far from the pavilion, waiting for something. Certainly they are not to be accused of being the authors of the crime, but their complicity is not improbable. That was why M. de Marquet had them arrested at once. If they had been accomplices, Cédroul Tabi, they would not have been there at all, when people throw themselves into the arms of justice with the proofs of complicity on them. You can be sure they are not accomplices. I don't believe there are any accomplices in this affair. Then why were they abroad at midnight? Why don't they say? They have certainly some reason for their silence. What that reason is has to be found out, for even if they are not accomplices, it may be of importance. Everything that took place on such a night is important. We had crossed an old bridge, thrown over the doove, and were entering the part of the park called the oak grove. The oaks here were centuries old. Autumn had already shriveled their tawny leaves, and their high branches, black and contorted, looked like horrid heads of hair, mingled with quaint reptiles such as the ancient sculptors might have made of the heads of Medusa. This place, which Mademoiselle found cheerful, and in which she lived in the summer season, appeared to us as sad and funerial now. The soil was black and muddy from the recent rains and the rotting of the fallen leaves. The trunks of the trees were black, and the sky above us was now, as if in morning, charged with great heavy clouds. And it was in this somber and desolate retreat that we saw the white walls of the pavilion as we approached, a queer-looking building without a window visible on the side, by which we neared it. A little door alone marked the entrance to it. It might have passed for a tomb, a vast mausoleum in the midst of a sick forest. As we came nearer, we were able to make out its disposition. The building obtained all the light it needed from the south. That is to say, from the open country. The little door closed on the park. Monsieur and Mademoiselle's dangerous must have founded an ideal seclusion for their work and their dreams. The pavilion had a ground floor, which was reached by a few steps, and above it was an attic, with which we need not concern ourselves. Role-tabit had drawn a plan of the building, showing the yellow room with its one window and its one door opening into the laboratory. The laboratory with its two large barred windows and its doors, one serving for the vestibule, the other for the yellow room. The vestibule with its unbarred window and door opening into the park. The laboratory, the stairs leading to the attic, and the large and only chimney in the pavilion, serving for the experiments of the laboratory. I assured myself that there was not a line in this plan that was wanting to help to the solution of the problem then set before the police. Thus my readers will know as much as Role-tabit knew when he entered the pavilion for the first time. With him they may now ask, how did the murderer escape from the yellow room before mounting the three steps leading up to the door of the pavilion? Role-tabit stopped and asked Mr. Darzak point blank. What was the motive for the crime? Speaking for myself, monsieur, there can be no doubt on the matter, said mademoiselle St. Joseph's fiancée, greatly distressed. The nails of the fingers, the deep scratches on the chests and throat of mademoiselle St. Joseph's son showed that the wretch who attacked her attempted to commit a frightful crime. The medical expert, who examined these traces yesterday, affirmed that they were made by the same hand as that which left its imprint on the wall. An enormous hand, monsieur, much too large to go into my glove, he added, with an indefinable smile. Could not that bloodstained hand I interrupted have been the hand of mademoiselle St. Joseph's son, who in the moment of falling had pressed it against the wall and in slipping enlarged the impression? There was not a drop of blood on either of her hands when she was lifted up, replied monsieur Darzak. We are now sure, said I, that it was mademoiselle St. Joseph's son who was armed with Daddy Jack's revolver, since she wounded the hand of the murderer. She wasn't feared then of somebody or something. Probably. Do you suspect anybody? No, replied monsieur Darzak, looking at Role-Tabille. Role-Tabille then said to me, You must know, my friend, that the inquiry is a little more advanced than monsieur de Marquet has chosen to tell us. He not only knows that mademoiselle St. Joseph's son defended herself with the revolver, but he knows what the weapon was that was used to attack her. Monsieur Darzak tells me it was a mutton bone. Why is monsieur de Marquet surrounding this mutton bone with so much mystery? No doubt for the purpose of facilitating the inquiries of the agents of the Sûreté. He imagines, perhaps, that the owner of this instrument of crime the most terrible invented is going to be found amongst those who are well known in the slums of Paris who use it. But who can ever say what passes through the brain of an examining magistrate? Role-Tabille added, with contemptuous irony. Has the mutton bone been found in the yellow room? I asked him. Yes, monsieur, said Robert Darzak, at the foot of the bed. But I beg of you not to say anything about it. I made a gesture of a scent. It was an enormous mutton bone, the top of which, or rather the joint, was still red with the blood of the frightful wound. It was an old bone, which may, according to appearances, have served in other crimes. That's what monsieur de Marquet thinks. He has had its scent to the municipal laboratory at Paris to be analyzed. In fact, he thinks he has detected on it, not only the blood of the last victim, but other stains of dried blood, evidences of previous crimes. A mutton bone in the hand of a skilled assassin is a frightful weapon, said Role-Tabille, a more certain weapon than a heavy hammer. The scoundrel has proved it to be so, said monsieur Robert Darzak, sadly. The joint of the bone found exactly fits the wound inflicted. My belief is that the wound would have been mortal if the murderous blow had not been arrested in the act by mademoiselle Stangerson's revolver. Wounded in the hand, he dropped the mutton bone and fled. Unfortunately, the blow had been already given, and mademoiselle was stunned after having been nearly strangled. If she had succeeded in wounding the man with the first shot of the revolver, she would, doubtless, have escaped the blow with the bone. But she had certainly implored her revolver too late. The first shot deviated and lodged in the ceiling. It was the second only that took effect. Having said this, monsieur Darzak knocked at the door of the pavilion. I must confess to feeling a strong impatience to reach the spot where the crime had been committed. It was some time before the door was opened by a man whom I at once recognized as Darzak. He appeared to be well over sixty years of age. He had a long white beard and white hair, on which he wore a flatbask cap. He was dressed in a complete suit of chestnut-colored velveteen, worn at the sides. Sabots were on his feet. He had rather a waspish-looking face, the expression of which lightened, however, as soon as he saw monsieur Darzak. Friends, said our guide, nobody in the pavilion, daddy Jack? I ought not to allow anybody to enter, monsieur Robert, but of course the order does not apply to you. These gentlemen of justice have seen everything there is to be seen, and made enough drawings, and drawn up enough reports. Excuse me, daddy Jack, one question before anything else, said Holtaby. What is it, young man, if I can answer it? Did your mistress wear her hair in bands that evening? You know what I mean, over her forehead? No, young man, my mistress never wore her hair in the way you suggest, neither on that day nor on any other. She had her hair drawn up, as usual, so that her beautiful forehead could be seen, pure as that of an unborn child. Holtaby grunted, and set to work examining the door, finding that it fastened itself automatically. He satisfied himself that it could never remain open, and needed a key to open it. Then we entered the vestibule, a small, well-lit room paved with square red tiles. Ah, this is the window by which the murderer escaped, said Holtaby. So they keep on saying, monsieur, so they keep on saying, but if he had gone off that way, we should have been sure to have seen him. We are not blind, neither monsieur Stangers nor me, nor the concierges, who are in the prison. Why have they not put me in prison, too, on account of my revolver? Holtaby had already opened the window, and was examining the shutters. Were these closed at the time of the crime? And fastened with the iron catch inside, said Adijac, and I am quite sure that the murderer did not get out that way. Are there any blood stains? Yes, on the stones outside, but blood of what? Ah, said Holtaby. There are footmarks visible on the path. The ground was very moist. I will look into that presently. Nonsense, interrupted Adijac. The murderer did not go that way. Which way did he go then? How do I know? Holtaby looked at everything, smelled everything. He went down on his knees, and rapidly examined every one of the paving tiles. Adijac went on, Ah, you can't find anything, monsieur. Nothing has been found, and now it is all dirty. Too many persons have jumped over it. They wouldn't let me wash it, but on the day of the crime I had washed the floor thoroughly, and if the murderer had crossed it with his hob-nailed boots, I should not have failed to see where he had been. He has left marks enough in Mademoiselle's chamber. Holtaby rose. When was the last time you washed these tiles? He asked, and he fixed on Adijac a most searching look. Why, as I told you, on the day of the crime, towards half past five, while Mademoiselle and her father were taking a little walk before dinner, here in this room, they had nined in the laboratory. The next day, the examining magistrate came and saw all the marks there were on the floor, as plainly as if they had been made with ink on white's paper. Well, neither in the laboratory nor in the vestibule, which were both as clean as a new pin, were there any traces of a man's foot marks. Since they have been found near this window outside, he must have made his way through the ceiling of the yellow room into the attic, then cut his way through the roof and dropped to the ground outside the vestibule window. But there's no hole, neither in the ceiling of the yellow room, nor in the room of my attic, that is absolutely certain. So you see, we know nothing, nothing, and nothing will ever be known. It's a mystery of the devil's own making. Holtaby went down upon his knees again, almost in front of his small laboratory at the back of the vestibule. In that position, he remained for about a minute. Well, I asked him when he got up. Oh, nothing very important, a drop of blood, he replied, turning towards Dadizhak as he spoke. While you were washing the laboratory and this vestibule, was the vestibule window open? He asked. No, monsieur, it was closed. But after I had done washing the floor, I lit some charcoal for monsieur in the laboratory furnace, and as I lit it with old newspapers, it smoked, and so I opened both the windows in the laboratory and this one, to make a current of air. Then I shut those in the laboratory and left this one open when I went out. When I returned to the pavilion, this window had been closed and monsieur and mademoiselle were already at work in the laboratory. Monsieur or mademoiselle Stangerson had no doubt shut it. No doubt. You did not ask them? After a close scrutiny of the little laboratory and of the staircase leading up to the attic, Holtaby, to whom we seemed no longer to exist, entered the laboratory. I followed him. It was, I confessed, in a state of great excitement. Robert Darzak lost none of my friend's movements. As for me, my eyes were drawn at once to the door of the yellow room. It was closed, and, as I immediately saw, partially shattered and out of commission. My friend, who went about his work methodically, silently studied the room in which we were. It was large and well-lighted. Two big windows, almost bays, were protected by strong iron bars and looked out upon a wide extent of country. Sir and opening in the forest, they commanded a wonderful view through the lands of the valley and across the plain to the large town which could be clearly seen in fair weather. Today, however, a mist hung over the ground and blood in that room. The whole of the side of the laboratory was taken up with a large chimney, crucibles, ovens, and such implements as are needed for chemical experiments. Tables loaded with files, papers, reports, and electrical machine, and apparatus, as Mr. Darzak informed me, implored by Professor Stangerson to demonstrate the dissociation of matter under the action of solar light and other scientific implements. Along the walls were cabinets, plain or glass fronted, through which were visible microscopes, special photographic apparatus, and a large quantity of crystals. Roul-Tabé, who was sprinting in the chimney, put his fingers into one of the crucibles. Suddenly, he drew himself up and held up a piece of half-consumed paper in his hand. He stepped up to where we were talking by one of the windows. Keep that for us, Mr. Darzak, he said. I bent over the piece of scorched paper which Mr. Darzak took from the hand of Roul-Tabé, and read distinctly the only words that remained legible. Presbytery, lost nothing, charm, nor the gar, its brightness. Twice since the morning, these same meaningless words had struck me, and for the second time I saw that they produced on the Sorbonne professor the same paralyzing effect. Mr. Darzak's first anxiety showed itself when he turned his eyes in the direction of Daddy Jacques. But, occupied as he was at another window, he had seen nothing. Then trembling, opening his pocketbook, he put the piece of paper into it, sighing, my God! During this time, Roul-Tabé had mounted into the opening of the fire-grate, that is to say, he had got upon the bricks of his furnace, and was attentively examining the chimney, which grew narrower towards the top, the outlet from it being closed with sheets of iron, fastened into the brickwork, through which passed three small chimneys. It was impossible to get out that way, he said, jumping back into the laboratory. Besides, even if he had tried to do it, he would have brought all that ironwork down to the ground. No. No, it is not on that side we have to search. Roul-Tabé next examined the furniture, and opened the doors of the cabinet. Then he came to the windows, through which he declared no one could possibly have passed. At the second window, he found Daddy Jacques in contemplation. Well, Daddy Jacques, he said, what are you looking at? That policeman who is always going round and round the lake, another of those fellows who think they can see better than anybody else. You don't know Frédéric Larson, Daddy Jacques, or you wouldn't speak of him in that way, said Roul-Tabé, in a melancholy tone. If there is anyone who will find the murderer, it will be he. And Roul-Tabé heaved a deep sigh. Before they find him, they will have to learn how they lost him, said Daddy Jacques, stolidly. At lunch, we reached the door of the yellow room itself. There is the door behind which some terrible scene took place, said Roul-Tabé, with a solemnity, which, under any other circumstance, would have been comical. And of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 Of The Mystery Of The Yellow Room This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org. Recording by Stuart Bell. The Mystery Of The Yellow Room by Gaston LaRue. Chapter 7. In which Routabil sets out on an expedition under the bed. Routabil, having pushed open the door of the yellow room, paused on the threshold, saying with an emotion which I only later understood. Ah, the perfume of the Lady in Black. The chamber was dark. Daddy Jacques was about to open the blinds when Routabil stopped him. Did not the tragedy take place in complete darkness? He asked. No young man, I don't think so. Mamazelle always had a night light on her table, and I listened every evening before she went to bed. I was a sort of chambermaid, you must understand, when the evening came. The real chambermaid did not come in here much before the morning. Mamazelle worked late, far into the night. Where did the table with the night light stand, far from the bed? Some way from the bed. Can you light the burner now? The lamp is broken, and the oil that was in it was spilled when the table was upset. All the rest of the things in the room remain just as they were. I have only to open the blinds for you to see. Wait! Routabil went back into the laboratory, closed the shutters of the two windows and the door of the vestibule. When we were in complete darkness, he litterwax Vesta and asked Daddy Jacques to move to the middle of the chamber with it to the place where the night light was burning that night. Daddy Jacques, who was in his stockings, he usually left his sabo in the vestibule, entered the yellow room with his bit of a vestibule. We vaguely distinguished objects overthrown on the floor, a bed in one corner and, in front of us to the left, the gleam of a looking glass hanging on the wall near to the bed. That will do. You may now open the blinds, said Routabil. Don't come any further, Daddy Jacques begged. You may mark marks with your boots, and nothing must be deranged. It's an idea of the magistrates, though he has nothing more to do here. And he pushed open the shutter. The pale daylight entered from without, throwing a sinister light on the saffron-coloured walls. The floor, for though the laboratory and the vestibule were tiled, the yellow room had a flooring of wood, was covered with a single yellow mat, which was large enough to cover nearly the whole room under the bed and under the dressing table, the only piece of furniture that remained upright. The centre round table, the night table, and two chairs had been overturned. These did not prevent a large stain of blood being visible on the mat, made, as Daddy Jacques informed us, by the blood which had flowed from the wound on Mamazal Stengeson's forehead. Besides these stains, drops of blood had fallen in all directions, in line with the visible traces of the footsteps, large and black, of the murderer. Everything led to the presumption that these drops of blood had fallen from the wound of the man who had, for a moment, placed his red hand on the wall. There were other traces of the same hand on the wall, but much less distinct. See, see this blood on the wall? I couldn't help exclaiming. The man who pressed his hand so heavily upon it in the darkness must certainly have thought that he was pushing it a door. That's why he pressed on it so hard, leaving on the yellow paper the terrible evidence. I don't think there are many hands in the world of that sort. It's big and strong, and the fingers are nearly all one as long as the other. The thumb is wanting, and we only have the mark of the palm. But if we follow the trace of the hand, I continued, we see that after leaving its imprint in the wall, the touch sought the door, found it, and then felt for the lock. No doubt, interrupted Rootabild, chuckling only, there is no blood either on the lock or on the bolt. What does that prove? I rejoined with a good sense of which I was proud. He might have opened the lock with his left hand, which would have been quite natural, his right hand being wounded. He didn't open it at all. That is Jack again exclaimed. We are not fools, and there were four of us when we burst open the door. What a queer hand. Look what a queer hand it is, I said. It is a very natural hand, said Rootabild, of which the shape has been deformed by its having slipped on the wall. The man dried his hand on the wall. He must be a man about five foot eight in height. How do you come at that? At the height of the marks on the wall. My friend next occupied himself with the mark of the bullet on the wall. It was a round hole. This ball was fired straight, not from above, and consequently not from below. Rootabild went back to the door and carefully examined the lock and the bolt, satisfying himself that the door had certainly been burst open from the outside, and further that the key had been found in the lock on the inside of the chamber. He finally satisfied himself that, with the key and the lock, the door could not possibly be opened from without with another key. Having made sure of all these details, he let fall these words. That's better. Then sitting down on the ground, he hastily took off his boots and in his socks went into the room. The first thing he did was to examine minutely the overturned furniture. We watched him in silence. Young fellow, you were giving yourself a great deal of trouble, said Daddy Jack, ironically. Rootabild raised his head and said, You have spoken the simple truth, Daddy Jack. Your mistress did not have her hair and bands that evening. I was a donkey to have believed she did. Then, with the suppleness of a serpent, he slipped under the bed. Presently we heard him ask, At what time, Mongeur Jack, did Mongeur and Man was ostentious and a-runny for the laboratory? At six o'clock, the voice of Rootabild continued, Yes, he's been under here, that's certain. In fact, there was nowhere else where he could have hidden himself. Here, too, are the marks of his hobnails. When you entered, all four of you, did you look under the bed? At once. We drew it right out of its place, and between the mattresses, there was only one on the bed, and on that man was all was placed, and Mongeur Stegerson and the concierge immediately carried it into the laboratory. Under the mattress, there was nothing but the metal netting, which could not conceal anything or anybody. Remember, Mongeur, that there were four of us, and we couldn't fail to see everything. The chamber was so small and scantily furnished, and all was locked behind in the pavilion. I ventured in the hypothesis. Perhaps he got away with the mattress, in the mattress, anything is possible in the face of such a mystery. In their distress of mind, Mongeur Stegerson and the concierge may not have noticed that they were bearing a double weight, especially if the concierge were an accomplice. Throughout this hypothesis, for what it's worth, but it explains many things, and particularly the fact that neither the laboratory nor the vestibule bear any traces of the foot marks found in the room. If, in carrying Mamazelle on the mattress from the laboratory of the chateau, they rested for a moment, then there might have been an opportunity for the man and it to escape. And then, asked Rooterbill, deliberately laughing under the bed, I felt rather vexed and replied, I don't know, but anything is possible. The examining magistrate had the same idea, Mongeur, said Daddy Jack, and he carefully examined the mattress. He was obliged to laugh at the idea, Mongeur, as your friend is doing now for whoever heard of a mattress having a double bottom. I was myself obliged to laugh on seeing that what I had said was absurd, but in an affair like this one hardly knows where an absurdity begins or ends. My friend alone seemed able to talk intelligently. He called out from under the bed. The mattress has been moved out of place. Who did it? We did, Mongeur, explained Daddy Jack. When we could not find the assassin, we asked ourselves whether there was not some hole in the floor. There is not, replied Rooterbill. Is there a cellar? No, there's no cellar, but that has not stopped our searching and has not prevented the examining magistrate and his registrar from studying the floor plank by plank, as if there had been a cellar under it. The reporter then reappeared. His eyes were sparkling and his nostrils quivered. He remained on his hands and knees. He could not be better likened than to an admirable sporting dog on the scent of some unusual game. And indeed he was sending the steps of a man, the man whom he has sworn to report to his master, the manager of the APOC. It must not be forgotten that Rooterbill was first and last a journalist. Thus on his hands and knees he made his way to the four corners of the room, so to speak, sniffing and going around everything, everything that we could see, which was not much, and everything that we could not see, which must have been infinite. The toilet table was a simple table standing on four legs. There was nothing about it, by which it could possibly be changed into a temporary hiding place. There was not a closet or cupboard, and that was how Stengerson kept her wardrobe at the chateau. Rooterbill literally passed his nose and hands along the walls, constructed of solid brickwork. When he had finished with the walls, and passed his agile fingers over every portion of the yellow paper covering them, he reached to the ceiling, which he was able to touch by mounting on a chair placed on the toilet table. And by moving this ingeniously constructed stage from place to place, he examined every foot of it. When he had finished his scrutiny of the ceiling, where he carefully examined the hole made by the second bullet, he approached the window, and once more examined the iron bars and blinds, all of which were solid and intact. At last he gave a grunt of satisfaction, and declared, Now I am at ease. Well, do you believe that the poor dear young lady was shut up when she was being murdered, when she cried out for help? wailed Daddy Jack. Yes, said the young reporter, drying his forehead. The yellow room was as tightly shut as an iron safe. That, I said, is why this mystery is the most surprising I know. Edgar Allan Poe in The Murders in the Rue Morgue invented nothing like it. The place of that crime was sufficiently closed to prevent the escape of a man, but there was that window through which the monkey, the perpetrator of the murder, could slip away. But here, there can be no question of an opening of any sort. The door was fastened, and through the window blinds, secure as they were, not even a fly could enter or get out. True, true, assented rootability kept on drying his forehead, which seemed to be perspiring less from his recent bodily exertion than from his mental agitation. Indeed, it's a great, it's a beautiful, and a very curious mystery. The Bette de Bongeur muttered Daddy Jack. The Bette de Bongeur herself, if she had committed the crime, could not have escaped. Listen! Do you hear it? Hush! Daddy Jack made us a sign to keep quiet, and, stretching his arm towards the wall, nearest the forest, listened to something which we could not hear. It's answering, he said at length. I must kill it. It is too wicked, but it's the Bette de Bongeur, and every night it goes to prey on the tomb of Saint Genève, and nobody dares to touch her, for fear that Martha Agenoux should cast an evil spell on them. How big is the Bette de Bongeur? Nearly as big as a small retriever. A monster, I tell you. I have asked myself more than once, whether it was not her that took out our poor manmousel by the throat with her claws. But the Bette de Bongeur does not wear hobnailed boots nor fire revolvers, nor has she a hand like that, exclaimed Daddy Jack, again pointing out to us the red mark on the wall. Besides, we should have seen her as well as we would have seen a man. Evidently, I said, before we had seen this yellow room, I had also asked myself whether the cat of Mother Agenoux, you or so, cried Rutter Bill. Didn't you? I asked. Not for a moment. After reading the article in the matter, I knew the cat had nothing to do with the matter. But I swear now that a frightful tragedy has been enacted here. You say nothing about the basque cap or the handkerchief found here, Daddy Jack. Of course, the magistrate has taken them, the old man answered, hesitatingly. I haven't seen either the handkerchief or the cap, yet I can tell you how they are made, the reporter said to him gravely. Oh, you are very clever, said Daddy Jack, coughing and embarrassed. The handkerchief is a large one, blue with red stripes, and the cap is an old basque cap like the one you are wearing now. You are quite a wizard, said Daddy Jack, trying not to laugh and not quite succeeding. How do you know that the handkerchief is blue with red stripes? Because if it had not been blue with red stripes, it would not have been found at all. Without giving any further attention to Daddy Jack, my friend took a piece of paper from his pocket and, taking out a pair of scissors, bent over the footprints. Placing the paper over one of them, he began to cut. In a short time he had made a perfect pattern which he handed to me, begging me not to lose it. He then returned to the window and, pointing to the figure of Frederic Lassat, who had not quitted the side of the lake, asked Daddy Jack whether the detective had, like himself, been working in the Yellow Room. No, replied Robert Darzak, who, since Ruta Bill had handed him the piece of scorched paper, had not uttered a word. He pretends that he does not need to examine the Yellow Room. He says that the murderer made his escape from it in quite a natural way, and that he will, this evening, explain how he did it. As he listened to what Monge Darzak had to say, Ruta Bill turned pale. Has Frederic Lassat found out the truth which I can only guess at? He murmured. He is very clever, very clever, and I admire him. But what we have to do today is something more than the work of a policeman, something quite different than the teachings of experience. We have to take hold of our reason by the right end. The reporter rushed into the open air, agitated by the thought that the great and famous Fred might anticipate him in the solution of the problem of the Yellow Room. I managed to reach him on the threshold of the Pavilion. Calm yourself, my dear fellow, I said. Aren't you satisfied? Yes, he confessed to me with a deep sigh. I am quite satisfied. I have discovered many things. Moral or material? Several moral. One material. This, for example. And rapidly he drew from his waistcoat pocket a piece of paper in which he had placed a light coloured hair from a woman's head. End of Chapter 7. Recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge, UK. Chapter 8 of The Mystery of the Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Le Roux. Chapter 8. The Examining Magistrate Questions Mamzell Stanterson. Two minutes later, the rule to be was bending over the footprints discovered in the park under the window of the vestibule. A man, evidently a servant at the chateau, came towards his rapidly and called out to M. Zazak and coming out of the pavilion. M. Robert the Magistrate, you know, is questioning Mamzell. M. Zazak added a muttered excuse to us and set off running toward the chateau, the man running after him. If the corpse can speak, I said, it would be interesting to be there. We must know, said my friend, let's go to the chateau. And he drew me with him, but at the chateau, a gendarm placed in the vestibule denied a submission up the staircase of the first floor. We were obliged to wait downstairs. This is what passed in the chamber of the victim while we were waiting below. A family doctor finding that Mamzell Stanterson was much better, but fearing a relapse which would no longer permit her being questioned, had thought it his duty to inform the examining magistrate of this, who decided to proceed immediately with a brief examination. At this examination, the register, M. Stanterson, and the doctor were present. Later I obtained the text of the report of the examination and I give it here in all its legal dryness. Question, are you able Mamzell without too much fatiguing yourself to give some necessary details of the frightful attack of which you have been the victim? Answer, I feel much better, Monsieur, and I will tell you all I know. When I entered my chamber, I did not notice anything unusual there. Question, excuse me Mamzell, if you will allow me, I will ask you some questions and you will answer them. That will fatigue you less than making a long recital. Answer, do so Monsieur. Question, what did you do on that day? I want you to be as minute and precise as possible. I wish to know all you did that day if it is not asking too much of you. Answer, I rose late at 10 o'clock for my father and I had returned home late on the night previously, having been to dinner at the reception given by the President of the Republic in honour of the Academy of Science of Philadelphia. When I left my chamber at half past 10, my father was already at work in the laboratory. We worked together till midday. We then took half an hour's walk in the park, as we were accustomed to do, before breakfasting at the Chateau. After breakfast, we took another walk for half an hour and then returned to the laboratory. There we found my chambermate who had come to set my room in order. I went into the yellow room to give her some slight orders and she directly afterwards left the pavilion and I resumed my work with my father. At five o'clock we went again for a walk in the park and afterward had tea. Question, before leaving the pavilion at five o'clock did you go into your chamber? Answer, No, Monsieur, my father went into it at my request to bring my hat. Question, and you found nothing suspicious there? Answer, evidently no, Monsieur. Question, is there almost certain that the murderer was not yet concealed under the bed? When you went out, was the door of the room locked? Answer, no, there was no reason for knocking it. Question, you were absent from the pavilion some length of time? Monsieur Stange, I knew? Answer, about an hour. Question, it was during that hour, no doubt, that the murderer got into the pavilion. But how? Nobody knows. What marks have been found in the park, leading away from the window of the festival? But none has been found going towards it. Did you notice whether the festival window was open when you went out? Answer, No, Monsieur, I don't remember. Monsieur Stangeson, it was closed. Question, and when you returned, Manziel Stangeson, I did not notice Monsieur Stangeson. It was still closed, I remember remarking aloud, that is shark must have opened it while we were away. Question, strange, do you recollect Monsieur Stangeson if during your absence and before going out he had opened it? You returned to the laboratory at six o'clock and resumed work? Manziel Stangeson, yes Monsieur. Question, and you did not leave the laboratory from that hour up until the moment when you entered your chamber? Monsieur Stangeson, neither my daughter nor my Monsieur, we were engaged on work that was pressing and we lost not a moment, neglecting everything else on that account. Question, did you die in the laboratory? Answer, for that reason. Question, are you accustomed to dying in the laboratory? Answer, we rarely die in there. Question, could the murderer have known that you would die in there that evening? Monsieur Stangeson, good heavens, I think not. It was only when we returned to the pavilion at six o'clock that we decided, my daughter and I, to die in there. At that moment I was spoken to by my gamekeeper who detained me a moment to ask me to accompany him on the urgent tour of inspection in a part of the woods which I had decided to thin. I put this off until the next day and begged him, as he was going by the chateau, to tell the steward that we should die in the laboratory. He left me to execute the errand and I rejoined my daughter who was already at work. Question, at what hour, Manziel, did you go to your chamber while your father continued to work there? Answer, at midnight. Question, did Daddy Jacques enter the yellow room in the course of the evening? Answer, to shut the blinds and light the night light. Question, he saw nothing suspicious? Answer, he would have told us if he had seen. Daddy Jacques is an honest man and very attached to me. Question, you affirm Monsieur Stanterson that Daddy Jacques remained with you all the time you were in the laboratory? Monsieur Stanterson, I'm sure of it. I have no doubt of that. Question, when you entered your chamber, Manziel, you immediately shut the door and locked and bolted it. That was taking unusual precautions, knowing that your father and your servant were there. Were you in fear of something then? Answer, my father would be returning to the chateau and Daddy Jacques would be going to his bed. In fact, I did fear something. Question, you were so much in fear of something that you borrowed Daddy Jacques's revolver without telling him you had done so? Answer, that is true. I did not wish to alarm anybody. The more because my fears might have proved to be foolish. Question, what was it you feared? Answer, I hardly know how to tell you. For several nights I seemed to hear both in the park and out of the park around the pavilion unusual sounds, sometimes footsteps and other times the cracking of branches. The night before the attack on me, when I did not get to bed before three o'clock in the morning, when I returned from the lease, I stood for a moment before my window and I felt sure I saw shadows. Question, how many? Answer, true. They moved around the lake, then the moon became clouded and I lost sight of them. At this time of the season every year I have generally returned to my apartment at the chateau for the winter. But this year I said to myself that I would not quit the pavilion before my father had finished the resume of his works on the dissociation of matter for the academy. I did not wish that that important work which was to have been finished in the course of a few days should be delayed by a change in our daily habit. You can well understand that I did not wish to speak of my childish fears to my father, nor did I say anything to daddy Jacques, who I knew would not have been able to hold his tongue. Knowing that he had a revolver in his room, I took advantage of his absence and borrowed it. Facing it on the drawer of my night table. Question, you know of no enemies you have? Answer, none. Question, you understand Mamzele that these precautions are calculated to cause surprise? Mr. Stangerson, evidently my child such precautions are very surprising. Answer, no, because I have told you that I had been uneasy for two nights. Mr. Stangerson, you ought to have told me of that, this misfortune would have been avoided. Question, the door of the yellow room locked, did you go to bed? Answer, yes, and being very tired I at once went to sleep. Question, the night light was still burning? Answer, yes, but it gave a very feeble light. Question, then Mamzele tell us what happened? Answer, I do not know whether I had been long asleep, but suddenly I awoke and uttered a loud cry. Mr. Stangerson, yes, a horrible cry, murder, it still rings in my ears. Question, you uttered a loud cry? Answer, a man was in my chamber. He sprang at me and tried to strangle me. I was nearly stifled when suddenly I was able to reach the draw of my night table and grasp the revolver which I had placed in it. At that moment the man had forced me to the foot of my bed and brandished in over my head a sort of mace, but I had fired. He immediately struck a terrible blow at my head. All that, Mr. Stangerson, you have passed more rapidly than I can tell and I know nothing more. Question, nothing? Have you no idea as to how the assassin could escape from your chamber? Answer, none whatever. I know nothing more. One does not know what is passing around one when one is unconscious. Question, was the man you saw tall or short, little or big? Answer, I only saw a shadow which appeared to me formidable. Question, you cannot give us any indication? Answer, I know nothing more mature than that a man threw himself upon me and that I fired at him. I know nothing more. Here the interrogation of Mamzeel Stangerson concluded. A old to be waited patiently for Mr. Robert D'Azac, who soon appeared. From a room near the chamber of Mamzeel Stangerson he had heard the interrogatory and now came to recount it to my friends with great exactitude, aided by an excellent memory. His docility still surprised me. Thanks to hasty pencil notes he was able to reproduce almost texturally the questions and answers given. It looked as if Mr. D'Azac was being employed as a secretary of my young friend and acted as if he could refuse him nothing, no more, as if under compunction to do so. The fact of the closed window struck the report as it had struck the magistrate. Will to be asked D'Azac to repeat once more Mamzeel Stangerson's account of how she and her father had spent the day on the time of the tragedy and she had stated it to the magistrate. The circumstance of the dinner in the laboratory seemed to interest him in the highest degree and he had it repeated to him three times. He also wanted to be sure that the forest keeper knew that the professor and his daughter were going to dine in the laboratory and how he had come to know it. When Mr. D'Azac had finished I said the examination has not advanced the problem much. It has put it back said Mr. D'Azac. It has thrown might upon it said rule to be thoughtfully. End of chapter eight. Chapter nine of The Mystery of the Yellow Room This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Gloria Zablicki The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Le Roux Chapter nine Reporter and Detective The three of us went back towards the pavilion. At some distance from the building the reporter made us stop and pointing to a small clump of trees to the right of us said that's where the murderer came from to get into the pavilion. As there were other patches of trees of the same sort between the Great Oaks I asked why the murderer had chosen that one rather than any of the others. A rule to be answered me by pointing to the path which ran quite close to the thicket to the door of the pavilion. That path is as you see topped with gravel he said the man must have passed along it going to the pavilion since no traces of his steps have been found on the soft ground the man didn't have wings he walked but he walked on the gravel which left no impression of his tread the gravel has in fact been trodden by many other feet since the path is the most direct way between the pavilion and the chateau. As to the thicket made of the sort of shrubs that don't flourish in the rough season laurels and fuchsias it offered the murderer a sufficient hiding place until it was time for him to make his way to the pavilion. It was while hiding in that clump of trees that he saw Mishua and Mademoiselle Stangerson and then Daddy Jacques leave the pavilion. Gravel has been spread nearly very nearly up to the window of the pavilion the footprints of a man parallel with the wall marks which we will examine presently in which I have already seen prove that he only needed to make one stride to find himself in front of the vestibule window left open by Daddy Jacques the man drew himself up by his hands and entered the vestibule. After all it is very possible I said after all what? After all what? I begged of him not to be angry but he was too much irritated to listen to me and declared ironically that he admired the prudent doubt with which certain people approached the most simple problems risking nothing by saying that is so or that is not so. Their intelligence would have produced about the same result if nature had forgotten to furnish their brain pan with a little gray matter. As I appeared vexed my young friend took me by the arm and admitted that he had not meant that for me he thought more of me than that. If I did not reason as I do in regard to this gravel he went on I should have to assume a balloon my dear fellow the science of the aero station of dirigible balloons is not yet developed enough for me to consider it and suppose that a murderer would drop from the clouds so don't say a thing is possible when it could not be otherwise. We know now how the man entered by the window and we also know the moment at which he entered during the five o'clock walk of the professor and his daughter. The fact of the presence of the chambermaid who had come to clean up the yellow room in the laboratory when mishoe stanjison and his daughter returned from their walk at half past one permits us to affirm that at half past one the murderer was not in the chamber under the bed unless he was in collusion with the chambermaid what do you say mishoe dazak? mishoe dazak shook his head and said he was sure of the chambermaid's fidelity and that she was a thoroughly honest and devoted servant besides he added at five o'clock mishoe stanjison went into the room to fetch his daughter's hat there is that also said rilta b that the man entered by the window at the time you say I admit I said but why did he shut the window it was an act which would necessarily draw the attention of those who had left it open it may be the window was not shut at once replied the young reporter but if he did shut the window it was because of the bend in the gravel path the dozen yards from the pavilion and on account of the three oaks that are growing at that spot what do you mean by that asked mishoe dazak who had followed us and listened with almost breathless attention to all that ruta b had said I'll explain all to you later mishoe when I think the moment to be ripe for doing so but I don't think I have anything of more importance to say on this affair if my hypothesis is justified and what is your hypothesis you will never know if it does not turn out to be the truth it is of much too grave a nature to speak of it so long as it continues to be only hypothesis have you at least some idea as to who the murderer is no mishoe I don't know who the murderer is but don't be afraid mishoe Robert dazak I shall know I could not but observe that mishoe dazak was deeply moved and I suspected that ruta b's confident assertion was not pleasing to him why I asked myself if he was really afraid that the murderer should be discovered was he helping the reporter to find him my young friend seemed to have received the same impression for he said bluntly mishoe dazak don't you want me to find out who the murderer was oh I should like to kill him with my own hand cried mad ones else danjison's fiancee with the vehemence that amazed me I believe you said rule to be gravely but you have not answered my question we were passing by the thicket of which the young reporter had spoken to us a minute before I entered it and pointed out evident traces of a man who had been hidden there rule to be once more was right yes yes he said we have to do with a thing of flesh and blood who uses the same means that we do you'll all come out on those lines having said this he asked me for the paper pattern of the footprint which he had given me to take care of and applied it to a very clear footmark behind the thicket aha he said rising I thought he was now going to trace back the track of the murderer's footmarks to the vestibule window but he led us instead far to the left saying that it was useless ferreting in the mud and that he was sure now of the road taken by the murderer he went along the wall to the hedge and dry ditch over which he jumped see just in front of the little path leading to the lake that was his nearest way to get out how do you know he went to the lake and because Frederick Lawson has not quitted the borders of it since this morning there must be some important marks there a few minutes later we reached the lake it was a little sheet of marshy water surrounded by reeds on which floated some dead water lily leaves the great fred may have seen us approaching but we probably interested him very little for he took hardly any notice of us and continued to be stirring with his cane something which we could not see look said rule to be here again are the footmarks of the escaping man they skirt the lake here and finally disappeared just before this path which leads to the high road to eponae the man continued his flight to paris what makes you think that i asked since these footmarks are not continued on the path what makes me think that why these footprints which i expected to find he cried pointing to the sharply outlined imprint of a neat boot see and he called to frederick lawson michael fred these neat footprints seem to have been made since the discovery of the crime yes young man yes they have been carefully made replied fred without raising his head you see there are steps that come and steps that go back and the man had a bicycle cried the reporter here after looking at the marks of the bicycle which followed going and coming the neat footprints i thought i might intervene the bicycle explains the disappearance of the murderers big footprints i said the murderer with his rough boots mounted a bicycle his accomplice the wearer of the neat boots had come to wait for him on the edge of the lake with the bicycle it might be supposed that the murderer was working for the other no no replied ruta b with a strange smile i have expected to find these footmarks from the very beginning these are not the footmarks of the murderer then there were two no there was but one and he had no accomplice very good very good cried frederick lawson look continued the young reporter showing us the ground where it had been disturbed by the big and heavy heels the man seated himself there and took off his hopnail boots which he had worn only for the purpose of misleading detection and then no doubt taking them away with him he stood up in his own boots and quietly and slowly regained the high road holding his bicycle in his hand for he could not venture to ride it on this rough path that accounts for the lightness of the impression made by the wheels along it in spite of the softness of the ground if there had been a man on the bicycle the wheels would have sunk deeply into the soil no no there was but one man there the murderer on foot bravo bravo cried fred again and coming suddenly towards us and planting himself in front of mishore robert dausack he said to him if we had a bicycle here we might demonstrate the correctness of the young man's reasoning mishore robert dausack do you know whether there's one at the chateau no replied mishore dausack there is not i took mine four days ago to paris the last time i came to the chateau before the crime that's a pity replied fred very coldly and then turning to wilta b he said if we go on at this rate we'll both come to the same conclusion have you any idea as to how the murderer got away from the yellow room yes said my young friend i have an idea so have i said fred and it must be the same as yours there are no two ways of reasoning in this affair i'm waiting for the arrival of my chief before offering any explanation to the examining magistrate ah is the chief of the sort a coming yes this afternoon he's going to a summon before the magistrate in the laboratory all those who have played any part in this tragedy it will be very interesting it is a pity you won't be able to be present i shall be present said ruta be confidently really you are an extraordinary fellow for your age replied the detective in a tone not wholly free from irony you'd make a wonderful detective if you had a little more method if you didn't follow your instincts and that bump on your forehead as i have already several times observed michel wilta be you reason too much you do not allow yourself to be guided by what you've seen what do you say to the handkerchief full of blood and the red mark of the hand on the wall you have seen the stain on the wall but i have only seen the handkerchief bah cried wilta be the murderer was wounded in a hand by mademoiselle stange son's revolver ah a simply instinctive observation take care you are becoming too strictly logical michel wilta be logic will upset you if you use it indiscriminately you are right when you say that mademoiselle stange son fired her revolver but you are wrong when you say that she wounded the murderer in the hand i am sure of it cried wilta be fred imperturbable interrupted him defective observation defective observation the examination of the handkerchief the numberless little round scarlet stains the impression of drops which i found in the tracks of the footprints at the moment when they were made on the floor proved to me that the murderer was not wounded at all michel wilta be the murderer bled at the nose the great fred spoke quite seriously however i could not refrain from uttering an exclamation the reporter looked gravely at fred who looked gravely at him and fred immediately concluded the man allowed the blood to flow into his hand in handkerchief and dried his hand on the wall the fact is highly important he added because there is no need of his being wounded in the hand for him to be the murderer wilta be seemed to be thinking deeply after a moment he said there is something a something michel fred would last in much graver than the misuse of logic the disposition of mind in some detectives which makes them in perfect good faith twist logic to the necessities of their preconceived ideas you already have your idea about the murderer michel fred don't deny it and your theory demands that the murderer should not have been wounded in the hand otherwise it comes to nothing and you have searched and have found something else it's dangerous very dangerous michel fred to go from a preconceived idea to find the proofs to fit it that method may leave you far astray beware of judicial error michel fred it will trip you up and laughing a little in a slightly bantering tone his hands in his pockets ruta be fixed his cunning eyes on the great fred fredrick lawson silently contemplated the young reporter who pretended to be as wise as himself shrugging his shoulders he bowed to us and moved quickly away hitting the stones on his path with his stout cane ruta be watched his retreat and then turned towards us his face joyous and triumphant i shall beat him he cried i shall beat the great fred clever as he is i shall beat them all and he danced a double shuffle suddenly he stopped my eyes followed his gaze they were fixed on michel robert dausack who was looking anxiously at the impression left by his feet side by side with the elegant footmarks there was not a particle of difference between them we thought he was about to faint his eyes bulging with terror avoided us while his right hand with a spasmodic movement twitched at the beard that covered his honest gentle and now despairing face at length regaining his self-possession he bowed to us in remarking in a changed voice that he was obliged to return to the chateau and left us the deuce exclaimed ruta be he also appeared to be deeply concerned from his pocketbook he took a piece of white paper as i had seen him do before and with his scissors cut out the shape of the neat bootmarks that were on the ground then he fitted the new paper pattern with the one he had previously made the two were exactly alike rising ruta be exclaimed again the deuce presently he added yet i believe michel robert dausack to be an honest man he then led me on the road to the donjon inn which we could see on the highway by the side of a small clump of trees end of chapter nine chapter ten of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by gloria ziblicki the mystery of the yellow room by gaston larou chapter 10 we shall have to eat red meat now the donjon inn was of no imposing appearance but i like these buildings with their rafters blackened with age and the smoke of their hearths these ins of the coaching days crumbling erections that will soon exist in the memory only they belong to the bygone days they are linked with history they make us think of the road of those days when high women rode i saw it once that the donjon inn was at least two centuries old perhaps older under its signboard over the threshold a man with a crab looking face was standing seemingly plunged in unpleasant thought if the wrinkles on his forehead and the knitting of his brows were any indication when we were close to him he deigned to see us and asked us in a tone anything but engaging whether we wanted anything he was no doubt the not very amiable landlord of this charming dwelling place as we expressed a hope that he would be good enough to furnish us with a breakfast he assured us that he had no provisions regarding us as he said this with a look that was unmistakably suspicious you may take us in rule to be said to him we're not policemen i'm not afraid of the police i'm not afraid of anyone replied the man i had made my friend understand by a sign that we should do better not to insist but being determined to enter the inn he slipped by the man on the doorstep and was in the common room come on he said it is very comfortable here a good fire was blazing in the chimney and we held our hands to the warmth it sent out it was a morning in which the approach of winter was unmistakable the room was a tolerably large one furnished with two heavy tables some stools a counter decorated with rows of bottles of syrup and alcohol three windows looked out onto the road a colored advertisement lauded the many merits of a new vermouth on the mantelpiece was arrayed the innkeeper's collection of figured earthenware pots and stone jugs that's a fine fire for roasting a chicken said ruta b we have no chicken not even a wretched rabbit said the landlord i know said my friend slowly i know we shall have to eat red meat now i confess i did not in the least understand what ruta b meant by what he had said but the landlord as soon as he heard the words uttered an oath which he had once stifled and placed himself at our orders as obediently as mature robert dausack had done when he heard ruta b's prophetic sentence the presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the god in its brightness certainly my friend knew how to make people understand him by the use of holy incomprehensible phrases i observed as much to him but he merely smiled i should have proposed that he give me some explanation but he put a finger to his lips which evidently signified that he had not only determined not to speak but also enjoined silence on my part meantime the man had pushed open a little side door and called to somebody to bring him half a dozen eggs and a piece of beef steak the commission was quickly executed by a strongly built young woman with beautiful blonde hair and large handsome eyes who regarded us with curiosity the innkeeper said to her roughly get out and if the green man comes don't let me see him she disappeared a ruta b took the eggs which had been brought to him in a bowl and the meat which was on a dish placed all carefully beside him in the chimney unhooked a frying pan and a gridiron and began to beat up our omelet before proceeding to grill our beef steak he then ordered two bottles of cider and seemed to take as little notice of our host as our hosted of him the landlord let us do our own cooking and set our table near one of the windows suddenly i heard him mutter ah there he is his face had changed expressing fierce hatred he went and glued himself to one of the windows watching the road there was no need for me to draw wuta b's attention he had already left our omelet and had joined the landlord at the window i went with him a man dressed entirely in green velvet his head covered with a huntsman's cap of the same color was advancing leisurely lighting a pipe as he walked he carried a fouling piece slung at his back his movements displayed an almost aristocratic ease he wore eyeglasses and appeared to be about five and forty years of age his hair as well as his mustache were salt gray he was remarkably handsome as he passed near the inn he hesitated as if asking himself whether or no he should enter it gave a glance towards us took a few whiffs at his pipe and then resumed his walk at the same nonchalant pace wuta b and i looked at our host his flashing eyes his clenched hands his trembling lips told us of the tumultuous feelings by which he was being agitated he has done well not to come in here today he hissed who is that man asked wuta b returning to his omelet the green man growled the innkeeper don't you know him then all the better for you he's not an acquaintance to make well he's michael estrange since forest keeper you don't like him very much asked the reporter pouring his omelet into the frying pan nobody likes him sure he's an upstart who must once have had a fortune of his own and he forgives nobody because in order to live he has been compelled to become a servant a keeper is as much a servant as any other isn't he upon my word one would say that he is the master of the glondier and that all the land and woods belong to him he'll not let a poor creature eat a morsel of bread on the grass his grass does he often come here too often but i've made him understand that his face doesn't please me and for a month past he hasn't been here the donjon in has never existed for him he hasn't had time been too much engaged in paying court to the landlady of the three lilies at song michelle a bad fellow there isn't an honest man who can bear him why the concierges of the chateau would turn their eyes away from a picture of him the concierges of the chateau are honest people then yes they are as true as my name's matthew mature i believe them to be honest yet they've been arrested what does that prove but i don't want to mix myself up in other people's affairs and what do you think of the murder of the murder of poor mad ones elston jason a good girl much loved everywhere in the country that's what i think of it many things besides but that's nobody's business not even mine insisted ruta b the innkeeper looked at him sideways and said gruffly not even yours the omelette ready we sat down a table and were silently eating when the door was pushed open and an old woman dressed in rags leaning on a stick her head dottering her white hair hanging loosely over her wrinkled forehead appeared on the threshold uh there you are mother anjanu it's long since we saw you last said our host i have been ill very ill very nearly dying said the old woman if ever you should have any scraps with a bet to bond you and she entered followed by a cat larger than any i had ever believed could exist the beast looked at us and gave so hopeless a meow that i shuddered i had never heard so lugubrious a cry as if drawn by the cat's cry a man followed the old woman in it was the green man he saluted by raising his hand to his cap and seated himself at a table near to ours a glass of cider daddy matthew he said as the green man entered daddy matthew had started violently but visibly mastering himself he said i've no more cider i serve the last bottles to these gentlemen then give me a glass of white wine said the green man without showing the least surprise i've no more white wine no more anything said daddy matthew surly how is madame matthew quite well thank you so the young woman with the large tender eyes whom we had just seen was the wife of this repugnant and brutal rustic whose jealousy seemed to emphasize his physical ugliness slamming the door behind him the innkeeper left the room mother anjanu was still standing leaning on her stick the cat at her feet you've been ill mother anjanu is that why we have not seen you for the last week asked the green man yes michel keeper i have been able to get up but three times to go to pray to san jam vieve our good patroness and the rest of the time i have been lying on my bed there was no one to care for me but the bed depended you did she not leave you neither by day nor by night are you sure of that as i am of paradise then how was it madame anjanu that all through the night of the murder nothing but the cry of the bed debond you was heard mother anjanu planted herself in front of the forest keeper and struck the floor with her stick i don't know anything about it she said but shall i tell you something there are no two cats in the world that cry like that well on the night of the murder i also heard the cry of the bed debond you outside and yet she was on my knees and did not mew once i swear i crossed myself when i heard that as if i had heard the devil i looked at the keeper when he put the last question and i am much mistaken if i did not detect an evil smile on his lips at that moment the noise of loud quarreling reached us we even thought we heard a dull sound of blows as if someone was being beaten the green man quickly rose and hurried to the door by the side of the fireplace but it was opened by the landlord who appeared and said to the keeper don't alarm yourself mature it is my wife she has the toothache and he laughed hey mother anjanu here are some scraps for your cat he held out a packet to the old woman who took it eagerly and went out by the door closely followed by her cat then you won't serve me ask the green man daddy matthew's face was placid and no longer retained its expression of hatred i have nothing for you nothing for you take yourself off the green man quietly refilled his pipe lit it bowed to us and went out no sooner was he over the threshold than daddy matthew slammed the door after him and turning towards us with eyes bloodshot and frothing at the mouth he hissed to us shaking his clenched fist at the door you just shot on the man he evidently hated i don't know who you are who tell me we shall have to eat red meat now but if it will interest you to know it that man is the murderer with which words daddy matthew immediately left us ruta b returned towards the fireplace and said now we'll grill our steak how do you like the cider it's a little tart but i like it we saw no more of daddy matthew that day and absolute silence reigned in the inn when we left it after placing five francs on the table in payment for our feast ruta b had once set off on a three mile walk round professor stonderson's estate he halted for some 10 minutes at the corner of a narrow road black with soot near to some charcoal burners huts in the forest of song j'enviève which touches on the road from epony to corbet to tell me that the murderer had certainly passed that way before entering the grounds and concealing himself in the little clump of trees you don't think then that the keeper knows anything of it i asked we shall see that later he replied for the present i'm not interested in what the landlord said about the man the landlord hates him i didn't take you to breakfast at the don john in for the sake of the green man then ruta b with great precaution glided followed by me towards the little building which standing near the park gate served for the home of the concierges who had been arrested that morning with the skill of an acrobat he got into the lodge by an upper window which had been left open and returned 10 minutes later he said only ah a word which in his mouth signified many things we were about to take the road leading to the chateau when a considerable stir at the park gate attracted our attention a carriage had arrived and some people had come out from the chateau to meet it ruta b pointed out to me a gentleman who descended from it that's the chief of the suité he said now we shall see what frederick lawson has up his sleeve and whether he is so much cleverer than anybody else the carriage of the chief of the suité was followed by three other vehicles containing reporters who are also desirous of entering the park but two gendarm stationed at the gate had evidently received orders to refuse admission to anybody the chief of the suité calmed their impatience by undertaking to furnish to the press that evening all the information he could give that would not interfere with the judicial inquiry end of chapter 10 recording by glories oblique floral park new york chapter 11 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libruvox recording all libruvox recordings on the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libruvox.org recording by jc guan the mystery of the yellow room by guest on the road chapter 11 in which frederick lawson explained how the murderer was able to get out of the yellow room among the mass of papers legal documents memoirs and extracts from newspapers which i have collected relating to the mystery of the yellow room there is one very interesting piece it is a detail of the famous examination which took place that afternoon in the laboratory of professor stangerson before the chief of the suité this narrative is from the pen of monsieur malin the registrar who like the examining magistrate had spent some of his leisure time in the pursuit of literature the piece was to have made part of a book which however has never been published and which was to have been entitled my examinations it was given to me by the registrar himself sometime after the astonishing denouement to this case and is unique in judicial chronicles here it is it is not a mere dry transcription of questions and answers because the register often intersperses his story with his own personal comments the registrar's narrative the examining magistrate and i the writer relates found ourselves in the yellow room in the company of the builder who had constructed the pavilion after professor stangerson's designs he had a walkman with him monsieur de marquet had had the walls laid entirely bare that is to say he had had them stripped of the paper which had decorated them blows with a pick here and there satisfied us of the absence of any sort of opening the floor and the ceiling were thoroughly sounded we found nothing there was nothing to be found monsieur de marquet appeared to be delighted and never ceased repeating what a case what a case we shall never know you'll see how the madra was able to get out of this room then suddenly with a radiant face he called to the officer in charge of the gendarme go to the château he said and request mr. stangerson and mr. robert d'arzak to come to me in the laboratory also daddy jack and let your men bring here the two concierge five minutes later all were assembled in the laboratory the chief of the sorté who had arrived at the glandier joined us that's moment i was seated at mr. stangerson's desk ready for work when monsieur de marquet made us the following little speech as original as it was unexpected with your permission gentlemen as the examinations lead to nothing we will for once abandon the old system of interrogation i will not have you brought before me one by one but we will all remain here as we are mr. stangerson mr robert d'arzak daddy jack and the two concierge the chief of the sorté the register and myself we shall all be on the same footing the concierge may for the moment forget that they have been arrested we are going to confer together we are on the spot where the crime was committed we have nothing else to discuss but the crime so let us discuss it freely intelligently or otherwise so long as we speak just what is in our minds there need be no formality or method since this won't help us in any way then passing before me he said in a low voice what you think of that eh what a scene could you have thought of that i'll make a little piece out of it for the voodville and he wrapped his hands with gully i turned my eyes on mr. stangerson the hope he had received from the doctor's latest report which stated that one was a stangerson might recover from her wounds had not been able to efface from his noble features the marks of the great sorrow that was upon him he had believed his daughter to be dead and he was still broken by that belief his clear soft blue eyes expressed infinite sorrow i had had occasion many times to see mr. stangerson at public ceremonies and from the first had been struck by his continent which seemed as pure as that of a child the dreamy gaze with the sublime and mystical expression of the inventor and thinker on those occasions his daughter was always to be seen either following him or by his side for they never quit at each other it was said and had shared the same labors for many years the young lady who was then five and thirty though she looked no more than thirty had devoted herself entirely to science she still won admiration from her imperial beauty which had remained intact without a wrinkle with standing time and love who would have dreamed that i should one day be seated by her pillow with my papers and that i should see her on the point of death painfully recounting to us the most monstrous and most mysterious crime i have heard of in my career who would have thought that i should be that afternoon listening to the despairing father vainly trying to explain how his daughter's assailant had been able to escape from him why bury ourselves with our work in obscure retreats in the depths of woods if it may not protect us against those dangerous threats to life which meet us in the busy cities now mr. Stangerson said mr. de marquet with somewhat of an important air place yourself exactly where you were when man was as dangerous and left you to go to her chamber mr. Stangerson rose and standing at a certain distance from the door of the yellow room said in an even voice and without the least trace of emphasis a voice which i can only describe as a dead voice i was here about eleven o'clock after i had made a brief chemical experiment at the furnaces of the laboratory needing all the space behind me i had my desk moved here by daddy jack who spent the evening in cleaning some of my apparatus my daughter had been working at the same desk with me when it was her time to leave she rose kiss me and pay daddy jack goodnight she had to pass behind my desk and the door to enter her chamber and she could do this only with some difficulty that is to say i was very near the place where the crime occurred later and the desk i asked the being and that's mixing myself in the conversation the express orders of my chief as soon as you heard the cry of murder followed by the revolver shots what became of the desk daddy jack answered we pushed it back against the wall here close to where it is at the present moment so as to be able to get at the door at once i followed up my reasoning to which however i attached but little importance regarding it as only a weak hypothesis with another question might not see man in the room the desk being so near to the door by stooping and sleeping under the desk have left it unobserved you are forgetting interrupt at mr. Stangers and Wirily that my daughter had locked and bolted her door that the door had remained fastened that we vainly tried to force it open when we heard the noise and that we were at the door while the struggle between the murderer and my poor child was going on immediately after we heard her stifled cries as she was being held by the fingers that have left their red mark upon her throat rapid as the attack was we were no less rapid in our endeavors to get into the room where the tragedy was taking place i rose from my seat and once more examined the door with the greatest care then i returned to my place with a despairing gesture if the lower panel of the door i said could be removed without the whole door being necessarily opened the problem would be solved but unfortunately that last hypothesis is untenable after an examination of the door it's of oak solid and massive you can see that quite plainly in spite of the injury done in the attempt to burst it open ah cried daddy jack it is an old and solid door that was brought from the chateau they don't make such doors now we had to use this bar of iron to get it open all four of us for the concierge brave woman she is helped us it pains me to find them both in prison now daddy jack had no sooner uttered these words of pity and protestation than tears and lamentations broke out from the concierge i never saw two accused people crying more bitterly i was extremely disgusted even if they were innocent i could not understand how they could behave like that in the face of misfortune a dignified bearing at such times is better than tears and groans which most often are feigned now then enough of that snivelling cried monsieur de marquet and in your interest tell us what you were doing under the windows of the pavilion at the time your mistress was being attacked for you were close to the pavilion when daddy jack met you we were coming to help be wind if we could only lay hands on the madra he'd never taste bread again the woman gurgled between her swabs as before we were unable to get two connecting thoughts out of them they persisted in their denials and swore by heaven and all the saints that they were in bed when they heard the sound of the revolver shot it was not one but two shots that were fired you see you're lying if you had heard one you would have heard the other mon dieu monsieur it was the second shot we heard we were asleep when the first shot was fired two shots were fired said daddy jack i am certain that all the cartridges were in my revolver we found afterward that two had been exploded and we had two shots behind the door was not that so missus dangerous son yes replied the professor there were two shots one doll and the other sharp and ringing why do you persist in lying cried monsieur de marquet turning to the concierge do you think the police are the fools you are everything points to the fact that you were out of doors and near the pavilion at the time of the tragedy what were you doing there so far as i am concerned he said turning to missus dangerous son i can only explain the escape of the murderer on the assumption of help from these two accomplices as soon as the door was forced open and while you missus dangerous son were occupied with your unfortunate child the concierge and his wife facilitated the flight of the murderer who screening himself behind them reached the window in the vestibule and sprang out of it into the park the concierge closed the window after him and fastened the blinds which certainly could not have closed and fastened of themselves that is the conclusion i have arrived at if anyone here has any other idea let him state it missus dangerous son intervened what you say was impossible i do not believe either in the guilt or in the connivance of my concierge though i cannot understand what they were doing in the park at that late hour of the night i say it was impossible because madame bernier held the lamp and did not move from the threshold of the room because i as soon as the door was forced open threw myself on my knees beside my daughter and no one could have left or entered the room by the door without passing over her body and forcing his way by me daddy jack and the concierge had but to cast a glance round the chamber and under the bed as i had done on entering to say that there was nobody in it but my daughter lying on the floor what do you think mr. derzak asked the magistrate mr. derzak replied that he had no opinion to express mr. derzak the chief of the surty who so far had been listening and examining the room at lunch then to open his lips while search is being made for the criminal we had better try to find out the motive of the crime that will advance us a little he said turning towards mr. stangerson he continued in the even intelligent tone indicative of a strong character i understand that mademoiselle was shortly to have been married the professor looked sadly at mr. rober derzak to my friend here whom i should have been happy to call my son to mr. rober derzak mademoiselle stangerson is much better and is rapidly recovering from her wounds the marriage is simply delayed is it not monsieur insisted the chief of the surty i hope so what is there any doubt about that mr. stangerson did not answer mr. rober derzak seemed agitated i saw that his hands trembled as it fingered his watch chain mr. dex coughed as did mr. demarque both were evidently embarrassed you understand mr. stangerson he said that in an affair so perplexing as this we cannot neglect anything we must know all even the smallest and seemingly most futile thing concerning the victim information apparently the most insignificant why do you doubt that this marriage will take place you express their hope but the hope implies a doubt why do you doubt mr. stangerson made a visible effort to recover himself yes monsieur he said atlanta you are right it will be best that you should know something which if i concealed it might appear to be of importance mr. derzak agrees with me in this mr. derzak whose pallor at that moment seemed to me to be altogether abnormal made a sign of a scent i gathered he was unable to speak i want you to know then continued mr. stangerson that my daughter has sworn never to leave me and that he is firmly to her oath in spite of all my prayers and all that i have argued to induce her to marry we have known mr. rober derzak many years he loves my child and i believed that she loved him because she only recently consented to this marriage which i desire with all my heart i am an old man monsieur and it was a happy hour to me when i knew that after i had gone she would have at her side one who loved her and who would help her in continuing our common labors i love and esteem mr. derzak both for his greatness of heart and for his devotion to science but two days before the tragedy or i know not what reason my daughter declared to me that she would never marry mr. derzak a dead silence furloughed mr. stangerson's words it was a moment fraught with suspense did mademoiselle give you any explanation did she tell you what her motive was asked mr. derzak she told me she was too old to marry that she had waited too long she said she had given much thought to the matter and while she had a great esteem even affection for mr. derzak she felt it would be better if things remained as they were she would be happy she said to see the relations between ourselves and mr. derzak become closer but only on the understanding that there will be no more talk of marriage that is very strange mattered mr. derzak strange repeated mr. demarqué you'll certainly not find the motive there mr. derzak mr. stangerson said would he call smile in any case the motive was not theft said the chief impatiently oh we are quite convinced of that quite the examining magistrate at that moment the door of the laboratory opened and the officer in charge of the gendarme entered and handed the card to the examining magistrate mr. demarqué read it and uttered a half angry exclamation this is really too much he cried what is it as the chief it is a card of a young reporter engaged on the epoch a mr. joseph roultaby it has these words written on it one of the motives of the crime was robbery the chief smiled ah young roultaby i've heard of him he is considered red clever let him come in mr. joseph roultaby was allowed to enter i had made his acquaintance in the train that morning on the way to épiner sur orge he had introduced himself almost against my wish into our compartment i had better say at once that his manners and the arrogance who is which he assumed to know what was incomprehensible even to us impressed him unfavorably on my mind i do not like journalists there are a class of writers to be avoided as the pests they think that everything is permissible and they respect nothing grant them the least favor allow them even to approach you and you never can tell what annoyance they might give you this one appears to be scarcely 20 years old and the effrontery with which he dealt to question us and discuss the matter with us made him particularly obnoxious to me besides he had a way of expressing himself that left us guessing as to whether he was mocking us or not i know quite well that the epoch is an influential paper with which it is well to be on good terms but the paper ought not to allow itself to be represented by sneaking reporters mr. joseph roultaby entered the laboratory bowed to us and waited for monsieur de marquet to ask him to explain his presence you pretend monsieur that you know the motive of the crime and that's that motive in the face of all the evidence that has been forthcoming was robbery no monsieur i do not pretend that i do not say that robbery was the motive for the crime and i don't believe it was then what is the meaning of this card it means that robbery was one of the motives for the crime what leads you to think that if you will be good enough to accompany me i will show you the young man asked us to follow him into the vestibule and we did he led us towards the laboratory and begged monsieur de marquet to kneel beside him this laboratory is lit by the glass door and when the door was open the light which penetrated was sufficient to lit it perfectly monsieur de marquet and mr. joseph roultaby knelt down on the threshold and the young man pointed to a spot on the pavement the stones of the laboratory have not been washed by daddy jack for some time he said that can be seen by the layer of dust that covers them now notice here the marks of two large footprints and the black ash they left where they have been that ash is nothing else than the charcoal dust that covers the path along which you must pass through the forest in order to get directly from epine to the glandier you know there is a little village of charcoal burners at that place who make large quantities of charcoal what the murderer did was to come here at midday when there was nobody at the pavilion and attempt his robbery but what robbery where do you see any signs of robbery what proves to you that robbery has been committed we all cried at once what put me on the trace of it continued the journalist was this interrupted monsieur de marquet still on his knees evidently said roultaby and monsieur de marquet explained that there were on the dust of the pavement marks of two footsteps as well as the impression freshly made of a heavy rectangular parcel the marks of the cord with which it had been fastened being easily distinguished you have been here then mr. roultaby i thought i had given orders to daddy jack who was left in charge of the pavilion not to allow anybody to enter don't scourge daddy jack i came here with monsieur robert d'arzak ah indeed exclaimed the monsieur de marquet disagreeably casting a sidelands at monsieur d'arzak who remained perfectly silent when i saw the mark of the parcel by the side of the footprint i had no doubt as to the robbery replied monsieur roultaby the thief had not brought a parcel with him he had made one here a parcel with the stolen objects no doubt and he put it in this corner intending to take it away when the moment came for him to make his escape he had also placed his heavy boots beside the parcel for see there are no marks of steps leading to the marks left by the boot which replaced side by side that accounts for the fact that the murderer left no trace of his steps when he fled from the yellow room nor any in the laboratory nor in the vestibule after entering the yellow room in his boots he took them off finding them troublesome or because he wished to make as little noise as possible the marks made by him in going through the vestibule and the laboratory were subsequently washed out by daddy jack having for some reason or other taking off his boot the murderer carried them in his hand and placed them by the side of the parcel he had made by that time the robbery had been accomplished the man then returned to the yellow room and slipped under the bed where the mark of his body is perfectly visible on the floor and even on the mat which has been slightly moved from its place and creased fragments of straw also recently torn bear witness to the murderous movements under the bed yes yes we know all about that said monsieur de marquet the robber had another motive for returning to hide under the bed continued the astonishing boy journalist you might think that he was trying to hide himself quickly unseeing through the vestibule window monsieur and one was as dangerous and about to enter the pavilion it would have been much easier for him to have climbed up to the attic and hidden there waiting for an opportunity to get away if his purpose had been only flight no no he had to be in the yellow room here the chief intervened that's not at all bad young man i compliment you if we do not know yet how the murderer succeeded in getting away we can at any rate see how he came in and committed the robbery but what did he steal something very valuable replied the young reporter at that moment we heard a cry from the laboratory we rushed in and found mr. Stangerson his eyes haggard his limbs trembling pointing to a sort of bookcase which he had opened and which we saw was empty at the same instinct he sank into the large armchair that was placed before the desk and ground the tears rolling down his cheeks i have been robbed again for god's sake do not say a word of this to my daughter she would be more pain than i am he heaved a deep sigh and added in a tone i shall never forget it after all what does it matter so long as she lives she will live said mr. d'arzak in a voice strangely touching and we will find the stolen articles said muslim dax but what was in the cabinet twenty years of my life replied the illustrious professor sadly or rather of our lives the lives of myself and my daughter yes our most precious documents the records of our secret experiments and our labors of twenty years were in that cabinet it is an irreparable loss to us and i venture to say to science all the processes by which i had been able to arrive at the precious proof of the destructibility of matter were there all the man who came wished to take all from me my daughter and my work my heart and my soul and the great scientist wept like a child we stood around him in silence deeply affected by his great distress mr. d'arzak pressed closely to his side and tried in vain to restrain his tears a sight which for the moment almost made me like him in spite of an instinctive repulsion which is strange demeanor and his inexplicable anxiety had inspired me as if his precious time and mission on earth did not permit him to dwell in the contemplation on human suffering had very calmly stepped up to the empty cabinet and pointing at it broke the almost solemn silence he entered into explanations for which there was no need as to why he had been led to believe that a robbery had been committed which included the simultaneous discovery he had made in the laboratory and the empty precious cabinet in the laboratory the first thing that had struck him he said was the unusual form of that piece of furniture it was very strongly built a fireproof iron clearly showing that it was intended for the keeping of most valuable objects then he noticed that the key had been left in the lock one does not ordinary have a safe and leave it open he had said to himself this little key with its brass head and complicated words had strongly attracted him its presence had suggested robbery mr. de marquet appeared to be greatly perplexed as if he did not know whether he ought to be glad of the new direction given to the inquiry by the young reporter or sorry that it had not been done by himself in our profession and for the general welfare we have to put up with such mortifications and very selfish feelings that was why mr. de marquet controlled himself and joined his compliments to those of mr. dax as for mr. old tabay he simply shrugged his shoulders and said there's nothing at all in that I should have liked to box his ears especially when he added you will do well monsieur to ask mr. stangerson who usually kept the key my daughter replied mr. stangerson she was never without it ah then that changes the aspect of things which no longer corresponds with mr. old tabay's ideas cried mr. de marquet if that key never left man was in stangerson the murderer must have waited for her in her room for the purpose of stealing it and the robbery could not have been committed until after the attack had been made on her but after the attack four persons were in the laboratory I can't make it out the robbery said the reporter could only have been committed before the attack upon man was stangerson in her room when the murderer entered the pavilion he already possessed the brass headed key that is impossible said mr. stangerson in a low voice it is quite possible monsieur as this proves as the young rascal drew a copy of the apoc from his pocket dated the 21st of October I recall the fact that the crime was committed on the nights between the 24th and the 25th and showing us an advertisement he read yesterday a black satin reticule was lost in the grand magasin de la louvre it contained amongst other things a small key with a brass head a handsome reward will be given to the person who has found it this person must write post restant bureau 40 to this address m a t h s n do not these letters suggest man was a stangerson continue the reporter the key with a brass head is not this the key I always read advertisements in my business as in yours monsieur one should always read the personals they are often the keys to intrigues that are not always brass headed but which are none the less interesting this advertisement interested me especially the woman of the key surrounded it with a kind of mystery evidently she valued the key since she promised a big reward for its restoration and I thought on these six letters m a t h s n the first war at once pointed to a christian name evidently said math is matilde but I could make nothing of the two last letters so I drew the journal aside and occupied myself with other matters four days later when the evening paper appeared with enormous headlines announcing the merger of man was a stangerson the letters in the advertisement mechanically recurred to me I had forgotten the two last letters s n when I saw them again I could not help exclaiming stangerson I jumped into a cab and rushed into the bureau number 40 asking have you a letter addressed to m a t h s n the clerk replied that he had not I insisted begged and then treated him to search he wanted to know if I were playing a joke on him and then told me that he had had a letter with the initials m a t h s n but he had given it up three days ago to a lady who came for it you come today to claim the letter and the day before yesterday another gentleman claimed it I've had enough of this he concluded angrily I tried to question him as to the two persons who had already claimed the letter but whether he wished to entrench himself behind professional secrecy he may have thought that he had already said too much or whether he was disgusted at the joke that had been played on him he would not answer any of my questions we all remained silent each drew his own conclusions from the strange story of the post-restaurant letter it seemed indeed that we now had the thread by means of which we should be able to follow up this extraordinary mystery then it is almost certain said Mr Stangerson that my daughter did lose the key and that she did not tell me of it wishing to spare any anxiety and that she begs whoever had found it to write to the post-restaurant she evidently feared that by giving our address inquiries would have resulted that would have apprised me of the loss of the key it was quite logical quite natural for her to have taken that course for I have been robbed once before where was that and when asked the chief of the Surtee oh many years ago in America in Philadelphia there were stolen from my laboratory the drawings of two inventions that might have made the fortune of a man not only have I never learnt who the thief was but I have never heard even a word of the object of the robbery doubtless because in order to defeat the plans of the person who had robbed me I myself brought these two inventions before the public and so rendered the robbery of no avail from that time on I have been very careful to shut myself in when I am at work the bars to these windows the lonely situation of this pavilion this cabinet which I had specially constructed this special lock this unique key all our precautions against fears inspired by a sad experience most interesting remarked monsieur Dax monsieur Huerta Bay asked about the reticule neither monsieur Stangerson nor daddy Jacques had seen it for several days but a few hours later we learned from mademoiselle Stangerson herself that the reticule had either been stolen from her or she had lost it she further corroborated all that had passed just as her father had stated she had gone to the post restante and on the 23rd of October had received a letter which she affirmed contained nothing but a vulgar pleasantry which she had immediately burned to return to our examination or rather to our conversation I must state that the chief of the sûreté having inquired of monsieur Stangerson under what conditions his daughter had gone to Paris on the 20th of October we learned that monsieur Robert Darzak had accompanied her and Darzak had not been again seen at the château from that time to the day after the crime had been committed the fact that monsieur Darzak was with her in the grand magasin de la Louvre when the reticule disappeared could not pass unnoticed and it must be said strongly awakened our interest this conversation between magistrates accused victim witnesses and journalists was coming to a close when quite a theatrical sensation an incident of a kind displeasing to monsieur de marquet was produced the officer of the gendarme came to announce that frédéric larcent requested to be admitted a request that was at once complied with he held in his hand a heavy pair of muddy boots which he threw on the pavement of the laboratory here he said are the boots worn by the murderer do you recognize them daddy jack daddy jack bent over them and stupefied recognized a pair of old boots which he had sometime back thrown in a corner of his attic he was so taken aback that he could not hide his agitation then pointing to the handkerchief in the old man's hand frédéric larcent said that a handkerchief astonishing like the one found in the yellow room i know said daddy jack trembling they are almost alike and then continued frédéric larcent the old basket cap also found in the yellow room might at one time have been worn by daddy jack himself all this gentleman proves i think that the murderer wished to disguise his real personality he did it in a very clumsy way or at least so it appears to us don't be alarmed daddy jack we are quite sure that you were not the murderer you never left the side of mr stanger son but if mr stanger son had not been working that night and had gone back to the chateau after parting with his daughter and daddy jack had gone to sleep in his attic no one would have doubted that he was the murderer he owes his safety therefore to the tragedy having been enacted so soon the murderer no doubt from the silence in the laboratory imagined that it was empty and that the moment for action had come the man who had been able to introduce himself here so mysteriously and to leave so many evidences against daddy jack was there can be no doubt familiar with the house at what hour exactly he entered whether in the afternoon or in the evening i cannot say one familiar with the proceedings and persons of this pavilion could choose his own time for entering the yellow room he could not have entered it if anybody had been in the laboratory said monsieur de marquet how do we know that replied laissant there was the dinner in the laboratory the coming and going of the servants in attendance there was a chemical experiment being carried on between 10 and 11 o'clock with mr stanger son his daughter and daddy jack engaged at the furnace in a corner of the high chimney who can say that the murderer an intimate a friend did not take advantage of that moment to slip into the yellow room after having taken off his boots in the laboratory it is very improbable said mr stanger son doubtless but it is not impossible i assert nothing as to the escape from the pavilion that's another thing the most natural thing in the world for a moment frédéric laissant paused a moment that appeared to us a very long time the eagerness with which we awaited what he was going to tell us may be imagined i have not been in the yellow room he continued but i take it for granted that you have satisfied yourself that he could have left the room only by way of the door it is by the door then that the murderer made his way out at what time at the moment when it was most easy for him to do so at the moment when it became most explainable so completely explainable that there can be no other explanation let us go over the moments which followed after the crime had been committed there was the first moment when mr stanger son and daddy jack were close to the door ready to bar the way there was a second moment during which daddy jack was absent and mr stanger son was left alone before the door there was a third moment when mr stanger son was joined by the concierge there was a fourth moment during which mr stanger son the concierge and his wife and daddy jack were before the door there was a fifth moment during which the door was burst open and the yellow room entered the moment at which the flight is explainable is the very moment when there was the least number of persons before the door there was one moment when there was but one person mr stanger son unless a complicity of silence on the part of daddy jack is admitted in which i do not believe the door was opened in the presence of mr stanger son alone and the man escaped here we must admit that mr stanger son had powerful reasons for not arresting or not causing the arrest of the murderer since he allowed him to reach the window in the vestibule and closed it after him that's done but was it stanger son though horribly wounded had still strength enough and no doubt in obedience to the entreaties of her father to refasten the door of her chamber with both the bolt and the lock before sinking on the floor we do not know who committed the crime we do not know of what wretch mr and man was else stanger son are the victims but there is no doubt that they both know the secret must be a terrible one but the father had not hesitated to leave his daughter to die behind the door which he has shot upon herself terrible for him to have allowed the assassin to escape for there is no other way in the world to explain the mergers flight from the yellow room the silence which followed this dramatic and lucid explanation was appalling we all of us felt grieved for the illustrious professor driven into a corner by the pitiless logic of frederick larcent forced to confess the whole truth of his martyrdom or to keep silent and thus make a yet more terrible admission the man himself a veritable statue of sorrow raised his hand with a gesture so solemn that we bowed our heads to it as before something sacred he then pronounced these words in a voice so loud that it seemed to exhaust him I swear by the head of my suffering child that I never for an instant left the door of her chamber after hearing her cries for help that that door was not opened while I was alone in the laboratory and that finally when we entered the yellow room my three domestics and I the murderer was no longer there I swear I do not know the murderer must I say it in spite of the solemnity of mr. Stangerson's words we did not believe in his denial frederick larcent had shown us this truth and it was not so easily given up mr. de marquet announced that the conversation was at an end and as we were about to leave the laboratory joseph roldabe approached mr. Stangerson took him by the hand with the greatest respect and I heard him say I believe you mr. I hear close the citation which I have thought in my duty to make from mr. my lens narrative I need not tell the reader that all that passed in the laboratory was immediately and faithfully reported to me by roldabe and up chapter 11 chapter 12 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks all to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by stewart bell the mystery of the yellow room by gaston la rue chapter 12 frederick larcent's cane it was not till six o'clock that I left the chateau taking with me the article hastily written by my friend in the little sitting room which mongeur robert darzak placed at her disposal the reporter was to sleep at the chateau taking advantage of the to me inexplicable hospitality offered him by mongeur robert darzak to whom mongeur stengerson in that sad time left the care of all his domestic affairs nevertheless he insisted on accompanying me to the station at epony in crossing the park he said to me frederick is really very clever and has not belied his reputation do you know how he came to find darzak boots near the spot where we noticed the traces of the neat boots and the disappearance of the rough ones there was a square hole freshly made in the moist ground where a stone had evidently been removed larcent's search for that stone without finding it and it once imagined that it had been used by the murderer with which to sink the boots in the lake fred's calculation was an excellent one as the success of his search proves that escaped me but my mind was turned in another direction by the large number of force indications of his track which the murderer left and by the measure of the black footmarks corresponding with that of darzak boots which i had established without his suspecting it on the floor of the yellow room all which was approved for my eyes that the murderer had sought to turn suspicion onto the old servant up to that point larcent and i are in accord but no further it's going to be a terrible matter for i tell you he is working on wrong lines and i i must fight him with nothing i was surprised at the profoundly grave accent with which my young friend pronounced the last words he repeated yes terrible terrible for it is fighting with nothing when you only have an idea to fight with at that moment we passed by the back of the shadow night had come a window on the first floor was partly open a feeble light came from it as well as some sounds which drew our attention we approached until we had reached the side of a door that was situated just under the window ruta bill in a low tone made me understand that this was the window of man was else danger since chamber the sounds which had attracted our attention ceased then were renewed for a moment and then we had stifled sobs we were only able to catch these words which reached us distinctly my poor robert ruta bill whispered in my ear if only we knew what was being said in that chamber my inquiry would soon be finished he looked about him the darkness of the evening enveloped us we could not see much beyond the narrow path bordered by trees which ran behind the shadow the sobs had ceased if we can't hear we may at least try to see said ruta bill and making a sign to me to deaden the sound of my steps he led me across the path to the trunk of a tall beach tree the white bowl of which was visible in the darkness this tree drew exactly in front of the window in which we were so much interested its lower branches being on a level with the first floor of the shadow from the height of those branches one might certainly see what was passing in man was else dangerous and chamber evidently that was what ruta bill thought for enjoining me to remain hidden he clasped the trunk with his vigorous arms and climbed up I soon lost sight of him amid the branches and then followed a deep silence in front of me the open window remained lighted and I saw no shadow move across it I listened and presently from above me these words reached my ears after you after you pray somebody was overhead speaking exchanging courtesies what was my astonishment to see on the slippery column of the tree two human forms appear and quietly slipped down to the ground ruta bill had mounted alone and had returned with another good evening it was frederick lasa the detective had already occupied the post of observation when my young friend had thought to reach it alone neither noticed my astonishment I explained that to myself by the fact that they must have been witnesses of some tender and despairing scene between man was else dangerous and lying in her bed and manager does act on his knees by her pillow I guess that each had drawn different conclusions from what they had seen it was easy to see that the scene had strongly impressed ruta bill in favor of manager Robert Dazak while to lasa it showed nothing but consummate hypocrisy acted with finished art by man was else dangerous and fiancee as we reached the park gate lasa and stopped us my cane he cried I left it near the tree he left us saying he would rejoin us presently have you noticed Frederick Larson's cane asked a young reporter as soon as we were alone it's quite a new one which I've never seen him use before he seems to take great care of it it never leaves him one would think he was afraid it might fall into the hands of strangers I never saw it before today when did he find it isn't natural that a man who never before used a walking stick should the day after the glandier crime never move a step without one on the day of our arrival the shadow as soon as he saw us he put his watch into his pocket and picked up his cane from the ground a proceeding to which I was perhaps wrong not to attach some importance we were now out of the park ruta bill had dropped into silence his thoughts were certainly still occupied with Frederick Larson's new cane I had proof of that when as we came near to eponae he said Frederick Larson arrived at the glontier before me he began his inquiry before me he has had time to find out things about which I know nothing where did he find that cane then he added it's probable that his suspicion more than that is his reasoning has led him to lay his hand on something tangible has this cane anything to do with it where the juice could he have found it as I had to wait 20 minutes for the train at eponae we entered a wine shop almost immediately the door opened and Frederick Larson made his appearance brandishing his famous cane I found it he said laughingly the three of us seated ourselves at a table ruta bill never took his eyes off the cane he was so absorbed that he did not notice a sign Larson made for a railway employee a young man with a chin decorated by a tiny blonde and ill-kept beard on the sign he rose paid for his drink bowled and went out I should not myself have attached any importance to the circumstance if it had not been recalled to my mind some months later by the reappearance of the man with the beard at one of the most tragic moments of this case I then learned that the youth was one of Larson's assistants and had been charged by him to watch the going and coming of travellers at the station of eponae surge Larson neglected nothing in any case on which he was engaged I turned my eyes again on ruta bill uh monge Fred he said when did you begin to use a walking stick I've always seen you walking with your hands in your pockets it is a present replied the detective recent insisted ruta bill no it was given to me in London ah yes I remember you've just come from London may I look at it oh uh suddenly Fred passed the cane to ruta bill it was a large yellow bamboo with a crutch handle and ornamented with a gold ring ruta bill after examining it minutely returned it to Larson with a bantering expression on his face saying you were given a french cane in London possibly said Fred imperturbably read them out there in tiny letters cassette 6a opera cannot English people buy canes in Paris when ruta bill had seen me into the train he said you remember the address yes cassette 6a opera rely on me you shall have word tomorrow morning that evening on reaching Paris I saw monge cassette dealer and walking sticks and umbrellas and wrote to my friend a man unmistakably answering to the description of monge Robert Darzak same height slightly stooping putty colored overcoat all a hat purchased a cane similar to the one in which we're interested on the evening of the crime about eight o'clock monge cassette had not sold another such cane during the last two years fred's cane is new it is quite clear that it's the same cane fred did not buy it since he was in London like you I think that he found it somewhere near monge Robert Darzak but if as you suppose the murderer was in the yellow room for five or even six hours and the crime was not committed until towards midnight the purchase of this cane proves an incontestable alibi for Darzak end of chapter 12 recording by Stuart Bell Cambridge UK chapter 13 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Gloria Zablicky the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston Leroux chapter 13 the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness a week after the occurrence of the events I have just recounted on the 2nd of November to be exact I received at my home in Paris the following telegraphic message come to the Glendier by the earliest train bring revolvers friendly greetings Ruta B I have already said I think that at that period being a young barrister with but few briefs I frequented the Palais des Justices rather for the purpose of familiarizing myself with my professional duties than for the defense of the widow and orphan I could therefore feel no surprise at Ruta B disposing of my time moreover he knew how keenly interested I was in his journalistic adventures in general and above all in the murder at the Glendier I had not heard from him for a week nor of the progress made with that mysterious case except by the innumerable paragraphs in the newspapers and by the very brief notes of Ruta B in the apoc those notes had divulged the fact that traces of human blood had been found on the mutton bone as well as fresh traces of the blood of Mademoiselle Stonjison the old stains belong to other crimes probably dating years back it may be easily imagined that the crime engaged the attention of the press throughout the world no crime known had more absorbed the minds of people it appeared to me however that the judicial inquiry was making but very little progress and I should have been very glad if on the receipt of my friend's invitation to rejoin him at the Glendier the dispatch had not contained the words bring revolvers that puzzled me greatly Ruta B telegraphing for revolvers meant that there might be occasion to use them now I confess it without shame I am not a hero but here was a friend evidently in danger calling on me to go to his aid I did not hesitate long and after assuring myself that the only revolver I possessed was properly loaded I hurried towards the Orleans station on the way I remembered that Ruta B had asked for two revolvers I therefore entered a gunsmith shop and bought an excellent weapon for my friend I had hoped to find him at the station at Epine but he was not there however a cab was waiting for me and I was soon at the Glendier nobody was at the gate and it was only on the threshold of the chateau that I met the young man he saluted me with a friendly gesture and threw his arms about me inquiring warmly as to the state of my health when we were in the little sitting room of which I have spoken Ruta B made me sit down it's going badly he said what's going badly I asked everything he came nearer to me and whispered Frederick Lawson is working with might and mean against Dazak this did not astonish me I had seen the poor show Mademoiselle Stonjison's fiancee had made at the time of the examination of the footprints however I immediately asked what about that cane it is still in the hands of Frederick Lawson he never lets go of it but doesn't it prove the alibi for Mr. Dazak not at all gently questioned by me Dazak denied having on that evening or on any other purchased a cane at cassettes however said Ruta B I'll not swear to anything Mr. Dazak has such strange fits of silence that one does not know exactly what to think of what he says to Frederick Lawson this cane must mean a piece of very damaging evidence but in what way the time when it was bought shows it could not have been in the murderer's possession the time doesn't worry Lawson he is not obliged to adopt my theory which assumes that the murderer got into the yellow room between five and six o'clock but there's nothing to prevent him assuming that the murderer got in between ten and eleven o'clock at night at that hour Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison assisted by Daddy Jacques were engaged in making an interesting chemical experiment in the part of the laboratory taken up by the furnaces Lawson says unlikely as that may seem that the murderer may have slipped behind them he has already got the examining magistrate to listen to him when one looks closely into it the reasoning is absurd seeing that the intimate if there is one must have known that the professor would shortly leave the pavilion and that the friend had only to put off operating till after the professor's departure why should he have risked crossing the laboratory while the professor was in it and then when he had got into the yellow room there are many points to be cleared up before Lawson's theory can be admitted I shan't waste my time over it for my theory won't allow me to occupy myself with mere imagination only as I am obliged for the moment to keep silent and Lawson sometimes talks he may finish by coming out openly against Mishua Dazak if I'm not there added the young reporter proudly for there are surface evidences against Dazak much more convincing than that cane which remains incomprehensible to me all the more so as Lawson does not in the least hesitate to let Dazak see him with it I understand many things in Lawson's theory but I can't make anything of that cane is he still at the chateau yes he hardly ever leaves he sleeps there as I do at the request of Mishua Stangerson who has done for him what Mishua Robert Dazak has done for me in spite of the accusation made by Lawson that Mishua Stangerson knows who the murderer is he yet affords him every facility for arriving at the truth just as Dazak is doing for me but you are convinced of Dazak's innocence at one time I did believe in the possibility of his guilt that was when we arrived here for the first time the time has come for me to tell you what has passed between Mishua Dazak and myself here Ruta B interrupted himself and asked me if I had brought the revolvers I showed him them having examined both he pronounced them excellent and handed them back to me shall we have any use for them I asked no doubt this evening we shall pass the night here if that won't hire you on the contrary I said with an expression that made Ruta be laugh no no he said this is no time for laughing you remember the phrase which was the open sesame of this chateau full of mystery yes I said perfectly the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness it was the phrase which you found on the half burned piece of paper amongst the ashes in the laboratory yes at the bottom of the paper where the flame had not reached was this date 23rd of October remember this date it is highly important I am now going to tell you about that curious phrase on the evening before the crime that is to say on the 23rd Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison were at a reception at the LSA I know that because I was there on duty having to interview one of the savants of the Academy of Philadelphia who was being fated there I had never before seen either Mishua or Mademoiselle Stonjison I was seated in the room which precedes the Salon de ambassadures and tired of being jostled by so many noble personages I had fallen into a vague reverie when I sent it near me the perfume of the lady in black do you ask me what is the perfume of the lady in black it must suffice for you to know that it is the perfume of which I am very fond because it was that of a lady who had been very kind to me in my childhood a lady whom I had always seen dressed in black the lady who that evening was scented with the perfume of the lady in black was dressed in white she was wonderfully beautiful I could not help rising and following her an old man gave her his arm and as they passed I heard voices say professor Stonjison and his daughter it was in that way I learned who it was I was following they met Mishua whom I knew by sight professor Stonjison accosted by Mr. Arthur William Rance one of the American savants seated himself in the great gallery and Mishua led Mademoiselle Stonjison into the conservatory I followed the weather was very mild that evening the garden doors were open Mademoiselle Stonjison threw a fissue shawl over her shoulders and I plainly saw that it was she who was begging Mishua Dazak to go with her into the garden I continued to follow interested by the agitation plainly exhibited by the bearing of Mishua Dazak they slowly passed along the wall abutting on the avenue Marini I took the central alley walking parallel with them and then crossed over for the purpose of getting nearer to them the night was dark and the grass deadened the sound of my steps they had stopped under the vacillating light of a gas jet and appeared to be both bending over a paper held by Mademoiselle Stonjison reading something which deeply interested them I stopped in the darkness and silence neither of them saw me and I distinctly heard Mademoiselle Stonjison repeat as she was refolding the paper the presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness was set in a tone at once mocking and despairing and was followed by a burst of such nervous laughter that I think her words will never cease to sound in my ears but another phrase was uttered by Mishua Robert Dazak must I commit a crime then to win you he was in an extraordinarily agitated state he took the hand of Mademoiselle Stonjison and held it for a long time to his lips and I thought from the movement of his shoulders that he was crying then they went away when I returned to the great gallery continued Ruta B. I saw no more of Mishua Robert Dazak and I was not to see him again until after the tragedy at the Glendier Mademoiselle was near Mr. Rantz who was talking with much animation his eyes during the conversation glowing with a singular brightness Mademoiselle Stonjison I thought was not even listening to what he was saying her face expressing perfect indifference his face was the red face of a drunkard when Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison left he went to the bar and remained there I joined him and rendered him some little service in the midst of the press and crowd he thanked me and told me he was returning to America three days later that is to say on the 26th the day after the crime I talked with him about Philadelphia he told me he had lived there for five and twenty years and that it was there he had met the illustrious professor Stonjison and his daughter he drank a great deal of champagne and when I left him he was very nearly drunk such were my experiences on that evening and I leave you to imagine what affect the news of the attempted murder of Mademoiselle Stonjison produced on me with what forced those words pronounced by Mishua Robert Dazak must I commit a crime then to win you recurred to me it was not this phrase however that I repeated to him when we met here at Glendier the sentence of the Presbytery and the bright garden suffice to open the gate of the Chateau if you ask me if I believe now that Mishua Dazak is the murderer I must say that I do not I do not think I ever quite thought that at the time I could not really think seriously of anything I had so little evidence to go on but I needed to have it once the proof that he had not been wounded in the hand when we were alone together I told him how I had chance to overhear a part of his conversation with Mademoiselle Stonjison in the garden of the LSA and when I repeated to him the words must I commit a crime then to win you he was greatly troubled though much less so than he had been by hearing me repeat the phrase about the Presbytery what threw him into a state of real consternation was to learn for me that the day on which he had gone to meet Mademoiselle Stonjison at the LSA was the very day on which she had gone to the post office for the letter it was that letter perhaps which ended with the words the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness my surmise was confirmed by my finding if you remember in the ashes of the laboratory the fragment of paper dated October the 23rd the letter had been written and withdrawn from the post office on the same day there can be no doubt that on returning from the LSA that night Mademoiselle Stonjison had tried to destroy that compromising paper it was in vain that Michaud Dazak denied that that letter had anything whatever to do with the crime I told him that in an affair so filled with mystery as this he had no right to hide this letter that I was persuaded it was of considerable importance that the desperate tone in which Mademoiselle Stonjison had pronounced the prophetic phrase that his own tears and the threat of a crime which he had professed after the letter was read all these facts tended to leave no room for me to doubt Michaud Dazak became more and more agitated and I determined to take advantage of the effect I had produced on him you were on the point of being married Michaud I said negligently and without looking at him and suddenly your marriage becomes impossible because of the writer of that letter because as soon as his letter was read you spoke of the necessity for a crime to win Mademoiselle Stonjison therefore there is someone between you and her someone who has attempted to kill her so that she should not be able to marry and I concluded with these words and now Michaud you have only to tell me in confidence the name of the murderer the words I had uttered must have struck him ominously for when I turned my eyes on him I saw that his face was haggard the perspiration standing on his forehead and terror showing in his eyes Michaud he said to me I'm going to ask of you something which may appear insane but in exchange for which I place my life in your hands you must not tell the magistrates of what you saw and heard in the garden of the LSA neither to them nor to anybody I swear to you that I am innocent and I know I feel that you believe me but I would rather be taken for the guilty man than see justice go astray on that phrase the presbyterias lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness the judges must know nothing about that phrase all this matter is in your hands Michaud I leave it there but forget the evening at the LSA 100 other roads are open for you in your search for the criminal I will open them for you myself I will help you will you take up your quarters here you may remain here to do as you please eat sleep here watch my actions the actions of all here you shall be master of the Glendier Michaud but forget the evening at the LSA we're to be here paused to take breath I now understood what had appeared so unexplainable in the demeanor of Michaud Robert Dawzak was my friend and the facility with which the young reporter had been able to install himself on the scene of the crime my curiosity could not fail to be excited by all I had heard I asked Ruta B to satisfy it still further what had happened at the Glendier during the past week had he not told me that there was surface indications against Michaud Dawzak much more terrible than that of the king found by Lawson everything seems to be pointing against him replied my friend and the situation is becoming exceedingly grave Michaud Dawzak appears not to mind it much but in that he is wrong I was interested only in the health of Mademoiselle Stangeson which was daily improving when something occurred that is even more mysterious than than the mystery of the yellow room impossible I cried what could be more mysterious than that I'll let us first go back to Michaud Robert Dawzak said Ruta B calming me I have said that everything seems to be pointing against him the marks of the neat boots frowned by Frederick Lawson appear to be really the footprints of Mademoiselle Stangeson's fiance the marks made by the bicycle may have been made by his bicycle he had usually left it at the Chateau why did he take it to Paris on that particular occasion was it because he was not going to return again to the Chateau was it because owing to the breaking off of his marriage his relations with the Stangesons were to cease all who are interested in the matter affirm that those relations were to continue unchanged Frederick Lawson however believes that all relations were at an end from the day when Michaud Dawzak accompanied Mademoiselle Stangeson to the Grand Magazines de la Louvre until the day after the crime he had not been at the Glendier remember that Mademoiselle Stangeson lost her reticule containing the key with the brass head while she was in his company from that day to the evening at the LSA the Sorbonne Professor and Mademoiselle Stangeson did not see one another but they may have written to each other Mademoiselle Stangeson went to the post office to get a letter which Lawson says was written by Robert Dawzak for knowing nothing of what had passed at the LSA Lawson believes that it was Michaud Dawzak himself who stole the reticule with the key with the design of forcing her consent by getting possession of the precious papers of her father papers which he would have restored to him on condition that the marriage engagement was to be fulfilled all that would have been a very doubtful and almost absurd hypothesis as Lawson admitted to me but for another and much graver circumstance in the first place here is something which I have not been able to explain Michaud Dawzak had himself on the 24th gone to the post office to ask for the letter which Mademoiselle had called for and received on the previous evening the description of the man who made application tallies in every respect with the appearance of Michaud Dawzak who in answer to the questions put to him by the examining magistrate denies that he went to the post office now even admitting that the letter was written by him which I do not believe he knew that Mademoiselle Stongerson had received it since he had seen it in her hands in the garden at the LSA it could not have been he then who had gone to the post office the day after the 24th to ask for a letter which he knew was no longer there to me it appears clear that somebody strongly resembling him stole Mademoiselle Stongerson's reticule and in that letter had demanded of her something which she had not sent him he must have been surprised at the failure of his demand hence his application at the post office to learn whether his letter had been delivered to the person to whom it had been addressed finding that it had been claimed he had become furious what had he demanded nobody but Mademoiselle Stongerson knows then on the day following it is reported that she has been attacked during the night and the next day I discovered that the professor had at the same time been robbed by means of the key referred to in the post restaunt it would seem then that the man who went to the post office to inquire for the letter must have been the murderer all these arguments Lawson applies as against Michelle Dazak you may be sure that the examining magistrate Lawson and myself have done our best to get from the post office precise details relative to the singular personage who applied there on the 24th of October but nothing has been learned we don't know where he came from or where he went beyond the description which makes him resemble Michelle Dazak we know nothing I have announced in the leading journals that a handsome reward will be given to a driver of any public conveyance who drove a fare to number 40 post office about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 24th of October information to be addressed to mr at the office of the apoc but no answer has resulted the man may have walked but as he was most likely in a hurry there was a chance that he might have gone in a cab who I keep asking myself night and day is the man who so strongly resembles Michelle Robert Dazak and who was also known to have bought the cane which has fallen into Lawson's hands the most serious fact is that Michelle Dazak was at the very same time that his double presented himself at the post office scheduled for a lecture at the Sorbonne he had not delivered that lecture and one of his friends took his place when I questioned him as to how he had employed the time he told me that he had gone for a stroll in the Bois Duboulon what do you think of a professor who instead of giving his lecture obtains a substitute to go for a stroll in the Bois Duboulon when Frederick Lawson asked him for information on this point he quietly replied that it was no business of his how he spent his time in Paris on which Fred swore aloud that he would find out without anybody's help all this seems to fit in with Fred's hypothesis namely that Michelle Stangerson allowed the murderer to escape in order to avoid a scandal the hypothesis is further substantiated by the fact that Dazak was in the yellow room and was permitted to get away that hypothesis I believe to be a false one Lawson is being misled by it and though that would not displease me did it not affect an innocent person now does that hypothesis really mislead Frederick Lawson that is the question that is the question perhaps he is right I cried interrupting Wu Tabi are you sure that Michelle Dazak is innocent it seems to me that these are extraordinary coincidences coincidences replied my friend are the worst enemies to truth what does the examining magistrate think now of the matter Michelle De Marquet hesitates to accuse Michelle Dazak in the absence of absolute proofs not only would he have public opinion wholly against him to say nothing of the Sorbonne but Michelle and Mademoiselle Stangerson she adores Michelle Robert Dazak indistinctly as she saw the murderer it would be hard to make the public believe that she could not have recognized him if Dazak had been the criminal no doubt the yellow room was very dimly lit but a night light however small gives some light here my boy is how things stood when three days or rather three nights ago an extraordinarily strange incident occurred end of chapter 13 recording by Gloria Ziblicky floral park new york chapter 14 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Madera the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston LaRue chapter 14 i expect the assassin this evening i must take you said route to bill so as to enable you to understand the various scenes i myself believe that i have discovered what everybody else is searching for namely how the murderer escaped from the yellow room without any accomplice and without Mademoiselle Stangerson having had anything to do with it but so long as i am not sure of the real murderer i cannot state the theory on which i am working i can only say that i believe it to be correct and in any case a quite natural and simple one as to what happened in this place three nights ago i must say it kept me wondering for a whole day and a night it passes all belief the theory i have formed from the incident is so absurd that i would rather matters remained as yet unexplained saying which the young reporter invited me to go and make the tour of the chateau with him the only sound to be heard was the crunching of the dead leaves beneath our feet the silence was so intense that one might have thought the chateau had been abandoned the old stones the stagnant water of the ditch surrounding the donjon the bleak ground strewn with the dead leaves the dark skeleton like outlines of the trees all contributed to give to the desolate place now filled with its awful mystery a most funereal aspect as we passed around the donjon we met the green man the forest keeper who did not greet us but walked by as if we had not existed he was looking just as i had formerly seen him through the window of the donjon in he had still his fouling piece slung at his back his pipe was in his mouth and his eyeglasses on his nose an odd kind of fish wrote to be said to me in a low tone have you spoken to him i asked yes but i could get nothing out of him his only answers are grunts and shrugs of the shoulders he generally lives on the first floor of the donjon a big room that once served for an oratory he lives like a bear never goes out without his gun and is only pleasant for the girls the women for 12 miles round are all setting their caps for him for the present he is paying attention to madame matthieu whose husband is keeping a link sigh upon her in consequence after passing the donjon which is situated at the extreme end of the left wing we went to the back of the chateau rout de bill pointing to a window which i recognized as the only one belonging to mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment said to me if you had been here two nights ago you would have seen your humble servant at the top of a ladder about to enter the chateau by that window as i expressed some surprise at this piece of nocturnal gymnastics he begged me to notice carefully the exterior disposition of the chateau we then went back into the building i must now show you the first floor of the chateau where i'm living said my friend rout de bill motioned me to follow him up a magnificent flight of stairs ending in a landing on the first floor from this landing one could pass to the right or left wing of the chateau by a gallery opening from it this gallery high and wide extended along the whole length of the building and was lit from the front of the chateau facing the north the rooms the windows of which looked to the south opened out of the gallery professor dangerouson inhabited the left wing of the building mademoiselle dangerouson had her apartment in the right wing we entered the gallery to the right a narrow carpet laid on the waxed oaken floor which shone like glass deaden the sound of our footsteps rout de bill asked me in a low tone to walk carefully as we were passing the door of mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment this consisted of a bedroom an ante room a small bathroom a boudoir and a drawing room one could pass from one to another of these rooms without having to go by way of the gallery the gallery continued straight to the western end of the building where it was lit by a high window at about two-thirds of its length this gallery at a right angle joined another gallery following the course of the right wing the better to follow this narrative we shall call the gallery leading from the stairs to the eastern window the right gallery and the gallery quitting it at a right angle the off-turning gallery it was at the meeting point of the two galleries that rout de bill had his chamber adjoining that of fredéric larcent the door of each opening on to the off-turning gallery while the doors of mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment opened into the right gallery rout de bill opened the door of his room and after we had passed in carefully drew the bolt i had not had time to glance round the place in which he had been installed when he uttered a cry of surprise and pointed to a pair of eyeglasses on a side table what are these doing here he asked i should have been puzzled to answer him i wonder he said i wonder if this is what i've been searching for i wonder if these are the eyeglasses from the prosperity he sees them eagerly his fingers caressing the glass then looking at me with an expression of terror on his face he murmured oh oh he repeated the exclamation again and again as if his thoughts had suddenly turned his brain he rose and putting his hand on my shoulder laughed like one demented as he said this glasses will drive me silly mathematically speaking the thing is possible but humanly speaking it is impossible or afterwards or afterwards two light knocks struck the door rout de bill opened it a figure entered i recognized the concierge whom i had seen when she was being taken to the pavilion for examination i was surprised thinking she was still under lock and key this woman said in a very low tone in the grove of the parquet ruled to be replied thanks the woman then left he again turned to me his look haggard after having carefully refastered the door muttering some incomprehensible phrases if the thing is mathematically possible why should it not be humanly and if it is humanly possible the matter is simply awful i interrupted him in his soliloquy have they said the concierge is at liberty then i asked yes he replied i had them liberated i needed people i could trust the woman is thoroughly devoted to me and her husband would lay down his life for me oh oh i said when will we have an occasion to do it this evening for this evening i expect the murderer you expect the murderer this evening then you know him i shall know him but i would be mad to affirm categorically at this moment that i do know him the mathematical idea i have of the murderer gives results so frightful so monstrous that i hope it is still possible that i am mistaken i hope so with all my heart five minutes ago you did not know the murderer how can you say that you expect him this evening because i know that he must come root to be a very slowly filled his pipe and lidded that meant an interesting story at that moment we heard someone walking in the gallery and passing before our door were to be listened the sound of the footsteps died away in the distance is fredrik lasan in his room i asked pointing to the partition no my friend answered he went to paris this morning still on the scent of darzak who also left for paris that matter will turn out badly i expect that monster darzak will be arrested in the course of the next week the worst of it is that everything seems to be in league against him circumstances things people not an hour passes without bringing some new evidence against him the examining magistrate is overwhelmed by it and blind fredrik lasan however is not a novice i said i thought so said root to be able to slightly contemptuous turn of his lips i fancied he was a much abler man i had indeed a great admiration for him before i got to know his method of working it's deplorable he owes his reputation solely to his ability but he lacks reasoning power the mathematics of his ideas are very poor i looked closely at root to be and could not help smiling on hearing this boy of 18 talking of a man who had proved to the world that he was the finest police luth in europe you smile he said you are wrong i swear i will outwit him and in a striking way but i must make haste about it for he has an enormous start on me given him by moncier robert darzak who is this evening going to increase it still more think of it every time the murderer comes to the chateau moncier darzak by a strange fatality absents himself and refuses to give any account of how he employs his time every time the assassin comes to the chateau i cried has he returned then yes during that famous night when the strange phenomenon occurred i was now going to learn about the astonishing phenomenon to which root to be had made an illusion half an hour earlier without giving me any explanation of it but i had learned never to press root to be ill in his narratives he spoke when the fancy took him and when he judged it to be right he was less concerned about my curiosity than he was for making a complete summing up for himself of any important matter in which he was interested at last in short rapid phrases he acquainted me with things which plunged me into a state bordering on complete bewilderment indeed the results of that still unknown science known as hypnotism for example were not more inexplicable than the disappearance of the matter of the murderer at the moment when four persons were within touch of him i speak of hypnotism as i would of electricity for of the nature of both we are ignorant and we know little of their laws i cite these examples because at the time the case appeared to me to be only explicable by the inexplicable that is to say by an event outside of no natural laws and yet if i had had root to be his brain i should like him have had a presentiment of the natural explanation for the most curious thing about all the mysteries of the glandia case was the natural manner in which he explained them i have among the papers that were sent to me by the young man after the affair was over a notebook of his in which a complete account is given of the phenomenon of the disappearance of the matter of the assassin and the thoughts to which it gave rise in the mind of my young friend it is preferable i think to give the reader this account rather than continue to reproduce my conversation with root to bill for i should be afraid in a history of this nature to add a word that was not in accordance with the strictest truth end of chapter 14 recording by madara chapter 15 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by jc equan the mystery of the yellow room by guest on the road chapter 15 the trap extract from the notebook of joseph roltaby last night the night between the 29th and the 30th of october wrote joseph roltaby i woke up towards one o'clock in the morning was it sleeplessness or noise without the cry of the bet du bon dieu rang out with sinister loudness from the end of the park i rose and opened the window cold wind and rain opaque darkness silence i reclosed my window again the sound of the cat's weird crying the distance i partly dressed in haste the weather was too bad for even a cat to be turned out in it what did it mean then that imitating of the mewing of mother ajano's cat so near the chateau i seized a good-sized stick the only weapon i had and without making any noise opened the door the gallery into which i went was well lit by a lamp with a reflector i felt a keen current of air and on turning found the winter open at the extreme end of the gallery which i called the off-turning gallery to distinguish it from the right gallery on to which the apartment of mud ones and strangers and opened these two galleries cross each other at right angles who had left that window open or who had come to open it i went to the window and leaned out five feet below me there was a sort of terrace over the semicircular projection of a room on the ground floor one could if one wanted jump from the window on to the terrace and allow oneself to drop from it into the court of the chateau whoever had entered by this road had evidently not had a key to the vestibule door but why should i be thinking of my previous night's attempt with the ladder because of the open window left open perhaps but the negligence of the servant i reclosed it smiling at the ease with which i built a drama on the mere suggestion of an open window again the cry of the bit du bon dieu and then silence the rain ceased to beat on the window all in the chateau slept i walked with infinite precaution on the carpet of the gallery on reaching the corner of the right gallery i peered around it cautiously there was another lamp there with a reflector which quite lit up the several objects in it three chairs and some pictures hanging on the wall what was i doing there perfect silence rained throughout everything was sunk in repose what was the instinct that urged me towards mademoiselle stangerson's chamber why did the voice within me cry go on to the chamber of mademoiselle stangerson i cast my eyes down upon the carpet on which i was treading and saw that my steps were being directed towards mademoiselle stangerson's chamber by the marks of steps that had already been made there yes on the carpet were traces of footsteps stained with mud leading to the chamber of mademoiselle stangerson horror horror i recognized in those footprints the impression of the neat boots of the murderer he had come then from without in this wretched night if you could descend from the gallery by way of the window by means of the terrace then you could get into the chateau by the same means the murderer was still in the chateau for here were marks as of returning footsteps he had entered by the open window at the extremity of the off-turning gallery he had passed fredéric larson's door and mine had turned to the right and had entered mademoiselle stangerson's room i am before the door of her enter room it is open i push it without making the least noise under the door of the room itself i see a streak of light i listen no sound not even of breathing ah if i only knew what was passing in the silence that is behind that door i find the door locked and the k turned on the inner side and the murderer is there perhaps he must be there well he escaped this time all depends on me i must be calm and above all i must make no false steps i must see into that room i can enter it by mademoiselle stangerson's drawing room but to do that i should have to cross her boudoir and while i am there the merger may escape by the gallery door the door in front of which i am now standing i am sure that no other crime is being committed on this night for there is complete silence in her boudoir where two nurses are taking care of mademoiselle stangerson until she is restored to health as i am almost sure that the merger is there why do i not at once give the alarm the merger may perhaps escape but perhaps i may be able to save mademoiselle stangerson's life suppose the merger on this occasion is not here to murder the door has been opened to allow him to enter by whom and it has been refastened by whom mademoiselle stangerson shut herself up in her apartment with her nurses every night who turned the key of that chamber to allow the merger to enter the nurses two faithful domestics the old chambermaid sylvia it is very improbable besides they slept in the boudoir and mademoiselle stangerson very nervous and careful monsieur robert d'arzac told me cease to her own safety since she has been well enough to move about in her room which i have not yet seen her leave this nervousness and sudden care on her part which had struck monsieur d'arzac had given me also food for thought at the time of the crime in the yellow room there can be no doubt that she expected the merger was he expected this night was it she herself who had opened her door to him had she some reason for doing so was she obliged to do it was it a meeting for purposes of crime certainly it was not a lovers meeting for i believe mademoiselle stangerson adores monsieur d'arzac all these reflections ran through my brain like a flash of lightning what would i not give to know it is possible that there was some reason for the awful silence my intervention might do more harm than good how could i tell how could i know i might not any moment cause another crime if i could only see and know without breaking that silence i left the enter room and descended the central stairs to the vestibule and as silently as possible made my way to the little room on the ground floor where daddy jack had been sleeping since the attack made at the pavilion i found him dressed his eyes wide open almost haggard he did not seem surprised to see me he told me that he had got up because he had heard the cry of the bed jubon dieu and because he had heard footsteps in the park close to his window out of which he had looked and just then had seen a black shadow pass by i asked him whether he had a firearm of any kind no he no longer kept one since the examining magistrate had taken his revolver from him we went out together by a little black door into the park and stole along the shadow to the point which is just below mademoiselle stangerson's window i placed daddy jack against the wall ordering him not to stir from the spot while i taking advantage of a moment when the moon was hidden by a cloud moved to the front of the window out of the patch of light which came from it where the window was half open if i could only know what was passing in that silent chamber i returned to daddy jack and whispered the word ladder in his ear at first i had thought of the tree which a week ago served me for an observatory but i immediately saw that from the way the window was half opened i should not be able to see from that point of view anything that was passing in the room and i wanted not only to see but to hear and to act greatly agitated almost trembling daddy jack disappeared for a moment and returned without the ladder but making signs to me with his arms as signals to me to come quickly to him when i got near him he gasped come i went to the donjon in search of my ladder and in the lower part of the donjon which shows me and the gardener for a lumber room i found the door open and the ladder gone on coming out that's what i caught sight of by the light of the moon and he pointed to the further end of the chateau where a ladder stood resting against the stone brackets supporting the terrace under the window which i had found open the projection of the terrace had prevented my seeing it thanks to that ladder it was quite easy to get into the afternoon gallery of the first floor and i had no doubt of it having been the road taken by the unknown we ran to the ladder but at the moment of reaching it daddy jack drew my attention to the half open door of the little semicircular room situated under the terrace at the extremity of the right wing of the chateau having the terrace for its roof daddy jack pushed the door open a little further and looked in he's not there he whispered who is not there the forest keeper with his lips once more to my ear he added do you know that he has slept in the upper room of the donjon ever since it was restored and with the same gesture he pointed to the half open door the ladder the terrace and the windows in the afternoon gallery which a little while before i had reclosed what were my thoughts then i had no time to think i felt more than i thought evidently i felt if the forest keeper is up there in the chamber i say if because at this moment apart from the presence of the ladder and his vacant room there are no evidences which permit me to even suspect him if he is there he has been obliged to pass by the ladder and the rooms which lie behind his in his new lodging are occupied by the family of the steward and by the cook and by the kitchens which barred away by the vestibule to the interior of the chateau and if he had been there during the evening on any pretext it would have been easy for him to go into the gallery and see that the window could be simply pushed open from the outside this question of the unfastened window easily narrowed the field of search for the murderer he must belong to the house unless he had an accomplice which i do not believe he had unless unless mademoiselle stangeerson herself had seen that that window was not fastened from the inside but then what could be the frightful secret which put her under the necessity of doing away with obstacle that separated her from the murderer i seized hold of the ladder and we returned to the back of the chateau to see if the window of the chamber was still half open the blind was drawn but did not join and allowed a bright stream of light to escape and fall upon the path at our feet i planted the ladder under the window i am almost sure that i made no noise and while the hijack remained at the foot of the ladder i mounted it very quietly my stout stick in my hand i held my breath and lift on my feet with the greatest care suddenly a heavy cloud discharged itself at that moment in a fresh downpour of rain at the same instant the sinister cry of the bit du bon dieu arrested me in my ascent it seemed to me to have come from close by me only a few yards away was the cry a signal had some accomplice of the man seen me on the ladder what the cry bring the man to the window perhaps ah there he was at the window i felt his head above me i heard the sound of his breath i could not look up towards him the leased movement of my head and i might be lost would he see me would he be here into the darkness no he went away he had seen nothing i felt rather than heard him moving on tiptoe in the room and i mounted a few steps higher my head reached to the level of the windowsill my forehead rose above it my eyes looked between the opening in the blinds and i saw a man seated at mademoiselle stangerson's little desk writing his back was turned towards me a candle was lit before him and he bent over the flame the light from it projecting shapeless shadows i saw nothing but a monstrous stupid bat mademoiselle stangerson herself was not there her bed had not been laid on where then was she sleeping that night doubtless in the side room with her women perhaps this was but a guess i must content myself with the joy of finding the man alone i must be calm and prepare my trap but who then is this man writing there before my eyes seated at the desk as if he were in his own home if there had not been that ladder under the window if there had not been those footprints on the carpet in the gallery if there had not been that open window i might have been led to think that this man had a right to be there and that he was there as a matter of course and for reasons about which as yet i knew nothing but there was no doubt that this mysterious unknown was the man of the yellow room the man to whose murderous assault mademoiselle stangerson without denouncing him had had to submit if i could but see his face surprise and capture him if i spring into the room at this moment he will escape by the right hand door opening into the boudoir or crossing the drawing room he will reach the gallery and i shall lose him i have him now and in five minutes more he'll be safer than if i had him in a cage what is he doing there alone in mademoiselle stangerson's room what is he writing i descend and place the ladder on the ground daddy jack follows me we re-enter the chateau i sent daddy jack to wake mr stangerson and instruct him to await my coming in mademoiselle stangerson's room and to say nothing definite to him before my arrival i will go and awaken frédéric larcent it's a bore to have to do it for i should have liked to work alone and to have carried off all the honors of this affair myself right under the very nose of the sleeping detective but daddy jack and mr stangerson are old men and i am not yet fully developed i might not be strong enough larcent is used to wrestling and putting on the handcuffs he opened his eyes swollen with sleep ready to send me flying without in the least believing in my reporter's fancies i had to assure him that the man was there that's strange he said i thought i left him this afternoon in Paris he dressed himself in haste and armed himself with a revolver we stole quietly into the gallery where is he larcent asked in mademoiselle stangerson's room and mademoiselle stangerson she is not in there let's go in don't go there on the least alarm the man will escape he has four ways by which to do it the door the window the boudoir or the room in which the women are sleeping i'll draw him from below and if you fail if you only succeed in wounding him he'll escape again without reckoning that he is certainly armed no let me direct the expedition and i'll answer for everything as you like he replied with fairly good craze then after satisfying myself that all the windows of the two galleries were thoroughly secure i placed red reg larcent at the end of the off-turning gallery before the window which i had found open and had reclosed under no consideration i said to him must you stir from this post till i call you the chances are even that the man who and he is pursued will return to this window and try to save himself that way for it is by that way he came in and is made away ready for his flight you have a dangerous post what will be yours asked fred i shall spring into the room and knock him over for you take my revolver said fred and i'll take your stick thanks i said you are a brief man i accepted his offer i was going to be alone with the man in the room writing and was really thankful to have the weapon i left fred having posted him at the window and with the greatest precaution went towards mr. stangerson's apartment in the left wing of the chateau found him with daddy jack who had faithfully obeyed my directions confining himself to asking his master to dress as quickly as possible in a few words i explained to mr. stangerson what was passing he armed himself with a revolver followed me and we were all three speedily in the gallery since i had seen the merger seated at the desk 10 minutes had elapsed mr. stangerson wished to spring upon the assassin at once and kill him i made him understand that above all he must not in his desire to kill him miss him when i had sworn to him that his daughter was not in the room and in no danger he conquered his impatience and left me to direct the operations i told them that they must come to me the moment i called to them or when i fired my revolver i then sent daddy jack to place himself before the window at the end of the right gallery i chose that physician for daddy jack because i believed that the merger tracked on leaving the room would run through the gallery towards the window which he had left open and instantly seeing that it was guarded by larcent would pursue his course along the right gallery there he would encounter daddy jack who would prevent his springing out of the window into the park under that window there was a sort of buttress while all the other windows in the galleries were at such a height from the ground that it was almost impossible to jump from them without breaking one's neck all the doors and windows including those of the lumber room at the end of the right gallery as i had rapidly assured myself were strongly secured having indicated to daddy jack the post he was to occupy and having seen him take up his position i placed mr stanger son on the landing at the head of the stairs not far from the door of his daughter's enterium rather than the boudoir where the women were and the door of which must have been locked by madwaza stangerson herself if as i thought she had taken refuge in the boudoir for the purpose of avoiding the merger who was coming to see her in any case he must return to the gallery where my people were awaiting him at every possible exit on coming there he would say on his left mr stangerson he would turn to the right towards the off-turning gallery the way he had pre-arranged for flight where at the intersection of the two galleries he would see at once as i have explained on his left frédéric larcent at the end of the off-turning gallery and in front daddy jack at the end of the right gallery mr stangerson and myself would arrive by way of the back of the chateau he is ours he can no longer escape us i was sure of that the plan i had formed seemed to me the best the surest and the most simple it would no doubt have been simpler still if we had been able to place someone directly behind the door of mademoiselle's boudoir which opened out of her bedchamber and in that way had been in a position to besiege the two doors of the room in which the man was but we could not penetrate the boudoir except by way of the drawing room the door of which had been locked on the inside by mademoiselle stangerson but even if i had had the free disposition of the boudoir i should have held to the plan i had formed because any other plan of attack would have separated us at the moment of the struggle with the man while my plan united us all for the attack at a spot which i had selected with almost mathematical precision the intersection of the two galleries having so placed my people i again left the chateau hurried to my ladder and replacing it climbed up revolver in hand if there be any inclined to smile at my taking so many precautionary measures i refer them to the mystery of the yellow room and to all the proofs we have of the weird cunning of the murderer further if there be some who sink my observations needlessly minute at a moment when they ought to be completely held by rapidity of movement and decision of action i reply that i have wished to report here at length and completely all the details of a plan of attack conceived so rapidly that it is only the slowness of my pen that gives an appearance of slowness to the execution i have wished by this slowness and precision to be certain that nothing should be omitted from the conditions under which this strange phenomenon was produced which until some natural explanation of it is forthcoming seems to me to prove even better than the theories of professor stangerson the dissociation of matter i will even say the instantaneous dissociation of matter and of chapter 15 read by jc guan montreal january 2009 chapter 16 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librew box recording all librew box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librewbox.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roux chapter 16 strange phenomenon of the dissociation of matter extract from the notebook of joseph roultaby continued i am again at the windowsill continues roultaby and once more i've raised my head above it through an opening in the curtains the arrangement of which has not been changed i am ready to look anxious to note the position in which i am going to find the murderer whether his back will still be turned towards me whether he is still seated at the desk writing but perhaps perhaps he's no longer there yet how could he have fled was i not in possession of his ladder i force myself to be cool i raise my head yet higher i look he's still there i see his monstrous back deformed by the shadow thrown by the candle he's no longer writing now and the candle is on the pocket over which he's bending a position which serves my purpose i hold my breath i mount the ladder i am on the uppermost rung of it and with my left hand sees hold of the windowsill in this moment of approaching success i feel my heart beating widely i put my revolver between my teeth a quick spring and i shall be on the window ledge but the ladder i had been obliged to press on it heavily and my foot had scarcely left it when i felt it swaying beneath me it created on the wall and fell but already my knees were touching the windowsill and by a movement quick as lightning i got onto it but the murderer had been even quicker than i had been he had heard the creating of the ladder on the wall and i saw the monstrous back of the man raise itself i saw his head did i really see it the candle on the pocket lit up his legs only above the height of the table the chamber was in darkness i saw a man with long hair a full beard wide-looking eyes a pale face framed in large whiskers as well as i could distinguish and as i think red in color i did not know the face that was in brief the chief sensation i received from that face in the dim half light in which i saw it i did not know it or at least i did not recognize it now for quick action it was indeed time for that for as i was about to place my legs through the window the man had seen me had bound it to his feet had sprung as i foresaw he would to the door of the anti chamber had time to open it and fled but i was already behind him revolver in hand shouting help like an arrow i crossed the room but noticed a letter on the table as i rushed i almost came up with the man in the anti room for he had lost time in opening the door to the gallery i flew on wings and in the gallery was but a few feet behind him he had taken as i supposed he would the gallery on his right that is to say the road he had prepared for his flight help jack help larcen i cried he could not escape us i raised a shout of joy of savage victory the man reached the intersection of the two galleries hardly two seconds before me for the meeting which i had prepared the fatal shock which must inevitably take place at that spot we all rushed to the crossing place monsieur stranger son and i coming from one end of the right gallery daddy jack coming from the other end of the same gallery and frédéric larcen coming from the off turning gallery the man was not there we looked at each other stupidly and with eyes terrified the man had vanished like a ghost where is he where is he we all asked it is impossible he can have escaped i cried my terror mastered by my anger i touched him exclaimed frédéric larcen i felt his breath on my face cried daddy jack where is he where is he we all cried we raced like mad men along the two galleries we visited doors and windows they were closed hermetically closed they had not been opened besides the opening of a door or window by this man whom we were hunting without our having perceived it would have been more inexplicable than his disappearance where is he where is he he could not have got away by a door or window nor by any other way he could not have passed through our bodies i confess that for the moment i felt done for for the gallery was perfectly lighted and there was neither trap nor secret door in the walls nor any sort of hiding place we moved the chairs and lifted the pictures nothing nothing we would have looked into a flower pot if there had been one to look into when this mystery thanks to wultaby was naturally explained by the help alone of his masterful mind we were able to realize that the murderer had got away neither by a door a window nor the stairs a fact which the judges would not admit end of chapter 16 recording by eswar in belgium in august 2008 chapter 17 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a liber box recording all liber box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit liberbox.org recording by madera the mystery and the yellow room by gaston la rue chapter 17 the inexplicable gallery mademoiselle stanger sent a pair to the door of her anti room continues rule to build notebook we were near her door in the gallery where this incredible phenomenon had taken place there are moments when one feels as if one's brain were about to burst a bullet in the head a fracture of the skull the seat of reason shattered with only these can i compare the sensation which exhausted and let me void of sense happily mademoiselle stanger sent appeared on the threshold of anti room i saw her and that helped to relieve my chaotic state of mind i breathed her i inhaled the perfume of the lady in black whom i should never see again i would have given ten years of my life half my life to see once more the lady in black alas i no more meet her but from time to time and yet and yet how the memory of that perfume felt by me alone carries me back to the days of my childhood it was this sharp reminder from my beloved perfume of the lady in black which made me go to her dressed wholly in white and so pale so pale and so beautiful on the threshold of the inexplicable gallery her beautiful golden hair gathered into a knot on the back of her neck left visible the red star on her temple which had so nearly been the cause of her death when i first got on the right track of the mystery of this case i had imagined that on the night of the tragedy in the yellow room man was so stentious and had worn her having bands but then how could i have imagined otherwise when i had not been in the yellow room when i wrote these lines joseph ruled the bill was eighteen years of age and he spoke of his youth i have kept the text of my friend but i informed the reader here that the episode of the mystery of the yellow room has no connection with that of the perfume of the lady in black it is not my fault if in the document which i have cited root the bill thought fit to refer to his childhood but now since the occurrence of the inexplicable gallery i did not reason at all i stood there stupid before the apparition so pale and so beautiful of man was el stencherson she was glad in the dressing gown of dreamy white one might have taken her to be a ghost a lovely phantom her father took her in his arms and kissed her passionately as if he had recovered her after being long lost to him i dared not question her he drew her into the room and we followed them for we had to know the door of the boudoir was open the terrified faces of the two nurses crane towards us man was el stencherson inquired the meaning of all the disturbance that she was not in her own rooms quite easily explained quite easily she had a fancy not to sleep that night in her chamber but in the boudoir with her nurses locking the door on them since the night of the crime she had experienced feelings of terror and fears came over her that are easily to be comprehended but who could imagine that on that particular night when he was to come she would by a mere chance determined to shut herself in with her women who would think that she would act contrary to her father's wish to sleep in the drawing room who could believe that the letter which had so recently been on the table in her room would no longer be there he who could understand all this would have to assume the man was el stencherson knew that the murderer was coming she could not prevent his coming again unknown to her father unknown to all but to monsayor robert darzak for he must know it now perhaps he had known it before did he remember that phrase in the lsc garden must i commit a crime then to win you against whom the crime if not against the obstacle against the murderer ah i would kill him with my own hand and i replied you have not answered my question that was the very truth in truth in truth monsayor darzak knew the murderer so well that while wishing to kill him himself he was afraid i should find him there could be but two reasons why he had assisted me in my investigation first because i've forced him to do it and second because she would be the better protected i am in the chamber her room i look at her also in the place where the letter had just now been she has possessed herself of it it was evidently intended for her evidently how she trembles trembles at the strange story her father is telling her of the presence of the murderer in her chamber and of the pursuit but it is plainly to be seen that she is not wholly satisfied by the assurance given her until she has been told that the murderer by some incomprehensible means has been able to elude us then follows a silence what a silence we are all there looking at her her father lasso daddy jack and i what were we all thinking of in the silence after the events of that night of the mystery of the inexplicable gallery of the prodigious fact of the presence of the murderer in her room it seemed to me that all our thoughts might have been translated into the words which were addressed to her you who know of this mystery explain it to us and we shall perhaps be able to save you how i longed to save her for herself and from the other it brought the tears to my eyes she is there shedding about her the perfume of the lady in black at last i see her in the silence of her chamber since the fatal hour of the mystery of the yellow room we have hung about this invisible and silent woman to learn what she knows our desires our wish to know must be a torment to her who can tell that should we learn the secret of a mystery it would not precipitate a tragedy more terrible than that which had already been enacted here who can tell if it might not mean her death yet it had brought her close to death and we still knew nothing or rather there are some of us who know nothing but i if i knew who i should know all who who not knowing who i must remain silent out of pity for her for there is no doubt that she knows how he escaped from the yellow room and yet she keeps the secret when i know who i will speak to him to him she looked at us now with a faraway look in her eyes as if we were not in the chamber Montseil's dangerous and broke the silence he declared that henceforth he would no more absent himself from his daughter's apartments she tried to oppose him in vain he had here firmly to his purpose he would install himself there this very night he said solely concerned for the health of his daughter he reproached for having left her bed then he suddenly began talking to her as if she were a little child he smiled at her and seemed not to know either what he said or what he did the illustrious professor had lost his head Mademoiselle Stangerson in a tone of tender distress said father father daddy Jacques blows his nose and frederick Laesson himself is obliged to turn away to hide his emotion for myself i am able neither to think or feel i felt an infinite contempt for myself it was the first time that frederick Laesson like myself found himself face to face with Mademoiselle Stangerson since the attack in the yellow room like me he had insisted on being allowed to question the unhappy lady but he had not any more than i had been permitted to him as to me the same answer had always been given Mademoiselle Stangerson was too weak to receive us the questionings of the examining magistrate had over fatigued her it was evidently intended not to give us any assistance in our researches i was not surprised but frederick Laesson had always resented this conduct it is true that he and i had a totally different theory of the crime i still catch myself repeating from the depths of my heart save her save her without his speaking who is he the murderer take him and shut his mouth but Montréal D'Azac made it clear that in order to shut his mouth he must be killed have i the right to kill Mademoiselle Stangerson's murderer no i had not but let him only give me the chance let me find out whether he is really a creature of flesh and blood let me see his dead body since he cannot be taken alive if i could but make this woman who does not even look at us understand she is absorbed by her fears and by her father's distress of mind and i can do nothing to save her yes i will go to work once more and accomplish wonders i move towards her i would speak to her i would entreat her to have confidence in me i would in a word make her understand she alone that i know how the murderer escaped from the yellow room that i have guessed the motive for her secrecy and that i pity her with all my heart but by her gestures she begged us to leave her alone expressing weariness and the need for immediate rest Montréal Stangerson asked us to go back to our rooms and thanked us Frederic Larson and i bowed to him and followed by Daddy Jacques we regained the gallery i heard Larson murmur strange strange he made a sign to me to go with him into his room on the threshold he turned toward Daddy Jacques did you see him distinctly he asked who the man saw him why he had a big red beard and red hair that's how he appeared to me i said and to me said Larson the great Fred and i were alone in his chamber now to talk over this thing we talked for an hour turning the matter over and viewing it from every side from the questions put by him from the explanation which he gives me it is clear to me that in spite of all our senses he is persuaded that the man disappeared by some secret passage in the chateau known to him alone he knows the chateau he said to me he knows it well he is rather a tall man well built i suggested he is as tall as he wants to be moment Fred i understand i said but how do you account for his red hair and beard too much beard too much hair false says Fred that's easily said you are always thinking of Robert Darzak can't you get rid of that idea i am certain that he is innocent so much the better i hope so but everything condemns him did you notice the marks in the carpet come and look at them i have seen them they are the marks of the neat boots the same as those we saw on the border of the lake can you deny that they belong to Robert Darzak of course one may be mistaken have you noticed that those footprints only go in one direction that there are no return marks when the man came from the chamber pursued by all of us his footsteps left no traces behind them he had perhaps been in the chamber for hours the mud from his boots had dried and he moved with such rapidity and the points of his toes we saw him running but we did not hear his steps i suddenly put an end to this idle chatter void of any logic and made a sign to larcent to listen there below someone is shutting at all i rise larcent follows me we descend to the ground floor of the chateau i lead him to the little semicircular room under the terrace beneath the window of the off-turning gallery i point to the door now closed open a short time before under which a shaft of light is visible the forest keeper says read come on i whisper prepared i know not why to believe that the keeper is the guilty man i go to the door and wrap smartly on it some might think that we were rather late thinking of the keeper since our first business having found that the murderer had escaped us in the gallery ought to have been to search everywhere else around the chateau in the park had this criticism been made at the time we could only have answered that the assassin had disappeared from the gallery in such a way that we thought he was no longer anywhere he had eluded us when we all had our hand stretched out ready to seize him when we were almost touching him we had no longer any ground for hoping that we could clear up the mystery of that night as soon as i wrapped at the door it was opened and the keeper asked us quietly what we wanted he was undressed and preparing to go to bed the bed had not yet been disturbed we entered an eye affected surprise not gone to bed yet no he replied roughly i've been making a round of the park and in the woods i'm only just back and sleepy good night listen i said an hour or so ago there was a ladder close by your window what ladder i did not see any ladder good night and he simply put us out of the room when we were outside i looked at larcent his face was impenetrable well i said well he repeated does that open out any new view to you there was no mistaking larcent's bad temper on re-entering the chateau i heard him mutter it would be strange very strange if i deceived myself on that point he seemed to be talking to me rather than to himself he added in any case we shall soon know what to think the morning will bring light with it end of chapter 17 recording by madera in seattle washington chapter 18 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roux chapter 18 roule tabby has drawn a circle between the two bumps on his forehead extract from the notebook of joseph roule tabby continued we separated on the thresholds of our rooms with a melancholy shake of the hands i was glad to have aroused in him a suspicion of error he was an original brain very intelligent but without method i did not go to bed i awaited the coming of daylight and then went down to the front of the chateau and made a detour examining every trace of footsteps coming towards it or going from it these however were so mixed and confusing that i could make nothing of them here i may make a remark i am not accustomed to attach an exaggerated importance to exterior signs left in the track of a crime the method which traces the criminal by means of the tracks of his footsteps is altogether primitive so many footprints are identical however in the disturbed state of my mind i did go into the deserted court and did look at all the footprints i could find there seeking for some indication as a basis for reasoning if i could but find a right starting point in despair i seated myself on a stone for over an hour i busyed myself with the common ordinary work of a policeman like the least intelligent of detectives i went unblindly over the traces of footprints which told me just no more than they could i came to the conclusion that i was a fool lower in the scale of intelligence than even the police of the modern romanza novelists build mountains of stupidity out of a footprint on the sand or from an impression of a hand on the wall that's the way innocent men are brought to prison it might convince an examining magistrate or the head of a detective department but it's not proof you writers forget that what the census furnish is not proof if i am taking cognizance of what is offered me by my senses i do so but to bring the results within the circle of my reason that circle may be the most circumscribed but if it is it has this advantage it holds nothing but the truth yes i swear that i have never used the evidence of the senses but as servants to my reason i have never permitted them to become my master they have not made of me that monstrous thing worse than a blind man a man who sees falsely and that is why i can triumph over your error and your merely animal intelligence frédéric larcent be of good courage then friend roultaby it is impossible that the incident of the inexplicable gallery should be outside the circle of your reason you know that then have faith and take thought with yourself and forget not that you took hold of the right hand when you drew that circle in your brain within which to unravel this mysterious play of circumstance to it once again go back to the gallery take your stand on your reason and rest there as frédéric larcent rests on his cane you will then soon prove that the great fred is nothing but a fool 30th october noon joseph roultaby i acted as i planned with head on fire i retraced my way to the gallery and without having found anything more than i had seen on the previous night the right hold i had taken of my reason drew me to something so important that i was obliged to cling to it to save myself from falling now for the strength and patience to find sensible traces to fit in with my thinking and these must come within the circle i have drawn between the two bumps on my forehead 30th of october midnight joseph roultaby end of chapter 18 recorded by ezwa in belgium in august 2008 chapter 19 of the mystery of the jello room this is a librivox recording or librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org reading by larch rolander the mystery of the yellow room by gaston larou chapter 19 roultaby invites me to breakfast at the donjon inn it was not until later that roultaby sent me the notebook in which he had written at length the story of the phenomenon of the inexplicable gallery on the day i arrived at the glandier and joined him in his room he recounted to me with the greatest detail all that i have now related telling me also how he had spent several hours in paris where he had learned nothing that could be of any help to him the event of the inexplicable gallery had occurred on the night between the 29th and 30th of october that is to say three days before my return to the chateau it was on the second of november then that i went back to the glandier summoned there by my friend's telegram and taking the revolvers with me i am now in roultaby's room and he has finished his recital while he had been telling me the story i noticed him continually rubbing the glass of the eyeglasses he had found on the side table from the evident pleasure he was taking in handling them i felt they must be one of those sensible evidences destined to enter what he had called the circle of the right end of his reason that's strange and unique way of his to express himself in terms wonderfully adequate for his thoughts no longer surprised me it was often necessary to know his thought to understand the terms he used and it was not easy to penetrate into roulette bill's thinking this lads brain was one of the most curious things i have ever observed roulette bill went on the even tenor of his way without suspecting the astonishment and even bewilderment he roused in others i'm sure he was not himself in the least conscious of the originality of his genius he was himself and at ease wherever he happened to be when he had finished his recital he asked me what i thought of it i replied that i was much puzzled by his question then he begged me to try in my turn to take my reason in hand by the right end very well i said it seems to me that the point of departure of my reason would be this there can be no doubt that the murderer you pursued was in the gallery i paused after making so good a start you ought not to stop so soon he exclaimed come make another effort i'll try since he disappeared from the gallery without passing through any door or window he must have escaped by some other opening roulette bill looked at me pittingly smiled carelessly and remarked that i was reasoning like a postman or like fredric larcen roulette bill had alternate fits of admiration and disdain for the great fred it all depended as to whether larcen's discoveries tallied with roulette bill's reasoning or not when they did he would exclaim he is really great when they did not he would grunt and mutter what an ass it was a petty side of the noble character of this strange youth we had risen and he led me into the park when we reached the court and were making towards the gate the sound of blinds thrown back against the wall made us turn our heads and we saw at a window on the first floor of the chateau the ruddy and clean shaven face of a person i did not recognize hello muttered roulette bill Arthur runs he lowered his head quickened his pace and i heard him ask himself between his teeth are she in the chateau that night what is he doing here we had gone some distance from the chateau when i asked him who this author rance was and how he had come to know him he referred to his story of that morning and i remembered that mr Arthur W. Rance was the american from philadelphia with whom he had had so many drinks at the lc reception but was he not to have left france almost immediately i asked no doubt that's why i'm surprised to find him here still and not only in france but above all at the plunger he did not arrive this morning and he did not get here last night he must have got here before dinner then why didn't the concierge's tell me i reminded my friend apropos the concierge's that he had not yet told me what had led him to get them set at liberty we were close to their lodge monsieur and madame bernier saw us coming a trang smiled it up their happy faces they seemed to harbor no ill feeling because of their detention my young friend asked them at what hour mr Arthur Rance had arrived they answered that they did not know he was at the chateau he must have come during the evening of the previous night but they had not had to open the gate for him the course being a great walker and not wishing that a carriage should be sent to meet him he was accustomed to get off at the little hamlet of saint michel from which he came to the chateau by way of the forest he reached the park by the grotto of saint genivier over the little gate of which giving on to the park he climbed as the concierge's spoke i saw roulette bill's face cloud over and exhibit disappointment a disappointment no doubt with himself evidently he was a little vexed after having worked so much on the spot with so minute a study of the people and events at the glandier that he had to learn now that Arthur Rance was accustomed to visit the chateau you say that monsieur Arthur Rance is accustomed to come to the chateau when did he come here last we can't tell you exactly replied madame bannier that was the name of the concierge we couldn't know while they were keeping us in prison besides as the gentleman comes to the chateau without passing through our gate he goes away by the way he comes did you know when he came the first time oh yes monsieur nine years ago he was in france nine years ago then said roulette bill and since that time as far as you know how many times has he been at the glandier three times when did he come the last time as far as you know a week before the attempt in the yellow room roulette bill put another question this time addressing himself particularly to the woman in the grove of the park heat in the grove of the park heat replied thanks said roulette bill be ready for me this evening he spoke the last words with a finger on his lips as if to command silence and discretion we left the park and took the way to the donjon in do you often eat here sometimes but you also take your meals at the chateau yes larsan and i are sometimes served in one of our rooms hasn't monsieur stanjerson ever invited you to his own table never does your presence at the chateau displease him i don't know but in any case he does not make us feel that we are in his way doesn't he question you never he is in the same state of mind as he was in at the door of the yellow room when his daughter was being murdered and when he broke open the door and did not find the murderer he is persuaded since he could discover nothing that there is no reason why we should be able to discover more than he did but he has made it his duty since expressed his theory not to oppose us roulette bill buried himself in thought again for some time he roused himself later to tell me of how he came to set the two concierges free i went recently to see monsieur stanjerson and took with me a piece of paper on which was written i promise whatever others may say to keep in my service my two faithful servants bernie and his wife i explained to him that by signing that document he would enable me to compel those two people to speak out and i declared my own assurance of their innocence of any part in the crime that was also his opinion the examining magistrate after it was signed presented the document to the banyers who then did speak they said what i was certain they would say as soon as they were sure they would not lose their place they confessed to poaching on monsieur stanjerson's estates and it was while they were poaching on the night of the crime that they were found not far from the pavilion at the moment when the outrage was being committed some rabbits they caught in that way were sold by them to the landlord of the donjon in who served them to his customers or sent them to paris that was the truth as i had guessed from the first do you remember what i said on entering the donjon in we shall have to eat red meat now i had heard the words on the morning when we arrived at the park gate you heard them also but you did not attach any importance to them you recollect when we reached the park gate that we stopped to look at a man who was running by the side of the wall looking every minute at his watch that was larsson well behind us the landlord of the donjon in standing on his doorstep said to someone inside we shall have to eat red meat now why that now when you are as i am in search of some hidden secret you can't afford to have anything escape you you've got to know the meaning of everything we had come into a rather out of the way part of the country which had been turned topsy-turvy by the crime and my reason led me to suspect every phrase that could bear upon the event of the day now i took to mean since the outrage in the course of my inquiry therefore i sought to find a relation between that phrase and the tragedy we went to the donjon in for breakfast i repeated the phrase and saw by the surprise and trouble on daddy matthew's face that i had not exaggerated its importance so far as he was concerned i had just learned that the concierge's had been arrested daddy matthew spoke of them as of dear friends people for whom one is sorry that was a reckless conjunction of ideas i said to myself now that the concierge's are arrested we shall have to eat red meat no more concierge's no more game the hatred expressed by daddy matthew for mrs. danjerson's forest keeper a hatred he pretended was shared by the concierge's led me easily to think of poaching now as all the evidence showed the concierge's had not been in the bed at the time of the tragedy why were they abroad that night as participants in the crime i was not disposed to think so i had already arrived at the conclusion by steps of which i will tell you later that the assassin had had no accomplice and that the tragedy held a mystery between mademoiselle stanjerson and the murderer a mystery with which the concierge's had nothing to do with that's theory in mind i searched for proof in their lodge which as you know i entered i found there under their bed some springs and brass wire i thought these things explain why they were out in the park at night i was not surprised at the dog silence they maintained before the examining magistrate even under the accusation so grave as that of being accomplices in the crime poaching would save them from the ascise court but it would lose them their places and as they were perfectly sure of their innocence of the crime they hoped it would soon be established and then their poaching might go on as usual they could always confess later i however hastened their confession by means of the document monsieur stanjerson signed they gave all the necessary proofs were set at liberty and have now a lively gratitude for me why did i not get them released sooner of course i was not sure that nothing more than poaching was against them i wanted to study the ground as the days went by my conviction became more and more certain the day after the events of the inexplicable gallery i had need of help i could rely on so i resolved to have them released at once that was how joseph roulette bill explained himself once more i could not but be astonished at the simplicity of the reasoning which had brought him to the truth of the matter certainly this was no big thing but i think myself that the young man will one of these days explain with the same simplicity the fearful tragedy in the jello room as well as the phenomenon of the inexplicable gallery we reached the donjon in and entered it this time we did not see the landlord but were received with a pleasant smile by the hostess i have already described the room in which we found ourselves and i have given a glimpse of the charming blonde woman with the gentle eyes who now immediately began to prepare our breakfast house study matthieu asked roulette bill not much better not much better he's still confined to his bed his room at his still sticks to him then yes last night i was again obliged to give him morphine the only drug that gives him any relief she spoke in a soft voice everything about her expressed gentleness she was indeed a beautiful woman somewhat with an air of indolence with great eyes seemingly black and blue amorous eyes was she happy whether crab romantic husband the scene at which we had once been present did not lead us to believe that she was yet there was something in her bearing that was not suggestive of despair she disappeared into the kitchen to prepare our repost leaving on the table a bottle of excellent cider roulette bill filled our earthen wedge mugs loaded his pipe and quietly explained to me his reason for asking me to come to the glandier with revolvers yes he said contemplatively looking at the clouds of smoke he was puffing out yes my dear boy i expect the assassin tonight a brief silence followed which i took care not to interrupt and then he went on last night just as i was going to bed monsieur robert dartsack knocked at my room when he came in he confided to me that he was compelled to go to paris the next day that is this morning the reason which made this journey necessary was at once peremptory and mysterious it was not possible for him to explain its object to me i go and yet he added i would give my life not to leave mademoiselle stangerson at this moment he did not try to hide that he believed her to be once more in danger it will not greatly astonish me if something happens tomorrow night he about and yet i must be absent i cannot be back at the glandier before the morning of the day after tomorrow i asked him to explain himself and this is all he would tell me his anticipation of coming danger had come to him solely from the coincidence that mademoiselle stangerson had been twice attacked and both times when he had been absent on the night of the incident of the inexplicable gallery he had been obliged to be away from the glandier on the night of the tragedy in the jello room he had also not been able to be at the glandier though this was the first time he had declared himself on the matter now a man so moved who would still go away must be acting under compulsion must be obeying a will stronger than his own that was how i reasoned and i told him so he replied perhaps i asked him if mademoiselle stangerson was compelling him he protested that she was not his determination to go to paris had been taken without any conference with mademoiselle stangerson to cut the story short he repeated that his belief in the possibility of a fresh attack was founded entirely on the extraordinary coincidence if anything happens to mademoiselle stangerson he said it would be terrible for both of us for her because her life would be in danger for me because i could neither defend her from the attack nor tell her where i had been i am perfectly aware of the suspicions cast on me the examining magistrate and monsieur larsan are both on the point of believing in my guilt larsan tracked me the last time i went to paris and i had all the trouble in the world to get rid of him why do you not tell me the name of the murderer now if you know it i cried monsieur darsak appeared extremely troubled by my question and replied to me in a hesitating tone i i know the name of the murderer why how could i know his name i at once replied from mademoiselle stangerson he grows so pale that i thought he was about to faint and i saw that i had hit the nail right on the head mademoiselle and he knew the name of the murderer when he recovered himself he said to me i'm going to leave you since you have been here i have appreciated your exceptional intelligence and your unequaled ingenuity but i ask this service of you perhaps i am wrong to fear an attack during the coming night but as i must act with foresight i count on you to frustrate any attempt that may be made take every step needful to protect mademoiselle stangerson keep a most careful watch of a room don't go to sleep nor allow yourself one moment of repose the man we dread is remarkably cunning with a cunning that has never been equal if you keep watch his very cunning may save her because it's impossible that he should not know that you are watching and knowing it he may not venture have you spoken of all this to monsieur stangerson no i do not wish him to ask me as you just now did for the name of the murderer i tell you all this monsieur roulette a bill because i have great very great confidence in you i know that you do not suspect me the poor man spoke in jerks he was evidently suffering i pitted him the more because i felt sure that he would rather allow himself to be killed than tell me who the murderer was as for mademoiselle stangerson i felt that she would rather allow herself to be murdered than to denounce the man of the jello room and of the inexplicable gallery the man must be dominating her or both by some inscrutable power they were dreading nothing so much as the chance of monsieur stangerson knowing that his daughter was held by her assailant i made monsieur dartsak understand that he had explained himself sufficiently and that he might refrain from telling me anymore than he had already told me i promised him to watch through the night he insisted that i should establish an absolutely impossible barrier around mademoiselle stangerson's chamber around the boudoir where the nurses were sleeping and around the drawing room where since the affair of the inexplicable gallery monsieur stangerson had slept in short i was to put a cordon around the whole apartment from his insistence i gathered that monsieur dartsak intended not only to make it impossible for the expected man to reach the chamber of mademoiselle stangerson but to make that impossibility so visibly clear that seeing himself expected he would at once go away that was how i interpreted his final words when we parted you may mention your suspicion of the expected attack to monsieur stangerson to daddy jack to freddy classon and to anybody in the château the poor fellow left me hardly knowing what he was saying my silence and my eyes told him that i had guessed a large part of his secret and indeed he must have been at his wit's end to have come to me at such a time and to abandon mademoiselle stangerson in spite of his fixed idea as to the consequence when he was gone i began to think that i should have to use even a greater cunning than his so that if the man should come that night he might not for a moment suspect that his coming had been expected certainly i would allow him to get in far enough so that dead or alive i might see his face clearly he must be got rid of mademoiselle stangerson must be freed from this continual impending danger yes my boy said rudetta bill after placing his pipe on the table and emptying his mug of cider i must see his face distinctly so as to make sure to impress it on that part of my brain where i have drawn my circle of reasoning the landlady reappeared at that moment bringing in the traditional bacon omelet rudetta billed shaft her a little and she took the chaff with the most charming good humor she is much jollier when daddy matthew is in bed with his rheumatism rudetta bill said to me but i had eyes neither for rudetta bill nor for the landlady's smiles i was entirely absorbed of the last words of my young friend and in thinking over monsieur hobad asack's strange behavior when he had finished his omelet and we were again alone rudetta bill continued the tale of his confidences when i sent you my telegram this morning he said i had only the word of monsieur dasack that perhaps the assassin would come tonight i can now say that he will certainly come i expect him what has made you feel this certainty i have been sure since half past ten o'clock this morning that he would come i know that before we saw arthur rance at the window in the court ah i said but again what made you so sure and why since half past ten this morning because at half past ten i had proved that mademoiselle stangerson was making as many efforts to permit of the murderer's entrance as monsieur robad asack had been taken precautions against it is that possible i cried haven't you told me that mademoiselle stangerson loves monsieur robad asack i told you so because it is the truth then do you see nothing strange everything in this business is strange my friend but take my word for it the strangeness you now feel is nothing to the strangeness that's to come it must be admitted then i said that mademoiselle stangerson and her murder are in communication at any rate in writing admit it my friend admit it you don't risk anything i told you about the letter left on her table on the night of the inexplicable gallery affair the letter that disappeared into the pocket of mademoiselle stangerson why should it not have been a sums to a meeting might he not as soon as he was sure of darsack's absence appoint the meeting for the coming night and my friend laughed silently there are moments when i ask myself if he is not laughing at me the door of the in open roulette a bill was on his feet so suddenly that one might have thought he had received an electric shock mr author rance he cried mr author ran stood before us calmly bowing end of chapter 19 read by los rolander chapter 20 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librae vox recording or librae vox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librae vox dot all recording by tag newgent the mystery of the yellow room by gaston larou chapter 20 an item mademoiselle stangerson he remember me monk seawall asked wrote the bill perfectly replied author rance i recognize you as the lead at the bar the face of rule of the bill crimson that being called the lead i want to shake hands with you you are bright little fellow the american extended his hand and ruled the bill relaxing his front shook it and introduced mr author rance to me he invited him to share our meal no thanks i prefer stood with monk seawall stangerson author rance spoke french perfectly almost without an accent i did not expect to have the pleasure of seeing you again monk seawall i thought you were to have left france the day after the reception at the early day rule of the bill and i are virtually indifferent listen most intently for every word the american would say the man's purplish rat face his healthy eyelids the nervous twitchings all spoke of his addiction to drink how came it that's so sorry a specimen of a man should be so intimate with monk seawall stangerson some days later i learned from frederick lawson who like ourselves was surprised and was defined by his appearance and reception at the chateau that mr rance had been an inebriate for only about 15 years that is to say seen the professor and his daughter left philadelphia during the time the stangersons lived in america they were very intimate with author rance who was one of the most distinguished phrenologist of the new world owing to new experiments he had met enormous strides beyond the science of gall and lavator the friendliness with which he was received that the glandia may be explained by the fight that he had once rendered martin moselle stangerson a great service by stopping are the peril of his all life the runaway horses of her carriage the immediate result of that good however have been no more than a mere friendly association with these stangersons certainly not to love affair frederick lawson did not tell me where he had picked up this information but he appeared to be quite sure of what he said had we known this fight at the time after rance matters at the dawn turn in his appearance at the chateau might not have puzzled us but they could not have failed to increase our interest in the man himself the american must have been at least 45 years old he spoke in a perfectly natural tone in reply to ruder bill's question i put off my return to america when i heard of the attack on martin moselle stangerson i wanted to be certain the lady had not been killed and i shall not go away until she's perfectly recovered after rance then took the lead in talk paying no heed to some of ruder bill's questions he gave us without our inviting him his personal views on the subject of the tragedy views which as well as i could make out were not far from those held by frederick lawson the american also thought that robert dazak had something to do with the matter he did not mention him by name but there was no room to doubt whom he meant he told us he was aware of the efforts yang ruder bill was making to unravel the tangled skin of the yellow room mystery he explained that mong siewers stangerson had related to him all that had taken place in the inexplicable gallery he several times expressed his regret at mong siewer dazak's absent from the chateau on all these occasions and thought that mong siewer dazak had done cleverly in allying himself with mong siew joseph ruder bill who could not fail sooner or later to discover the murder he spoke the last sentence with unconcealed irony then he rose bowed to us and left the inn ruder bill watched him through the window an odd fish that he said do you think he'll pass the night at the clandia i asked to my amazement the young reporter answered that it was a matter of entire indifference to him whether he did or not as to how we spent our time during the afternoon all i need to say is that ruder bill led me to the grotto of sand jenoviv and all the time talked of every subject but the one in which we were most interested to watch evening i was surprised to find ruder the bill making none of the preparations i had expected him to make i spoke to him about it when night had come on and we were once more in his room he replied that all his arrangement had already been made and this time the murderer would not get away from him i expressed some doubt on this reminding him of his disappearance in the gallery and suggested that the same phenomenal might occur again he answered that he hoped it would he desired nothing more i did not insist knowing by experience how useless that would have been he told me that with the help of the concierges the chateau has seen early dawn been watched in such a way that nobody could approach it without his knowing it and that he had no concern for those who might have left it and remained without it was then six o'clock by his watch rising he made the sign to me to follow him and without in the least trying to conceal his movements or the sound of his footsteps he led me through the gallery we reached the right gallery and came to the landing place which we crossed we then continued our way in the gallery of the left wing passing professor stangerson's apartment at the far end of the gallery before coming to the dungeon is the room occupied by Arthur runs we knew that because we had seen him at the window looking onto the court the door of the room opens onto the end of the gallery exactly facing the east window at the extremity of the right gallery where rule at the bill had placed daddy joker and commands an uninterrupted view of the gallery from end to end of the shuttle that off-turning gallery said rule at the bill i reserve for myself when i tell you you'll come and take your place here and he made me enter a little dark triangular closet built in a band of the world to the left of the door of after runs his room from this recess i could see all that occurred in the gallery as well as if i had been standing in front of after runs his door and i could watch that door too the door of the closet which was to be my place of observation was fitted with panels of transparent glass in the gallery where all the lambs had been lit it was quite light in the closet however it was quite dark it was a splendid place from which to observe and remain unobserved i was soon to play the part of a spy a common policeman i wonder what my leader of the bar would have said had he known i was not altogether pleased with my duties but i could not refuse rule at the bill the assistants he had backed me to give him i took care not to make him see that i in the least objected and for several reasons i wanted to oblige him i did not wish him to think me a coward i was filled with curiosity and it was too late for me to draw back even had i determined to do so that i had not had this scruple sooner was because my curiosity had quite got the better of me i might also urge that i was helping to save the life of a woman and even the lawyer may do that consensuously we returned along the gallery on reaching the door of mademoiselle stangerson's apartment it opened from a push given by the steward who was waiting at the dinner table mongio stangerson had for the last three days dined with his daughter in the drawing room on the first floor as the door remained open we distinctly saw mademoiselle stangerson taking advantage of this steward's absence and why her father was stooping to pick up something he had left for poor the contents of a file into mongio stangerson's class end of chapter 20 chapter 21 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libero box recording all libero box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit libero box dot org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston loreu chapter 21 on the watch the act which staggered me did not appear to affect real taboo much we returned to his room and without even referring to what we had seen he gave me his final instructions for the night first we were to go to dinner after dinner i was to take my stand in the dark closet and wait there as long as it was necessary to look out for what might happen if you see anything before i do he explained you must let me know if the man gets into the right gallery by any other way than the off-turning gallery you will see him before i shall because you have a view along the whole length of the right gallery while i can only command a view of the off-turning gallery all you need to do to let me know is to undo the cord holding the curtain of the right gallery window nearest to the dark closet the curtain will fall of itself and immediately leave a square of shadow where previously there had been a square of light to do this you need to put stretch your hand out of the closet i shall understand your signal perfectly and then then you will see me coming around the corner of the off-turning gallery what am i to do then you will immediately come towards me behind the man but i shall already be upon him and shall have seen his face i attempted a feeble smile why do you smile well you may smile while you have the chance but i swear you'll have no time for that a few hours from now and if the man escapes so much the better said real to be a cooly i don't want to capture him he may take himself off any way he can i will let him go after i've seen his face that's all i want i shall know afterwards what to do so that as far as mademoiselle strangerson is concerned he shall be dead to her even though he continues to live if i took him alive mademoiselle strangerson and robert darzak would perhaps never forgive me and i wish to retain their goodwill and respect seen as i have just now seen mademoiselle strangerson pour a narcotic into her father's glass so he might not be awaked interrupt the conversation she's going to have with her murderer you can imagine she would not be grateful to me if i brought the man of the yellow room and the inexplicable gallery bound and gagged to her father i realize now that if i am to save the unhappy woman i must silence the man and not capture him tequila human being is no small thing besides that's not my business unless the man himself makes it my business on the other hand to render him forever silent without the lady's assent and confidence is to act on one's own initiative and assume a knowledge of everything with nothing for a basis fortunately my friend i have guessed no i have reasoned it all out all that i ask of the man who is coming tonight is to bring me his face so that it may enter into the circle exactly and his face won't surprise me but i thought you saw his face on the night when you sprang into the chamber only imperfectly the candle was on the floor and his beard will he wear his beard this evening i think i can now say for certain he will but the gallery is light and now i know or at least my brain knows and my eyes will see if we are here only to see him and let him escape why are we armed because if the man of the yellow room and the inexplicable gallery knows that i know he is capable of doing anything we should then have to defend ourselves and you're sure he'll come tonight as sure as you are standing there this morning at half past 10 o'clock mademoiselle strenderson in the cleverest way in the world arranged to have no nurses tonight she gave them leave of absence for 24 hours under some plausible pretext and did not desire anyone to be with her but her father well they are away of course her father who is to sleep in the boudoir has gladly consented to the arrangement does ask departure and what he told me as well as the extraordinary precaution mademoiselle strenderson is taking to be alone tonight leave me no room for doubt she's prepared the way for the coming of the man who does act dreads that's awful it is and what we saw her do was done to send her father to sleep yes then there are but two of us for tonight's work for the concierge and his wife will watch at all hazards i don't set much value on them before but the concierge may be useful after if there are to be any killings and do you think there may be if he wishes it why haven't you brought in daddy's dog have you made no use of him today no replied rule taboo sharply i kept silent for a while then anxious to know his thoughts i asked him point blank why not tell arthur rance he may be of great assistance to us oh said real to be acrossly then you want to let everyone into mademoiselle strenderson's secrets come let us go to dinner it is time this evening we dine in frederick lasagne's room at least if he is not on the heels of darzak he sticks to him like a leech but anyhow if he is not there now i'm quite sure he will be tonight he is the one i'm going to knock over at this moment we heard a noise in the room near us it must be he said rule taboo forgot to ask you i said if we are to make any illusion to tonight's business when we are with this policeman i take it we are not is that so evidently we are going to operate alone on our own personal account so that all the glory will be ours rule taboo laughs we died with frederick lasagne in his room he told us he had just come in and invited us to be seated at the table we ate our dinner in the best of humours i had no difficulty in appreciating the feelings of certainty which both rule taboo and lasagne felt rule taboo told the great fred that i had come on a chance visit and that he had asked me to stay and help him and help him and the heavy batch of writing he had to get through for the epoch i was going back to paris he said by the 11 o'clock train taking his copy which took a story form recounting the principal episodes in the mysteries of the gladiator lasagne smiled at the explanation like a man who was not fooled and politely refrains from making the slightest remarks on matters which did not concern him with infinite precautions as to the words they used and even as to the tone of their voices lasagne and rule taboo discussed for a long time mr arthur rents his appearance at the chateau and his past in america about which they expressed a desire to know more at any rate as far as his relation to the strangersons one time larson who appeared to me to be unwell said with an effort i think mr rule taboo that we have not much more to do at the gladiator and we shan't sleep here many more nights i think so too miss your fred then you think the conclusion of the matter has been reached i think indeed that we have nothing more to find out replied rule taboo have you found your criminal asked larson have you yes so have i said rule taboo can it be the same man i don't know if you have swerved from your original idea said the young reporter then he added with emphasis mr darksack is an honest man are you sure of that asked larson well i am sure he is not so it's a fight then yes it is a fight but i shall beat you mr frederick larson oh you've never doubts anything said the great fred laughingly and he held at his hand to me by way of conclusion rule taboo's answer came like an echo not anything suddenly larson who had risen to wish us good night pressed both his hands to his chest and staggered he was obliged to lean on rule taboo's for support and to save himself from falling oh oh he cried what's the matter with me have i been poisoned he looked at us with haggard eyes we questioned him vainly he did not answer us he had sunk into an armchair and we could get not a word from him we were extremely distressed both on his account and our own for we had partaken in all the dishes he had eaten he seemed to be out of pain but his heavy head had fallen on his shoulders and his eyelids were tightly closed rule taboo bent over him listening for the beatings of his heart my friend's face however when he stood up was as calm as it had been a moment before agitated he is asleep he said he led me to his chamber after closing larson's room the drug i asked does man was elf stranderson wish to put everybody to sleep tonight perhaps replied rule taboo but i could see he was thinking of something else but what about us i exclaimed how do we know we have not been drugged do you feel indisposed rule taboo'll ask me coolly not in the least do you feel any inclination to go to sleep none whatsoever well then my friend smoke this excellent cigar and he handed me a choice hirvana the one mr. darsak had given him while he lit his briar wood his eternal briar wood re-arranged in his room until about 10 o'clock without a word passing between us buried in an armchair ruled to be all sat and smoked steadily his brow and thought and a far away look in his eyes on the stroke of 10 he took off his boots and signaled to me to do the same as we stood in our socks he said in so low a tone that i guessed rather than heard the word revolver i drew my revolver from my jacket pocket cock it he said i did as he directed then moving towards the door of his room he opened it with infinite precaution it made no sound we were in the off turning gallery real taboo'll made another sign to me which i understood to mean that i was to take up my post in the dark closet when i was some distance away from him he rejoined me and embraced me and then i saw him with the same precaution returned to his room astonished by his embrace and somewhat disquieted by it i arrived at the right gallery without difficulty crossing the landing place and reaching the dark closet before entering it i examined the curtain rod of the window and found that i only had to release it from its fascinating with my fingers for the curtain to fall by its own weight and hide the square of light from root of you the signal agreed upon the sound of a footstep made me halt before arthur rance's door he was not yet in bed then how strange was it that being the chateau he had not dined with mr strangerson and his daughter i had not seen him at the table with them at the moment when we looked in i retired into the dark closet i found myself perfectly situated i could see along the whole length of the gallery nothing absolutely nothing could pass there without my seeing it but what was going to pass there ruled to feel's embrace came back to my mind i argued that people don't part from each other other in that way unless it's on an important or dangerous occasion was i then in danger my hand closed on the butt of my revolver and i waited i am not a hero but neither am i a coward i waited about an hour and during all that time i saw nothing unusual the rain which had begun to come down strongly towards nine o'clock had now ceased my friend had told me that probably nothing would occur before midnight or one o'clock in the morning it was not more than half past eleven however when i heard the door of arthur rance's room opened very slowly the door made open for a minute which seemed to me a long time as it opened into the gallery that is to say outwards i could not see what was passing in the room behind the door at that moment i noticed a strange sound three times repeated coming from the park ordinarily i should not have attached any more importance to it than i would to the noise of cats on the roof but the third time the me was so sharp and penetrating that i remembered what i had heard about the cry of the bet de bon dieu as the cry had accompanied all the events at the gladié i could not refrain from shuddering at the thought directly afterwards i saw a man appear on the outside of the door and it closed it after him at first i could not easily recognize him for his back was towards me and he was bending over a rather bulky package when he had closed the door and picked up the package he turned towards the dark closet and then i saw who he was it was the forest keeper the green man he was wearing the same costume he had worn the first time i saw him on the road in front of the don john in there was no doubt about him being the keeper when the cry of the bet de bon dieu came for the third time he put down the package and went to the second window counting from the dark closet i did not risk making any movement fearing i might betray my presence arriving at the window he peered out onto the park the night was now light the moon showing at intervals the green man raised his arms twice making signs which i did not understand then leaving the window he took up his package and moved along the gallery towards the landing place ruled to view had instructed me to undo the curtain cord when i saw anything was ruled to be expecting this it was not my business to question all i had to do was obey instructions and fasten the window cord my heart beating all the while as if it would burst the man reached the landing place but to my utter surprise i had expected to see him continue to pass along the gallery i saw him descend the stairs leading to the vestibule what was i to do i looked stupidly at the heavy curtain which had shut the light from the window the signal had been given and i did not see rule to be will appear at the corner of the off turning gallery nobody appeared i was exceedingly perplexed half an hour passed and aged to me what was i to do now even if i did see something the signal was already given and i could not give it a second time to venture into the gallery might have set all of rule to beals plans after all i had done nothing to reproach myself for and if something had happened that my friend had not expected he'd only blame himself unable to be of any further assistance to him by means of a signal i left the dark closet and still in my socks made my way to the off turning gallery there was no one there i went to the door of rule to beals room and listened i could hear nothing i knocked gently there was no answer i turned the door handle and the door opened i entered rule to beall lay extended at full length on the floor end of chapter 21 recorded by oh chapter 22 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Simon Lauer the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston LaRue chapter 22 the incredible body i bent in great anxiety over the body of the reporter and had the joy to find that he was deeply sleeping the same unhealthy sleep that i had seen fall upon Frederick LaSanne he had succumbed to the influence of the same drug that had been mixed with our food how was it then that i also had not been overcome by it i reflected that the drug must have been put into our wine because that would explain my condition i never drink when eating naturally inclined to obesity i am restricted to a dry diet i shook ruta b but could not succeed in waking him this no doubt was the work of mademoiselle she had certainly thought it necessary to guard herself against this young man as well as her father i recalled that the steward in serving us had recommended an excellent chablis which no doubt had come from the professor's table more than quarter of an hour past i resolved under the pressing circumstances to resort to extreme measures i threw a picture of cold water over ruta b's head he opened his eyes i beat his face and raised him up i felt him stiffen in my arms and heard him murmur go on go on but don't make any noise i pinched him and shook him until he was able to stand up we were saved they sent me to sleep he said ah i passed an awful quarter of an hour before giving way but it is over now don't leave me he had no sooner uttered those words than we were thrilled by a frightful cry that rang through the chateau a veritable death cry malo ruta b we shall be too late he tried to rush to the door but he was too dazed and fell against the wall i was already in the gallery revolver in hand rushing like a madman towards mademoiselle stageson's room the moment i arrived at the intersection of the off turning gallery and the right gallery i saw a figure leaving her apartment which in a few strides had reached the landing place i was not master of myself i fired the report from the revolver made a deafening noise but the man continued his flight down the stairs i ran behind him shouting stop stop or i will kill you as i rushed after him down the stairs i came face to face with arthur rance coming from the left wing of the chateau yelling what is it what is it we arrived almost at the same time at the foot of the staircase the window of the vestibule was open we distinctly saw the form of a man running away instinctively we fired our revolvers in his direction he was not more than 10 paces in front of us he staggered and we thought he was going to fall we had sprung out of the window but the man dashed off with renewed vigor i was in my socks and the american was barefooted there being no hope of overtaking him we fired our last cartridges at him but he still kept on running going along the right side of the court towards the end of the right wing of the chateau which had no other outlet than the door of the little chamber occupied by the forest keeper the man though he was evidently wounded by our bullets was now 20 yards ahead of us suddenly behind us and above our heads a window in the gallery opened and we heard the voice of ruta b crying out desperately fire bernier fire at that moment the clear moonlit night was further lit by a broad flash by its light we saw daddy bernier with his gun on the threshold of the donjon door he had taken good aim the shadow fell but as it had reached the end of the right wing of the chateau it fell on the other side of the angle of the building that is to say we saw it about to fall but not the actual sinking to the ground bernier arthur rance and myself reached the other side 20 seconds later the shadow was lying dead at our feet aroused from his lethargy by the cries and reports lasa opened the window of his chamber and called out to us ruta b quite awake now joined us at the same moment and i cried out to him he is dead he's dead so much the better he said take him into the vestibule of the chateau then as if on second thought he said no no let us put him in his own room ruta b knocked at the door nobody answered naturally this did not surprise me he is evidently not there otherwise he would have come out said the reporter let us carry him to the vestibule then since reaching the dead shadow a thick cloud had covered the moon in dark in the night so that we were unable to make out the features daddy jack who had now joined us helped us to carry the body into the vestibule where we laid it down on the lower step of the stairs on the way i felt my hands wet from the warm blood flowing from the wounds daddy jack flew to the kitchen and returned with a lantern he held it close to the face of the dead shadow and we recognized the keeper the man called by the landlord of the donjon in the green man whom in our earlier i had seen come out of arthur rance's chamber carrying a parcel but what i had seen i could only tell ruta b later when we were alone ruta b and frederick lasan experienced a cruel disappointment at the result of the night's adventure they could only look in consternation and stupefaction at the body of the green man daddy jack showed a stupidly sorrowful face and with silly lamentations kept repeating that we were mistaken the keeper could not be the assailant we were obliged to compel him to be quiet he could not have shown greater grief had the body been that of his own son i noticed while all the rest of us were more or less undressed and barefooted that he was fully clothed ruta b had not left the body kneeling on the flagstones by the light of daddy jack's lantern he removed the clothes from the body and lay bare its breast then snatching the lantern from daddy jack he held it over the corpse and saw a gaping wound rising suddenly he exclaimed in a voice filled with savage irony the man you believe to have been shot was killed by the stab of a knife in his heart i thought ruta b had gone mad but bending over the body i quickly satisfied myself that ruta b was right not a sign of a bullet anywhere the wound evidently made by a sharp blade had penetrated the heart end of chapter 22 recording by simon lawa chapter 23 of the mystery of the yellow room this is all LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks are to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston Le Roux chapter 23 the double cent i had hardly recovered from the surprise into which this new discovery had plunged me when ruta b touched me on the shoulder and asked me to follow him into his room what are we going to do there to think the matter over i confess i was in no condition for doing much thinking now could i understand how ruta b could so control himself as to be able calmly to sit down for reflection when he must have known that mademoiselle stranger son was at that moment almost on the point of death but his self-control was more than i could explain closing the door of his room he motioned me to a chair and seating himself before me took out his pipe we sat there for some time in silence and then i fell asleep when i woke it was daylight it was eight o'clock by my watch ruta b was no longer in the room i rose to go out when the door opened and my friend re-entered he had evidently lost no time how about mademoiselle stranger son i asked him her condition though very alarming is not desperate when did you leave this room so it's dawn i guess you have been hard at work rather have you found out anything two sets of footprints do they explain anything yes have they anything to do with the mystery of the keeper's body yes the mystery is no longer a mystery this morning walking around the chateau i found two distinct sets of footprints made at the same time last night they were made by two persons walking side by side i followed them from the court towards the oak grove larsan joined me they were the same kind of footprints as were made at the time of the assault in the yellow room one set was from clumsy boots and the other was made by neat ones except that the big toe of one of the sets was of a different size from the one measured in the yellow room incident i compared the marks with the paper patterns i had previously made still following the tracks of the prints larsan and i passed out of the oak grove and reached the border of the lake there they turned off to a little path leading to the high road to epine where we lost the traces in the newly macadamized highway we went back to the chateau and parted at the courtyard we met again however in daddy jack's room to which our separate trains of thinking had led us both we found the old servant in bed his clothes on the chair were wet through and his boots very muddy he certainly did not get into that state in helping us to carry the body of the keeper it was not raining then then his face showed extreme fatigue and he looked at us out of terrorist stricken eyes on our first questioning him he told us that he had gone to bed immediately after the doctor had arrived on pressing him however for it was evident to us he was not speaking the truth he confessed that he had been away from the chateau he explained his absence by saying that he had a headache and went out into the fresh air but had gone no farther than the oak grove when we then described to him the whole route he had followed he set up in bed trembling and you were not alone cried larsan did you see then gasped daddy jack what i asked the phantom the black phantom then he told us that for several nights he had seen what he kept calling the black phantom it came into the park at the stroke of midnight and glided stillfully through the trees it appeared to him to pass through the trunks of the trees twice he had seen it from his window by the light of the moon and had risen and followed the strange apparition the night before last he had almost overtaken it but it had vanished at the corner of the dungeon last night however he had not left the chateau his mind being disturbed by a presentiment that some new crime would be attempted suddenly he saw the black phantom rush out from somewhere in the middle of the court he followed it to the lake and to the high road to epine where the phantom suddenly disappeared did you see his face demanded larsan no i saw nothing but black veiled did you go out after what passed on the gallery i could not i was terrified daddy jack i said in a threatening voice you did not follow it you and the phantom walked to epine together arm in arm no he cried turning his eyes away i did not it came on to pour and i turned back i don't know what became of the black phantom we left him and when we were outside i turned to larsan looking him full in the face and put my question suddenly to take him off his guard an accomplice how can i tell he replied shrugging his shoulders you can't be sure of anything in a case like this 24 hours ago i would have sworn that there was no accomplice he left me saying he was off to epine well what do you make of it i asked rule tabby after he had ended his recital personally i am utterly in the dark i can't make anything out of it what do you gather everything everything he exclaimed but he said abruptly let's find out more about mademoiselle strangeson end of chapter 23 recording by isua in belgium in august 2008 chapter 24 of the mystery of the jello room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org reading by lars rolander the mystery of the jello room by gaston lerot chapter 24 roulette a bill knows the two halves of the murderer mademoiselle stangerson had been almost murdered for the second time unfortunately she was in too weak a state to bear the severe injuries of this second attack as well as she had those of the first she had received three wounds in the breast from the murderer's knife and she lay long between life and death her strong physique however saved her but though she recovered physically it was found that her mind had been affected the slightest illusion to the terrible incident sent her into delirium and the rest of robert dartsack which followed on the day following the tragic death of the keeper seemed to sink her fine intelligence into complete melancholia robert dartsack arrived at the chateau towards half past nine i saw him hurrying through the park his hair and clothes in disorder and his face a deadly white roulette a bill and i were looking out of a window in the gallery he saw us and gave a despairing cry i'm too late roulette a bill answered she lives a minute later dartsack had gone into mademoiselle stangerson's room and through the door we could hear his heart rendering sobs there is a fate about this place grown roulette a bill some infernal gods must be watching over the misfortunes of this family if i had not been drugged i should have saved mademoiselle stangerson i should have silenced him forever and the keeper would not have been killed monsieur dartsack came in to speak with us his distress was terrible roulette a bill told him everything his preparations for mademoiselle stangerson's safety his plans for either capturing or for disposing of the assailant forever and how he would have succeeded had it not been for the drugging if only you had trusted me said the young man in a low tone if you had but begged mademoiselle stangerson to confide in me but then everybody here distrusts everybody else the daughter distrusts her father and even her lover while you ask me to protect her she is doing all she can to frustrate me that was why i came on the scene too late at monsieur robert dartsack's request roulette a bill described the whole scene leaning on the wall to prevent himself from falling he had made his way to mademoiselle stangerson's room while we were running after the supposed murderer the enter room door was open and when he entered he found mademoiselle stangerson lying partly thrown over the desk her dressing gown was dyed with the blood flowing from her bosom still under the influence of the drug he felt he was walking in a horrible nightmare he went back to the gallery automatically opened a window shouted his order to fire and then returned to the room he crossed the deserted boudoir entered the drawing room and tried to rouse monsieur stangerson who was lying on a sofa monsieur stangerson rose stupidly and let himself be drawn by roulette a bill into the room where on seeing his daughter's body he uttered a heart-rendering cry both united their feeble strength and carried her to her bed on his way to join us roulette a bill passed by the desk on the floor near it he saw a large packet he knelt down and finding the wrapper loose he examined it and made out an enormous quantity of papers and photographs on one of the papers he read new differential electroscopic condenser fundamental properties of substance intermediary between ponderable matter and imponderable ether strange irony of fate that the professor's precious papers should be restored to him at the very time when an attempt was being made to deprive him of his daughter's life what are papers worth to him now the morning following that awful night saw monsieur de marquet once more at the chateau with his registrar and shangdam's of course we were all questioned roulette a bill and i had already agreed on what to say i kept back any information as to my being in the dark closet and said nothing about the drugging we did not wish to suggest in any way that madame moisele stangerson had been expecting her nocturnal visitor the poor woman might perhaps never recover and it was none of our business to lift the veil of a secret the preservation of which she had paid for so dearly author rance told everybody in a manner so natural that he astonished me that he had lost seen the keeper towards 11 o'clock of that fatal night he had come for his valise he said which he was to take for him early next morning to the saint michelle station and had been kept out late running after poachers author rance had indeed intended to leave the chateau and according to his habit to walk to the station monsieur stangerson confirmed what rance had said adding that he had not asked rance to dine with him because his friend had taken his final leave of them both earlier in the evening monsieur rance had had tea served him in his room because he had complained of a slight indisposition bernier testified instructed by roulette a bill that the keeper had ordered him to meet at a spot near the oak grove for the purpose of looking out for poachers finding that the keeper did not keep his appointment he bernier had gone in search for him he had almost arrived at the donchon when he saw a figure running swiftly in a direction opposite to him to watch the right wing of the chateau he heard revolver shots from behind the figure and saw roulette a bill at one of the gallery windows he heard roulette a bill call out to him to fire and he had fired he believed he had killed the man until he learned after roulette a bill had uncovered the body that the man had died from a knife thrust who had given it he could not imagine nobody could have been near the spot without my seeing him when the examining magistrate reminded him that the spot where the body was found was very dark and that he himself had not been able to recognize the keeper before firing the debaunier replied that neither had they seen the other body nor had they found it in the narrow court where five people were standing it would have been strange if the other body had it been there could have escaped the only door that opened into the court was that of the keeper's room and that door was closed and the key of it was found in the keeper's pocket however that might be the examining magistrate did not pursue his inquiry further in this direction he was evidently convinced that we had missed the man we were chasing and we had come upon the keeper's body in our chase this matter of the keeper was another matter entirely he wanted to satisfy himself about that without any further delay probably it fitted in with the conclusion he had already arrived at as to the keeper and his intrigues with the wife of matthew the landlord of the donjon in this matthew later in the afternoon was arrested and taken to corbet in spite of his rheumatism he had been heard to threaten the keeper and though no evidence against him had been found at his in the evidence of carters who had heard the threats was enough to justify his retention the examination had proceeded thus far went to our surprise ready klaxon returned to the chateau he was accompanied by one of the employees of the railway at that moment rance and i were in the vestibule discussing matthew's guilt or innocence while relate the bills to the part buried apparently in thought the examining magistrate and his registrar were in the little green drawing room while dartsack was with the doctor and stangerson in the latest chamber as freddie klaxon entered the vestibule with the railway employed roulette a bill and i at once recognized him by the small blonde beard we exchanged meaningful glances klaxon had himself announced to the examining magistrate by the shangdam and entered with the railway servant a steady truck came out some 10 minutes went by during which roulette a bill appeared extremely impatient the door of the drawing room was then opened and we heard the magistrate calling to the shangdam who entered presently he came out mounted the stairs and coming back shortly went into the magistrate and said monsieur monsieur roulette dartsack will not come what not come cried monsieur de marquette he says he cannot leave mademoiselle stangerson in her present state very well said monsieur de marquette then we'll go to him monsieur de marquette and the shangdam mounted the stairs he made a sign to larcent and the railroad employee to follow roulette a bill and i went along too on reaching the door of mademoiselle stangerson's chamber monsieur de marquette knocked a chamber maid appeared it was sylvia with her hair all in disorder and consternation showing on her face is monsieur stangerson within asked the magistrate yes monsieur tell him that i wish to speak with him stangerson came out his appearance was wretched in the extreme what do you want he demanded of the magistrate may i not be left in peace monsieur monsieur said the magistrate it is absolutely necessary that i should see monsieur dartsack at once if you cannot induce him to come i shall be compelled to use the help of the law the professor made no reply he looked at us all like a man being led to execution and then went back into the room almost immediately after monsieur robert dartsack came out he was very pale he looked at us and his eyes falling on the railway servant his features stiffened and he could hardly repress a groan we were all much moved by the appearance of the man we felt that what was about to happen would decide the fate of monsieur robert dartsack frederick larson's face alone was radiant showing a joy as of a dog that had last got its prey pointing to the railway servant monsieur de marquette said to monsieur dartsack do you recognize this man monsieur i do said monsieur dartsack in a tone which he vainly tried to make firm he is an employee at the station at eppany sir this young man went on monsieur de marquette affirms that he saw you get off the train at eppany sir that night said monsieur dartsack interrupting at half past ten it is quite true an interval of silence followed monsieur dartsack the magistrate went on in a tone of deep emotion monsieur dartsack what were you doing that night at eppany sir orge at that time monsieur dartsack remains silent simply closing his eyes monsieur dartsack insisted the monsieur de marquette can you tell me how you employed your time that night monsieur dartsack opened his eyes he seemed to have recovered his self-control no monsieur think monsieur for if you persist in your strange refusal i shall be under the painful necessity of keeping you at my disposition i refuse monsieur dartsack in the name of the law i arrest you the magistrate had no sooner pronounced the words then i saw rouletta bill move quickly towards monsieur dartsack he would certainly have spoken to him but are sucked by a gesture held him off as the shangdam approached his prisoner a despairing cry ran through the room robot robot we recognize the voice of mademoiselle stangerson we all shuddered larsan himself turned pale monsieur dartsack in response to the cry had flown back into the room the magistrate the shangdam and larsan followed closely after rouletta bill and i remained on the threshold it was a heartbreaking sight that met our eyes mademoiselle stangerson with a face of deathly pallor had risen on her bed in spite of the restraining efforts of two doctors and her father she was holding out her trembling arms towards robert dartsack on whom larsan and the shangdam had laid hands her distended eyes saw she understood her lips seemed to form a word but nobody made it out and she fell back insensible monsieur dartsack was powered out of the room and placed in the vestibule to wait for the vehicle larsan had gone to fetch we were all overcome by emotion and even monsieur de marquette had tears in his eyes roulette bill took advantage of the opportunity to say to monsieur dartsack are you going to put in any defense no replied the prisoner very well then i will monsieur you cannot do it said the unhappy man with a faint smile i can and i will roulette bill's voice had in it a strange strength and confidence i can do it monsieur robert dartsack because i know more than you do come come murmur dartsack almost angrily have no fear i shall know only what will benefit you you must know nothing young man if you want me to be grateful roulette bill shook his head going close up to dartsack listen to what i'm about to say he said in a low tone and let it give you confidence you do not know the name of the murderer mademoiselle stangerson knows it but only half of it but i know his two halves i know the whole man robert dartsack opened his eyes with a look that showed he had not understood a word of what roulette bill had said to him at that moment the conveyance arrived driven by frederick larsan dartsack and the chandar entered it larsan remaining on the driver's seat the prisoner was taken to purvey end of chapter 24 read by lars rolander chapter 25 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a liberal box recording all liberal box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit liberal box.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roux chapter 25 roule tabi goes on a journey that same evening roule tabi and i left the glandier we were very glad to get away and there was nothing more to keep us there i declared my intention to give up the whole matter it had been too much for me roule tabi with a friendly tap on my shoulder confessed that he had nothing more to learn at the glandier he had learned there all it had to tell him we reached paris about eight o'clock dined and then tired out we separated agreeing to meet the next morning at my rooms roule tabi arrived next day at the hour agreed on he was dressed in a suit of english tweed with a knollster on his arm and a valise in his hand evidently he had prepared himself for a journey how long shall you be away i asked a month or two he said it all depends i asked him no more questions do you know he asked what the word was that mademoiselle stringerson tried to say before she fainted no nobody heard it i heard it replied roule tabi she said speak do you think darzak will speak never i was about to make some further observations but he wrung my hand warmly and wished me goodbye i had only time to ask him one question before he left are you not afraid that other attempts may be made while you're away no not now that darzak is in prison he answered with this strange remark he left i was not to see him again until the day of darzak's trial at the court when he appeared to explain the inexplicable end of chapter 25 recording by iswa in belgium in august 2008 chapter 26 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by jc iguan the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roue chapter 26 in which joseph roule tabi is awaited within patience on the 15th of january that is to say two months and a half after the tragic events i have narrated the epoch printed as the first column of the front page the following sensational article the sanny was jury is summoned today to give its verdict on one of the most in mysterious affairs in the annals of crime there never has been a case with so many obscure incomprehensible and inexplicable points and yet the prosecution has not hesitated to put into the prisoner's dock a man who is respected esteemed and loved by all who knew him a young savant the hope of french science whose whole life has been devoted to knowledge and truth when paris heard of mr rober d'arzac's arrest a unanimous cry of protest arose from all sides the whole sorbonne disgraced by this act of the examining magistrate asserted its belief in the innocence of mademoiselle stangerson's fiancé monsieur stangerson was loud in his denunciation of this miscarriage of justice there is no doubt in the mind of anybody that could the victim speak she would claim from the jurors of sanny was the man she wishes to make her husband and whom the prosecution would send to the scaffold it is to be hoped that mademoiselle stangerson will shortly recover her reason which has been temporarily unhinged by the horrible mystery at the glandier the question before the jury is the one we propose to deal with this very day we have decided not to permit twelve worthy men to commit a disgraceful miscarriage of justice we confess that the remarkable coincidences the many convicting evidences and the inexplicable silence on the part of the accused as well as a total absence of any evidence for an alibi were enough to warrant the bench of judges in assuming that in this man alone was centered the truth of the affair the evidences are in appearance so overwhelming against monsieur robert d'arzak that a detective so well informed so intelligent and generally so successful as monsieur frédéric larcent may be excused for having been misled by them up to now everything has gone against monsieur robert d'arzak in the magisterial inquiry today however we are going to defend him before the jury and we are going to bring to the witness stand a light that will illuminate the whole mystery of the glandier for we possess the truth if we have not spoken sooner it is because the interests of certain parties in the case demand that we should take that course our readers may remember the unsigned reports we published relating to the left foot of the river camp at the time of the famous robbery of the credit universe and the famous case of the gold ingots of the mint in both those cases we were able to discover the truth before even the excellent ingenuity of frédéric larcent had been able to unravel it these reports were written by our youngest reporter joseph roultaby a youth of 18 whose fame tomorrow will be worldwide when attention was first drawn to the glandier case our youthful reporter was on the spot and installed in the château when every other representative of the press had been denied admission he worked side by side with frédéric larcent he was amazed and terrified at the grave mistake the celebrated detective was about to make and tried to divert him from the false scent he was following but the great fred refused to receive instructions from this young journalist we know now where it brought monsieur robert d'arzak but now france must know the whole world must know that on the very evening on which monsieur d'arzak was arrested young roultaby entered our editorial office and informed us that he was about to go away on a journey how long i shall be away he said i cannot say perhaps a month perhaps two perhaps three perhaps i may never return here is a letter if i am not back on the day on which monsieur d'arzak is to appear before the s.c.'s court have this letter opened and read to the court after all the witnesses have been heard arrange it with monsieur d'arzak's council monsieur d'arzak is innocent in this letter is written the name of the murderer and that is all i have to say i am leaving to get my proofs for the irrefutable evidence of the murderer's guilt our reporter departed for a long time we were without news from him but a week ago a stranger called upon our manager and said act in accordance with the instructions of josé d'arzak if it becomes necessary to do so the letter left by him holds the truth the gentleman who brought us this message would not give us his name today the 15th of january is the day of the trial joseph rouldabay has not returned it may be we shall never see him again the press also counts its heroes its martyrs to duty it may be he is no longer living we shall know how to avenge him our manager will this afternoon be at the court of s.c.'s adversailles with the letter the letter containing the name of the murderer those perisions who flocked to the s.c.'s court at versailles to be present at the trial of what was known as the mystery of the yellow room will certainly remember the terrible crush at the salazar station the ordinary trains were so full that special trains had to be made up the article in the epoch had so excited the populace that discussion was rife everywhere even to the verge of blows partisans of rouldabay fought with the supporters of frédéric larsan curiously enough the excitement was due less to the fact that an innocent man was in danger of a wrongful conviction than to the interest taken in their own ideas as to the mystery of the yellow room each had his explanation to which each held fast those who explained the crime on frédéric larsan's theory would not admit that there could be any doubt as to the perspicacity of the popular detective others who had arrived at a different solution naturally insisted that this was rouldabay's explanation though they did not as yet know what that was with today's epoch in their hands the larsan's and the rouldabay's fought and shoved each other on the steps of the palais de justice right into the court itself those who could not get in remained in the neighborhood until evening and were with great difficulty kept back by the soldiery and the police they became hungry for news welcoming the most absurd rumors at one time the rumors spread that mrs. dangerouson himself had been arrested in the courts and had confessed to being the murderer this goes to show what a pitch of madness nervous excitement may carry people rouldabay was still expected some pretended to know him and when a young man with a pass crossed the open space which separated the crowd from the courthouse a scuffle took place cries were raised of rouldabay there's rouldabay the arrival of the manager of the paper was a designal for a great demonstration some applauded others hissed the trial itself was presided over by mrs. de rocouse a judge filled with the prejudice of his class but a man honest at heart the witnesses had been called i was there of course as were all who had in any way been in touch with the mysteries of the glandier mrs. dangerouson looking many years older and almost unrecognizable larsan are surrounds with his face ready as ever daddy jack daddy matieu who was brought into court handcuffed between two gendarmes madame matieu in tears the two berniers the two nurses the steward all the domestics of the chateau the employer of the paris post office the railway employer from epinae some friends of mrs. and mademoiselle dangerouson and all mrs. darzak's witnesses i was lucky enough to be called early in the trial so that i was then able to watch and be present at almost the whole of the proceedings the court was so crowded that many lawyers were compelled to fund seats on the steps behind the bench of justices were representatives from other benches mrs. robert darzak stood in the prisoner's dock between policemen tall handsome and calm imama of admiration rather than of compassion greeted his appearance he leans forward towards his counsel ms robert who assisted by his chief secretary ms andre s was busy turning over the folios of his brief many expected that mrs. dangerouson after giving his evidence would have gone over to the prisoner and shake in hands with him but he left the court without another word it was remarked that the jurors appeared to be interested in a rapid conversation which the manager of the epoch was having with ms robert the manager later sat down in the front row of the public seats some were surprised that he was not asked to remain with the other witnesses in the room reserved for them the reading of the indictment was got through as it always is without any incident i shall not hear report the long examination to which ms robert darzak was subjected he answered all the questions quickly and easily his silence asked to the important matters of which we know was dead against him it would seem as if this reticence would be fatal to him he resented the president's reprimands he was told that his silence might mean death very well he said i will submit to it but i am innocent with that splendid ability which has made his fame ms robert took advantage of the incident and tried to show that it brought out in noble relief his client's character for only heroic natures could remain silent for moral reasons in face of such a danger the eminent advocate however only succeeded in assuring those who were already assured of darzak's innocence at the adjournment roltaby had not arrived yet every time he door opened all eyes were turned towards it and back to the manager of the epoch who sat in passive in his place when he once was feeling in his pocket a loud murmur of expectation followed the letter it is not however my intention to report in detail the course of the trial my readers are sufficiently acquainted with the mysteries surrounding the glandier case to enable me to go on to the really dramatic denouement of this ever memorable day when the trial was resumed ms robert questioned the dematieu as to his complicity in the death of the keeper his wife was also brought in and was confronted by her husband she burst into tears and confessed that she had been the keeper's mistress and that her husband had suspected it she again however affirmed that he had had nothing to do with the merger of her lover ms robert thereupon asked the court to hear frédéric larcent on this point in a short conversation which i have had with frédéric larcent during the adjournment declared the advocate he has made me understand that the death of the keeper may have been brought about otherwise than by the hand of matieu it will be interesting to hear frédéric larcent's theory frédéric larcent was brought in his explanation was quite clear i see no necessity he said for bringing matieu in this i have told monsieur de marquet that the man's threats had biased the examining magistrate against him to me the attempt to murder mademoiselle and the death of the keeper are the work of one and the same person mademoiselle's dangersons murderer flying through the court was fired on it was thought he was struck perhaps killed as a matter of fact he only stumbled at the moment of his disappearance behind the corner of the right wing of the chateau there he encountered the keeper who no doubt tried to seize him the murderer had in his hand the knife with which he had stabbed mademoiselle's dangerson and with this he killed the keeper this very simple explanation appeared at once plausible and satisfying a murmur of approbation was heard and the murderer what became of him asked the president he was evidently hidden in an obscure corner at the end of the court after the people had left the court carrying with them the body of the keeper the murderer quietly made his escape the words had scarcely left larcent's mouth when from the back of the court came a joyful voice i agree with frédéric larcent as to the death of the keeper but i do not agree with him as to the way the murderer escaped everybody turned round astonished the clerks of the court sprang towards the speaker calling out silence and the president angrily ordered the intruder to be immediately expelled the same clear voice however was again heard it is i mr president joseph rotebeille and of chapter 26 recording by jc iguan montreal november 2008 chapter 27 part a of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by jc iguan the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roue chapter 27 part a in which joseph rotebeille appears in all his glory the excitement was extreme cries from fainting women were to be heard amid the extraordinary bustle and stir the majesty of the law was utterly forgotten the president tried in vain to make himself heard rotebeille made his way forward with difficulty but by dint of much elbowing reached his manager and greeted him cordially the letter was passed to him and pocketing it he turned to the witness box he was dressed exactly as on the day he left me even to the ulster over his arm turning to the president he said i beg your pardon mrs president but i have only just arrived from america the steamer was late my name is joseph rotebeille the silence which followed his stepping into the witness box was broken by laughter when his words were heard everybody seemed relieved and glad to find him there as if in the expectation of hearing the truth at last but the president was extremely incensed so you are joseph rotebeille he replied well young man i'll teach you what comes of making a farce of justice by virtue of my discretionary power i hold you at the court's disposition i ask nothing better mrs president i have come here for that purpose i humbly beg the court's pardon for the disturbance of which i have been the innocent cause i beg you to believe that nobody has a greater respect for the court than i have i came in as i could he smiled take him away ordered the president met rory robert intervened he began by apologizing for the young man who he said was moved only by the best intentions he made the president understand that the evidence of a witness who had slept at the grandier during the whole of that eventful week could not be omitted and that the present witness moreover had come to name the real murderer are you going to tell us who the murderer was as the president somewhat convinced those still skeptical i have come for that purpose mrs president replied rotebeille an attempt at applause was silenced by the usher joseph rotebeille this maître andri robert has not been regularly subpoenaed as a witness but i hope mr president you will examine him in virtue of your discretionary powers very well said the president we will question him but we must proceed in order the advocate general rose it will perhaps be better he said if the young man were to tell us now whom he suspects the president nodded ironically if the advocate general attaches important to the deposition of mrs joseph rotebeille i see no reason why this witness should not give us the name of the murderer a pin drop could have been heard rotebeille stood silent looking sympathetically at darsak who for the first time since the opening of the trial showed himself agitated well cried the president we wait for the name of the murderer rotebeille feeling in his waistcoat pocket drew his watch and looking at it said mrs president i cannot name the murderer before half past six o'clock loud murmurs of disappointment filled the room some of the lawyers were heard to say he's making fun of us the president in a stern voice said this joke has gone far enough you may retire ms into the witness's room i hold you at our disposition rotebeille protested i assure you mrs president he cried in his sharp clear voice that when i do name the murderer you will understand why i could not speak before half past six i assert this on my honor i can however give you now some explanation of the murder of the keeper ms frédéric larcent who has seen me at work at the grandier can tell you with what care i studied this case i found myself compelled to differ with him in arresting ms robert darsak who is innocent ms larcent knows of my good faith and knows that some importance may be attached to my discoveries which have often corroborated his own frédéric larcent said ms president it will be interesting to hear ms joseph rotebeille especially as he differs from me a murmur of approbation greeted the detractive speech he was a good sportsman and accepted the challenge the struggle between the two promised to be exciting as the president remained silent frédéric larcent continued we agree that the murderer of the keeper was the assailant of mademoiselle stangerson but as we are not agreed as to how the murderer escaped i am curious to hear ms rotebeille's explanation i have no doubt you are replied my friend general laughter followed this remark the president angrily declared that if it was repeated he would have the court cleared now young man said the president you have heard ms frédéric larcent how did the murderer get away from the court rotebeille looked at madame matthew who smiled back at him sadly since madame matthew he said has freely admitted her intimacy with the keeper why it's the boy exclaimed daddy matthew remove that man ordered the president matthew was removed from the court rotebeille went on since she has made this confession i am free to tell you that she often met the keeper at night on the first floor of the donjon in the room which was once an oratory these meetings became more frequent when her husband was laid up by his rheumatism she gave him morphine to ease his pain and to give herself more time for the meetings madame matthew came to the château that night enveloped in a large black shawl which served also as a disguise this was the phantom that disturbed daddy jack she knew how to imitate the mewing of mother ajano's cat and she would make the christ to advise the keeper of her presence the recent repairs of the donjon did not interfere with their meetings in the keeper's old room in the donjon since the new room assigned to him at the end of the right wing was separated from the steward's room by a partition only previous to the tragedy in the courtyard madame matthew and the keeper left the donjon together i learned these facts from my examination of the footmarks in the court the next morning bernier de concierge whom i had stationed behind the donjon as he will explain himself could not see what's passed in the court he did not reach the court until he heard the revolver shots and then he fired when the woman parted from the man she went towards the open gate of the court while he returned to his room he had almost reached the door when the revolvers rang out he had just reached the corner when the shadow bounced by meanwhile madame matthew surprised by the revolver shots and by the entrance of people into the court crouched in the darkness the court is a large one and being near the gate she might easily have passed out unseen but she remained and saw the body being carried away in great agony of mind she neared vestibule and saw the dead body of her lover on the stairs lit up by daddy jack's lantern she then fled and daddy jack joined her that same night before the murder daddy jack had been awakened by the cat's cry and looking through his window had seen the black phantom hastily dressing himself he went out and recognized her he is an old friend of madame matthew and when she saw him she had to tell him of her relations with the keeper and begged his assistance daddy jack took pity on her and accompanied her through the oak grove out of the park past the border of the lake to the road to epinae from there it was but a very short distance to her home daddy jack returned to the château and seeing how important it was for madame matthew's presence at the château to remain unknown he did all he could to hide it i appeal to monsieur larcent who saw me next morning examine the two sets of footprints here roul tabay turning towards madame matthew with a bow said the footprints of madame bear a strange resemblance to the neat footprints of the murderer madame matthew trembled and looked at him with wide eyes as if in wonder at what he would say next madame has a shapely foot long and rather large for a woman the imprint with its pointed toe is very like that of the murderers a movement in the court was repressed by roul tabay he held their attention at once i hasten to add he went on that i attached no importance to this outward signs like these are often liable to lead us into error if we do not reason rightly monsieur ralbert darzak's footprints are also like the murderers and yet he is not the murderer the president turning to madame matthew asked is that in accordance with what you know occurred yes monsieur president she replied it is as if monsieur roul tabay had been behind us did you see the murderer running towards the end of the right wing yes as clearly as i saw them afterwards carrying the keeper's body what became of the murderer you were in the courtyard and could easily have seen i saw nothing of him monsieur president it became quite dark just then then roul tabay said the president must explain how the murderer made his escape roul tabay continued it was impossible for the murderer to escape by the way he had entered the court without our seeing him or if we couldn't see him we must certainly have felt him since the court is a very narrow one enclosed in high iron railings then if the man was hemmed in that narrow how is it you did not find him i have been asking you that for the last half hour monsieur president replied roul tabay i cannot answer that question before half past six by this time the people in the courtroom were beginning to believe in this new witness they were mused by his melodramatic action in thus fixing the hour but they seem to have confidence in the outcome as for the president it looked as if he also made up his mind to take the young man in the same way he had certainly been impressed by roul tabay's explanation of madame matthew's part well monsieur roul tabay he said as you say but don't let us see any more of you before half past six roul tabay bowed to the president and made his way to the door of the witness's room i quietly made my way through the crowd and left the court almost at the same time as roul tabay he greeted me heartily and looked happy i'll not ask you my dear fellow i said smiling what you've been doing in america because i've no doubt you'll say you can't tell me until after half past six no my dear sin claire i'll tell you right now why i went to america i went in search of the name of the other half of the murderer the name of the other half exactly when we last left the glandier i knew there were two halves to the murderer and the name of only one of them i went to america for the name of the other half i was too puzzled to answer just then we entered the witness's room and roul tabay was immediately surrounded he showed himself very friendly to all except arthur rance to whom he exhibited a marked coldness of manner frederick larsan came in also roul tabay went up and shook him heartily by the hand his manner toward the detective showed that he had got the better of the policeman larsan smiled and asked him what he had been doing in america roul tabay began by telling him some anecdotes of his voyage they then turned the side together apparently with the object of speaking confidentially i therefore discreetly left him and being curious to hear the evidence returned to my seat in the courtroom where the public plainly showed its lack of interest in what was going on in their impatience for roul tabay's return at the appointed time on the stroke of half past six joseph roul tabay was again brought in it is impossible for me to picture the tense excitement which appeared on every face as he made his way to the bar dar zack rose to his feet frightfully pale the president addressing roul tabay said gravely i will not ask you to take the oath because you have not been regularly summoned but i trust there is no need to urge upon you the gravity of the statement you are about to make roul tabay looked at the president quite calmly and steadily in the face and replied yes monsieur at your last appearance here said the president we have arrived at the point where you were to tell us how the murderer escaped and also his name now mr roul tabay we await your explanation very well monsieur began my friend amidst a profound silence i had explained how it was impossible for the murderer to get away without being seen and yet he was there with us in the courtyard and you did not see him at least that is what the prosecution declares no we all of us saw him monsieur the president cried roul tabay then why was he not arrested because no one besides myself knew that he was the murderer it would have spoiled my plans to have had him arrested and i had then no proof other than my own reasoning i was convinced we had the murderer before us and that we were actually looking at him i have now brought what i consider the indisputable proof speak out monsieur tell us the murderer's name you will find it on the list of names present in the court on the night of the tragedy replied roul tabay the people present in the courtroom began showing in patience some of them even called for the name and were silenced by the usher the list includes daddy jack bernie de concierge and mr arthur rance said the president do you accuse any of these no monsieur then i do not understand what you are driving at there was no other person at the end of the court yes monsieur there was not at the end but above the court who was leaning out of the window human frédéric larcent exclaimed the president yes frédéric larcent replied roul tabay in a ringing tone frédéric larcent is the murderer the courtroom became immediately filled with loud and indignant protests so astonished was he that the president did not attempt to quiet it the quick silence which followed was broken by the distinctly whispered words from the lips of robert darzag it's impossible he's mad you dare to accuse frédéric larcent monsieur asked the president if you are not mad what are your proofs proofs monsieur do you want proofs well here is one cried roul tabay truly let frédéric larcent be called usher called frédéric larcent the usher hurried to the side door opened it and disappeared the door remains open while all eyes turn expectantly towards it the clerk reappeared and stepping forward said monsieur president frédéric larcent is not here he left at about four o'clock and has not been seen since that is my proof cried roul tabay triumphantly explain yourself demanded the president my proof is larcent's flight said the young reporter he will not come back you will see no more afrédéric larcent unless you are playing with the court monsieur why did you not accuse him when he was present he would then have answered you he could give no other answer than the one he has now given by his flight we cannot believe that larcent has fled there was no reason for his doing so did he know you'd make this charge he did i told him i would do you mean to say that knowing larcent was the murderer you gave him the opportunity to escape yes monsieur president i did replied roul tabay proudly i am not a policeman i am a journalist and my business is not to arrest people my business is in the service of truth and is not that i'm an executioner if you are just monsieur you will see that i am right you can now understand why i refrained until this hour to devote the name i gave arson time to catch the 417 train for paris where he would know where to hide himself and leave no traces you will not find frédéric larcent declared roul tabay fixing his eyes on monsieur robert d'arzak he is too cunning he is a man who has always escaped you and whom you have long searched for in vain if he did not succeed in outwitting me he can yet easily outwit any police this man who four years ago introduced himself to the sûreté and became celebrated as frédéric larcent is notorious under another name a name well known to crime frédéric larcent monsieur president is balmeyer balmeyer cried the president balmeyer exclaimed robert d'arzak springing to his feet balmeyer it was true then ah monsieur d'arzak you don't think i am mad now cried roul tabay balmeyer balmeyer no other word could be heard in the courtroom the president adjourned the hearing those of my readers who may not have heard of balmeyer will wonder at the excitement the name caused and yet the doings of this remarkable criminal form the subject matter of the most traumatic narratives of the newspapers and criminal records of the past 20 years it had been reported that he was dead and thus had eluded the police as he had eluded them throughout the whole of his career balmeyer was the best specimen of the high class gentleman swendler he was adept at slight of hand tricks and no boulder or more ruthless crook ever lived he was received in the best society and was a member of some of the most exclusive clubs on many of his depredatory expeditions he had not hesitated to use the knife and the mutton burn no difficulty stopped him and no operation was too dangerous he had been caught but escaped on the very morning of his trial by throwing pepper into the eyes of the guards who were conducting him to court it was known later that in spite of the keen hunts after him by the most expert of detectives he had sat that same evening at a first performance in the seattle rense without the slightest disguise he left france later to work america the police there succeeded in capturing him once but the extraordinary man escaped the next day it would need a volume to recount the adventures of this master criminal and yet this was the man holtaby had allowed to get away knowing all about him and who he was he afforded the criminal an opportunity for another laugh at the society he had defied i could not help admiring the bold stroke of the young journalist because i felt certain his motive had been to protect both men was in stangerousen and red darksack of an enemy at the same time the crowd had barely recovered from the effect of the astonishing revelation when the hearing was resumed the question in everybody's mind was admitting that larcen was the murderer how did he get out of the yellow room holtaby was immediately called to the bar and his explanation continued you have told us said the president that it was impossible to escape from the end of the court since larcen was leaning out of his window he had left the court how did he do that he escaped by a most unusual way he climbed the wall sprang onto the terrace and while we were engaged with the keeper's body reached the gallery by the window he then had little else to do than to open the window get in and call out to us as if he had just come from his own room to a man of belmayer's strength all that was a mere child's play and here monsieur is the proof of what i say holtaby drew from his pocket a small packet from which he produced a strong iron peg this monsieur is a spike which perfectly fits a hole still to be seen on the carnus supporting the terrace larcen who thought and prepared for everything in case of any emergency had fixed this spike into the cornice all he had to do to make his escape good was to plant one foot on a stone which is placed at the corner of the château another on this support one hand on the cornice of the keeper's door and the other on the terrace and larcen was clear of the ground the rest was easy his acting after dinner as if he had been drugged was make believe he was not drugged but he did drug me of course he had to make it appear as if he also had been drugged so that no suspicions should fell on him for my condition had i not been just overpowered larcen would never have entered mademoiselle's dangerous inch chamber that night and the attack on her would not have taken place a groan came from darzak who appeared to be unable to control his suffering you can understand aded hold a bay that larcen could feel himself hampered from the fact that my room was so close to his and from a suspicion that i would be on the watch that night naturally he could not for a moment believe that i suspected him but i might see him leaving his room when he was about to go to mademoiselle's dangerous i waited till i was asleep and my friends and claire was busy trying to razz me ten minutes after that mademoiselle was calling out murder how did you come to suspect larcen asked the president my pure reason pointed to him that was why i watched him but i did not foresee the drugging he is very cunning yes my pure reason pointed to him but i require tangible proof so that my eyes could see him as my pure reason saw him what do you mean by your pure reason that power of one's mind which admits of no disturbing elements to a conclusion the day following the incident of the inexplicable gallery i felt myself losing control of it i had allowed myself to be diverted by fallacious evidence but i recovered and again took hold of the right end i satisfied myself that the murderer could not have left the gallery either naturally or super naturally i narrowed the field of consideration to that small circle so to speak the murderer could not be outside that circle now who was in it there was first the murderer then there were daddy jack mrs. dangerouson predrick larcen and myself five persons in all counting in the murderer and yet in the gallery there were but four now since it had been demonstrated to me that the fifth could not have escaped it was evident that one of the four present in the gallery must be a double he must be himself and the murderer also why had i not seen this before simply because the phenomenon of the double personality had not occurred before in this inquiry now who of the four persons in the gallery was both that person and the assassin i went over in my mind what i had seen i had seen at one and at the same time mrs. dangerouson and the murderer daddy jack and the murderer myself and the murderer so that the murderer then could not be either mrs. dangerouson daddy jack or myself had i seen frédéric larcen and the murderer at the same time no two seconds had passed during which i lost sight of the murderer for as i have noted in my papers he arrived two seconds before mrs. dangerouson daddy jack and myself at the meeting point of the two galleries that would have given larcen time to go through the off-turning gallery snatch off his false beard return and hurry with us as if like us in pursuit of the murderer i was sure now i had got hold of the right end in my reasoning with frédéric larcen was now always associated in my mind the personality of the unknown of whom i was in pursuit the murderer in other words end of chapter 27 part a chapter 27 part b of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by jc guan the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roue chapter 27 part b that revelation staggered me i tried to regain my balance by going over the evidence previously traced but which had diverted my mind and led me away from frédéric larcen what were these evidences first i had seen the unknown in mademoiselle stangerson's chamber ongoing to frédéric larcen's room i had found frédéric sound asleep second the ladder third i had placed frédéric larcen at the end of the off-turning gallery and had told him that i would rush into mademoiselle stangerson's room to try to capture the murderer then i returned to mademoiselle stangerson's chamber where i had seen the unknown the first evidence did not disturb me much it is likely that when i descended from my ladder after having seen the unknown in mademoiselle stangerson's chamber larcen had already finished what he was doing there then while i was re-entering the château larcen went back to his own room and on dressing himself went to sleep nor did the second evidence trouble me if larcen were the murderer he could have no use for a ladder but the ladder might have been placed there to give an appearance to the murderer's entrance from without the château especially as larcen had accused d'arzak and d'arzak was not in the château that night further the ladder might have been placed there to facilitate larcen's flight in case of absolute necessity but the third evidence puzzled me all together having placed larcen at the end of the off-turning gallery i could not explain how he had taken advantage of the moment when i had gone to the left wing of the château to find monsieur stangerson and d'arzak to return to mademoiselle stangerson's room it was a very dangerous thing to do he risked being captured and he knew it and he was very nearly captured he had not had time to regain his post as he had certainly hoped to do he had a very strong reason for returning to his room as for myself when i sent d'arzak to the end of the right gallery i naturally thought that larcen was still at his post that d'arzak going to his post had not looked when he passed to see whether larcen was at his post or not what then was the urgent reason which had compelled larcen to go to the room a second time i guessed it would be some evidence of his presence there he had left something very important in that room what was it and had he recovered it i begged madame bernier who was accustomed to clean the room to look and she found a pair of eyeglasses this pair monsieur président and roltabé drew the eyeglasses of which we know from his pocket when i saw these eyeglasses he continued i was utterly non-plussed i had never seen larcen were eyeglasses what did they mean suddenly i exclaimed to myself i wonder if he is long-sighted i had never seen larcen right he might then be long-sighted they would certainly know at the surté and also know if the glasses were his such evidence would be damning that explained larcen's return i know now that larcen or bolmeir is long-sighted and that these glasses belong to him i now made one mistake i was not satisfied with the evidence i had obtained i wished to see the man's face had i refrained from this the second terrible attack would not have occurred but asked the president why should larcen go to madmas's dangerous room at all why should he twice attempt to murder her because he loves her monsieur president that is certainly a reason but it is the only reason he was madly in love and because of that and other things he was capable of committing any crime did madmas's dangerouson know this yes monsieur but she was ignorant of the fact that the man who was pursuing her was frédéric larcen otherwise of course he would not have been allowed to be at the château i noticed when he was in her room after the incident in the gallery that he kept himself in the château and that he kept his head bunched down he was looking for the lost eyeglasses madmas's dangerouson knew larcen under another name monsieur d'arzak asked the president did madmas's dangerouson in any way confide in you on this matter how is it that she has never spoken about it to anyone if you are innocent she would have wished to spare you the pain of being accused madmas's dangerouson told me nothing replied monsieur d'arzak does what this young man says appear probable to you the president asked madmas's dangerouson has told me nothing he replied stolidly how do you explain that on the night of the murder of the keeper the president asked turning to rutabey the murderer brought back the papers stolen from monsieur stangerson how do you explain how the murderer gained entrance into madmas's dangerousons locked room the last question is easily answered a man like larcen or bold mayor could have had made duplicate keys as to the documents i think larcen had not intended to steal them at first closely watching madmas el with the purpose of preventing her marriage with monsieur rober d'arzak he one day followed her and monsieur into the grand magasin de la louvre there he got possession of the reticule which she lost or left behind in that reticule was a key with a brass head he did not know there was any value attached to the key till the advertisement in the papers revealed it he then wrote to madmas el as the advertisement requested no doubt he asked for a meeting making known to her that he was also the person who had for some time pursued her with his love he received no answer he went to the post office and ascertained that his letter was no longer there he had already taken complete stock of mrs. d'arzak and having decided to go to any length to gain madmas el stangerson he had planned that whatever might happen monsieur d'arzak his hated rival should be the man to be suspected i do not think that larcen had as yet thought of murdering madmas el stangerson but whatever he might do he made sure that monsieur d'arzak should suffer for it he was very nearly of the same height as monsieur d'arzak and had almost the same sized feet it would not be difficult to take an impression of monsieur d'arzak's footprint and have similar boots made for himself such tricks were mere charts play for larcen or a ball major receiving no reply to his letter he determined since madmas el stangerson would not come to him that he would go to her his plan had long been formed he had made himself master of the plans of the chateau and the pavilion so that one afternoon while monsieur and madmas el stangerson were out for a walk and while daddy jack was away he entered the latter by the vestibule window he was alone and being in no hurry he began examining the furniture one of the pieces resembling his safe had a very small keyhole that interested him he had with them the little key with the brass head and associating one with the other he tried the key in the lock the door opened he saw nothing but papers they must be very valuable to have been put away in a safe and the key to which to be of so much importance perhaps he thought of blackmail occurred to him as a useful possibility in helping him in his designs on madmas el stangerson he quickly made a parcel of the papers and took it to the laboratory in the vestibule between the time of his first examination of the pavilion and the night of the murder of the keeper last time had had time to find out what those papers contained he could do nothing with them and they were rather compromising that night he took them back to the chateau perhaps he hoped that by returning the papers he might obtain some gratitude from madmas el stangerson but whatever might have been his reasons he took the papers back and so rid himself of an incumbrance roltabé carved it was evident to me that he was embarrassed he had arrived at a point where he had to keep back his knowledge of la sens true motive the explanation he had given had evidently been unsatisfactory roltabé was quick enough to note the bad impression he had made for turning to the president he said and now we come to the explanation of the mystery of the yellow room a movement of chairs in the court with a rustling of dresses and an energetic whispering of hush showed the curiosity that had been aroused it seems to me said the president that the mystery of the yellow room mr roltabé is wholly explained by your hypothesis rederick lursson is the explanation we have merely to substitute him for mr robert d'arzak evidently the door of the yellow room was open at the time mr stangerson was alone and that he allowed the man who was coming out of his daughter's chamber to pass without arresting him perhaps at her entreaty to avoid all scandal no mr president protested the young man you forget that stunned by the attack made on her but wasn't stangerson was not in a condition to have made such an appeal nor could she have locked and voted herself in her room you must also remember that mr stangerson has sworn that the door was not open that however is the only way in which it can be explained the yellow room was as closely shut as an iron safe to use your own expression it wasn't possible for the murderer to make his escape either naturally or supernaturally when the room was broken into he was not there he must therefore have escaped that does not follow what do you mean there was no need for him to escape if he was not there not there evidently not he could not have been there if he were not found there but what about the evidences of his presence asked the president that mr president is where we have taken hold of the wrong end from the time that was as dangerous and shut herself in the room to the time her door was burst open it was impossible for the murderer to escape he was not found because he was not there during that time but the evidences they have led us astray in reasoning on this mystery we must not take them to mean what they apparently mean why do we conclude the murderer was there because he left his tracks in the room good but may he not have been there before the room was locked nay he must have been there before let us look into the matter of these traces and see if they do not point to my conclusion after the publication of the article in the matin and my conversation with the examining magistrates on the journey from paris to epinae so olge i was certain that the yellow room had been hermetically sealed so to speak and that consequently the murderer had escaped before mademoiselle's dangerouson had gone into her chamber at midnight at the time i was much puzzled mademoiselle's dangerouson could not have been her own murderer since the evidences pointed to some other person the assassin then had come before if that were so how was it that mademoiselle had been attacked after or rather that she appeared to have been attacked after it was necessary for me to reconstruct the occurrence and make of it two phases each separated from the other in time by the space of several hours one phase in which mademoiselle's dangerouson had really been attacked the other phase in which those who heard her cries thought she was being attacked i had not then examined the yellow room what were the marks on mademoiselle's dangerouson there were marks of strangulation and the wound from a hard blow on the temple the marks of strangulation did not interest me much they might have been made before and mademoiselle could have concealed them by a colorette or any similar article of apparel i had to suppose this the moment i was compelled to reconstruct the occurrence by two phases mademoiselle's dangerouson had no doubt her own reason for so doing since she had told her father nothing of it and had made it understood to the examining magistrate that the attack had taken place in the night during the second phase she was forced to say that otherwise her father would have questioned her as to the reason for having said nothing about it but i could not explain the blow on the temple i understood it even less when i learned that the mutton bone had been found in her room she could not hide the fact that she had been struck on the head and yet that wound appeared evidently to have been inflicted during the first phase since it required the presence of the murderer i thought mademoiselle's dangerouson had hidden the wound by arranging her hair in bands on her forehead as to the mark of the hands on the wall that had evidently been made during the first phase when the murderer was really there all the traces of his presence had naturally been left during the first phase the mutton bone the black footprint the basque cap the handkerchief the blood on the wall on the door and on the floor if those traces were still all there they showed that mademoiselle's dangerouson who desired that nothing should be known had not had time yet to clear them away this led me to the conclusion that the two phases had taken place one shortly after the other she had not had the opportunity after leaving her room and going back to the laboratory to her father to get back again to her room and put it in order her father was all the time with her working so that after the first phase she did not re-enter her chamber till midnight that hijack was there at ten o'clock as he was every night but he went in merely to close the blinds and light the night light owing to her disturbed state of mind she had forgotten that daddy jack would go into her room and had begged him not to trouble himself all this was at fourth in the article in the matin daddy jack did go however and in the dim light of the room saw nothing mademoiselle's dangerouson must have lived some anxious moments while daddy jack was absent but i think she was not aware that so many evidences had been left after she had been attacked she had only time to hide the traces of the man's fingers on her neck and to hurry to the laboratory had she known of the bone the cap and handkerchief she would have made away with them after she had gone back to her chamber at midnight she did not see them and undressed by the uncertain glimmer of the night light she went to bed worn out by anxiety and fear a fear that had made her remain in the laboratory as late as possible my reasoning had thus brought me to the second phase of the tragedy when mademoiselle's dangerouson was alone in the room i had now to explain the revolver shots fired during the second phase cries of help murder had been heard how to explain these as to the cries i was in no difficulty since she was alone in her room these could result from nightmare only my explanation of the struggle and noise that were heard is simply that in her nightmare she was haunted by the terrible experience she had passed through in the afternoon in her dream she sees the murderer about to spring upon her and she cries help murder her hand while besieged the revolver she had placed within her reach on the night table by the side of her bed but her hand striking the table overturns it and the revolver falling to the floor discharges itself the bullet lodging in the ceiling i knew from the first that the bullet in the ceiling must have resulted from an accident its very position suggested an accident to my mind and so fell in with my theory of a nightmare i no longer doubted that the attack had taken place before mademoiselle had retired for the night after wakening from her frightful dream and crying aloud for help she had fainted my theory based on the evidence of the shots that were heard at midnight demanded two shots one which wounded the murderer at the time of his attack and one fired at the time of the nightmare the evidence given by the Berniers before the examining magistrate was to the effect that only one shot had been heard mr. Stangerson testifies to hearing a dull sound first followed by a sharp ringing sound the dull sound i explained by the falling of the marble topped table the ringing sound was the shot from the revolver i was now convinced i was right the shot that had wounded the hand of the murderer and had caused it to bleed so that he left the bloody imprint on the wall was fired by mademoiselle in self-defense before the second phase when she had been really attacked the shot in the ceiling which the Berniers heard was the accidental shot during the nightmare i had now to explain the wound on the temple it was not severe enough to have been made by means of the mutton bone and mademoiselle had not attempted to hide it it must have been made during the second phase it was to find this out that i went to the yellow room and i obtained my answer there rotabey drew a piece of white folded paper from his pocket and drew out of it an almost invisible object which he held between his thumb and forefinger this mr. president he said is a hair a blonde hair stained with blood it is a hair from the head of mademoiselle stangerson i found it sticking to one of the corners of the overturned table the corner of the table was itself stained with blood a tiny stain hardly visible but it told me that on rising from her bed mademoiselle stangerson had fallen heavily and had struck her head on the corner of its marble top i still had to learn in addition to the name of the assassin which i did later the time of the original attack i learned this from the examination of mademoiselle stangerson and her father though the answers given by the former were well calculated to deceive the examining magistrate mademoiselle stangerson had stated very minutely how she had spent the whole of her time that day we established the fact that the murderer had introduced himself into the pavilion between five and six o'clock at a quarter past six the professor and his daughter had resumed their work at five the professor had been with his daughter and since the attack took place in the professor's absence from his daughter i had to find out just when he left her the professor had stated that at the time when he and his daughter were about to re-enter the laboratory he was met by the keeper and held in conversation about the cutting of some wood and the poachers mademoiselle stangerson was not with him then since the professor said i left the keeper and rejoin my daughter who was at work in the laboratory it was during that short interval of time that the tragedy took place that is certain in my mind's eye i saw mademoiselle stangerson re-enter the pavilion go to her room to take off her hat and find herself faced by the murderer he had been in the pavilion for some time waiting for her he had arranged to pass the whole night there he had taken off daddy jack's boots he had removed the papers from the cabinet and had then slipped under the bed finding the time long he had risen gone again into the laboratory then into the vestibule looked into the garden and had seen coming towards the pavilion mademoiselle stangerson alone he would never have dared to attack her at that hour if he had not found her alone his mind was made up he would be more at ease alone with mademoiselle stangerson in the pavilion than he would have been in the middle of the night with daddy jack sleeping in the attic so he shut the vestibule window that explains why neither mademoiselle stangerson nor the keeper who were at some distance from the pavilion had heard the revolver shot then he went back to the yellow room mademoiselle stangerson came in what passed must have taken place very quickly mademoiselle tried to call for help but the man has seized her by the throat her hand had stopped and grasped the revolver which she had been keeping in the drawer of her night table since she had come to fear the threats of her pursuer the murderer was about to strike her on the head with the mutton bone a terrible weapon in the hands of a larcen or a ballmaier but she fires in time and the shot wounded the hand that held the weapon the bone fell to the floor covered with the blood of the murderer who staggered clutched at the wall for support in printing on it the red marks and fearing another bullet fled she saw him pass through the laboratory and listened he was long at the window at length he jumped from it she flew to it and shot it the danger passed all her thoughts were of her father had he either seen or heard at any cost to herself she must keep this from him thus when mademoiselle stangerson returned he found the door of the yellow room closed his daughter in the laboratory bending over her desk at work turning towards monsieur d'Arzak roule-tabé cried you know the truth tell us then if that is not how things happened i don't know anything about it replied monsieur d'Arzak i admire you for your silence cette roule-tabé but if mademoiselle stangerson knew of your danger she would release you from your oath she would beg of you to tell all she has confided to you she would be here to defend you monsieur d'Arzak made no movement nor uttered a word he looked at roule-tabé sadly however said the young reporter since mademoiselle stangerson is not here i must do it myself but believe me monsieur d'Arzak the only means to save mademoiselle stangerson and restore her to her reason is to secure your acquittal what is this secret motive that compels mademoiselle stangerson to hide her knowledge from her father ask the president that's monsieur i do not know cette roule-tabé it is no business of mine the president turning to monsieur d'Arzak and delivered to induce him to tell what he knew do you still refuse monsieur to tell us how you employed your time during the attempts on the life of mademoiselle stangerson i cannot tell you anything monsieur the president turned to roule-tabé as if appealing for an explanation we must assume monsieur president that monsieur robert d'Arzak's absences are closely connected with mademoiselle stangerson's secret and that monsieur d'Arzak feels himself in honor bound to remain silent it may be that larcent who since his three attempts has had everything in training to cast suspicion on monsieur d'Arzak had fixed on just those occasions for a meeting with monsieur d'Arzak at a spot most compromising larcent is cunning enough to have done that the president seemed partly convinced but still curious he asked but what is the secret of mademoiselle stangerson that i cannot tell you cette roule-tabé i think however you know enough now to acquit monsieur robert d'Arzak unless larcent should return and i don't think he will he added with a laugh one question more said the president admitting your explanation we know that larcent wished to turn suspicion on monsieur robert d'Arzak but why should he throw suspicion on daddy jack also there came in the professional detective monsieur who proves himself an unraveler of mysteries by annihilating the very proofs he had accumulated he's a very cunning man and a similar trick had often enabled him to turn suspicion from himself he proved the innocence of one before accusing the other you can easily believe monsieur that's so complicated a scheme as this must have been long and carefully thought out in advance by larcent i can tell you that he had been long engaged in its elaboration if you care to learn how he had gathered information you will find that he had on one occasion disguised himself as the commissionaire between the laboratory of the sorté and mrs. dangerouson of whom experiments were demanded in this way he had been able before the crime on two occasions to take stock of the pavilion he had made up so that daddy jack had not recognized him and yet larcent have found the opportunity to rob the old man of a pair of old boots and he cast off basque camp which the servant had tied up in a handkerchief with the intention of carrying them to a friend a charcoal burner on the road to eponae when the crime was discovered that he jack had immediately recognized these objects as his they were extremely compromising which explains his distress at the time when we spoke to him about them larcent confessed it all to me he is an artist at the game he did a similar thing in the affair of the crédit universelle and in that of the gold ingots of the mint both these cases should be revised since bolmayer or larcent has been in the sorté a number of innocent persons have been sent to prison end of chapter 27 part b chapter 28 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks all to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by stewart bell the mystery of the yellow room by gaston larou chapter 28 in which it is proved that one does not always think of everything great excitement prevailed when ruta behal finished the courtroom became agitated with the murmurings of suppressed applause maithra angrie verbert called for an adjournment of the trial and was supported in his motion by the public prosecutor himself the case was adjourned the next day monje robber d'asak was released on bail while daddy jack received the immediate benefit of a no-cause for action search was everywhere made for frederick glossar but in vain monje d'asak finally escaped the awful calamity which at one time had threatened him after a visit to mom was arston jason he was led to hope that she might by careful nursing one day recover her reason ruta bill naturally became the man of the hour on leaving the palais de justice the crowd bore him aloft in triumph the press of the whole world published his exploits and his photograph he who had interviewed so many illustrious personages had himself become illustrious and was interviewed in his turn i'm glad to say that the enormous success in no way turned his head we left the side together after having dined at the dog that smokes in the train i put a number of questions to him which during our meal had been on the tip of my tongue but which i had refrained from uttering knowing that he did not like to talk shop while eating my friend i said that last soundcase is wonderful it is worthy of you he begged me to say no more and humorously pretended an anxiety for me should i give way to silly praise of him because of a personal admiration for his ability i'll come to the point then i said not a little netled i am still in the darkest your reason for going to america when you left the glandier you had found out if i rightly understand all about frederick larsa you had discovered the exact way he had attempted the murder quite so and you he said turning the conversation did you suspect nothing nothing it's incredible i don't see how i could have suspected anything you took great pains to conceal your thoughts from me had you already suspected last sound when you sent for me to bring the revolvers yes i'd come to that conclusion through the incident of the inexplicable gallery last sounds returned to mawazel stangerson's room however had not then been cleared up by the eyeglasses my suspicions were the outcome of my reasoning only and the idea of last sound being the murderer seemed so extraordinary that i resolved to wait for actual evidence before venturing to act nevertheless the suspicion worried me and i sometimes spoke to the detective in a way that ought to have opened your eyes i spoke disparagingly of his methods as until i found the eyeglasses i could but look upon my suspicion of him in the light of an absurd hypothesis only you can imagine my elation after i had explained last sounds movements i remember well rushing into my room like a madman and crying to you i'll get the better of the great fred i'll get the better of him in a way that will make a sensation i was then thinking of last sound the murderer it was that same evening that does act begged me to watch over mawazel stangerson i made no efforts until we're dined with last sound until 10 o'clock he was right there before me and i could afford to wait you ought to have suspected because when we were talking of the murderer's arrival i said to you i am quite sure last sound will be here tonight one important point escaped us both it was one which or to have opened their eyes to last sound do you remember the bamboo cane i was surprised to find last sound have made no use of that evidence against robert dazak had he not been purchased by a man whose description tell it exactly with that of dazak well just before i saw him off at the train after the recess during the trial i asked him why he hadn't used the cane evidence he told me that he had never had any intention of doing so that our discovery of it in the little inn at epine had much embarrassed him if you will remember he told us then that the cane had been given him in london why did we not immediately say to ourselves fred is lying he could not have had this cane in london he was not in london he bought it in paris then you found out on enquiry at cassettes that the cane had been bought by a person dressed very like robert dazak though as we learned later from dazak himself it was not he who had made the purchase couple this with the fact that we already know from the letter at the poster a start that there was actually a man in paris who was passing as robert dazak why did we not immediately fix on fred himself of course his position that the surete was against us but when we saw the evidence eagerness in his part to find convicting evidence against dazak and that even the passion he displayed in his pursuit of the man the lie about the cane should have had a new meaning for us if you ask why lassan bought the cane if he had no intention of manufacturing evidence against dazak by means of it the answer is quite simple he had been wounded in the hand by man was arston jason so that the cane was useful to enable him to close his hand in carrying it you remember i noticed that he always carried it all these details came back to my mind when i had once fixed on lassan as the criminal they were too late then to be of any use to me on the evening when he pretended to be drugged i looked at his hand and saw a thin silk bandage covering the signs of a slight healing wound have we taken a quick initiative at the time lassan told us that lie about the cane i am certain he would have gone off to avoid suspicion all the same we worried lassan or baumea without her knowing it but i interrupted if lassan had no intention of using the cane as evidence against dazak why had he made himself up to look like the man when he went in to buy it he had not specially made up as dazak to buy the cane he had come straight to cassettes immediately after he had attacked man was arston jason his wound was troubling him and as he was passing along the avenue del opera the idea of the cane came to his mind and he acted on it it was then eight o'clock and i who had hit upon the very hour of the occurrence of the tragedy almost convinced that dazak was not the criminal and knowing of the cane i still never suspected lassan there are times there are times i said when the greatest intellects brutally shut my mouth i still continued to try at him but finding he did not reply i saw he was no longer paying any attention to what i was saying i found he was fast asleep end of chapter 28 recording by stewart bell cambridge uk chapter 29 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston larou chapter 29 the mystery of mademoiselle stangerson during the days that followed i had several opportunities to question him as to his reason for his voyage to america but i obtained no more precise answers than he had given me on the evening of the adjournment of the trial when we were on the train for paris one day however on my still pressing him he said can't you understand that i had to know larson's true personality no doubt i said but why did you go to america to find that out he sat smoking his pipe and made no further reply i began to see that i was touching on the secret that concerned mademoiselle stangerson rutabil evidently had found it necessary to go to america to find out what the mysterious tie was that bound her to larson by so strange and terrible a bond in america he had learned who larson was and had obtained information which closed his mouth he had been to philadelphia and now what was this mystery which held mademoiselle stangerson and mishir robert darzak in so inexplicable a silence after so many years and the publicity given the case by a curious and shameless press now that mishir stangerson knows all and has forgiven all all may be told in every phase of this remarkable story mademoiselle stangerson has always been the sufferer the beginning dates from the time when as a young girl she was living with her father in philadelphia a visitor at the house a frenchman had succeeded by his wit grace and persistent attention in gaining her affections he was said to be rich and had asked her of her father mishir stangerson on making inquiries as to mishir gen russell found that the man was a swindler and an adventurer gen russell was but another of the many names under which the notorious bolmire a fugitive from france tried to hide himself mishir stangerson did not know of his identity with bolmire he learned that the man was simply undesirable for his daughter he not only refused to give his consent to the marriage but denied him admission into the house matilde stangerson however had fallen in love to her gen russell was everything that her love painted him she was indignant at her father's attitude and did not conceal her feelings her father sent her to stay with an aunt in Cincinnati there she was joined by gen russell and in spite of the reverence she felt for her father ran away with him to get married they went to louisville and lived there for some time one morning however a knock came at the door of the house in which they were and the police entered to arrest gen russell it was then that matilde stangerson or russell learned that her husband was no other than the notorious bolmire the young woman in her despair tried to commit suicide she failed in this and was forced to rejoin her aunt in Cincinnati the old lady was overjoyed to see her again she had been anxiously searching for her and had not dared to tell mishir stangerson of her disappearance matilde swore her to secrecy so that her father should not know that she had been away a month later mademoiselle stangerson returned to her father repentant her heart dead within her hoping only one thing that she would never again see her husband the horrible bolmire a report was spread a few weeks later that he was dead and she now determined to atone for her disobedience by a life of labor and devotion for her father and she kept her word all this she had confessed to robert darzak and believing bolmire dead had given herself to the joy of a union with him but fate had resuscitated genre cell the bolmire of her youth he had taken steps to let her know that he would never allow her to marry darzak that he still loved her mademoiselle stangerson never for one moment hesitated to confide in mishir darzak she showed him the letter in which john russell asked her to recall the first hours of their union in their beautiful and charming louisville home the presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden of its brightness he had written the scoundrel pretended to be rich and claimed the right of taking her back to louisville she had told darzak that if her father should know of her dishonor she would kill herself mishir darzak had sworn to silence her persecutor even if he had to kill him he was outwitted and would have succumbed had it not been for the genius of rootabil mademoiselle stangerson was herself helpless in the hands of such a villain she had tried to kill him when he had first threatened and then attacked her in the yellow room she had unfortunately failed and felt herself condemned to be forever at the mercy of this unscrupulous wretch who was continually demanding her presence at clandestine interviews when he sent her the letter through the post office asking her to meet him she had refused the result of her refusal was the tragedy of the yellow room the second time he wrote asking for a meeting the letter reaching her in her sick chamber she had avoided him by sleeping with her servants in that letter the scoundrel had warned her that since she was too ill to come to him he would come to her and that he would be in her chamber at a particular hour on a particular night knowing she had everything to fear from bulmire she had left her chamber on that night it was then that the incident of the inexplicable gallery occurred the third time she had determined to keep the appointment he asked for it in the letter he had written in her own room on the night of the incident in the gallery which he left on her desk in that letter he threatened to burn her father's papers if she did not meet him it was to rescue these papers that she made up her mind to see him she did not for one moment doubt that the wretch would carry out his threat if she persisted in avoiding him and in that case the labors of her father's lifetime would be forever lost since the meeting was thus inevitable she resolved to see her husband and appeal to his better nature it was for this interview that she had prepared herself on the night the keeper was killed they did meet and what passed between them may be imagined he insisted that she renounced Darzak she on her part affirmed her love for him he stabbed her in his anger determined to convict Darzak of the crime as Larsen he could do it and had so managed things that Darzak could never explain how he had employed the time of his absence from the chateau all Myers precautions were most cunningly taken Larsen threatened Darzak as he had threatened Matilde with the same weapon and the same threats he wrote Darzak urgent letters declaring himself ready to deliver up the letters that had passed between him and his wife and to leave them forever if he would pay him his price he asked Darzak to meet him for the purpose of arranging the matter appointing the time when Larsen would be with Mademoiselle Stangerson when Darzak went to eponae expecting to find Balmyr or Larsen there he was met by an accomplice of Larsen's and kept waiting until such time as the coincidence could be established it was all done with Machiavelli and Cunning but Balmyr had reckoned without Joseph Rulta Biel now that the mystery of the yellow room has been cleared up this is now the time to tell of Routabil's adventures in America knowing the young reporter as we do we can understand with what acumen he had traced step by step the story of Matilde Stangerson and Jean Roussel at Philadelphia he had quickly informed himself as to Arthur William Rance there he learned of Rance's act of devotion and the reward he thought himself entitled to for it a rumor of his marriage with Mademoiselle Stangerson had once found its way into the drawing rooms of Philadelphia he also learned of Rance's continued attentions to her and his importunities for her hand he had taken to drink he had said to drown his grief at his unrequited love it can now be understood why Routabil had shown so marked a coolness of demeanor towards Rance when they met in the witness's room on the day of the trial the strange Roussel Stangerson mystery had now been laid bare who was this Jean Roussel Routabil had traced him from Philadelphia to Cincinnati in Cincinnati he became acquainted with the old aunt and had found means to open her mouth the story of Ballmeyer's arrest through the right light on the whole story he visited the Presbytery a small and pretty dwelling in the old colonial style which had indeed lost nothing of its charm then abandoning his pursuit of traces of Mademoiselle Stangerson he took up those of Ballmeyer he followed them from prison to prison from crime to crime finally as he was about leaving for Europe he learned in New York that Ballmeyer had five years before embarked for France with some valuable papers belonging to a merchant of New Orleans whom he had murdered and yet the whole of this mystery has not been revealed Mademoiselle Stangerson had a child by her husband a son the infant was born in the old aunt's house no one knew of it so well had the aunt managed to conceal the event what became of that son that is another story which so far I am not permitted to relate about two months after these events I came upon Routabil sitting on a bench in the Palais de Justice looking very depressed what's the matter old man I asked you are looking very downcast how are your friends getting on apart from you he said I have no friends I hope that Mr. Darzak no doubt and Mademoiselle Stangerson how is she better much better then you ought not to be sad I am sad he said because I am thinking of the perfume of the lady in black the perfume of the lady in black I have heard you often refer to it tell me why it troubles you perhaps someday someday said Routabil and he heaved a profound sigh and of chapter 29 and of the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston LaRue