Latest / The Gaston Leroux Library / The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 15 - The Trap
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of the Mystery of the Yellow Room. This
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- 0:16Speaker 1: The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, Chapter fifteen,
- 0:20Speaker 1: The trap extract from the note book of Joseph Roulteby
- 0:26Speaker 1: Last night, the night between the twenty ninth and the
- 0:30Speaker 1: thirtieth of October, wrote Joseph Roultebby. I woke up towards
- 0:35Speaker 1: one o'clock in the morning. Was it sleeplessness or noise? Without?
- 0:40Speaker 1: The cry of the bed to bon dieu rang out
- 0:42Speaker 1: with sinister loudness from the end of the park. I
- 0:46Speaker 1: rose and opened the window. Cold wind and rain, opaque darkness, silence.
- 0:54Speaker 1: I reclosed my window again, the sound of the cat's
- 0:58Speaker 1: weird cry in the distance. I partly dressed in haste.
- 1:03Speaker 1: The weather was too bad for even a cat to
- 1:05Speaker 1: be turned out in it. What did it mean, then, that,
- 1:10Speaker 1: imitating of the mewing of mother Ajeenou's cat so near
- 1:14Speaker 1: the chateau, I seized a good sized stick, the only
- 1:18Speaker 1: weapon I had, and without making any noise, opened the door.
- 1:24Speaker 1: The gallery into which I went was well lit by
- 1:27Speaker 1: a lamp with a reflector. I felt a keen current affair,
- 1:33Speaker 1: and on turning found the winter open at the extreme
- 1:37Speaker 1: end of the gallery, which I called the offterning gallery,
- 1:41Speaker 1: to distinguish it from the right gallery on to which
- 1:44Speaker 1: the apartment of Mademoiselle Stangerson opened. These two galleries cross
- 1:50Speaker 1: each other at right angles. Who had left that window open?
- 1:56Speaker 1: Or who had come to open it? I went to
- 2:00Speaker 1: the window and leaned out. Five feet below me There
- 2:05Speaker 1: was a sort of terrace over the semicircular projection of
- 2:08Speaker 1: a room on the ground floor. One could, if one wanted,
- 2:13Speaker 1: jump from the window on to the terrace, and allow
- 2:17Speaker 1: oneself to drop from it into the court of the chateau.
- 2:22Speaker 1: Whoever had entered by this road had evidently not had
- 2:26Speaker 1: a key to the vestibule door. But why should I
- 2:29Speaker 1: be thinking of my previous night's attempt with the ladder?
- 2:33Speaker 1: Because of the open window? Left open, perhaps, but the
- 2:37Speaker 1: negligence of the servant. I reclosed it, smiling at the
- 2:42Speaker 1: ease with which I built a drama on the mere
- 2:45Speaker 1: suggestion of an open window again the cry of the
- 2:50Speaker 1: bit du bon dieu, and then silence. The rain ceased
- 2:56Speaker 1: to beat on the window. All in the chateau slept.
- 3:01Speaker 1: I walked with infinite precaution on the carpet of the gallery.
- 3:06Speaker 1: On reaching the corner of the right gallery, I peered
- 3:09Speaker 1: round it cautiously. There was another lamp there with a reflector,
- 3:15Speaker 1: which quite lit up, took several objects in it, three
- 3:18Speaker 1: chairs and some pictures hanging on the wall. What was
- 3:22Speaker 1: I doing there? Perfect silence reigned throughout. Everything was sunk
- 3:28Speaker 1: in repose. What was the instinct that urged me towards
- 3:32Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber? Why did a voice within me cry,
- 3:37Speaker 1: go on to the chamber of Mademoiselle Stangerson. I cast
- 3:41Speaker 1: my eyes down upon the carpet on which I was treading,
- 3:46Speaker 1: and saw that my steps were being directed towards Mademoiselle
- 3:50Speaker 1: stangerson chamber by the marks of steps that had already
- 3:54Speaker 1: been made. There. Yes, on the carpet were traces of
- 3:59Speaker 1: footsteps staying with mud, leading to the chamber of Mademoiselle Stangerson. Horror, Horror,
- 4:07Speaker 1: I recognized in those footprints the impression of the neat
- 4:11Speaker 1: boots of the murderer. He had come then from without
- 4:16Speaker 1: in this wretched night, if you could descend from the
- 4:20Speaker 1: gallery by way of the window, by means of the terrace,
- 4:24Speaker 1: then you could get into the chateau by the same means.
- 4:28Speaker 1: The murderer was still in the chateau. For here we remarks,
- 4:32Speaker 1: as of returning footsteps. He had entered by the open
- 4:35Speaker 1: window at the extremity of the off turning gallery. He
- 4:39Speaker 1: had passed Frederic Laison's door, and mine had turned to
- 4:43Speaker 1: the right and had entered Mademoiselle Stangerson's room. I am
- 4:48Speaker 1: before the door of her ante room. It is open.
- 4:52Speaker 1: I push it, without making the least noise. Under the
- 4:56Speaker 1: door of the room itself, I see a street of light.
- 5:01Speaker 1: I listen no sound, not even of breathing. Ah, if
- 5:09Speaker 1: I only knew what was passing in the silence that
- 5:11Speaker 1: is behind that door. I find the door locked, and
- 5:15Speaker 1: the quay turned on the inner side, and the murderer
- 5:19Speaker 1: is there. Perhaps he must be there. Will he escape?
- 5:23Speaker 1: This time? All depends on me. I must be calm,
- 5:28Speaker 1: and above all I must make no false steps. I
- 5:31Speaker 1: must see into that room. I can enter it by
- 5:35Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson's drawing room. But to do that I should
- 5:40Speaker 1: have to cross her boudoir, and while I am there,
- 5:43Speaker 1: the murderer may escape by the gallery door, the door
- 5:46Speaker 1: in front of which I am now standing. I am
- 5:50Speaker 1: sure that no other crime is being committed on this night,
- 5:54Speaker 1: for there is complete silence in her boudoir, where two
- 5:58Speaker 1: nurses are taking care of Mademoiselle Stangerson until she is
- 6:02Speaker 1: restored to health. As I am almost sure that the
- 6:06Speaker 1: murderer is there, why do I not at once give
- 6:09Speaker 1: the alarm? The murderer may perhaps escape, but perhaps I
- 6:14Speaker 1: may be able to save Mademoiselle Stangerson's life. Suppose the
- 6:19Speaker 1: murderer on this occasion is not here to murder. The
- 6:23Speaker 1: door has been opened to allow him to enter by whom,
- 6:27Speaker 1: and it has been refastened by whom. Mademoiselle Stangerson shut
- 6:33Speaker 1: herself up in her apartment with her nurses every night.
- 6:37Speaker 1: Who turned the quay of that chamber to allow the
- 6:40Speaker 1: murderer to enter? The nurses, two faithful domestics, the old
- 6:46Speaker 1: chambermaid Sylvia. It is very improbable. Besides, they slept in
- 6:53Speaker 1: the boudoir and Mademoiselle Stangerson, very nervous and careful, Monsieur
- 6:58Speaker 1: ber Darzaci told me ceased to her own safety, since
- 7:02Speaker 1: she has been well enough to move about in her room,
- 7:05Speaker 1: which I have not yet seen her leave. This nervousness
- 7:09Speaker 1: and sudden care on her part, which had struck Monsieur Darzac,
- 7:14Speaker 1: had given me also food for thought at the time
- 7:18Speaker 1: of the crime in the Yellow room. There can be
- 7:20Speaker 1: no doubt that she expected the murderer. Was he expected
- 7:25Speaker 1: this night? Was it she herself who had opened her
- 7:28Speaker 1: door to him? Had she some reason for doing so?
- 7:33Speaker 1: Was she obliged to do it? Was it a meeting
- 7:37Speaker 1: for purposes of crime? Certainly it was not a lover's meeting,
- 7:43Speaker 1: For I believe Mademoiselle's dangerous and ADOR's Monsieur Darzac, all
- 7:47Speaker 1: these reflections ran through my brain like a flash of lightning.
- 7:51Speaker 1: What would I not give to know? It is possible
- 7:55Speaker 1: that there was some reason for the awful silence my
- 7:59Speaker 1: internal might do more harm than good? How could I tell?
- 8:05Speaker 1: How could I know? I might not any moment cause
- 8:07Speaker 1: another crime? If I could only see and know Without
- 8:11Speaker 1: breaking that silence, I left the ante room and descended
- 8:16Speaker 1: the central stairs to the vestibule, and as silently as possible,
- 8:21Speaker 1: made my way to the little room on the ground
- 8:24Speaker 1: floor where dedy Jacques had been sleeping since the attack
- 8:27Speaker 1: made at the pavilion. I found him dressed, his eyes
- 8:31Speaker 1: wide open, almost haggard. He did not seem surprised to
- 8:36Speaker 1: see me. He told me that he had got up
- 8:40Speaker 1: because he had heard the cry of the bit du
- 8:42Speaker 1: bon dieu, and because he had heard footsteps in the
- 8:46Speaker 1: park close to his window, out of which he had looked,
- 8:50Speaker 1: and just then had seen a black shadow pass by.
- 8:55Speaker 1: I asked him whether he had a firearm of any kind.
- 9:00Speaker 1: He no longer kept one, since the examining magistrate had
- 9:04Speaker 1: taken his revolver from him. We went out together by
- 9:08Speaker 1: a little black door into the park and stole along
- 9:11Speaker 1: the chateau to the point which is just below Mademoiselle
- 9:15Speaker 1: Stangerson's window. I placed the de Jacques against the wall,
- 9:20Speaker 1: ordering him not to stir from the spot, while I,
- 9:24Speaker 1: taking advantage of a moment when the moon was hidden
- 9:27Speaker 1: by a cloud, moved to the front of the window
- 9:30Speaker 1: out of the patch of light which came from it,
- 9:33Speaker 1: For the window was half open. If I could only
- 9:37Speaker 1: know what was passing in that silent chamber. I returned
- 9:42Speaker 1: to dead de Jacques and whispered the word ladder in
- 9:45Speaker 1: his ear. At first I had thought of the tree,
- 9:49Speaker 1: which a week ago served me for an observatory. But
- 9:53Speaker 1: I immediately saw that from the way the window was
- 9:56Speaker 1: half opened, I should not be able to see from
- 9:58Speaker 1: that point of view anything that was passing in the room.
- 10:02Speaker 1: And I wanted not only to see, but to hear
- 10:07Speaker 1: and to act greatly agitated, almost trembling, that De Jacques
- 10:13Speaker 1: disappeared for a moment and returned without the ladder, but
- 10:17Speaker 1: making signs to me with his arms as signals to
- 10:20Speaker 1: me to come quickly to him. When I got near him,
- 10:24Speaker 1: he gasped, come. I went to the donjon in search
- 10:29Speaker 1: of my ladder, and in the lower part of the donjon,
- 10:32Speaker 1: which shows me and the gardener for a lumber room,
- 10:35Speaker 1: I found the door open and the ladder gone. On
- 10:38Speaker 1: coming out, that's what I caught sight of by the
- 10:41Speaker 1: light of the moon. And he pointed to the further
- 10:45Speaker 1: end of the chateau, where a ladder stood resting against
- 10:49Speaker 1: the stone brackets supporting the terrace under the window which
- 10:53Speaker 1: I had found open. The projection of the terrace had
- 10:57Speaker 1: prevented my seeing it. Thanks to the ladder, it was
- 11:01Speaker 1: quite easy to get into the afterning gallery of the
- 11:04Speaker 1: first floor, and I had no doubt of it having
- 11:07Speaker 1: been the road taken by the unknown. We ran to
- 11:11Speaker 1: the ladder, but at the moment of reaching it, that
- 11:15Speaker 1: Jacques drew my attention to the half open door of
- 11:18Speaker 1: the little semicircular room situated under the terrace, at the
- 11:23Speaker 1: extremity of the right wing of the chateau, having the
- 11:27Speaker 1: terrace for its roof. That de Jacques pushed the door
- 11:30Speaker 1: open a little further and looked in. He's not there,
- 11:35Speaker 1: he whispered, Who is not there? The forest keeper with
- 11:41Speaker 1: his lips. Once more to my ear, he added, do
- 11:45Speaker 1: you know that he had slept in the upper room
- 11:47Speaker 1: of the donjon ever since it was restored, And with
- 11:51Speaker 1: the same gesture he pointed to the half open door,
- 11:55Speaker 1: the ladder, the terrace, and the windows in the afterning
- 11:59Speaker 1: yellow which a little while before I had reclosed. What
- 12:05Speaker 1: were my thoughts then? I had no time to think.
- 12:08Speaker 1: I felt more than I thought. Evidently, I felt if
- 12:13Speaker 1: the forest keeper is up there in the chamber. I
- 12:17Speaker 1: say if, because at this moment. Apart from the presence
- 12:20Speaker 1: of the ladder and his vacant room, there are no
- 12:23Speaker 1: evidences which permit me to even suspect him. If he
- 12:28Speaker 1: is there, he has been obliged to pass by the ladder,
- 12:32Speaker 1: and the rooms which lie behind his in his new
- 12:35Speaker 1: lodging are occupied by the family of the steward, and
- 12:38Speaker 1: by the cook, and by the kitchens which barred the
- 12:41Speaker 1: way by the vestibule to the interior of the chateau.
- 12:45Speaker 1: And if he had been there during the evening, on
- 12:47Speaker 1: any pretext, it would have been easy for him to
- 12:51Speaker 1: go into the gallery and see that the window could
- 12:54Speaker 1: be simply pushed open from the outside. This question of
- 12:58Speaker 1: the unfastened window easily narrowed the field of search for
- 13:02Speaker 1: the murderer. He must belong to the house, unless he
- 13:06Speaker 1: had an accomplice, which I do not believe he had.
- 13:10Speaker 1: Unless unless Mademoiselle Stangerson herself had seen that that window
- 13:17Speaker 1: was not fastened from the inside. But then what could
- 13:22Speaker 1: be the frightful secret which put her under the necessity
- 13:26Speaker 1: of doing away with obstacle that separated her from the murderer.
- 13:31Speaker 1: I seized hold of the ladder, and we returned to
- 13:35Speaker 1: the back of the chateau to see if the window
- 13:37Speaker 1: of the chamber was still half open. The blind was drawn,
- 13:42Speaker 1: but did not join, and allowed a bright stream of
- 13:45Speaker 1: light to escape and fall upon the path at our feet.
- 13:50Speaker 1: I planted the ladder under the window. I am almost
- 13:54Speaker 1: sure that I made no noise, And while the Dejacques
- 13:57Speaker 1: remained at the foot of the ladder, I mounted it
- 14:01Speaker 1: very quietly, my stout stick in my hand, I held
- 14:06Speaker 1: my breath and lifted my feet with the greatest care. Suddenly,
- 14:12Speaker 1: a heavy cloud discharged itself at that moment in a
- 14:15Speaker 1: fresh downpour of rain. At the same instant, the sinister
- 14:20Speaker 1: cry of the bite du bon dieu arrested me in
- 14:22Speaker 1: my ascent. It seemed to me to have come from
- 14:27Speaker 1: close by me, only a few yards away. Was the
- 14:31Speaker 1: cry as signal. Had some accomplice of the man seen
- 14:35Speaker 1: me on the ladder. Would the cry bring the man
- 14:38Speaker 1: to the window? Perhaps? Ah? There he was at the window.
- 14:44Speaker 1: I felt his head above me. I heard the sound
- 14:48Speaker 1: of his breath. I could not look up towards him
- 14:52Speaker 1: the least movement of my head, and I might be lost.
- 14:57Speaker 1: Would he see me? Would he be here into the darkness?
- 15:01Speaker 1: No he went away. He had seen nothing. I felt,
- 15:07Speaker 1: rather than heard, him moving on tiptoe in the room,
- 15:10Speaker 1: and I mounted a few steps higher. My head reached
- 15:15Speaker 1: to the level of the window sill, My forehead rose
- 15:18Speaker 1: above it. My eyes looked between the opening in the blinds,
- 15:24Speaker 1: and I saw a man seated at Mademoiselle Stangerson's little desk, writing.
- 15:33Speaker 1: His back was turned toward me. A candle was lit
- 15:36Speaker 1: before him, and he bent over the flame, the light
- 15:40Speaker 1: from it projecting shapeless shadows. I saw nothing but a
- 15:45Speaker 1: monstrous stooping back. Mademoiselle Stangerson herself was not there, Her
- 15:52Speaker 1: bed had not been lain on. Where then was she
- 15:56Speaker 1: sleeping that night, doubtless in the side room with her women.
- 16:02Speaker 1: Perhaps this was but a guess. I must content myself
- 16:06Speaker 1: with the joy of finding the man alone. I must
- 16:09Speaker 1: be calm and prepare my trap. But who then is
- 16:14Speaker 1: this man writing there before my eyes, seated at the desk,
- 16:18Speaker 1: as if he were in his own home. If there
- 16:22Speaker 1: had not been that ladder under the window, if there
- 16:25Speaker 1: had not been those footprints on the carpet in the gallery,
- 16:29Speaker 1: if there had not been that open window, I might
- 16:33Speaker 1: have been led to think that this man had a
- 16:35Speaker 1: right to be there, and that he was there as
- 16:38Speaker 1: a matter of course, and for reasons about which as
- 16:42Speaker 1: yet I knew nothing. But there was no doubt that
- 16:46Speaker 1: this mysterious unknown was the man of the Yellow Room,
- 16:50Speaker 1: the man to whose murderous assault Mademoiselle Stangerson, without denouncing him,
- 16:55Speaker 1: had had to submit. If I could but see his face,
- 17:01Speaker 1: surprise and capture him. If I spring into the room
- 17:06Speaker 1: at this moment, he will escape by the right hand
- 17:09Speaker 1: door opening into the boudoir, or crossing the drawing room.
- 17:13Speaker 1: He will reach the gallery, and I shall lose him.
- 17:17Speaker 1: I have him now, and in five minutes more he'll
- 17:21Speaker 1: be safer than if I had him in a cage.
- 17:24Speaker 1: What is he doing there alone in Mademoiselle Stangerson's room?
- 17:29Speaker 1: What is he writing? I descend and place the ladder
- 17:33Speaker 1: on the ground. Daddy Jacque follows me. We re enter
- 17:37Speaker 1: the chateau. I send Daddy Jacques to wake Missus Stangerson
- 17:42Speaker 1: and instruct him to await my coming in Mademoiselle Stangerson's room,
- 17:46Speaker 1: and to say nothing definite to him before my arrival.
- 17:49Speaker 1: I will go and awaken Frederic Clarson. It's a bore
- 17:53Speaker 1: to have to do it, for I should have liked
- 17:56Speaker 1: to work alone, and to have carried off all the
- 17:59Speaker 1: honors of this fair myself right under the very nose
- 18:02Speaker 1: of the sleeping detective. But Daddy Jacques and Missus Stangerson
- 18:06Speaker 1: are old men, and I am not yet fully developed.
- 18:11Speaker 1: I might not be strong enough. Larson is used to
- 18:15Speaker 1: wrestling and putting on the handcuffs. He opened his eyes,
- 18:19Speaker 1: swollen with sleep, ready to send me flying without in
- 18:23Speaker 1: the least believing in my reporter's fancies. I had to
- 18:28Speaker 1: assure him that the man was there. That's strange, he said,
- 18:34Speaker 1: I thought I left him this afternoon in Paris. He
- 18:38Speaker 1: dressed himself in haste and armed himself with a revolver.
- 18:42Speaker 1: We stole quietly into the gallery. Where is he, Larson asked,
- 18:48Speaker 1: in Mademoiselle Stangerson's room, And Mademoiselle Stangerson, she is not
- 18:54Speaker 1: in there. Let's go in. Don't go there on the
- 18:58Speaker 1: least alarmed. The man will escape. He has four ways
- 19:02Speaker 1: by which to do it. The door, the window, the
- 19:05Speaker 1: boudoir or the room in which the women are sleeping.
- 19:10Speaker 1: I'll draw him from below. And if you fail, if
- 19:14Speaker 1: you only succeed in wounding him, he'll escape again, without
- 19:18Speaker 1: reckoning that he is certainly armed. No, let me direct
- 19:22Speaker 1: the expedition, and I'll answer for everything as you like,
- 19:27Speaker 1: he replied, with fairly good grace. Then, after satisfying myself
- 19:33Speaker 1: that all the windows of the two galleries were thoroughly secure,
- 19:36Speaker 1: I placed Fredeoric Larsan at the end of the off
- 19:39Speaker 1: turning gallery, before the window, which I had found open
- 19:43Speaker 1: and had reclosed under no consideration, I said to him,
- 19:49Speaker 1: must you stir from this post till I call you?
- 19:52Speaker 1: The chances are even that the man, when he is pursued,
- 19:57Speaker 1: will return to this window and try to say himself
- 20:00Speaker 1: that way, for it is by that way he came
- 20:03Speaker 1: in and is made away ready for his flight. You
- 20:07Speaker 1: have a dangerous post. What will be yours? Asked Fred.
- 20:13Speaker 1: I shall spring into the room and knock him over.
- 20:15Speaker 1: For you take my revolver, said Fred, and I'll take
- 20:19Speaker 1: your stick. Thanks, I said, you are a brief man.
- 20:24Speaker 1: I accepted his offer. I was going to be alone
- 20:27Speaker 1: with the man in the room writing, and was really
- 20:30Speaker 1: thankful to have the weapon. I left Fred, having posted
- 20:34Speaker 1: him at the window, and with the greatest precaution went
- 20:38Speaker 1: towards Missus Stangerson's apartment in the left wing of the chateau,
- 20:43Speaker 1: found him with the de Jacques, who had faithfully obeyed
- 20:46Speaker 1: my directions, confining himself to asking his master to dress
- 20:50Speaker 1: as quickly as possible. In a few words, I explained
- 20:54Speaker 1: to Missus Stangerson what was passing. He armed himself with
- 20:58Speaker 1: a revolver, followed me, and we were all three speedily
- 21:02Speaker 1: in the gallery. Since I had seen the murderer seated
- 21:06Speaker 1: at the desk, ten minutes had elapsed. Missus Stangerson wished
- 21:10Speaker 1: to spring upon the assassin at once and kill him.
- 21:14Speaker 1: I made him understand that, above all he must not,
- 21:17Speaker 1: in his desire to kill him miss him. When I
- 21:22Speaker 1: had sworn to him that his daughter was not in
- 21:24Speaker 1: the room and in no danger, he conquered his impatience
- 21:28Speaker 1: and left me to direct the operations. I told them
- 21:32Speaker 1: that they must come to me the moment I called
- 21:34Speaker 1: to them, or when I fired my revolver. I then
- 21:39Speaker 1: sent Deddy Jacques to place himself before the window at
- 21:42Speaker 1: the end of the right gallery. I chose that position
- 21:46Speaker 1: for dead Jacques because I believed that the murderer tracked
- 21:50Speaker 1: on leaving the room, would run through the gallery towards
- 21:53Speaker 1: the window which he had left open, and, instantly, seeing
- 21:58Speaker 1: that it was guarded by Larsan, would pursue his course
- 22:01Speaker 1: along the right gallery. There he would encounter Daddy Jacques,
- 22:06Speaker 1: who would prevent his springing out of the window into
- 22:09Speaker 1: the park. Under that window there was a sort of buttress,
- 22:13Speaker 1: while all the other windows in the galleries were at
- 22:16Speaker 1: such a height from the ground that it was almost
- 22:19Speaker 1: impossible to jump from them without breaking one's neck. All
- 22:24Speaker 1: the doors and windows, including those of the lumber room
- 22:27Speaker 1: at the end of the right gallery, as I had
- 22:30Speaker 1: rapidly assured myself, were strongly secured. Having indicated to Daddy
- 22:36Speaker 1: Jacques the post he was to occupy, and having seen
- 22:40Speaker 1: him take up his position, I placed Missus Stangerson on
- 22:43Speaker 1: the landing at the head of the stairs, not far
- 22:46Speaker 1: from the door of his daughter's enter room, rather than
- 22:50Speaker 1: the boudoir, where the women were, and the door of
- 22:53Speaker 1: which must have been locked by Mademoiselle Stangerson herself, if,
- 22:58Speaker 1: as I thought, she had taken refuge which in the
- 23:00Speaker 1: boudoir for the purpose of avoiding the murderer who was
- 23:03Speaker 1: coming to see her. In any case, he must return
- 23:08Speaker 1: to the gallery, where my people were awaiting him at
- 23:11Speaker 1: every possible exit. On coming there, he would say, on
- 23:16Speaker 1: his left, Missus Stangerson, he would turn to the right
- 23:20Speaker 1: towards the off turning gallery, the way he had pre
- 23:23Speaker 1: arranged for flight, where at the intersection of the two
- 23:27Speaker 1: galleries he would see at once, as I have explained,
- 23:30Speaker 1: on his left Frederic Larsan at the end of the
- 23:34Speaker 1: off turning gallery, and in front the de Jacques at
- 23:38Speaker 1: the end of the right gallery. Missus Stangerson and myself
- 23:42Speaker 1: would arrive by way of the back of the chateau.
- 23:45Speaker 1: He is ours. He can no longer escape us. I
- 23:50Speaker 1: was sure of that the plan I had formed seemed
- 23:54Speaker 1: to me the best, the surest, and the most simple.
- 23:58Speaker 1: It would no doubt have been simpler still if we
- 24:02Speaker 1: had been able to place some one directly behind the
- 24:04Speaker 1: door of Mademoiselle's boudoir, which opened out of her bed chamber,
- 24:09Speaker 1: and in that way had been in a position to
- 24:12Speaker 1: besiege the two doors of the room in which the
- 24:15Speaker 1: man was. But we could not penetrate the boudoir except
- 24:19Speaker 1: by way of the drawing room, the door of which
- 24:22Speaker 1: had been locked on the inside by Mademoiselle Stangerson. But
- 24:26Speaker 1: even if I had had the free disposition of the boudoir,
- 24:30Speaker 1: I should have held to the plan I had formed,
- 24:33Speaker 1: because any other plan of attack would have separated us
- 24:36Speaker 1: at the moment of the struggle with the man, while
- 24:39Speaker 1: my plan united us all for the attack at a
- 24:42Speaker 1: spot which I had selected with almost mathematical precision, the
- 24:47Speaker 1: intersection of the two galleries. Having so placed my people,
- 24:52Speaker 1: I again left the chateau, hurried to my ladder, and
- 24:56Speaker 1: replacing it, climbed up revolver in hand. If there be
- 25:02Speaker 1: any inclined to smile at my taking so many precautionary measures,
- 25:06Speaker 1: I refer them to the mystery of the yellow room,
- 25:09Speaker 1: and to all the proofs we have of the weird
- 25:11Speaker 1: cunning of the murderer. Further, if there be some who
- 25:16Speaker 1: think my observations needlessly minute, at a moment when they
- 25:20Speaker 1: ought to be completely held by rapidity of movement and
- 25:24Speaker 1: decision of action, I reply that I have wished to
- 25:27Speaker 1: report here at length and completely all the details of
- 25:31Speaker 1: a plan of attack conceived so rapidly that it is
- 25:35Speaker 1: only the slowness of my pen that gives an appearance
- 25:38Speaker 1: of slowness to the execution. I have wished, by this
- 25:42Speaker 1: slowness and precision, to be certain that nothing should be
- 25:46Speaker 1: omitted from the conditions under which the strange phenomenon was produced, which,
- 25:53Speaker 1: until some natural explanation of it is forthcoming, seems to
- 25:57Speaker 1: me to prove even better than the theory of Professor
- 26:00Speaker 1: Stangerson the dissociation of matter, I will even say the
- 26:07Speaker 1: instantaneous dissociation of matter. End of Chapter fifteen, read by J. C. Guan, Montreal,
- 26:19Speaker 1: January two thousand nine,