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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 7 - In Which Rouletabille Sets Out on an Expedition... · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven 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 or 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 Lorue, Chapter seven, in
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  Speaker 1: which Rouletabille sets out on an expedition under the bed. Rouletabille,
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  Speaker 1: having pushed open the door of the Yellow Room, paused
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  Speaker 1: on the threshold, saying, with an emotion which I only
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  Speaker 1: later understood, Ah, the perfume of the lady in black.
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  Speaker 1: The chamber was dark. Daddy Jacques was about to open
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  Speaker 1: the blinds when Rouletabille stopped him. Did not the tragedy
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  Speaker 1: take place in complete darkness? He asked, No, young man,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think so. Mademoiselle always had a night light
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  Speaker 1: on her table, and I listened every evening before she
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  Speaker 1: went to bed. I was a sort of chambermaid. You
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  Speaker 1: must understand when the evening came, the real chamber of
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  Speaker 1: maid did not come in here matter before the morning.
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle worked late, far into the night. Where did the
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  Speaker 1: table with the night light stand far from the bed?
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  Speaker 1: Some way from the bed. Can you light the burner?
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  Speaker 1: Now the lamp is broken and the oil that was
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  Speaker 1: in it was spilled when the table was upset. All
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the things in the room remain just
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  Speaker 1: as they were. I have only to open the blinds
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  Speaker 1: view to see. Wait. Rouletabille went back into the laboratory,
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  Speaker 1: closed the shutters of the two windows and the door
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  Speaker 1: of the vestibule. When we were in complete darkness, he
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  Speaker 1: lit a wax vesta and asked Daddy Jacques to move
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  Speaker 1: to the middle of the chamber with it, to the
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  Speaker 1: place where the night light was burning that night. Daddy Jacques,
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  Speaker 1: who was in his stockings he usually left his sabbow
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  Speaker 1: in the vegetable, entered the yellow room with his bit
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  Speaker 1: of a vesta. We vaguely distinguished objects overthrown on the floor,
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  Speaker 1: a bed in one corner, and in front of us
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  Speaker 1: to the left, the gleam of a looking glass hanging
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  Speaker 1: on the wall near to the bed. That will do.
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  Speaker 1: You may now open the blinds, said Rouletabille. Don't come
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  Speaker 1: any further, Daddy Jacques begged. You may make marks with
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  Speaker 1: your boots and nothing must be deranged. It's an idea
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  Speaker 1: of the magistrates, though he has nothing more to do here,
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  Speaker 1: and he pushed open the shutter. The pale daylight entered
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  Speaker 1: from without, throwing a sinister light on the saffron colored
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  Speaker 1: walls the floor. For though the laboratory in the vestibule
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  Speaker 1: were tiled, the yellow room had a flooring of wood,
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  Speaker 1: was covered with a single yellow mat, which was large
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  Speaker 1: enough to cover nearly the whole room. Under the bed
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  Speaker 1: and under the dressing table. The only piece of furniture
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  Speaker 1: that remained upright, the center round table, the night table,
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  Speaker 1: and two chairs had been overturned. These did not prevent
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  Speaker 1: a large stain of blood being visible on the mat,
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  Speaker 1: made as Daddy Jaques informed us, by the blood which
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  Speaker 1: had flowed from the wound on Mademoiselle Stangerson's forehead. Besides
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  Speaker 1: these stains, drops of blood had fallen in all directions,
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  Speaker 1: in line with the visible traces of the footsteps, large
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  Speaker 1: and black of the murderer. Everything led to the presumption
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  Speaker 1: that these drops of blood had fallen from the wound
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  Speaker 1: of the man who had, for a moment placed his
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  Speaker 1: red hand on the wall. There were other traces of
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  Speaker 1: the same hand on the wall, but much less distinct.
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  Speaker 1: See see this blood on the wall, I could not
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  Speaker 1: help exclaiming. The man who pressed his hand so heavily
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  Speaker 1: upon it in the darkness must certainly have thought that
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  Speaker 1: he was pushing at a door. That's why he pressed
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  Speaker 1: in it so hard, leaving on the yellow paper the
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  Speaker 1: terrible evidence. I don't think there are many hands in
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  Speaker 1: the world of that sort. It's big and strong, and
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  Speaker 1: the fingers are nearly all one as long as the other.
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  Speaker 1: The thumb is wanting, and we only have the mark
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  Speaker 1: of the palm. But if we follow the trace of
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  Speaker 1: the hand, I continued, we see that, after leaving its
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  Speaker 1: imprint in the wall, the touch salt the door, found it,
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  Speaker 1: and then felt for the lock, no doubt, interrupted Rouletabille, chuckling.
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  Speaker 1: Only there is no blood either on the lock or
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  Speaker 1: on the bolt. What does that prove? I rejoined, with
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  Speaker 1: a good sense of which I was proud. He might
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  Speaker 1: have opened the lock with his left hand, which would
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  Speaker 1: have been quite natural, his right hand being wounded, he
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  Speaker 1: didn't open it at all. Daddy Jacques again exclaimed, we
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  Speaker 1: are not fools, and there were four of us when
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  Speaker 1: we burst open the door. What a queer hand, Look,
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  Speaker 1: what a queer hand it is, I said. It is
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  Speaker 1: a very natural hand, said Rouletabille, of which the shape
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  Speaker 1: has been deformed by its having slipped on the wall.
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  Speaker 1: The man dried his hand on the wall. He must
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  Speaker 1: be a man about five ft eight in height. How
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  Speaker 1: did you come at that by the height of the
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  Speaker 1: marks on the wall. My friend next occupied himself with
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  Speaker 1: the mark of the bullet in the wall. It was
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  Speaker 1: a round hole. This ball was fired straight, not from above,
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  Speaker 1: and consequently not from below. Rouletabille went back to the
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  Speaker 1: door and carefully examined the lock and the bolt, satisfying
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  Speaker 1: himself that the door had certainly been burst open from
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  Speaker 1: the outside, and further that the key had been found
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  Speaker 1: in the lock on the inside of the chamber. He
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  Speaker 1: finally satisfied himself that with the key in the lock,
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  Speaker 1: the door could not possibly be opened from without with
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  Speaker 1: another key. Having made sure of all these details, he
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  Speaker 1: let fall these words. That's better, then sitting down on
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  Speaker 1: the ground. He hastily took off his boots and in
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  Speaker 1: his socks, went into the room. The first thing he
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  Speaker 1: did was to examine minutely the overturned furniture. We watched
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  Speaker 1: him in silence. Young fellow you are giving yourself a
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  Speaker 1: great deal of trouble, said Daddy Jack. Ironically, Rouletabille raised
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  Speaker 1: his head and said, you have spoken the simple truth,
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  Speaker 1: Daddy Jack. Your mistress did not have her hair and
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  Speaker 1: bands that evening. I was a donkey to have believed
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  Speaker 1: she did. Then, with the suppleness of a serpent, he
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  Speaker 1: slipped under the bed. Presently we heard him ask and
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  Speaker 1: what time, Monsieur Jack. Did Monsieur and Mademoiselle Stangerson a
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  Speaker 1: run for the laboratory at six o'clock. The voice of
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  Speaker 1: Rouletabille continued, Yes, he's been under here, that's certain. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: there was nowhere else where he could have hidden himself. Here, too,
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  Speaker 1: are the marks of his hob nails. When you entered,
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  Speaker 1: all four of you, did you look under the bed
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  Speaker 1: at once? We drew it right out of its place
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  Speaker 1: and between the mattresses. There was only one on the bed,
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  Speaker 1: and on that Mademoiselle was placed, and Monsieur Stangerson and
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  Speaker 1: the concierge immediately carried it into the laboratory. Under the
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  Speaker 1: mattress there was nothing but the metal netting, which could
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  Speaker 1: not conceal anything or anybody. Remember Monsieur that there were
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  Speaker 1: four of us, and we couldn't fail to see everything.
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  Speaker 1: The chamber is so small and scantily furnished, and all
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  Speaker 1: was locked behind in the pavilion. I ventured in a hypothesis,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps he got away with the mattress. In the mattress,
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  Speaker 1: anything is possible in the face of such a mystery.
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  Speaker 1: In their distress of mind, monsies Stangerson and the concierge
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  Speaker 1: may not have noticed that they were bearing a double weight,
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  Speaker 1: especially if the concierge were an accomplice. I threw out
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  Speaker 1: the hypothesis for what it's worth, but it explains many things,
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  Speaker 1: and particularly the fact that neither the laboratory nor the
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  Speaker 1: vestibule bear any traces of the footmarks found in the room.
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  Speaker 1: If in carrying Mademoiselle on the mattress from the laboratory
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  Speaker 1: of the chateau, they rested for a moment, then there
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  Speaker 1: might have been an opportunity for the mannit to escape.
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  Speaker 1: And then asked Rouletabille, deliberately laughing under the bed, I
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  Speaker 1: felt rather vexed and replied, well, I don't know, but
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  Speaker 1: anything appears possible. The examining magistrate had the same idea.
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur said Daddy Jack, and he carefully examined the mattress.
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  Speaker 1: He was obliged to laugh at the idea, monsieur, as
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  Speaker 1: your friend is doing now, for whoever heard of a
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  Speaker 1: mattress having a double bottom. I was myself obliged to
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  Speaker 1: laugh on seeing that what I had said was absurd.
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  Speaker 1: But in an affair like this, one hardly knows where
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  Speaker 1: an absurdity begins or ends. My friend alone seemed able
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  Speaker 1: to talk intelligently. He called out from under the bed,
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  Speaker 1: the matter is being moved out of place. Who did it?
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  Speaker 1: We did, Monsieur, explained Daddy Jacques. When we could not
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  Speaker 1: find the assassin, we asked ourselves whether there was not
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  Speaker 1: some hole in the floor. There is not, replied Rouletabille.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a cellar? No, there is no cellar, But
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  Speaker 1: that is not stopped our searching, and has not prevented
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  Speaker 1: the examining magistrate in his registrar from studying the floor
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  Speaker 1: plank by plank, as if there had been a cellar
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  Speaker 1: under it. The reporter then reappeared. His eyes were sparkling,
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  Speaker 1: and his nostrils quivered. He remained on his hands and knees.
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  Speaker 1: He could not be better likened than to an admirable
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  Speaker 1: sporting dog on the scent of some unusual game. And
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  Speaker 1: indeed he was scenting the steps of a man, the
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  Speaker 1: man whom he has sworn reporter, his master, the manager
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  Speaker 1: of the epark. It must not be forgotten that Rouletabille
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  Speaker 1: was first and last a journal Thus on his hands
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  Speaker 1: and knees, he made his way to the four corners
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  Speaker 1: of the room, so to speak, sniffing and going around everything,
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  Speaker 1: everything that we could see, which was not much, and
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  Speaker 1: everything that we could not see, which must have been infinite.
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  Speaker 1: The toilette table was a simple table, standing on four legs.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing about it by which it could possibly
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  Speaker 1: be changed into a temporary hiding place. There was not
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  Speaker 1: a closet or cupboard. Mademoiselle Stangerson kept her wardrobe at
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  Speaker 1: the Chateau. Rouletabille literally passed his nose and hands along
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  Speaker 1: the walls constructed of solid brickwork. When he had finished
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  Speaker 1: with the walls, and passed his agile fingers over every
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  Speaker 1: portion of the yellow paper covering them, he reached the ceiling,
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  Speaker 1: which he was able to touch by mounting on a
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  Speaker 1: chair placed on the toilet table, and by moving this
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  Speaker 1: ingeniously constructed stage from place to place, he examined every
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  Speaker 1: foot of it. When he had finished his scrutiny of
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  Speaker 1: the ceiling, where he carefully examined the hole made by
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  Speaker 1: the second bullet, he approached the window and once more
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  Speaker 1: examined the iron bars and blinds, all of which were
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  Speaker 1: solid and intact. At last he gave a grunt of
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  Speaker 1: satisfaction and declared, now I am at ease. Well do
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  Speaker 1: you believe that the poor dear young lady was shut
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  Speaker 1: up when she was being murdered when she cried out
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  Speaker 1: for help, wailed Daddy Jacques. Yes, said the young reporter,
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  Speaker 1: drying his forehead. The yellow room was as tightly shut
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  Speaker 1: as an iron safe. That, I said, is why this
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  Speaker 1: mystery is the most surprising I know. Edgar Allan Poe
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  Speaker 1: in the Murders and the Room Morgue invented nothing like it.
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  Speaker 1: The place of that crime was sufficiently closed to prevent
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  Speaker 1: the escape of a man. But there was that window
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  Speaker 1: through which the monkey, the perpetrator of the murder, could
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  Speaker 1: slip away. But here there can be no question of
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  Speaker 1: an opening of any sort. The door was fastened, and
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  Speaker 1: through the window line secure as they were not even
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  Speaker 1: a fly could enter or get out. True, True, assented Rouletabille,
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  Speaker 1: as he kept on drying his forehead, which seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be perspiring, less from his recent bodily exertion than from
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  Speaker 1: his mental agitation. Indeed, it's a great, it's a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: and a very curious mystery. The Bete de Boneur, muttered,
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  Speaker 1: Daddy jaqu the Bete de Boneur herself, if she had
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  Speaker 1: committed the crime, could not have escaped. Listen, do you
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  Speaker 1: hear it? Hush? Daddy Jack made us a sign to
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  Speaker 1: keep quiet, and, stretching his arm towards the wall nearest
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  Speaker 1: the forest, listened to something which we could not hear.
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  Speaker 1: It's answering, he said at length, I must kill it.
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  Speaker 1: It is too wicked. But it's the Bete de Boneur.
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  Speaker 1: And every night it goes to prey on the tomb
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  Speaker 1: of San Geniev, and nobody dares to touch her for
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  Speaker 1: fear that Martha Agenoux should cast an evil spell on them.
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  Speaker 1: How big is the Bete de Boneur, nearly as big
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  Speaker 1: as a small retriever a monster? I tell you, ah,
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  Speaker 1: I have asked myself more than once whether it was
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  Speaker 1: not her that took out a poor mademoiselle by the
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  Speaker 1: throat with her claws. But the Bete de Boneur does
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  Speaker 1: not wear hobnelt boots, nor fire revolvers, nor has she
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  Speaker 1: a hand like that, exclaimed Daddy Jacques, again, pointing out
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  Speaker 1: to us the red mark on the wall. Besides, we
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  Speaker 1: should have seen her as well as we would have
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  Speaker 1: seen a man. Evidently, I said, before we had seen
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  Speaker 1: this yellow room, I had also asked myself whether the
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  Speaker 1: cat of mother Angenoux. You also cried Rouletabille, didn't you,
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  Speaker 1: I asked, Not For a moment, after reading the article
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  Speaker 1: in the matter, I knew that a cat had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with the matter. But I where now that
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  Speaker 1: a frightful tragedy has been enacted here. You say nothing
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  Speaker 1: about the bass cap or the handkerchief found here, Daddy Jacques.
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  Speaker 1: Of course the magistrate has taken Then, the old man answered, hesitatingly,
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  Speaker 1: I haven't seen either the handkerchief or the cap yet
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  Speaker 1: I can tell you how they are made. The reporter
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  Speaker 1: said to him gravely. Oh, you are very clever, said
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  Speaker 1: Daddy Jack, coughing and embarrassed. The handkerchief is a large one,
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  Speaker 1: blue with red stripes, and the cap is an old
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  Speaker 1: bass cap like the one you're wearing now. You are
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  Speaker 1: quite a wizard, said Daddy Jack, trying not to laugh,
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  Speaker 1: and not quite succeeding. How do you know that the
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  Speaker 1: handkerchief is blue with red stripes, because if it had
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  Speaker 1: not been blue with red stripes, it would not have
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  Speaker 1: been found at all. Without giving any further attention to
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  Speaker 1: Daddy Jacques, my friend took a piece of paper from
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  Speaker 1: his pocket, and, taking out a pair of scissors, bent
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  Speaker 1: over the footprints. Placing the paper over one of them,
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  Speaker 1: he began to cut. In a short time he had
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  Speaker 1: made a perfect pattern, which he handed to me, begging
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  Speaker 1: me not to lose it. He then returned to the window, and,
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  Speaker 1: pointing to the figure of Frederic Larsan, who had not
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  Speaker 1: quitted the side of the lake our study Jack, whether
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  Speaker 1: the detective had, like himself, been working in the Yellow room, No,
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  Speaker 1: replied Robert Darzac, who, since Rouletabille had handed him the
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  Speaker 1: piece of scorch paper, had not uttered a word. He
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  Speaker 1: pretends that he does not need to examine the Yellow Room.
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  Speaker 1: He says that the murderer made his escape from it
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  Speaker 1: in quite a natural way, and that he will this
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  Speaker 1: evening explain how he did it. As he listened to
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  Speaker 1: what Monsieur Darzac had to say, Rouletabille turned pale. As
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  Speaker 1: Frederic Larsan found out the truth which I can only
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  Speaker 1: guess at. He murmured, he is very clever, very clever,
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  Speaker 1: and I admire him. But what we have to do
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  Speaker 1: to day is something more than the work of a policeman,
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  Speaker 1: something quite different from the teachings of experience. We have
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  Speaker 1: to take hold of our reason by the right end.
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  Speaker 1: The reporter rushed into the open air, agitated by the
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  Speaker 1: thought that the great and famous fred might anticipate him
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  Speaker 1: in the solution of the problem of the yellow room.
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  Speaker 1: I managed to reach him on the threshold of the pavilion.
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  Speaker 1: Calm yourself, my dear fellow, I said, aren't you satisfied? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he confessed to me with a deep sigh. I am
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  Speaker 1: quite satisfied. I have discovered many things moral or material,
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  Speaker 1: several moral, one material. This for example, And rapidly he
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  Speaker 1: drew from his waistcoat pocket a piece of paper in
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  Speaker 1: which he had placed a light colored hair from a
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  Speaker 1: woman's head. End of Chapter seven recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge,
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  Speaker 1: UK