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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 12 - Frederic Larsan's Cane · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of the Mystery of the Yellow Room. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more free audiobooks all to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Stuart Bell The Mystery
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  Speaker 1: of the Yellow Room by Gaston LaRue, Chapter twelve, Frederic
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  Speaker 1: Larsan's Cane. It was not till six o'clock that I
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  Speaker 1: left the chateau, taking with me the article hastily written
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  Speaker 1: by my friend in the little sitting room, which Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: Robert Darzac had placed at our disposal. The reporter was
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  Speaker 1: to sleep at the chateau, taking advantage of the to
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  Speaker 1: me inexplicable hospitality offered him by Monsieur Robert Darzac, to
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  Speaker 1: whom Monsieur Stangerson, in that sad time left the care
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  Speaker 1: of all his domestic affairs. Nevertheless, he insisted on accompanying
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  Speaker 1: me to the station at Epinay. In crossing the park,
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  Speaker 1: he said to me, Frederic is really very clever and
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  Speaker 1: has not belied his reputation. Do you know how he
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  Speaker 1: came to find Daddy Jacques's boots near the spot where
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  Speaker 1: we noticed the traces of the neat boots and the
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  Speaker 1: disappearance of the rough ones. There was a square hole
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  Speaker 1: freshly made in the moist ground, where a stone had
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  Speaker 1: evidently been removed. Larsan searched for that stone without finding it,
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  Speaker 1: and at once imagined that had been used by the
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  Speaker 1: murderer with which to sink the boots in the lake.
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  Speaker 1: Fred's calculation was an excellent one, as the success of
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  Speaker 1: his search proves that escaped me. But my mind was
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  Speaker 1: turned in another direction by the large number of false
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  Speaker 1: indications of his track which the murderer left, and by
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  Speaker 1: the measure of the black footmarks corresponding with that of
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  Speaker 1: Daddy Jacques's boots, which I had established without his suspecting it,
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  Speaker 1: on the floor of the Yellow room, all which was
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  Speaker 1: proof in my eyes that the murderer had sought to
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  Speaker 1: turn suspicion onto the old servant. Up to that point,
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  Speaker 1: Larsan and I are in a cord, but no further.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be a terrible matter, for I tell
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  Speaker 1: you he is working on wrong lines, and I I
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  Speaker 1: must fight him with nothing. I was surprised at the
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  Speaker 1: profoundly grave accent with which my young friend pronounced the
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  Speaker 1: last words who repeated, Yes, terrible, terrible, for it is
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  Speaker 1: fighting with nothing when you only have an idea to
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  Speaker 1: fight with. At that moment, we passed by the back
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  Speaker 1: of the chateau. Night had come. A window on the
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  Speaker 1: first floor was partly open. A feeble light came from it,
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  Speaker 1: as well as some sounds which drew our attention. We
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  Speaker 1: approached until we had reached the side of a door
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  Speaker 1: that was situated just under the window. Rouletabille, in a
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  Speaker 1: low tone, made me understand that this was the window
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  Speaker 1: of Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber. The sounds which had attracted our
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  Speaker 1: attention ceased, then were renewed for a moment, and then
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  Speaker 1: we heard stifled sobs. We were only able to catch
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  Speaker 1: these words, which reached us distinctly. My poor Robert Rouletabille,
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  Speaker 1: whispered in my ear. If only we knew what was
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  Speaker 1: being said in that chamber, my inquiry would soon be finished.
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  Speaker 1: He looked about him. The darkness of the evening enveloped us.
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  Speaker 1: We could not see much beyond the narrow path bordered
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  Speaker 1: by trees, which ran behind the chateau. The sobs had ceased.
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  Speaker 1: If we can't hear, we may at least try to see,
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  Speaker 1: said Rouletabille, and making a sign to me to deaden
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  Speaker 1: the sound of my steps, he led me across the
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  Speaker 1: bar to the trunk of a tall beech tree, the
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  Speaker 1: white bowl of which was visible in the darkness. This
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  Speaker 1: tree grew exactly in front of the window in which
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  Speaker 1: we were so much interested, its lower branches being on
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  Speaker 1: a level with the first floor of the chateau. From
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  Speaker 1: the height of those branches one might certainly see what
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  Speaker 1: was passing in Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber. Evidently that was what
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  Speaker 1: Rouletabille thought for. Enjoining me to remain hidden, he clasped
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  Speaker 1: the trunk with his vigorous arms and climbed up. I
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  Speaker 1: soon lost sight of him amid the branches, and then
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  Speaker 1: followed a deep silence in front of me. The open
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  Speaker 1: window remained lighted, and I saw no shadow move across it.
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  Speaker 1: I listened, and presently, from above me these words reached
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  Speaker 1: my ears. After you, after you pray? Somebody was overhead
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  Speaker 1: speaking exchanging courtesies. What was my astonishment to see on
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  Speaker 1: the slippery column of the tree two human forms appear
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  Speaker 1: and quietly slip down to the ground. Rouletabille had mounted
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  Speaker 1: alone and had returned with another good evening, Monsieur Sainclair.
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  Speaker 1: It was Frederic Larsan, the detective, had already occupied the
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  Speaker 1: post of observation when my young friend had thought to
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  Speaker 1: reach it alone. Neither noticed my astonishment. I explained that
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  Speaker 1: to myself by the fact that they must have been
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  Speaker 1: witnesses of some tender and despairing scene between Mademoiselle Stangerson
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  Speaker 1: lying in her bed and Monsieur Darzac on his knees
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  Speaker 1: by her pillow, I guess that each had drawn different
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  Speaker 1: conclusions from what they had seen. It was easy to
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  Speaker 1: see that the scene had strongly impressed Rouletabille in favor
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  Speaker 1: of Monsieur Robert Darzac, while to Larsan, it showed nothing
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  Speaker 1: but consummate hypocrisy, acted with finished art by Mademoiselle Stangerson's fiancee.
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  Speaker 1: As we reached the park gate, Larsan stopped us. My cane.
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  Speaker 1: He cried, I left it near the tree. He left us,
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  Speaker 1: saying he would rejoin us presently. Have you noticed Frederic
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  Speaker 1: Larsan's cane, asked the young reporter as soon as we
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  Speaker 1: were alone. It's quite a new one, which I've never
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  Speaker 1: seen him use. Before. He seems to take great care
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  Speaker 1: of it. It never leaves him. One would think he
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  Speaker 1: was afraid it might fall into the hands of strangers.
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  Speaker 1: I never saw it before to day. Where did he
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  Speaker 1: find it? It isn't natural that a man who'd never
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  Speaker 1: before used a walking stick should, that day after the
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  Speaker 1: Glandier crime, never move a step without one. On the
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  Speaker 1: day of our arrival at the chateau, as soon as
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  Speaker 1: he saw us, he put his watch into his pocket
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  Speaker 1: and picked up his cane from the ground, a proceeding
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  Speaker 1: to which I was perhaps wrong not to attach some importance.
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  Speaker 1: We were now out of the park. Rouletabille had dropped
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  Speaker 1: into silence. His thoughts were certainly still occupied with Frederic
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  Speaker 1: Larsan's new cane. I had proof of that when as
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  Speaker 1: we came near to Epinay, he said, Frederic Larsan arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the Glantier before me. He began his inquiry before me.
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  Speaker 1: He has had time to find out things about which
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  Speaker 1: I know nothing. Where did he find that cane? Then
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  Speaker 1: he added, It's probable that his suspicion, more than that
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  Speaker 1: is his reasoning, has led him to lay his hand
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  Speaker 1: on something tangible. Has this cane anything to do with it.
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  Speaker 1: Where the deuce could he have found it? As I
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  Speaker 1: had to wait twenty minutes for the train at Epinay,
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  Speaker 1: we entered a wine shop. Almost immediately the door opened,
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  Speaker 1: and Frederic Larsan made his appearance, brandishing his famous cane.
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  Speaker 1: I found it, he said laughingly. The three of us
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  Speaker 1: seated ourselves at a table. Rouletabille never took his eyes
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  Speaker 1: off the cane. He was so absorbed that he did
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  Speaker 1: not notice a sign Larsan made for a railway employee,
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  Speaker 1: a young man with a chin decorated by a tiny
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  Speaker 1: blonde and ill kept beard on the sign. He rose,
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  Speaker 1: paid for his drink, bowed and went out. I should
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  Speaker 1: not myself have attached any importance to the circumstance if
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  Speaker 1: it had not been recalled to my mind some months
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  Speaker 1: later by the reappearance of the man with the beard
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  Speaker 1: at one of the most tragic moments of this case.
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  Speaker 1: I then learned that the youth was one of Larsan's assistants,
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  Speaker 1: and had been charged by him to watch the going
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  Speaker 1: and coming of travelers at the station of Epinay Surage.
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  Speaker 1: Larsan elected nothing in any case on which he was engaged.
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  Speaker 1: I turned my eyes again on Rouletabille. Ah, Monsieur Fred,
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  Speaker 1: he said, when did you begin to use a walking stick?
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  Speaker 1: I've always seen you walking with your hands in your pockets.
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  Speaker 1: It is a present, replied the detective, recent insisted Rouletabille. No,
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  Speaker 1: it was given to me in London. Ah, yes, I
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  Speaker 1: remember you've just come from London. May I look at it?
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  Speaker 1: Oh er Certainly, Fred passed the cane to Rouletabille. It
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  Speaker 1: was a large yellow bamboo with a crutch handle and
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  Speaker 1: ornamented with a gold ring. Rouletabille, after examining it, minutely
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  Speaker 1: returned it to Larsan with a bantering expression on his face, saying,
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  Speaker 1: you were given a French cane in London, Possibly, said Fred, imperturbably.
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  Speaker 1: We demark there in tiny letters, Cassette six a opera.
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  Speaker 1: Cannot English people buy canes in Paris. When Rouletabille had
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  Speaker 1: seen me into the train, he said, you remember the address, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: Cassette six a opera. Rely on me. You shall have
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  Speaker 1: word tomorrow morning. That evening, on reaching Paris, I saw
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Cassette dealer and walking sticks and umbrellas, and wrote
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  Speaker 1: to my friend A man unmistakably answering to the description
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  Speaker 1: of Monsieur Robert Darzac, same height, slightly stooping, putty colored overcoat,
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  Speaker 1: bowler hat, purchased a cane similar to the one in
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  Speaker 1: which we're interested on the evening of the crime, about
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  Speaker 1: eight o'clock. Monsieur Cassette had not sold another such cane
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  Speaker 1: during the last two years. Fred's cane is new. It
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  Speaker 1: is quite clear that it's the same cane. Fred did
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  Speaker 1: not since he was in London, like you. I think
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  Speaker 1: that he found it somewhere near Monsieur Robert Darzac. But if,
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  Speaker 1: as you suppose, the murderer was in the Yellow Room
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  Speaker 1: for five or even six hours, and the crime was
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  Speaker 1: not committed until towards midnight, the purchase of this cane
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  Speaker 1: proved an incontestable alibi for Darzac. End of Chapter twelve.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge, UK,