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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 8 - The Examining Magistrate Questions... · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of the Mystery of the Yellow Room. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more free audiobooks or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: dot org. The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston LaRue,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight. The examining magistrate questions Mademoiselle Stangerson. Two minutes later,
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  Speaker 1: as the rule to be was bending over the footprints
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  Speaker 1: discovered in the park. Under the window of the vestibule,
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  Speaker 1: a man, evidently a servant at the chateau, came towards
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  Speaker 1: us rapidly and called out to Monsieur Jozac. Then, coming
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  Speaker 1: out of the pavilion, Monsieur Robert, the magistrate, you know
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  Speaker 1: is questioning Mademoiselle. Monsieur Jozac added a muttered excuse to
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  Speaker 1: us and set off running towards the chateau, the man
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  Speaker 1: running after him. If the corpse can speak, I said,
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  Speaker 1: it would be interesting to be there, we must know,
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  Speaker 1: said my friend. Let's go to the chateau, and he
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  Speaker 1: drew me with him. But at the chateau, a gendarmes
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  Speaker 1: placed in the vestibule denied his admission. Up the staircase
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  Speaker 1: of the first floor, we were obliged to wait downstairs.
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  Speaker 1: This is what passed in the chamber of the victim
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  Speaker 1: while we were waiting below. The family doctor, finding that
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson was much better, but fearing a relapse which
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  Speaker 1: would no longer permit of her being questioned, had thought
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  Speaker 1: it his duty to inform the examining magistrate of this,
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  Speaker 1: who decided to proceed immediately with a brief examination. At
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  Speaker 1: this examination, the register Mossus Stangerson and the doctor were present. Later,
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  Speaker 1: I obtained the text of the report of the examination,
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  Speaker 1: and I give it here in all its legal dryness. Question,
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  Speaker 1: are you able, mademoiselle, without too much fatiguing yourself, to
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  Speaker 1: give some necessary details of the frightful attack of which
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  Speaker 1: you have been the victim? Answer? I feel much better, monsieur,
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  Speaker 1: and I will tell you all I know. When I
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  Speaker 1: entered my chamber, I did not notice anything unusual there. Question.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse me, mademoiselle, if you will allow me, I will
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  Speaker 1: ask you some questions and you will answer them that
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  Speaker 1: will fatigue you less than making a long recital answer
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  Speaker 1: to so monsieur, question, what did you do on that day?
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  Speaker 1: I want you to be as minute and precise as possible.
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  Speaker 1: I wish to know all you did that day, if
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  Speaker 1: it is not asking too much of you. Answer. I
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  Speaker 1: rose late at ten o'clock for my father, and I
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  Speaker 1: had returned home late on the night previously, having been
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  Speaker 1: to dinner at the reception given by the President of
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  Speaker 1: the Republic in honor of the Academy of Science of Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 1: When I left a chamber at half past ten, my
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  Speaker 1: father was already at work in the laboratory. We worked
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  Speaker 1: together till midday. We then took half an hour's walk
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  Speaker 1: in the park, as we were accustomed to do before
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  Speaker 1: breakfasting at the chateau. After breakfast, we took another walk
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  Speaker 1: for half an hour, and then returned to the laboratory.
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  Speaker 1: There we found my chamber mat who had come to
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  Speaker 1: set my room in order. I went into the yellow
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  Speaker 1: room to give her some slight orders, and she directly
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  Speaker 1: afterwards left the pavilion, and I resumed my work with
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  Speaker 1: my father. At five o'clock, we went again for a
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  Speaker 1: walk in the park, and afterward had tea question before
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  Speaker 1: leaving the pavilion. At five o'clock, did you go into
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  Speaker 1: your chamber? Answer no, monsieur. My father went into it
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  Speaker 1: at my request to bring my hat. Question and he
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  Speaker 1: found nothing suspicious there? Answer evidently no, Monsieur. Question is
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  Speaker 1: then almost certain that the murderer was not yet concealed
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  Speaker 1: under the bed when you went out. Was the door
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  Speaker 1: of the room locked? Answer no, there was no reason
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  Speaker 1: for thocking it. Question you are absent from the pavilion
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  Speaker 1: some length of time, Monsieur Stanchsanneu. Answer about an hour.
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  Speaker 1: Question it was during that hour, no doubt that the
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  Speaker 1: murderer got into the pavilion. But how nobody knows? Would
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  Speaker 1: marks have been found in the park leading away from
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  Speaker 1: the window of the vestibule, but none has been found
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  Speaker 1: going towards it. Did you notice whether the vestibule window
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  Speaker 1: was open when you went out? Answer no, Monsieur, I
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  Speaker 1: don't remember, Monsieur Stangerson, it was closed. Question And when
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  Speaker 1: you returned, Mademoiselle Stangerson, I did not notice, Monsieur Stangerson,
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  Speaker 1: it was still closed. I remember remarking aloud, Daddy Jacques
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  Speaker 1: must have opened it while we're away. Question strange, do
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  Speaker 1: you recollect, Monsieur Stangerson, if during your absence and before
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  Speaker 1: going out, he had opened it. You returned to the
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  Speaker 1: laboratory at six o'clock and resumed work. Mademoiselle Stangerson, Yes, monsieur. Question,
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  Speaker 1: and you did not leave the laboratory from that hour
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  Speaker 1: up until the moment when you entered your chamber, Monsieur Stangerson.
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  Speaker 1: Neither my daughter nor I, Monsieur, we were engaged on
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  Speaker 1: work that was pressing, and we lost not a moment
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  Speaker 1: neglecting everything else on that account. Question did you dine
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  Speaker 1: in the laboratory? Answer for that reason? Question are you
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  Speaker 1: accustomed to dine in the laboratory? Answer? We rarely dine there.
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  Speaker 1: Question could the murderer have known that you would dine
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  Speaker 1: there that evening, Monsieur Stangerson, Good heavens, I think not.
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  Speaker 1: It was only when we returned to the pavilion at
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  Speaker 1: six o'clock that we decided, my daughter and I to
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  Speaker 1: dine there. At that moment, I was spoken to by
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  Speaker 1: my game keeper, who detained me a moment to ask
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  Speaker 1: me to accompany him on an urgent tour of inspection
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  Speaker 1: in a part of the woods which I had decided
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  Speaker 1: the thing. I put this off until the next day
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  Speaker 1: and begged him as he was going by the chateau
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  Speaker 1: to tell us steward that we should dine in the laboratory.
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  Speaker 1: He left me to execute the errand, and I rejoined
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  Speaker 1: my daughter, who was already at work. Question at what hour, ma'amoiselle,
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  Speaker 1: did you go to your chamber while your father continued
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  Speaker 1: to work there? Answer at midnight? Question did Daddy Jacques
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  Speaker 1: enter the yellow room in the course of the evening?
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  Speaker 1: Answer to shut the blinds and light the night light?
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  Speaker 1: Question he saw nothing suspicious. Answer he would have told
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  Speaker 1: us if he had seen. Dandy Jacques is an honest
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  Speaker 1: man and very attached to me. Question. You are firm,
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Stangerson, that Dandy Jacques remained with you all the
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  Speaker 1: time you were in the laboratory. Monsieur Stangerson, I am
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  Speaker 1: sure of it. I have no doubt of that. Question.
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  Speaker 1: When you entered your chamber, ma'amoiselle, you immediately shut the
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  Speaker 1: door and locked and bolted it. That was taking unusual precautions,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that your father and your servant were there. Were
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  Speaker 1: you in fear of something? Then answer? My father would
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  Speaker 1: be returning to the chateau, and Daddy Jacques would be
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  Speaker 1: going to his bed, And in fact I did fear something. Question,
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  Speaker 1: you are so much in fear of something that you
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  Speaker 1: borrowed Daddy Jaque's revolval without telling him you had done, sir, answer,
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  Speaker 1: that is true. I did not wish to alarm anybody,
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  Speaker 1: the more because my fears might have proved to be foolish. Question,
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  Speaker 1: what was it you feared? Answer? I hardly know how
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  Speaker 1: to tell you. For several nights I seemed to hear,
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  Speaker 1: both in the park and out of the park, round
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  Speaker 1: the pavilion, unusual sounds, sometimes footsteps, at other times the
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  Speaker 1: cracking of branches. The night before the attack on me,
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  Speaker 1: when I did not get to bed before three o'clock
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  Speaker 1: in the morning, on I returned from the Elise, I
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  Speaker 1: stood for a moment before my window, and I felt
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  Speaker 1: sure I saw shadows. Question how many? Answer too? They
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  Speaker 1: moved around the lake. Then the moon became clouded and
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  Speaker 1: I lost sight of them. At this time of the season,
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  Speaker 1: every year I have generally returned to my apartment at
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  Speaker 1: the Shadow for the winter. But this year I said
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  Speaker 1: to myself that I would not quit the pavilion before
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  Speaker 1: my father had finished the resume of his works on
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  Speaker 1: the dissociation of matter for the academy. I did not
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  Speaker 1: wish that that important work, which was to have been
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  Speaker 1: finished in the course of a few days, should be
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  Speaker 1: delayed by a change in our daily habit. You can
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  Speaker 1: well understand that I did not wish to speak of
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  Speaker 1: my childish fears to my father, nor did I say
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  Speaker 1: anything to Daddy Jacques, who I knew would not have
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  Speaker 1: been able to hold his tongue. Knowing that he had
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  Speaker 1: a revolver in his room, I took advantage of his
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  Speaker 1: absence and borrowed it, placing it on the drawer of
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  Speaker 1: my note table. Questioned you know of no enemy? You have?
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  Speaker 1: Answer none. Question you understand, Mademoiselle, that these precautions are
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  Speaker 1: calculated to cause surprise. Monsieur Stangerson. Evidently, my child, such
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  Speaker 1: precautions are very surprising. Answer no, because I have told
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  Speaker 1: you that I had been uneasy for two nights. Monsieur Stangerson,
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  Speaker 1: you ought to have told me of that this misfortune
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  Speaker 1: would have been avoided. Question the door of the yellow
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  Speaker 1: room locked, did you go to bed? Answer yes, and,
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  Speaker 1: being very tired, I at once went to sleep. Question
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  Speaker 1: the night light was still burning. Answer yes, but it
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  Speaker 1: gave a very feeble light. Question then, Mademoiselle, tell us
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  Speaker 1: what happened. Answer, I do not know whether I had
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  Speaker 1: been long asleep, But suddenly I awoke and outed a
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  Speaker 1: loud cry. Monsieur Stangerson, Yes, a horrible cry. Murder had
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  Speaker 1: still rings in my ears. Question you uttered a loud cry. Answer?
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  Speaker 1: A man was in my chamber. He sprang at me
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  Speaker 1: and tried to strangle me. I was nearly stifled when
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  Speaker 1: suddenly I was able to reach the drawer of my
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  Speaker 1: night table and grasp the revolver which I had placed
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  Speaker 1: in it. At that moment, the man had forced me
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  Speaker 1: to the foot of my bed and brandished in over
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  Speaker 1: my head a sort of mace. But I had fired.
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  Speaker 1: He immediately struck a terrible blow at my head. All that, Monsieur,
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  Speaker 1: have passed more rapidly than I can tell it, And
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  Speaker 1: I know nothing more. Question nothing, Have you no idea
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  Speaker 1: as to how the assassin could escape from your chamber? Answer? None, whatever,
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  Speaker 1: I know nothing more. One does not know what is
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  Speaker 1: passing around one when one is unconscious. Question was the
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  Speaker 1: man you saw tall or short? Little or big? Answer?
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  Speaker 1: I only saw a shadow which appeared to me for midarbler.
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  Speaker 1: Question you cannot give us any indication. Answer, I know
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  Speaker 1: nothing more. Monsieur than that a man threw himself upon me,
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  Speaker 1: and that I fired at him. I know nothing more
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  Speaker 1: here the interrogation of Mademoiselle Stangerson conclude Raoul to be
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  Speaker 1: waited patiently for Monsieur Robert Darzac, who soon appeared from
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  Speaker 1: a room near the chamber of Mademoiselle Stangerson. He had
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  Speaker 1: heard the interrogatory and now came to recount it to
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  Speaker 1: my friends with great exactitude, aided by an excellent memory.
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  Speaker 1: His docility still surprised me. Thanks to hasty pencil notes,
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  Speaker 1: he was able to reproduce almost texturally the questions and
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  Speaker 1: answers given. It looked as if Monsieur Darzac was being
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  Speaker 1: employed as a secretary of my young friend, and acted
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  Speaker 1: as if he could refuse him nothing, nay more, as
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  Speaker 1: if under a compulsion to do so. The fact of
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  Speaker 1: the closed window struck the report, as it had struck
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  Speaker 1: the magistrate. Will to be asked Darzac to repeat once
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  Speaker 1: more Mademoiselle Stangerson's account of how she and her father
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  Speaker 1: had spent the day on the time of the tragedy,
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  Speaker 1: and she had stated it to the magistry. The circumstance
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  Speaker 1: of the dinner in the laboratories seemed to interest him
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  Speaker 1: in the highest degree, and he had it repeated to
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  Speaker 1: him three times. He also wanted to be sure that
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  Speaker 1: the forest keeper knew that the professor and his daughter
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  Speaker 1: were going to dine in the laboratory, and how he
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  Speaker 1: had come to know it. When Monsieur Darzac had finished,
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  Speaker 1: I said, the examination has not advanced the problem much.
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  Speaker 1: It has put it back, said Monsieur Darzac. It has
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  Speaker 1: thrown might upon it, said Rule Tubby thoughtfully, end of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight