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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 21 - On the Watch · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of the Mystery of the Yellow Room.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more free audio books or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. The Mystery of the Yellow
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  Speaker 1: Room by Gaston Laroux, chapter twenty one. On the watch
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  Speaker 1: the act which staggered me, do not fear to affect
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  Speaker 1: Rouletabiune much. We returned to his room, and without even
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  Speaker 1: referring to what we had seen, he gave me his
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  Speaker 1: final instructions for the night. First, we were to go
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  Speaker 1: to dinner. After dinner, I was to take my stand
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  Speaker 1: in the dark closet and wait there as long as
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  Speaker 1: it was necessary, to look out for what might happen.
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  Speaker 1: If you see anything before I do, he explained, you
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  Speaker 1: must let me know. If the man gets into the
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  Speaker 1: right gallery by any other way than the off turning gallery,
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  Speaker 1: you will see him before I shall, because you have
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  Speaker 1: a view along the whole length of the right gallery. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I can only command a view of the off turning gallery.
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  Speaker 1: All you need to do to let me know is
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  Speaker 1: to undo the cord holding the curtain of the right
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  Speaker 1: gallery window nearest to the dark closet, the curtain will
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  Speaker 1: fall of itself and immediately leave a square of shadow
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  Speaker 1: where previously there had been a square of light. To
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  Speaker 1: do this, you need but stretch your hand out of
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  Speaker 1: the closet. I shall understand your signal perfectly. And then
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  Speaker 1: then you will see me coming round the corner of
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  Speaker 1: the off turning gallery. What am I to do? Then
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  Speaker 1: you will immediately come towards me behind the man. But
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  Speaker 1: I shall already be upon him and shall have seen
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  Speaker 1: his face. I attempted a feeble smile. Why do you smile? Well,
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  Speaker 1: you may smile while you have the chance, but I
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  Speaker 1: swear you'll have no time for that a few hours
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  Speaker 1: from now. And if the man escapes, so much the better,
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  Speaker 1: said Rouletabille coolly. I don't want to capture him. He
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  Speaker 1: may take himself off any way he can. I will
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  Speaker 1: let him go after I have seen his face, That's
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  Speaker 1: all I want. I shall know afterwards what to do,
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  Speaker 1: so that as far as Mademoiselle Strangerson is concerned, he
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  Speaker 1: shall be dead to her, even though he continues to live.
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  Speaker 1: If I took him alive, Mademoiselle Strangerson and Robert Darzac
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  Speaker 1: would perhaps never forgive me, and I wish to retain
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  Speaker 1: their good will and respect. Seeing as I have just
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  Speaker 1: now seen Mademoiselle Strangerson pour a narcotic into her father's
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  Speaker 1: glass so he might not be awake to interrupt the
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  Speaker 1: conversation she is going to have with her murderer. You
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  Speaker 1: can imagine she would not be grateful to me if
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  Speaker 1: I brought the man of the Yellow Room and the
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  Speaker 1: inexplicable gallery bound and gagged to her father. I realize
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  Speaker 1: now that if I am to save the unhappy woman,
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  Speaker 1: I must silence the man and not capture him. To
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  Speaker 1: kill a human being is no small thing. Besides, that's
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  Speaker 1: not my business unless the man himself makes it my business.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, to render him forever silent without
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  Speaker 1: the lady's assent and confidence is to act on one's
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  Speaker 1: own initiative and assume a knowledge of everything with nothing
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  Speaker 1: for a basis. Fortunately, my friend, I have guessed, no,
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  Speaker 1: I have reasoned it all out. All that I ask
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  Speaker 1: of the man who is coming tonight is to bring
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  Speaker 1: me his face so that it may enter into the
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  Speaker 1: circle exactly. And his face won't surprise me. But I
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  Speaker 1: thought you saw his face on the night when you
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  Speaker 1: sprang into the chamber only imperfectly. The candle was on
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  Speaker 1: the floor, and his beard. Will he wear his beard
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  Speaker 1: this evening? I think I can now say for certain
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  Speaker 1: he will. But the gallery is light, and now I know,
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  Speaker 1: or at least my brain knows, and my eyes will see.
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  Speaker 1: If we are here only to see him and let
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  Speaker 1: him escape, why are we armed? Because if the man
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  Speaker 1: of the yellow room in the inexplicable gallery knows that
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  Speaker 1: I know, he is capable of doing anything, we should
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  Speaker 1: then have to defend ourselves. And you're sure he'll come
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  Speaker 1: to night as sure as you are standing there This
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  Speaker 1: morning at half past ten o'clock, Mademoiselle Stranderson, in the
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  Speaker 1: cleverest way in the world, arranged to have no nurses
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  Speaker 1: to night. She gave them leave of absence for twenty
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  Speaker 1: four hours under some plausible pretexts, and did not desire
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  Speaker 1: any one to be with her but her father. Well,
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  Speaker 1: they are away. Of course, her father, who is to
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  Speaker 1: sleep in the boudoir, has gladly consented to the arrangement.
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  Speaker 1: Darzac's departure and what he told me, as well as
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  Speaker 1: the extraordinary precaution, Mademoiselle Stranderson is taking to be alone
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  Speaker 1: to night. Leave me no room for doubt. She has
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  Speaker 1: prepared the way for the coming of the man whom
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  Speaker 1: Darzac dreads. That's awful, it is, and what we saw
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  Speaker 1: her do was done to send her father to sleep. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: then there are but two of us for to night's work.
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  Speaker 1: Four the concierge and his wife will watch at all hazards.
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  Speaker 1: I don't set much value on them before. But the
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  Speaker 1: concierge may be useful after if there are to be
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  Speaker 1: any killings, And do you think there may be if
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  Speaker 1: he wishes it. Why haven't you brought in Daddy Jacques.
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  Speaker 1: Have you made no use of him to day? No,
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  Speaker 1: replied Rouletabille sharply. I kept silent for a while. Then,
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  Speaker 1: anxious to know his thoughts, I asked him point blank,
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  Speaker 1: why not tell arthur Rance he may be of great
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  Speaker 1: assistance to us, Oh, said Realletabille crossly. Then you want
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  Speaker 1: to let every one into Mademoiselle Stranderson's secrets. Come, let
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  Speaker 1: us go to dinner. It is time this evening we
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  Speaker 1: dine in Frederick Lassan's room. At least if he is
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  Speaker 1: not on the heels of Darzac. He sticks to him
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  Speaker 1: like a leech. But anyhow, if he is not there now,
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  Speaker 1: I am quite sure he will be tonight. He is
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  Speaker 1: the one I'm going to knock over. At this moment,
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  Speaker 1: we heard a noise in the room near us. It
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  Speaker 1: must be, he said, Rouletabille, I forgot to ask you,
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  Speaker 1: I said, if we are to make any allusion to
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  Speaker 1: tonight's business when we are with this policeman, I take
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  Speaker 1: it we are not. Is that so? Evidently we are
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  Speaker 1: going to operate alone on our own personal account, so
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  Speaker 1: that all the glory will be ours. Rouletabille laughs. We
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  Speaker 1: dined with Frederic Laissan in his room. He told us
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  Speaker 1: he had just come in and invited us to be
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  Speaker 1: seated at the table. We ate our dinner in the
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  Speaker 1: best of humors. I had no difficulty in appreciating the
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  Speaker 1: feelings of certainty which both Rouletabille and la Sent felt.
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  Speaker 1: Rouletabille told the Great fred that I had come on
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  Speaker 1: a chance visit, and that he had asked me to
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  Speaker 1: stay and help him and the heavy battery of writing
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  Speaker 1: he had to get through for the epooch. I was
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  Speaker 1: going back to Paris, he said, by the eleven o'clock train,
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  Speaker 1: taking his copy, which took a story for him, recounting
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  Speaker 1: the principal episodes in the Mysteries of the Gladier. Larsan
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  Speaker 1: smiled at the explanation like a man who was not fooled,
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  Speaker 1: and politely refrains from making the slightest remarks on matters
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  Speaker 1: which did not concern him. With infinite precautions as to
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  Speaker 1: the words they used and even as to the tone
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  Speaker 1: of their voices, Larsan and Rouletabille discussed for a long
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  Speaker 1: time mister Arthur Rent, his appearance at the Chateau and
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  Speaker 1: his past in America, about which they expressed a desire
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  Speaker 1: to know more at any rate, as far as his
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  Speaker 1: relation to the Strangersons. One time, Larsan, who appeared to
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  Speaker 1: me to be unwell, said, with an effort, I think,
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Rouletabile, that we have not much more to do
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  Speaker 1: at the Gladier, and we shan't sleep here many more nights.
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  Speaker 1: I think so too, Monsieur Fred. Then you think the
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  Speaker 1: conclusion of the matter has been reached, I think, indeed
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  Speaker 1: that we have nothing more to find out, replied Rouletabiulle.
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  Speaker 1: Have you found your criminal, asked Larsan, have you, yes,
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  Speaker 1: so have I said Rouletabille. Can it be the same man,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you have swerved from your original idea,
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  Speaker 1: said the young reporter. Then he added, with emphasis, Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: Darzac is an honest man. Are you sure of that?
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  Speaker 1: Asked Larsan. Well, I am sure he is not. So
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  Speaker 1: it's a fight, then, yes, it is a fight. But
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  Speaker 1: I shall beat you. Monsieur Frederick Lassan, how you've never
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  Speaker 1: doubts anything, said the Great fred laughingly, and he held
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  Speaker 1: out his hand to me by way of conclusion. Rouletabille's
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  Speaker 1: answer came like an echo, not anything. Suddenly Larsan, who
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  Speaker 1: had risen to wish us good night, pressed both his
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  Speaker 1: hands to his chest and staggered. He was obliged to
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  Speaker 1: lean on Rouletabille for support and to save himself from falling.
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  Speaker 1: Oh oh, he cried, what's the matter with me? Have
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  Speaker 1: I been poisoned? He looked at us with haggard eyes.
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  Speaker 1: We questioned him vainly. He did not answer us. He
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  Speaker 1: had sunk into an armchair, and we could get not
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  Speaker 1: a word from him. We were extremely distressed, both on
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  Speaker 1: his account and our own, for we had partaken in
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  Speaker 1: all the dishes he had eaten He seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: out of pain, but his heavy head had fallen on
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  Speaker 1: his shoulders, and his eyelids were tightly closed. Rouletabille bent
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  Speaker 1: over him, listening for the beatings of his heart. My
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  Speaker 1: friend's face, however, when he stood up, was as calm
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  Speaker 1: as it had been a moment before. Agitated, he is asleep,
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  Speaker 1: he said. He led me to his chamber after closing
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  Speaker 1: Larsan's room. The drug, I asked, Does Mademoiselle Stranderson wish
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  Speaker 1: to put everybody to sleep tonight? Perhaps, replied Rouletabille. But
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  Speaker 1: I could see he was thinking of something else. But
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  Speaker 1: what about us, I exclaimed, How do we know we
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  Speaker 1: have not been drugged? Do you feel indisposed? Realtabille asked
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  Speaker 1: me coolly, not in the least. Do you feel any
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  Speaker 1: inclination to go to sleep? None? Soever? Well, then my
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  Speaker 1: friend smoke this excellent cigar, and he handed me a
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  Speaker 1: choice havana, though one Monsieur Darzac had given him, while
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  Speaker 1: he lit his briarwood, his eternal briarwood. We remained in
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  Speaker 1: his room until about ten o'clock, without a word passing
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  Speaker 1: between us. Buried in an arm chair, Rouletabille sat and
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  Speaker 1: smoked steadily, his brow and thought and a far away
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  Speaker 1: look in his eyes. On the stroke of ten, he
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  Speaker 1: took off his boots and signaled to me to do
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  Speaker 1: the same. As we stood in our socks, he said
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  Speaker 1: in so low a tone that I guessed rather than
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  Speaker 1: heard the word revolver. I drew my revolver from my
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  Speaker 1: jacket pocket cock it, he said. I did as he directed, then,
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  Speaker 1: moving towards the door of his room, he opened it
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  Speaker 1: with infinite precaution. It made no sound. We were in
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  Speaker 1: the off turning gallery. Rouletabille made another sign to me,
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  Speaker 1: which I understood to mean that I was to take
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  Speaker 1: up my post in the dark closet. When I was
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  Speaker 1: some distance away from him, he rejoined me and embraced me.
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  Speaker 1: And then I saw him with the same precaution, returned
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  Speaker 1: to his room, astonished by his embrace and somewhat disquieted
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  Speaker 1: by it. I arrived at the right gallery without difficulty,
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  Speaker 1: crossing the landing place and reaching the dark closet. Before
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  Speaker 1: entering it, I examined the curtain rod of the window
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  Speaker 1: and found that I only had to release it from
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  Speaker 1: its fastening with my fingers for the curtain to fall
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  Speaker 1: by its own weight and hide the square of light
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  Speaker 1: from Rouletabille. The signal agreed upon the sound of a
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  Speaker 1: footstep made me halt before arthur Rance's door. He was
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  Speaker 1: not yet in bed. Then, How strange was it that,
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  Speaker 1: being the chateau, he had not dined with Monsieur Strangerson
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  Speaker 1: at his door. I had not seen him at the
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  Speaker 1: table with them. At the moment when we looked in,
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  Speaker 1: I retired into the dark closet. I found myself perfectly situated.
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  Speaker 1: I could see along the whole length of the gallery.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing absolutely nothing could pass there without my seeing it.
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  Speaker 1: But what was going to pass there? Rouletabille's embrace came
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  Speaker 1: back to my mind. I argued that people don't part
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  Speaker 1: from each other other in that way unless it's on
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  Speaker 1: an important or dangerous occasion? Was I then in danger?
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  Speaker 1: My hand closed on the butt of my revolver, and
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  Speaker 1: I waited. I am not a hero, but neither am
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  Speaker 1: I a coward. I waited about an hour, and during
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  Speaker 1: all that time I saw nothing unusual. The rain, which
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  Speaker 1: had begun to come down strongly towards nine o'clock, had
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  Speaker 1: now ceased. My friend had told me that probably nothing
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  Speaker 1: would occur before midnight or one o'clock in the morning.
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  Speaker 1: It was not more than half past eleven, however, when
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  Speaker 1: I heard the door of Arthur Rance's room open very slowly.
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  Speaker 1: The door remained open for a minute, which seemed to
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  Speaker 1: me a long time. As it opened into the gallery,
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  Speaker 1: that is to say, outwards, I could not see what
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  Speaker 1: was passing in the room behind the door. At that moment,
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  Speaker 1: I noticed a strange sound, three times repeated, coming from
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  Speaker 1: the park. Ordinarily I should not have attached any more
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  Speaker 1: importance to it than I would to the noise of
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  Speaker 1: cats on the roof. But the third time the meal
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  Speaker 1: was so sharp and penetrating that I remembered what I
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  Speaker 1: had heard about the cry of the Bete du bon dieu.
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  Speaker 1: As the cry had accompanied all the events at the Gladier,
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  Speaker 1: I could not refrain from shuddering at the thought. Directly afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: I saw a man appear on the outside of the door,
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  Speaker 1: and it closed it after him. At first I could
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  Speaker 1: not easily recognize him. Flora's back was towards me, and
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  Speaker 1: he was bending over a rather bulky package. When he
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  Speaker 1: had closed the door and picked up the package, he
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  Speaker 1: turned towards the dark closet, and then I saw who
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  Speaker 1: he was. It was the forest keeper, the green Man.
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  Speaker 1: He was wearing the same costume he had worn the
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  Speaker 1: first time I saw him on the road in front
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  Speaker 1: of the Donjon Inn. There was no doubt about him
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  Speaker 1: being the keeper. When the cry of the Betsu bon
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  Speaker 1: dieu came for the third time, he put down the
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  Speaker 1: package and went to the second window. Counting from the
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  Speaker 1: dark closet, I dared not risk making any movement, fearing
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  Speaker 1: I might betray my presence. Arriving at the window, he
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  Speaker 1: peered out onto the park. The night was now light,
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  Speaker 1: the moon showing at intervals. The green Man raised his
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  Speaker 1: arms twice, making sight which I did not understand. Then,
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  Speaker 1: leaving the window, he took up his package and moved
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  Speaker 1: along the gallery towards the landing place. Rouletabille had instructed
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  Speaker 1: me to undo the curtain cord when I saw anything.
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  Speaker 1: Was Rouletabille expecting this. It was not my business to question.
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  Speaker 1: All I had to do was obey instructions. I unfastened
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  Speaker 1: the window cord, my heart beating all the while as
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  Speaker 1: if it would burst. The man reached the landing place,
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  Speaker 1: but to my utter surprise, I had expected to see
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  Speaker 1: him continue to pass along the gallery. I saw him
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  Speaker 1: descend the stairs leading to the vestibule. What was I
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  Speaker 1: to do? I looked stupidly at the heavy curtain which
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  Speaker 1: had shut the light from the window. The signal had
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  Speaker 1: been given, and I did not see Rouletabille appear at
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  Speaker 1: the corner of the off turning gallery. Nobody appeared. I
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  Speaker 1: was exceedingly perplexed. Half an hour passed an age to me.
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  Speaker 1: What was I to do now? Even if I did
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  Speaker 1: see something, the signal was already given, and I could
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  Speaker 1: not give it a second time. To venture into the
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  Speaker 1: gallery might have set all of Rouletabille's plans. After all,
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  Speaker 1: I had done nothing to reproach myself for and if
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  Speaker 1: something had happened that my friend had not expected, he'd
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  Speaker 1: only blame himself. Unable to be of any further assistance
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  Speaker 1: to him by means of a signal, I left the
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  Speaker 1: dark closet, and, still in my socks, made my way
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  Speaker 1: to the off Turning Gallery. There was no one there.
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  Speaker 1: I went to the door of Rouletabille's room and listened.
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  Speaker 1: I could hear nothing. I knocked gently. There was no answer.
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  Speaker 1: I turned the door handle and the door opened, I
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  Speaker 1: entered Rouletabille lay extended at full length on the floor.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty one, recorded by Oh