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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 27 - In Which Joseph Rouletabille Appears in All His... (Part B) · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven, Part B of the Mystery of the
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  Speaker 1: Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more free audiobooks or
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  Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by J. C. Guan.
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  Speaker 1: The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, Chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven, Parch B. That revelation staggered me. I tried
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  Speaker 1: to regain my balance by going over the evidence previously traced,
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  Speaker 1: but which had diverted my mind and led me away
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  Speaker 1: from Frederic Clarson. What were these evidences? First, I had
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  Speaker 1: seen the unknown in Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber. On going to
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  Speaker 1: Fredrich Clarison's room, I had found Frederic sound asleep. Second,
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  Speaker 1: the latter third, I had placed Fredrick Clarson at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the off turning gallery and had told him
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  Speaker 1: that I would rush into Mademoiselle Stangerson's room to try
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  Speaker 1: to capture the murderer. Then I returned to MADEMOISEE. Stangerson's chamber,
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  Speaker 1: where I had seen the unknown. The first evidence did
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  Speaker 1: not disturb me much. It is likely that when I
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  Speaker 1: descended from my ladder after having seen the unknown in
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber, Lachan had already finished what he was
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  Speaker 1: doing there. Then, while I was re entering the chateau,
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  Speaker 1: Lazon went back to his own room, and, undressing himself,
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  Speaker 1: went to sleep. Nor did the second evidence trouble me.
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  Speaker 1: If Laxan were the murderer, he could have no use
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  Speaker 1: for a ladder. But the ladder my had been placed
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  Speaker 1: there to give an appearance to the murderer's entrance from
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  Speaker 1: without the chateau, especially as Laxon had accused Darzac and
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  Speaker 1: Darzac was not in the chateau that night. Further, the
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  Speaker 1: ladder might have been placed there to facilitate Laxon's flight
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  Speaker 1: in case of absolute necessity. But the third evidence puzzled
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  Speaker 1: me altogether. Having placed Lasan at the end of the
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  Speaker 1: off turning gallery, I could not explain how he had
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  Speaker 1: taken advantage of the moment when I had gone to
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  Speaker 1: the left wing of the chateau to find Monsieur Stangerson
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  Speaker 1: and Dad de Jacques to return to Mademoiselle Stangerson's room.
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  Speaker 1: It was a very dangerous thing to do. He risked
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  Speaker 1: being captured, and he knew it, and he was very
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  Speaker 1: nearly captured, he had not had time to regain his post,
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  Speaker 1: as he had certainly hoped to do. He had then
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  Speaker 1: a very strong reason for returning to his room. As
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  Speaker 1: for myself, when I sent Daddy Jacques to the end
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  Speaker 1: of the right gallery, I naturally thought that La San
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  Speaker 1: was still at his post. That de Jacques, going to
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  Speaker 1: his post, had not looked when he passed to see
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  Speaker 1: whether La San was at his post or not. What
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  Speaker 1: then was the urgent reason which had compelled me Lason
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  Speaker 1: to go to the room a second time. I guessed
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  Speaker 1: it would be some evidence of his presence there. He
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  Speaker 1: had left something very important in that room. What was it?
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  Speaker 1: And had he recovered it? I begged Madame Bernier, who
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  Speaker 1: was accustomed to clean the room, to look, and she
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  Speaker 1: found a pair of eye glasses. This pair, Monsieur Prisidon
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  Speaker 1: and Rouletabille drew the eye glasses of which we know
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  Speaker 1: from his pocket. When I saw these eye glasses, he continued,
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  Speaker 1: I was utterly nonplused. I had never seen lazon we
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  Speaker 1: eye glasses. What did they mean? Suddenly, I exclaimed to myself,
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if he is long sighted. I had never
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  Speaker 1: seen Lasan write. He might then be long sighted. They
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  Speaker 1: would certainly know what des sourte, and also know if
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  Speaker 1: the glasses were his. Such evidence would be damning. That
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  Speaker 1: explained Lason's return. I know now that Larsan or ball
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  Speaker 1: Maire is long sighted, and that these classes belonged to him.
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  Speaker 1: I now made one mistake. I was not satisfied with
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  Speaker 1: the evidence I had obtained. I wished to see the
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  Speaker 1: man's face. Had I refrained from this, the second terrible
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  Speaker 1: attack would not have occurred. But asked the President, why
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  Speaker 1: should Lacan go to MADEMOISEE Stangerson's room at all? Why
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  Speaker 1: should he twice attempt to murder her because he loves her?
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur President, That is certainly a reason, but it is
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  Speaker 1: the only reason. He was madly in love, and because
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  Speaker 1: of that and other things, he was capable of committing
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  Speaker 1: any crime. Did Mademoiselle Stangerson know this, yes, Monsieur, but
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  Speaker 1: she was ignorant of the fact that the man who
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  Speaker 1: was pursuing her was Frederic Larsan. Otherwise, of course he
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  Speaker 1: would not have been allowed to be at the chateau.
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  Speaker 1: I noticed when he was in her room after the
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  Speaker 1: incident in the gallery, that he kept himself in the shadow,
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  Speaker 1: and that he kept his head bunds down. He was
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  Speaker 1: looking for the lost eye glasses. Mademoiselle Stangerson knew lesson
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  Speaker 1: under another name. Monsieur Darzac asked the President. Did Mademoiselle
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  Speaker 1: Stangerson in any way confide in you on this matter?
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  Speaker 1: How is it that she has never spoken about it
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  Speaker 1: to any one? If you are innocent, she would have
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  Speaker 1: wished to spare you the pain of being accused. Mademoiselle
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  Speaker 1: Stangerson told me nothing, replied Monsieur Darzac. Does what this
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  Speaker 1: young man says appear probable to you, the President asked,
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson has told me nothing, he replied stolidly. How
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  Speaker 1: do you explain that on the night of the murder
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  Speaker 1: of the keeper, the President asked, turning to the mergerer
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  Speaker 1: brought back the papers stolen from Monsieur Stangerson. How do
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  Speaker 1: you explain how the mergerer gained entrance into Mademoiselle Stangerson's
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  Speaker 1: locked room. The last question is easily answered. A man
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  Speaker 1: like Larson or a ball Mayer could have had made
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  Speaker 1: duplicate keys as to the documents. I think Larson had
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  Speaker 1: not intended to steal them. At first closely watching Mademoiselle
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  Speaker 1: with the purpose of preventing her marriage with Monsieur le
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  Speaker 1: Bert Darzac. He one day followed her and Monsieur into
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  Speaker 1: the Grandmagainzando la Louver. There he got possession of the
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  Speaker 1: reticule which she lost or left behind. In that reticule
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  Speaker 1: was a key with a brass head. He did not
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  Speaker 1: know there was any value attached to the quay till
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  Speaker 1: the advertisement in the papers revealed it. He then wrote
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  Speaker 1: to Mademoiselle. As the advertisement requested no doubt, he asked
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  Speaker 1: for a meeting, making known to her that he was
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  Speaker 1: also the person who had for some time pursued her
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  Speaker 1: with his love. He received no answer. He went to
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  Speaker 1: the post office and ascertained that his letter was no
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  Speaker 1: longer there. He had already taken complete stock of Monsieur Darzac,
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  Speaker 1: and having decided to go to any lands to gain
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson, he had planned that whatever might happen, Monsieur Darzac,
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  Speaker 1: his hated rival, should be the man to be suspected.
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  Speaker 1: I do not think that Larsan had as yet thought
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  Speaker 1: of murdering Mademoiselle Stangerson, but whatever he might do he
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  Speaker 1: made sure that Monsieur Darzac should suffer for it. He
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: was very nearly of the same height as Monsieur Darzac,
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  Speaker 1: and had almost the same sized feet. It would not
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  Speaker 1: be difficult to take an impression of Monsieur Darzac's footprints
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  Speaker 1: and have similar boots made for himself. Such tricks were
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  Speaker 1: mere child's play for larsan Or or ball Mayer. Receiving
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  Speaker 1: no reply to his letter, he determined, since Mademoiselle Stangerson
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  Speaker 1: would not come to him, that he would go to her.
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  Speaker 1: His plan had long been formed. He had made himself
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  Speaker 1: master of the plans of the chateau and the pavilion,
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  Speaker 1: so that one afternoon, while Monsieur and Mademoiselle Stangerson were
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  Speaker 1: out for a walk, and while da de Jacques was away,
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  Speaker 1: he entered the latter by the vestibule window. He was alone,
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  Speaker 1: and being in no hurry, he began examining the furniture.
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  Speaker 1: One of the pieces resembling his safe, had a very
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  Speaker 1: small keyhole that interested him. He had with them the
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  Speaker 1: little key with the brass head, and associating one with
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  Speaker 1: the other, he tried the key in the lock. The
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  Speaker 1: door opened. He saw nothing but papers. They must be
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  Speaker 1: very valuable to have been put away in a safe,
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  Speaker 1: and the key to which to be of so much importance.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps he thought of blackmail occurred to him as a
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  Speaker 1: useful possibility in helping him in his designs on Mademoiselle Stangerson.
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  Speaker 1: He quickly made a parcel of the papers and took
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  Speaker 1: it to the laboratory in the vestibule. Between the time
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  Speaker 1: of his first examination of the pavilion and the knights
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  Speaker 1: of the murder of the keeper, Lasan had had time
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  Speaker 1: to find out what those papers contained. He could do
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  Speaker 1: nothing with them, and they were rather compromising. That night,
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  Speaker 1: he took them back to the chateau. Perhaps he hoped
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  Speaker 1: that by returning the papers he might obtain some gratitude
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  Speaker 1: from Mademoiselle Stangerson. But whatever may have been his reasons,
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  Speaker 1: he took the papers back and so rid himself of
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  Speaker 1: an encumbrance. Rouletabille coughed, it was evident to me that
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  Speaker 1: he was embarrassed. He had arrived at the point where
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  Speaker 1: he had to keep back his knowledge of Lason's true motive.
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  Speaker 1: The explanation he had given had evidently been unsatisfactory. Rouletabille
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  Speaker 1: was quick enough to note the bad impression he had
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  Speaker 1: made for Turning to the President, he said, and now
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  Speaker 1: we come to the explanation of the mystery of the
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  Speaker 1: Yellow Room. A movement of chairs in the court, with
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  Speaker 1: a rustling of dresses and an energetic whispering of hush
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  Speaker 1: showed the curiosity that had been aroused. It seems to me,
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  Speaker 1: said the President, that the mystery of the Yellow Room,
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Roletabyt, is wholly explained by your hypothesis. Frederic Larson,
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  Speaker 1: is the explanation. We have merely to substitute him for
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur ro Berdarzac. Evidently the door of the Yellow Room
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  Speaker 1: was open at the time Missus Stangerson was alone, and
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  Speaker 1: that he allowed the man who was coming out of
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  Speaker 1: his daughter's chamber to pass without arresting him, perhaps at
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  Speaker 1: her entreaty to avoid all scandal, No, mister President, protested
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  Speaker 1: the young man. You forget that, stunned by the attack
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  Speaker 1: made on her, Mademoiselle Stangerson was not in a condition
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  Speaker 1: to have made such an appeal, nor could she have
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  Speaker 1: locked and bolted herself in her room. You must also
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  Speaker 1: remember that Missus Stangerson has sworn that the door was
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  Speaker 1: not open, that however, is the only way in which
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  Speaker 1: it can be explained. The yellow room was as closely
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  Speaker 1: shut as an iron safe. To use your own expression,
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  Speaker 1: it was impossible for the murderer to make his escape,
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  Speaker 1: either naturally or supernaturally. When the room was broken into.
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  Speaker 1: He was not there. He must therefore have escaped. That
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  Speaker 1: does not follow. What do you mean there was no
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  Speaker 1: need for him to escape if he was not there?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Not there, evidently not. He could not have been there
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  Speaker 1: if he were not found there. But what about the
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  Speaker 1: evidences of his presence? Asked the President. That, mister President,
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  Speaker 1: is where we have taken hold of the wrong end.
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  Speaker 1: From the time Mademoiselle Stangerson shut herself in the room
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  Speaker 1: to the time her door was burst open, it was
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  Speaker 1: impossible for the murderer to escape. He was not found
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  Speaker 1: because he was not there during that time. But the
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  Speaker 1: evidences they have led us astray in reasoning on this mystery.
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  Speaker 1: We must not take them to mean what they apparently mean.
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  Speaker 1: Why do we conclude the murderer was there because he
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  Speaker 1: left his tracks in the room? Good? But may he
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  Speaker 1: not have been there before the room was locked? Nay,
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  Speaker 1: he must have been there before. Let us look into
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  Speaker 1: the matter of these traces, and see if they do
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  Speaker 1: not point to my conclusion. After the publication of the
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  Speaker 1: article in the and my conversation with the examining magistrates
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: on the journey from Paris to Epinay, so Urge, I
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  Speaker 1: was certain that the Yellow Room had been hermetically sealed,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak, and that consequently the mergerer had escaped
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  Speaker 1: before Mademoiselle Stangerson had gone into her chamber at midnight.
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  Speaker 1: At the time, I was much puzzled. Mademoiselle Stangerson could
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  Speaker 1: not have been her own murderer, since the evidences pointed
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  Speaker 1: to some other person. The assassin then had come before.
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  Speaker 1: If that were so, how was it that Mademoiselle had
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  Speaker 1: been attacked after, or rather that she appeared to have
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  Speaker 1: been attacked after. It was necessary for me to reconstruct
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  Speaker 1: the occurrence and make of it two phases, each separated
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  Speaker 1: from the other in time by the space of several hours,
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  Speaker 1: one phase in which Mademoiselle's dangers had really been attacked,
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  Speaker 1: the other face, in which those who heard her cries
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: thought she was being attacked. I had not then examined
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  Speaker 1: the Yellow Room. What were the marks on Mademoiselle Stangerson,
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  Speaker 1: there were marks of strangulation, and the wound from a
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  Speaker 1: hard blow on the temple. The marks of strangulation did
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  Speaker 1: not interest me much. They might have been made before,
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  Speaker 1: and Mademoiselle could have concealed them by a colorette or
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: any similar article of a peril. I had to suppose
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  Speaker 1: this the moment I was compelled to reconstruct the occurrence
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  Speaker 1: by two pass. Mademoiselle Stangerson had no doubt her own
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  Speaker 1: reason for so doing, since she had told her father
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  Speaker 1: nothing of it, and had made it understood to the
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  Speaker 1: examining magistrate that the attack had taken place in the
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: night during the second phase. She was forced to say that,
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  Speaker 1: otherwise her father would have questioned her as to the
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  Speaker 1: reason for having said nothing about it. But I could
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  Speaker 1: not explain the blow on the temple. I understood it
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  Speaker 1: even less when I learned that the mutton bone had
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: been found in her room. She could not hide the
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: fact that she had been struck on the head. And
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: yet that wound appeared evidently to have been inflicted during
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  Speaker 1: the first phase, since it required the presence of the murderer.
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  Speaker 1: I thought Mademoiselle Stangerson had hidden the wound by arranging
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: her hair in bands on her forehead. As to the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: mark of the hands on the wall that had evidently
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: been made during the first phase. When the mergerer was
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: really there, all the traces of his presence had naturally
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  Speaker 1: been left during the first phase, the mutton bone, the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: black footprint, the basque cap, the handkerchief, the blood on wall,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: on the door, and on the floor. If those traces
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: were still all there, they showed that Mademoiselle Stangerson, who
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: desired that nothing should be known, had not had time
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  Speaker 1: yet to clear them away. This led me to the
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  Speaker 1: conclusion that the two phases had taken place, one shortly
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: after the other. She had not had the opportunity, after
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: leaving her room and going back to the laboratory to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: her father, to get back again to her room and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: put it in order. Her father was all the time
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  Speaker 1: with her, working, so that after the first phase she
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: did not re enter her chamber till midnight. That de
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Jacques was there at ten o'clock, as he was every night,
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  Speaker 1: but he went in merely to close the blinds and
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: light the night light. Owing to her disturbed state of mind,
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  Speaker 1: she had forgotten that the Jacques would go into her room,
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  Speaker 1: and had begged him not to trouble himself. All this
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: was set forth in the article in the matter that
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Jacques did go, however, and in the dim light of
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: the room nothing. Mademoiselle Stangerson must have lived some anxious
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: moments while Daddy Jacques was absent, but I think she
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: was not aware that so many evidences had been left.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: After she had been attacked, she had only time to
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  Speaker 1: hide the traces of the man's fingers on her neck
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  Speaker 1: and to hurry to the laboratory. Had she known of
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the bone, the cap, and the handkerchief, she would have
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: made away with them after she had gone back to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: her chamber at midnight. She did not see them, and,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: undressed by the uncertain glimmer of the night light, she
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: went to bed, worn out by anxiety and fear, a
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: fear that had made her remain in the laboratory as
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: late as possible. My reasoning had thus brought me to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the second phase of the tragedy. When Mademoiselle Stangerson was
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: alone in the room, I had now to explain the
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: revolver shots fired during the second phase, cries of help
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: murder had been heard. How to explain these. As to
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the cries, I was in no difficulty, since she was
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: alone in her room. These could result from nightmare only.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: My explanation of the struggle and noise that were heard
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: is simply that in her nightmare, she was haunted by
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: the terrible experience she had passed through in the afternoon.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: In her dream, she sees the murderer about to spring
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: upon her, and she cries help murder. Her hand wildly
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: seeks the revolver she had placed within her reach on
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the night table by the side of her bed, But
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: her hand striking the table, overturns it, and the revolver,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: falling to the floor, discharges itself. The bullet lodging in
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the ceiling. I knew from the first that the bullet
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: in the ceiling must have resulted from an accident. Its
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: very position suggested an accident to my mind, and so
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: fell was my theory of a nightmare. I no longer
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: doubted that the attack had taken place before Mademoiselle had
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: retired for the night. After wakening from her frightful dream
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and crying aloud for help, she had fainted. My theory,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: based on the evidence of the shots that were heard
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: at midnight demanded two shots, one which wounded the murderer
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: at the time of his attack, and one fired at
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the time of the nightmare. The evidence given by the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: berniers before the examining Magistrate was to the effect that
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: only one shot had been heard. Missus Stangerson testified to
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: hearing a dull sound first, followed by a sharp ringing sound.
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  Speaker 1: The dull sound I explained by the falling of the
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: marble topped table. The ringing sound was the shot from
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the revolver. I was now convinced I was right. The
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: shot that had wanted the hand of the murderer and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: had caused it to bleed so that he left the
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: bloody imprint on the wall was fired by Mademoiselle in
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: self defense before the second phase, when she had been
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: really attacked. The shot in the ceiling, which the berniers heard,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: was the accidental shot during the nightmare. I had now
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to explain the wounds on the temple. It was not
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: severe enough to have been made by means of the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: mutton bone, and Mademoiselle had not attempted to hide it.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: It must have been made during the second phase. It
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: was to find this out that I went to the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: yellow room, and I obtained my answer there. Rouletabay drew
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a piece of white folded paper from his pocket and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: drew out of it an almost invisible object, which he
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: held between his thumb and forefinger. This, mister President, he said,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: is a here, a blonde hair stained with blood. It
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: is a hare from the head of Mademoiselle Stangerson. I
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: found it sticking to one of the corners of the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: overturned table. The corner of the table was itself stained
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: with blood, a tiny stain, hardly visible. But it told
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: me that, on rising from her bed, Mademoiselle Stangerson had
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: fallen heavily and had struck her head on the corner
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: of its marble top. I still had to learn, in
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: addition to the name of the assassin, which I did
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: later the time of the original attack. I learned this
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: from the examination of Mademoiselle Stangerson and her father. Though
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the answers given by the former were well calculated to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: deceive the examining magistrate, Mademoiselle Stangerson had stated very minutely
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: how she had spent the whole of her time that day.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: We established the fact that the murderer had introduced himself
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: into the pavilion between five and six o'clock. At a
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: quarter past six, the professor and his daughter had resumed
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: their work. At five, the professor had been with his daughter,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and since the attack took place in the professor's absence
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: from his daughter, I had to find out just when
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: he left her. The professor had stated that at the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: time when he and his daughter were about to re
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: enter the laboratory, he was met by the keeper and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: held in conversation about the cutting of some wood and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the poachers. Mademoiselle Dangerson was not with him then, Since
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the Professor said, I left the keeper and rejoin my daughter,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: who was at work in the laboratory, it was during
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: that short interval of time that the tragedy took place.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: That is certain in my mind's eye, I saw Mademoiselle
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Dangerson re enter the pavilion, go to her room to
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: take off her hat, and find herself faced by the murderer.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: He had been in the pavilion for some time waiting
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: for her. He had arranged to pass the whole night there.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: He had taken off that Dejacque's boots. He had removed
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the papers from the cabinet, and had then slipped under
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the bed. Finding the time long, he had risen, gone
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: again into the laboratory, then into the vestibule, looked into
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: the garden, and had seen coming towards the pavilion Mademoiselle
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Stangerson alone. He would never have dared to attack her
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: at that hour if he had not found her alone.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: His mind was made up. He would be more at
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: ease alone with Mademoiselle Stangerson in the pavilion than he
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: would have been in the middle of the night with
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: de de Jacques sleeping in the attic. So he shut
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the vestibule window. That explains why neither Mademoiselle Stangerson nor
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the keeper, who were at some distance from the pavilion,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: had heard the revolver shot. Then he went back to
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the yellow room. Mademoiselle Stangerson came in. What passed must
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: have taken place very quickly. Mademoiselle tried to call for help,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: but the man had seized her by the throat. Her
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: hand had stought and grasped the revolver, which she had
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: been keeping in the drawer of her night table since
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: she had come to fear the threats of her pursuer.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: The murderer was about to strike her on the head
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: with the mutton bone, a terrible weapon in the hands
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: of a Lexan or a ball mayer, but she fired
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: in time, and the shot wounded the hand that held
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the weapon. The bone fell to the floor, covered with
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the blood of the murderer, who staggered, clutched at the
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: wall for support in printing on it the red marks,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and hearing another bullet fled, She saw him pass through
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the laboratory and listened. He was long at the window.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: At length he jumped from it. She flew to it
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and shut it. The danger passed. All her thoughts were
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of her father, had he either seen nor heard. At
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: any cost to herself, she must keep this from him. Thus,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: when Missus Stangerson returned, he found the door of the
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Yellow room closed, his daughter in the laboratory, bending over
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: her desk at work, turning towards Monsie Darzac, Rouletabill cried,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: you know the truth. Tell us then, if that is
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: not how things happened, I don't know anything about it,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: replied Monster Darzac. I admire you for your silence, said Rouletabille.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: But if Mademoiselle Stangerson knew of your danger, she would
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: release you from your oath. She would beg of you
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to tell all she has confided to you. She would
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: be here to defend you. Monsie Darzac made no movement
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: nor utter the word. He looked at Rouletabill sadly, however,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: said the younger porter, since Mademoiselle Dangerson is not here,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I must do it myself. But believe me, Monsieur Darzac,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the only means to save Mademoiselle Stangerson and restore her
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to her reason is to secure your acquittal. What is
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: this secret motive that compels Mademoiselle Stangerson to hide her
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: knowledge from her father? Asked the President that Monsieur, I
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: do not know, said Rouletabille. It is no business of mine.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: The President, turning to Monsieur Darzac, endeavored to induce him
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to tell what he knew. Do you still refuse, monsieur,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to tell us how you employed your time during the
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: attempts on the life of Mademoiselle Dangerson. I cannot tell
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you anything, monsieur. The President turned to Rouletabille, as if
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: appealing for an explanation. We must assume, Monsieur President, that
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Monsieur ro ber Darzac's absences are closely connect with Mademoiselle
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Dangerson's secret, and that monsie Darzac feels himself in honor
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: bound to remain silent. It may be that Larson, who
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: since his three attempts, has had everything in training to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: cast suspicion on Monsieur Darzac, had fixed on just those
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: occasions for a meeting with Monsieur Darzac at a spot
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: most compromising. Laarson is cunning enough to have done that.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: The President seemed partly convinced, but still curious. He asked,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: but what is this secret of Mademoiselle Stangerson that I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: cannot tell? You, said Rouletabille. I think, however, you know
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: enough now to acquit Monsieur ber Darzac, unless Lazan should return,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and I don't think he will. He added with a laugh.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: One question more, said the President, admitting your explanation. We
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: know that Laxan wished to turn suspicion on Monsieur Berdarzac,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: but why should he throw suspicion on Daddy Jacques. Also
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: there came in the professional detective Monsieur, who proves himself
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: an unraveler of mysteries by annihilating the very proofs he
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: had accumulated. He is a very cunning man, and this
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: similar trick had often enabled him to turn suspicion from himself.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: He proved the innocence of one before accusing the other.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: You can easily believe, Monsieur, that so complicated a scheme
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: as this must have been long and carefully thought out
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: in advance by Larsan. I can tell you that he
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: had been long engaged in its elaboration. If you care
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: to learn how he had gathered information, you will find
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: that he had, on one occasion disguised himself as the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: commissionaire between the laboratory of de Sorte and Monsieur Stangerson,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: of whom experiments or demanded. In this way he had
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: been able before the crime, on two occasions to take
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: stock of the pavilion. He had made up so that
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: that de Jacques had not recognized him, And yet Larsan
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: had found the opportunity to rob the old man of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: a pair of old boots and a cast off basque camp,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: which the servant had tied up in a handkerchief, with
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: the intention of carrying them to a friend. A charcoal
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: burner on the road to Epinay when the crime was
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: discovered that Jacques had immediately recognized these objects as his.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: They were extremely compromising, which explains his distress at the time.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: When we spoke to him about them, Larsan confessed it
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: all to me. He is an artist at the game.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: He did a similar thing in the affair of the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: cred Universailles and in that of the gold ingates of
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the mint. Both these cases should be revised. Since ball
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Major or Larson has been in the Surtees, a number
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: of innocent persons have been sent to prison. End of
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven, Part B