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The Mystery of the Yellow Room Chapter 19 - Rouletabille Invites Me to Breakfast... · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen 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 audio books or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Reading by lash Rolande The
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  Speaker 1: Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux, chapter nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: Roulettabille invites me to breakfast at the Donjon Inn. It
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  Speaker 1: was not until later that Roulettabille sent me the note
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  Speaker 1: book in which he had written at length the story
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  Speaker 1: of the phenomenon of the Inexplicable Gallery. On the day
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  Speaker 1: I arrived at the Glandier and joined him in his room,
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  Speaker 1: he recounted to me with the greatest detail all that
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  Speaker 1: I have now related, telling me also how he had
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  Speaker 1: spent several hours in Paris, where he had learnt nothing
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  Speaker 1: that could be of any help to him. The event
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  Speaker 1: of the inexplicable Gallery had occurred on the night between
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  Speaker 1: the twenty ninth and thirtieth of October, that is to say,
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  Speaker 1: three days before my return to the chateau. It was
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  Speaker 1: on the second of November, then that I went back
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  Speaker 1: to the Glandier, summoned there by my friend's telegram, and
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  Speaker 1: taking the revolvers with me. I am now Inreletable's room,
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  Speaker 1: and he has finished his recital. While he had been
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  Speaker 1: telling me the story, I noticed him continually rubbing the
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  Speaker 1: glass of the eye glasses he had found on the
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  Speaker 1: side table. From the evident pleasure he was taking in
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  Speaker 1: handling them, I felt they must be one of those
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  Speaker 1: sensible evidences destined to enter what he had called the
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  Speaker 1: circle of the right end of his reason. That's range
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  Speaker 1: and unique way of his to express himself in terms
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  Speaker 1: wonderfully adequate for his thoughts no longer surprised me. It
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  Speaker 1: was often necessary to know his thought to understand the
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  Speaker 1: terms he used, and it was not easy to penetrate
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  Speaker 1: into Roulettabille's thinking. This lad's brain was one of the
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  Speaker 1: most curish things I have ever observed. Roulettabille went on
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  Speaker 1: the even tenor of his way without suspecting the astonishment
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  Speaker 1: and even bewilderment he roused in others. I am sure
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  Speaker 1: he was not himself in the least conscious of the
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  Speaker 1: originality of his genius. He was himself and at ease
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  Speaker 1: wherever he happened to be. When he had finished his recital,
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  Speaker 1: he asked me what I thought of it. I replied
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  Speaker 1: that I was much puzzled by his question. Then he
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  Speaker 1: begged me to try, in my turn, to take my
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  Speaker 1: reason in hand by the right end very well, I said,
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  Speaker 1: it seems to me that the point of departure of
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  Speaker 1: my reason would be this. There can be no doubt
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  Speaker 1: that the murderer you pursued was in the gallery, I paused,
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  Speaker 1: After making so good a start, you ought not to
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  Speaker 1: stop so soon, he exclaimed, Come make another effort. I'll try.
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  Speaker 1: Since he disappeared from the gallery without passing through any
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  Speaker 1: door or window, he must have escaped by some other opening.
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  Speaker 1: Roulettabille looked at me pityingly, smiled carelessly, and remarked that
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  Speaker 1: I was reasoning like a postman, or like Frederic Larsan.
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  Speaker 1: Roulettabille had alternate fits of admiration and disdain for the
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  Speaker 1: great thread. It all depended as to whether Larsan's discoveries
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  Speaker 1: tallied with Roulettabille's reasoning or not. When they did, he
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  Speaker 1: would exclaim he is really great. When they did not,
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  Speaker 1: he would grunt and mutter, what an ass it was
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  Speaker 1: a petticide of the noble character of this strange youth.
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  Speaker 1: We had risen, and he led me into the park.
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  Speaker 1: When we reached the court and were making towards the gate,
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  Speaker 1: the sound of blinds thrown back against the wall made
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  Speaker 1: us turn our heads, and we saw at a window
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  Speaker 1: on the first floor of the chateau the ruddy and
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  Speaker 1: clean shaven face of a person I did not recognize.
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  Speaker 1: Hallo muttered, Roulettaville, Arthur Rance. He lowered his head, quickened
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  Speaker 1: his pace, and I heard him ask himself between his teeth,
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  Speaker 1: was he in the chateau that night? What is he
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  Speaker 1: doing here? We had gone some distance from the chateau
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  Speaker 1: when I asked him who this Arthur Rance was and
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  Speaker 1: how he had come to know him. He referred to
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  Speaker 1: his story of that morning, and I remembered that mister
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  Speaker 1: Arthur w Rance was the American from Philadelphia with whom
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  Speaker 1: he had had so many drinks at the Elyssi reception.
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  Speaker 1: But was he not to have left France almost immediately,
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  Speaker 1: I asked, No doubt. That's why I'm surprised to find
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  Speaker 1: him here still, and not only in France, but above
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  Speaker 1: all at the Glandeer. He did not arrive this morning,
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  Speaker 1: and he did not get here last night. He must
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  Speaker 1: have got here before dinner. Then, why didn't the concierges
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  Speaker 1: tell me? I reminded my friend Apropos the concierges, that
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  Speaker 1: he had not yet told me what had led him
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  Speaker 1: to get them set at Liberty. We were close to
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  Speaker 1: their lodge. Monsieur and Madame Bernier saw us coming and
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  Speaker 1: smiled up their happy faces. They seemed to harbor no
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  Speaker 1: ill feeling because of their detention. My young friend asked
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  Speaker 1: them at what hour mister arthur Rance had arrived. They
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  Speaker 1: answered that they did not know he was at the chateau.
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  Speaker 1: He must have come during the evening of the previous night,
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  Speaker 1: but they had not had to open the gate for him, because,
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  Speaker 1: being a great walker, and not wishing that a carriage
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  Speaker 1: should be sent to meet him, he was accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: get off at the little hamlet of Saint Michel, from
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  Speaker 1: which he came to the chateau. By way of the forest.
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  Speaker 1: He reached the park by the grotto of Saint Genevieve,
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  Speaker 1: over the little gate of which, giving on to the park,
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  Speaker 1: he climbed. As the conciergis spoke, I saw Roulettabille's face
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  Speaker 1: cloud over and exhibit disappointment. A disappointment no doubt with himself.
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  Speaker 1: Evidently he was little vexed after having worked so much
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  Speaker 1: on the spot, with so minute a study of the
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  Speaker 1: people and events at the Glandier, that he had to
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  Speaker 1: learn now that arthur Rance was accustomed to visit the chateau.
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  Speaker 1: You say that Monsieur arthur Rance is accustomed to come
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  Speaker 1: to the chateau. When did he come here last? We
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  Speaker 1: can't tell you exactly, replied Madame Beagnier. That was the
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  Speaker 1: name of the concierge. We couldn't know while they were
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  Speaker 1: keeping us in prison. Besides, as the gentleman comes to
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  Speaker 1: the chateau without passing through our gate, he goes away
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  Speaker 1: by the way he comes. Do you know when he
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  Speaker 1: came the first time? Oh, yes, monsieur, nine years ago.
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  Speaker 1: He was in France, nine years ago, then said Roulettabille.
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  Speaker 1: And since that time, as far as you know, how
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  Speaker 1: many times has he been at the Glandier? Three times?
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  Speaker 1: When did he come the last time? As far as
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  Speaker 1: you know. A week before the attempt in the Yellow Room,
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  Speaker 1: Roulettabille put another question, this time addressing himself particularly to
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  Speaker 1: the woman in the grow of the parquet, in the
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  Speaker 1: groove of the parquet, replied, thanks, said Roulettabille, be ready
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  Speaker 1: for me this evening. He spoke the last words with
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  Speaker 1: a finger on his lips, as if to command silence
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  Speaker 1: and discretion. We left the park and took the way
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  Speaker 1: to the Donjon Inn. Do you often eet here sometimes?
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  Speaker 1: But you also take your meats at the chateau? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: Larsan and I are sometimes served in one of our rooms.
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  Speaker 1: Hasn't Monsieur Stangerson ever invited you to his own table? Never?
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  Speaker 1: Does your presence at the chateau displease him? I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: But in any case, he does not make us feel
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  Speaker 1: that we are in his way. Doesn't he question you? Never?
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  Speaker 1: He is in the same state of mind as he
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  Speaker 1: was in at the door of the Yellow Room when
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  Speaker 1: his daughter was being murdered, and when he broke open
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  Speaker 1: the door and did not find the murderer. He is persuaded,
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  Speaker 1: since he could discover nothing, that there's no reason why
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  Speaker 1: we should be able to discover more than he did.
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  Speaker 1: But he has made it his duty, since Larsan expressed
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  Speaker 1: his theory, not to oppose us. Rouletabille buried himself in
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  Speaker 1: thought again for some time. He roused himself later to
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  Speaker 1: tell me of how he came to set the two
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  Speaker 1: concierges free. I went recently to see Monsieur Stangerson and
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  Speaker 1: took with me a piece of paper on which was written,
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  Speaker 1: I promise, whatever others may say, to keep in my
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  Speaker 1: service my two faithful servants, Pernyee and his wife. I
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  Speaker 1: explained to him that by signing that document he would
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  Speaker 1: enable me to compel those two people to speak out,
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  Speaker 1: and I declared my own assurance of their innocence of
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  Speaker 1: any part in the crime. That was also his opinion.
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  Speaker 1: The examining magistrate, after it was signed, presented the document
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  Speaker 1: to the beniers, who then did speak. They said what
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  Speaker 1: I was certain they would say, as soon as they
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  Speaker 1: were sure they would not lose their place. They confessed
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  Speaker 1: to poaching on Monsieur Stangerson's estates. And it was while
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  Speaker 1: they were poaching on the night of the crime that
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  Speaker 1: they were found not far from the pavilion at the
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  Speaker 1: moment when the outrage was being committed. Some rabbits they
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  Speaker 1: caught in that way were sold by them to the
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  Speaker 1: landlord of the donjon Inn, who served them to his
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  Speaker 1: customers or sent them to Paris. That was the true truth,
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  Speaker 1: as I had guessed from the first Do you remember
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  Speaker 1: what I said on entering the donjon In, we shall
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  Speaker 1: have to eat red meat. Now I had heard the
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  Speaker 1: words on the morning when we arrived at the park gate.
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  Speaker 1: You heard them also, but you did not attach any
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  Speaker 1: importance to them. You recollect when we reached the park
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  Speaker 1: gate that we stopped to look at a man who
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  Speaker 1: was running by the side of the wall, looking every
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  Speaker 1: minute at his watch. That was Lasan well behind us.
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  Speaker 1: The landlord of the donjon In, standing on his doorstep,
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  Speaker 1: said to some one inside, we shall have to eat
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  Speaker 1: red meat. Now why that? Now? When you are, as
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  Speaker 1: I am, in search of some hidden secret, you can't
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  Speaker 1: afford to have anything escape you. You've got to know
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  Speaker 1: the meaning of everything. We had come into a rather
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  Speaker 1: out of the way part of the country which had
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  Speaker 1: been turned topsy turvy by the crime, and my reason
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  Speaker 1: led me to suspect every phrase that could bear upon
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  Speaker 1: the event of the day. Now I took to mean
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  Speaker 1: since the outrage. In the course of my inquiry, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: I sought to find a relation between that phrase and
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  Speaker 1: the tragedy. We went to the Don John Inn for breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: I repeated the phrase and saw by the surprise and
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  Speaker 1: trouble on Dadimathieu's face that I had not exaggerated its
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  Speaker 1: importance so far as he was concerned. I had just
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  Speaker 1: learned that the concierges had been arrested. Dadimathieu spoke of
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  Speaker 1: them as of dear friends, people for whom one is sorry.
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  Speaker 1: That was a reckless conjunction of ideas. I said to myself,
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  Speaker 1: now that the concierges are arrested, we shall have to
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  Speaker 1: eat red meat. No more concierges, no more game. The
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  Speaker 1: hatred expressed by Dadimathieu for Monsieur Stangerson's forest keeper, a
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  Speaker 1: hatred he pretended was shared by the concierges, led me
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  Speaker 1: easily to think of poaching. Now, as all the evidence
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  Speaker 1: showed the concierges had not been in the bed at
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  Speaker 1: the time of the tragedy, why were they abroad that
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  Speaker 1: night as participants in the crime? I was not disposed
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  Speaker 1: to think so. I had already arrived at the conclusion,
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  Speaker 1: by steps of which I will tell you later, that
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  Speaker 1: the assassin had had no accomplice, and that the tragedy
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  Speaker 1: held the mystery between Mademoiselle Stangerson and the murderer a
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  Speaker 1: mystery with which the concierges had nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: that theory in my mind. I searched for proof in
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  Speaker 1: their lodge, which, as suit know I entered. I found
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  Speaker 1: there under their bed some springs and brass wire. Ah.
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  Speaker 1: I thought these things explain why they were out in
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  Speaker 1: the park at night. I was not surprised at the
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  Speaker 1: dogged silence they maintained before the examining magistrate, even under
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  Speaker 1: the accusation so grave as that of being accomplices in
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  Speaker 1: the crime poaching would save them from the size court,
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  Speaker 1: but it would lose them their places. And as they
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  Speaker 1: were perfectly sure of their innocence of the crime, they
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  Speaker 1: hoped it would soon be established, and then their poaching
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  Speaker 1: might go on as usual. They could always confess later. I, however,
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  Speaker 1: hastened their confession by means of the document Monsieur Stangerson's sign.
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  Speaker 1: They gave all the necessary proofs, were set at liberty,
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  Speaker 1: and have now a lively gratitude for me. Why did
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  Speaker 1: I not get them released sooner? A course, I was
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  Speaker 1: not sure that nothing more than poaching was against them.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to study the ground. As the days went by,
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  Speaker 1: my conviction became more and more certain the day after
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  Speaker 1: the events of the Inexplicable Gallery, I had need of
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  Speaker 1: help I could rely on, so I resolved to have
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  Speaker 1: them released at once. That was how Joseph Roulettaville explained himself.
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  Speaker 1: Once more, I could not but be astonished at the
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  Speaker 1: simplicity of the reasoning which had brought him to the
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  Speaker 1: truth of the matter. Certainly this was no big thing.
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  Speaker 1: But I think myself that the young man will one
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  Speaker 1: of these days explain Sagin with the same simplicity the
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  Speaker 1: fearful tragedy in the Dallow Room, as well as the
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  Speaker 1: phenomenon of the inexplicable Gallery. We reached the donjon Inn
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  Speaker 1: and entered it. This time we did not see the landlord,
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  Speaker 1: but were received with a pleasant smile by the hostess.
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  Speaker 1: I have already described the room in which we found ourselves,
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  Speaker 1: and I have given a glimpse of the charming blonde
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  Speaker 1: woman with the gentle eyes, who now immediately began to
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  Speaker 1: prepare our breakfast. How Stadimathieu asked Rolettaviille, not much better?
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  Speaker 1: Not much better? He is still confined to his bed,
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  Speaker 1: his rheumatism still sticks to him. Then, yes, last night
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  Speaker 1: I was again obliged to give him morphine, the only
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  Speaker 1: drug that gives him any relief. She spoke in a
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  Speaker 1: soft voice. Everything about her expressed gentleness. She was indeed
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful woman, somewhat with an air of indolence, with
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  Speaker 1: great eyes, seemingly black and blue amorous eyes. Was she
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  Speaker 1: happy with her crabbed rheumatic husband. The scene at which
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  Speaker 1: we had once been present did not lead us to
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  Speaker 1: believe that she was. Yet there was something in her
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  Speaker 1: bearing that was not suggestive of despair. She disappeared into
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  Speaker 1: the kitchen to prepare our repast, leaving on the table
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  Speaker 1: a bottle of excellent cider. Roulettabille filled our earthenware. Jemugs
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  Speaker 1: loaded his pipe and quietly explained to me his reason
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  Speaker 1: for asking me to come to the Glandeer with revolvers. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he said, contemplatively, looking at the clouds of smoke he
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  Speaker 1: was puffing out. Yes, my dear boy, I expect the
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  Speaker 1: assassin to night. A brief silence followed, which I took
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  Speaker 1: care not to interrupt, and then he went on. Last night,
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  Speaker 1: just as I was going to bed, Monsieur Robert Darzac
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  Speaker 1: not at my room. When he came in, he confided
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  Speaker 1: to me that he was compelled to go to Paris
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  Speaker 1: the next day, that is this morning. The reason which
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  Speaker 1: made this journey necessary was at once peremptory and mysterious.
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  Speaker 1: It was not possible for him to explain its object
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  Speaker 1: to me. I go, And yet he added, I would
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  Speaker 1: give my life not to leave Mademoiselle Stangerson. At this moment.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: He did not try to hide that he believed her
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  Speaker 1: to be once more in danger. It will not greatly
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  Speaker 1: astonish me if something happens tomorrow night, he avowed. And
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  Speaker 1: yet I must be absent. I cannot be back at
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  Speaker 1: the Glandeer before the morning of the day after to morrow.
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  Speaker 1: I asked him to explain himself, and this is all
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  Speaker 1: he would tell me. His anticipation of coming danger had
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  Speaker 1: come to him solely from the coincidence that Mademoiselle Stangerson
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: had been twice attacked, and both times when he had
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: been absent. On the night of the incident of the
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  Speaker 1: Inexplicable Gallery, he had been obliged to be away from
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: the Glandeer on the night of the tragedy in the
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  Speaker 1: Jelly Room. He had also not been able to be
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: at the Glandeer, though this was the first time he
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: had declared himself on the matter. Now, a man so
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: mood who would still go away must be acting under compulsion,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: must be obeying a will stronger than his own. That
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  Speaker 1: was how I reasoned, and I told him so, he replied. Perhaps.
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  Speaker 1: I asked him if Mademoiselle Stangerson was compelling him. He
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: protested that she was not. His determination to go to
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Paris had been taken without any conference with Mademoiselle Stangerson.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: To cut the story short, he repeated that his belief
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  Speaker 1: in the possibility of a fresh attack was founded entirely
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: on the extraordinary coincidence. If anything happens to Mademoiselle Stangerson,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: he said, it would be terrible for both of us,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: for her because her life would be in danger, for
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: me because I could neither defend her from the attack
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  Speaker 1: nor tell where I had been. I am perfectly aware
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  Speaker 1: of the suspicions cast on me. The examining magistrate and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Monsieur Larsan are both on the point of believing in
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  Speaker 1: my guilt. Larsan tracked me the last time I went
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  Speaker 1: to Paris, and I had all the trouble in the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: world to get rid of him. Why do you not
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  Speaker 1: tell me the name of the murderer, now, if you
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  Speaker 1: know it, I cried. Monsieur Darzac appeared extremely troubled by
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  Speaker 1: my question and replied to me in a hesitating tone,
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  Speaker 1: I I know the name of the murderer. Why how
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  Speaker 1: could I know his name? I at once replied, from
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson. He grew so pale that I thought he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: was about a faint, and I saw that I had
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: hit the nail right on the head Mademoiselle, and he
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  Speaker 1: knew the name of the murderer. When he recovered himself,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: he said to me, I am going to leave you.
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  Speaker 1: Since you have been here, I have appreciated your exceptional
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: intelligence and your unequaled ingenuity. But I ask this service
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  Speaker 1: of you. Perhaps I am wrong to fear an attack
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  Speaker 1: during the coming night, but as I must act with foresight,
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  Speaker 1: I count on you to frustrate any attempt that may
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  Speaker 1: be made. Take every step needful to protect Mademoiselle Stangerson,
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  Speaker 1: Keep a most careful watch of a room. Don't go
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  Speaker 1: to sleep, nor allow yourself one moment of repose. The
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  Speaker 1: man we dread is remarkably cunning, with the cunning that
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: has never been equalled if you keep watch, his very
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: cunning may save her. Because it's impossible that he should
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  Speaker 1: not know that you are watching and knowing it, he
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  Speaker 1: may not venture. Have you spoken of all this to
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Stangerson, No, I do not wish him to ask me,
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  Speaker 1: as you just now did, for the name of the murderer.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you all this, Monsieur Roulettabille, because I have great,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: very great confidence in you. I know that you do
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: not suspect me. The poor man spoke in jerks. He
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: was evidently suffering. I pitied him the more because I
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: felt sure that he would rather allow himself to be
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: killed than tell me who the murderer was. As for
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson, I felt that she would rather allow herself
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to be murdered than to denounce the man of the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: yellow room and of the inexplicable gallery. The man must
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: be dominating her or both by some inscrutable power. They
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: were dreading nothing so much as the chance of Monsieur
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Stangerson knowing that his daughter was held by her assailant.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I made Monsieur Darzac understand that he had explained himself sufficiently,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and that he might refrain from telling me any more
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: more than he had already told me. I promised him
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to watch through the night. He insisted that I should
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: establish an absolutely impossible barrier around Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber, around
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the boudoir where the nurses were sleeping, and around the
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: drawing room, where, since the affair of the inexplicable gallery,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Monsieur Stangerson had slept. In short, I was to put
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a cordon round the whole apartment. From his insistence, I
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: gathered that Monsieur Darzac intended not only to make it
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: impossible for the expected man to reach the chamber of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle Stangerson, but to make that impossibility so visibly clear that,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: seeing self expected, he would at once go away. That
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: was how I interpreted his final words. When we parted,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: You may mention your suspicion of the expected attack to
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Monsieur Stangerson, to Daddy Jacques, to Frederic Larsan, and to
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: anybody in the chateau. The poor fellow left me hardly
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: knowing what he was saying. My silence and my eyes
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: told him that I had guessed a large part of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: his secret, and indeed he must have been at his
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: wits end to have come to me at such a time,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and to abandon Mademoiselle Stangerson in spite of his fixed
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: idea as to the consequence. When he was gone, I
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: began to think that I should have to use even
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a greater cunning than his, so that if the man
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: should come that night, he might not for a moment's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: suspect that his coming had been expected. Certainly I would
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: allow him to get in far enough so that dead
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: or alive I might see his face. Clearly. He must
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: be got rid of Mademoiselle Stangerson, must be freed from
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: this continual impending danger. Yes, my boy, said Roulettabille, after
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: placing his pipe on the table and emptying his mug ofsider.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I must seize face distinctly, so as to make sure
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to impress it on that part of my brain where
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I have drawn my circle of reasoning. The landlady reappeared
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: at that moment, bringing in the traditional bacon omelet. Roulettabille
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: chaffed her a little, and she took the chaff with
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the most charming good humor. She is much jollier when
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Daddimathieu is in bed with his rheumatism, Roulettabille said to me.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: But I had eyes neither for Roulettabille nor for the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: landlady's smiles. I was entirely absorbed of the last words
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of my young friend, and in thinking over Monsieur Robert
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Darsac's strange behavior. When he had finished his omelet and
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: we were again alone, Rouletabille continued the tale of his confidences.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: When I sent you my telegram this morning, he said,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I had only the word of Monsieur Darzac that perhaps
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the assassin would come to night. I can now say
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: that he will certainly come. I expect him. What has
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: made you feel this certainty? I have been sure since
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: half past ten o'clock this morning that he would come.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I know that before we saw Arthur Rance at the
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: window in the court. Ah, I said, but again, what
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: made you so sure? And why since half past ten
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: this morning? Because at half past ten I had prooved
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: that Mademoiselle Stangerson was making as many efforts to permit
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of the murderer's entrance as Monsieur Robert Arsac had been
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: taken precautions against. It is that possible, I cried, haven't
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: you told me that Mademoiselle Stangerson loves Monsieur Robert Arsac.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I told you so, because it is the truth. Then
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: do you see nothing strange? Everything in this business is strange,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: my friend. But take my word for it. The strangeness
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: you now feel is nothing to the strangeness that's to come.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: It must be admitted. Then, I said that Mademoiselle Stangerson
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and her murder are in communication at any rate in writing.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Admit it, my friend, admit it. You don't risk anything.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I told you about the letter left on her table
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: on the night of the inexplicable gallery affair. The letter
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: that disappeared into the pocket of Mademoiselle Stangerson. Why should
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: it not have been a sums to a meeting? Might
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: he not, as soon as he was sure of Darzac's absence,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: appoint the meeting for the coming night. And my friend
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: laughed silently. There are moments when I asked myself, Eyve
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: is not laughing at me. The door of the inn opened.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Rouletabille was on his feet so suddenly that one might
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: have thought he had received an electric shock. Mister arthur Rance,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: he cried. Mister arthur Rance stood before us, calmly bowing
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: end of chapter nineteen, read by Lash Rolander,