to one of the windows watching the road there was no need for me to draw wuta b's attention he had already left our omelet and had joined the landlord at the window i went with him a man dressed entirely in green velvet his head covered with a huntsman's cap of the same color was advancing leisurely lighting a pipe as he walked he carried a fouling piece slung at his back his movements displayed an almost aristocratic ease he wore eyeglasses and appeared to be about five and forty years of age his hair as well as his mustache were salt gray he was remarkably handsome as he passed near the inn he hesitated as if asking himself whether or no he should enter it gave a glance towards us took a few whiffs at his pipe and then resumed his walk at the same nonchalant pace wuta b and i looked at our host his flashing eyes his clenched hands his trembling lips told us of the tumultuous feelings by which he was being agitated he has done well not to come in here today he hissed who is that man asked wuta b returning to his omelet the green man growled the innkeeper don't you know him then all the better for you he's not an acquaintance to make well he's michael estrange since forest keeper you don't like him very much asked the reporter pouring his omelet into the frying pan nobody likes him sure he's an upstart who must once have had a fortune of his own and he forgives nobody because in order to live he has been compelled to become a servant a keeper is as much a servant as any other isn't he upon my word one would say that he is the master of the glondier and that all the land and woods belong to him he'll not let a poor creature eat a morsel of bread on the grass his grass does he often come here too often but i've made him understand that his face doesn't please me and for a month past he hasn't been here the donjon in has never existed for him he hasn't had time been too much engaged in paying court to the landlady of the three lilies at song michelle a bad fellow there isn't an honest man who can bear him why the concierges of the chateau would turn their eyes away from a picture of him the concierges of the chateau are honest people then yes they are as true as my name's matthew mature i believe them to be honest yet they've been arrested what does that prove but i don't want to mix myself up in other people's affairs and what do you think of the murder of the murder of poor mad ones elston jason a good girl much loved everywhere in the country that's what i think of it many things besides but that's nobody's business not even mine insisted ruta b the innkeeper looked at him sideways and said gruffly not even yours the omelette ready we sat down a table and were silently eating when the door was pushed open and an old woman dressed in rags leaning on a stick her head dottering her white hair hanging loosely over her wrinkled forehead appeared on the threshold uh there you are mother anjanu it's long since we saw you last said our host i have been ill very ill very nearly dying said the old woman if ever you should have any scraps with a bet to bond you and she entered followed by a cat larger than any i had ever believed could exist the beast looked at us and gave so hopeless a meow that i shuddered i had never heard so lugubrious a cry as if drawn by the cat's cry a man followed the old woman in it was the green man he saluted by raising his hand to his cap and seated himself at a table near to ours a glass of cider daddy matthew he said as the green man entered daddy matthew had started violently but visibly mastering himself he said i've no more cider i serve the last bottles to these gentlemen then give me a glass of white wine said the green man without showing the least surprise i've no more white wine no more anything said daddy matthew surly how is madame matthew quite well thank you so the young woman with the large tender eyes whom we had just seen was the wife of this repugnant and brutal rustic whose jealousy seemed to emphasize his physical ugliness slamming the door behind him the innkeeper left the room mother anjanu was still standing leaning on her stick the cat at her feet you've been ill mother anjanu is that why we have not seen you for the last week asked the green man yes michel keeper i have been able to get up but three times to go to pray to san jam vieve our good patroness and the rest of the time i have been lying on my bed there was no one to care for me but the bed depended you did she not leave you neither by day nor by night are you sure of that as i am of paradise then how was it madame anjanu that all through the night of the murder nothing but the cry of the bed debond you was heard mother anjanu planted herself in front of the forest keeper and struck the floor with her stick i don't know anything about it she said but shall i tell you something there are no two cats in the world that cry like that well on the night of the murder i also heard the cry of the bed debond you outside and yet she was on my knees and did not mew once i swear i crossed myself when i heard that as if i had heard the devil i looked at the keeper when he put the last question and i am much mistaken if i did not detect an evil smile on his lips at that moment the noise of loud quarreling reached us we even thought we heard a dull sound of blows as if someone was being beaten the green man quickly rose and hurried to the door by the side of the fireplace but it was opened by the landlord who appeared and said to the keeper don't alarm yourself mature it is my wife she has the toothache and he laughed hey mother anjanu here are some scraps for your cat he held out a packet to the old woman who took it eagerly and went out by the door closely followed by her cat then you won't serve me ask the green man daddy matthew's face was placid and no longer retained its expression of hatred i have nothing for you nothing for you take yourself off the green man quietly refilled his pipe lit it bowed to us and went out no sooner was he over the threshold than daddy matthew slammed the door after him and turning towards us with eyes bloodshot and frothing at the mouth he hissed to us shaking his clenched fist at the door you just shot on the man he evidently hated i don't know who you are who tell me we shall have to eat red meat now but if it will interest you to know it that man is the murderer with which words daddy matthew immediately left us ruta b returned towards the fireplace and said now we'll grill our steak how do you like the cider it's a little tart but i like it we saw no more of daddy matthew that day and absolute silence reigned in the inn when we left it after placing five francs on the table in payment for our feast ruta b had once set off on a three mile walk round professor stonderson's estate he halted for some 10 minutes at the corner of a narrow road black with soot near to some charcoal burners huts in the forest of song j'enviève which touches on the road from epony to corbet to tell me that the murderer had certainly passed that way before entering the grounds and concealing himself in the little clump of trees you don't think then that the keeper knows anything of it i asked we shall see that later he replied for the present i'm not interested in what the landlord said about the man the landlord hates him i didn't take you to breakfast at the don john in for the sake of the green man then ruta b with great precaution glided followed by me towards the little building which standing near the park gate served for the home of the concierges who had been arrested that morning with the skill of an acrobat he got into the lodge by an upper window which had been left open and returned 10 minutes later he said only ah a word which in his mouth signified many things we were about to take the road leading to the chateau when a considerable stir at the park gate attracted our attention a carriage had arrived and some people had come out from the chateau to meet it ruta b pointed out to me a gentleman who descended from it that's the chief of the suité he said now we shall see what frederick lawson has up his sleeve and whether he is so much cleverer than anybody else the carriage of the chief of the suité was followed by three other vehicles containing reporters who are also desirous of entering the park but two gendarm stationed at the gate had evidently received orders to refuse admission to anybody the chief of the suité calmed their impatience by undertaking to furnish to the press that evening all the information he could give that would not interfere with the judicial inquiry end of chapter 10 recording by glories oblique floral park new york chapter 11 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libruvox recording all libruvox recordings on the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libruvox.org recording by jc guan the mystery of the yellow room by guest on the road chapter 11 in which frederick lawson explained how the murderer was able to get out of the yellow room among the mass of papers legal documents memoirs and extracts from newspapers which i have collected relating to the mystery of the yellow room there is one very interesting piece it is a detail of the famous examination which took place that afternoon in the laboratory of professor stangerson before the chief of the suité this narrative is from the pen of monsieur malin the registrar who like the examining magistrate had spent some of his leisure time in the pursuit of literature the piece was to have made part of a book which however has never been published and which was to have been entitled my examinations it was given to me by the registrar himself sometime after the astonishing denouement to this case and is unique in judicial chronicles here it is it is not a mere dry transcription of questions and answers because the register often intersperses his story with his own personal comments the registrar's narrative the examining magistrate and i the writer relates found ourselves in the yellow room in the company of the builder who had constructed the pavilion after professor stangerson's designs he had a walkman with him monsieur de marquet had had the walls laid entirely bare that is to say he had had them stripped of the paper which had decorated them blows with a pick here and there satisfied us of the absence of any sort of opening the floor and the ceiling were thoroughly sounded we found nothing there was nothing to be found monsieur de marquet appeared to be delighted and never ceased repeating what a case what a case we shall never know you'll see how the madra was able to get out of this room then suddenly with a radiant face he called to the officer in charge of the gendarme go to the château he said and request mr. stangerson and mr. robert d'arzak to come to me in the laboratory also daddy jack and let your men bring here the two concierge five minutes later all were assembled in the laboratory the chief of the sorté who had arrived at the glandier joined us that's moment i was seated at mr. stangerson's desk ready for work when monsieur de marquet made us the following little speech as original as it was unexpected with your permission gentlemen as the examinations lead to nothing we will for once abandon the old system of interrogation i will not have you brought before me one by one but we will all remain here as we are mr. stangerson mr robert d'arzak daddy jack and the two concierge the chief of the sorté the register and myself we shall all be on the same footing the concierge may for the moment forget that they have been arrested we are going to confer together we are on the spot where the crime was committed we have nothing else to discuss but the crime so let us discuss it freely intelligently or otherwise so long as we speak just what is in our minds there need be no formality or method since this won't help us in any way then passing before me he said in a low voice what you think of that eh what a scene could you have thought of that i'll make a little piece out of it for the voodville and he wrapped his hands with gully i turned my eyes on mr. stangerson the hope he had received from the doctor's latest report which stated that one was a stangerson might recover from her wounds had not been able to efface from his noble features the marks of the great sorrow that was upon him he had believed his daughter to be dead and he was still broken by that belief his clear soft blue eyes expressed infinite sorrow i had had occasion many times to see mr. stangerson at public ceremonies and from the first had been struck by his continent which seemed as pure as that of a child the dreamy gaze with the sublime and mystical expression of the inventor and thinker on those occasions his daughter was always to be seen either following him or by his side for they never quit at each other it was said and had shared the same labors for many years the young lady who was then five and thirty though she looked no more than thirty had devoted herself entirely to science she still won admiration from her imperial beauty which had remained intact without a wrinkle with standing time and love who would have dreamed that i should one day be seated by her pillow with my papers and that i should see her on the point of death painfully recounting to us the most monstrous and most mysterious crime i have heard of in my career who would have thought that i should be that afternoon listening to the despairing father vainly trying to explain how his daughter's assailant had been able to escape from him why bury ourselves with our work in obscure retreats in the depths of woods if it may not protect us against those dangerous threats to life which meet us in the busy cities now mr. Stangerson said mr. de marquet with somewhat of an important air place yourself exactly where you were when man was as dangerous and left you to go to her chamber mr. Stangerson rose and standing at a certain distance from the door of the yellow room said in an even voice and without the least trace of emphasis a voice which i can only describe as a dead voice i was here about eleven o'clock after i had made a brief chemical experiment at the furnaces of the laboratory needing all the space behind me i had my desk moved here by daddy jack who spent the evening in cleaning some of my apparatus my daughter had been working at the same desk with me when it was her time to leave she rose kiss me and pay daddy jack goodnight she had to pass behind my desk and the door to enter her chamber and she could do this only with some difficulty that is to say i was very near the place where the crime occurred later and the desk i asked the being and that's mixing myself in the conversation the express orders of my chief as soon as you heard the cry of murder followed by the revolver shots what became of the desk daddy jack answered we pushed it back against the wall here close to where it is at the present moment so as to be able to get at the door at once i followed up my reasoning to which however i attached but little importance regarding it as only a weak hypothesis with another question might not see man in the room the desk being so near to the door by stooping and sleeping under the desk have left it unobserved you are forgetting interrupt at mr. Stangers and Wirily that my daughter had locked and bolted her door that the door had remained fastened that we vainly tried to force it open when we heard the noise and that we were at the door while the struggle between the murderer and my poor child was going on immediately after we heard her stifled cries as she was being held by the fingers that have left their red mark upon her throat rapid as the attack was we were no less rapid in our endeavors to get into the room where the tragedy was taking place i rose from my seat and once more examined the door with the greatest care then i returned to my place with a despairing gesture if the lower panel of the door i said could be removed without the whole door being necessarily opened the problem would be solved but unfortunately that last hypothesis is untenable after an examination of the door it's of oak solid and massive you can see that quite plainly in spite of the injury done in the attempt to burst it open ah cried daddy jack it is an old and solid door that was brought from the chateau they don't make such doors now we had to use this bar of iron to get it open all four of us for the concierge brave woman she is helped us it pains me to find them both in prison now daddy jack had no sooner uttered these words of pity and protestation than tears and lamentations broke out from the concierge i never saw two accused people crying more bitterly i was extremely disgusted even if they were innocent i could not understand how they could behave like that in the face of misfortune a dignified bearing at such times is better than tears and groans which most often are feigned now then enough of that snivelling cried monsieur de marquet and in your interest tell us what you were doing under the windows of the pavilion at the time your mistress was being attacked for you were close to the pavilion when daddy jack met you we were coming to help be wind if we could only lay hands on the madra he'd never taste bread again the woman gurgled between her swabs as before we were unable to get two connecting thoughts out of them they persisted in their denials and swore by heaven and all the saints that they were in bed when they heard the sound of the revolver shot it was not one but two shots that were fired you see you're lying if you had heard one you would have heard the other mon dieu monsieur it was the second shot we heard we were asleep when the first shot was fired two shots were fired said daddy jack i am certain that all the cartridges were in my revolver we found afterward that two had been exploded and we had two shots behind the door was not that so missus dangerous son yes replied the professor there were two shots one doll and the other sharp and ringing why do you persist in lying cried monsieur de marquet turning to the concierge do you think the police are the fools you are everything points to the fact that you were out of doors and near the pavilion at the time of the tragedy what were you doing there so far as i am concerned he said turning to missus dangerous son i can only explain the escape of the murderer on the assumption of help from these two accomplices as soon as the door was forced open and while you missus dangerous son were occupied with your unfortunate child the concierge and his wife facilitated the flight of the murderer who screening himself behind them reached the window in the vestibule and sprang out of it into the park the concierge closed the window after him and fastened the blinds which certainly could not have closed and fastened of themselves that is the conclusion i have arrived at if anyone here has any other idea let him state it missus dangerous son intervened what you say was impossible i do not believe either in the guilt or in the connivance of my concierge though i cannot understand what they were doing in the park at that late hour of the night i say it was impossible because madame bernier held the lamp and did not move from the threshold of the room because i as soon as the door was forced open threw myself on my knees beside my daughter and no one could have left or entered the room by the door without passing over her body and forcing his way by me daddy jack and the concierge had but to cast a glance round the chamber and under the bed as i had done on entering to say that there was nobody in it but my daughter lying on the floor what do you think mr. derzak asked the magistrate mr. derzak replied that he had no opinion to express mr. derzak the chief of the surty who so far had been listening and examining the room at lunch then to open his lips while search is being made for the criminal we had better try to find out the motive of the crime that will advance us a little he said turning towards mr. stangerson he continued in the even intelligent tone indicative of a strong character i understand that mademoiselle was shortly to have been married the professor looked sadly at mr. rober derzak to my friend here whom i should have been happy to call my son to mr. rober derzak mademoiselle stangerson is much better and is rapidly recovering from her wounds the marriage is simply delayed is it not monsieur insisted the chief of the surty i hope so what is there any doubt about that mr. stangerson did not answer mr. rober derzak seemed agitated i saw that his hands trembled as it fingered his watch chain mr. dex coughed as did mr. demarque both were evidently embarrassed you understand mr. stangerson he said that in an affair so perplexing as this we cannot neglect anything we must know all even the smallest and seemingly most futile thing concerning the victim information apparently the most insignificant why do you doubt that this marriage will take place you express their hope but the hope implies a doubt why do you doubt mr. stangerson made a visible effort to recover himself yes monsieur he said atlanta you are right it will be best that you should know something which if i concealed it might appear to be of importance mr. derzak agrees with me in this mr. derzak whose pallor at that moment seemed to me to be altogether abnormal made a sign of a scent i gathered he was unable to speak i want you to know then continued mr. stangerson that my daughter has sworn never to leave me and that he is firmly to her oath in spite of all my prayers and all that i have argued to induce her to marry we have known mr. rober derzak many years he loves my child and i believed that she loved him because she only recently consented to this marriage which i desire with all my heart i am an old man monsieur and it was a happy hour to me when i knew that after i had gone she would have at her side one who loved her and who would help her in continuing our common labors i love and esteem mr. derzak both for his greatness of heart and for his devotion to science but two days before the tragedy or i know not what reason my daughter declared to me that she would never marry mr. derzak a dead silence furloughed mr. stangerson's words it was a moment fraught with suspense did mademoiselle give you any explanation did she tell you what her motive was asked mr. derzak she told me she was too old to marry that she had waited too long she said she had given much thought to the matter and while she had a great esteem even affection for mr. derzak she felt it would be better if things remained as they were she would be happy she said to see the relations between ourselves and mr. derzak become closer but only on the understanding that there will be no more talk of marriage that is very strange mattered mr. derzak strange repeated mr. demarqué you'll certainly not find the motive there mr. derzak mr. stangerson said would he call smile in any case the motive was not theft said the chief impatiently oh we are quite convinced of that quite the examining magistrate at that moment the door of the laboratory opened and the officer in charge of the gendarme entered and handed the card to the examining magistrate mr. demarqué read it and uttered a half angry exclamation this is really too much he cried what is it as the chief it is a card of a young reporter engaged on the epoch a mr. joseph roultaby it has these words written on it one of the motives of the crime was robbery the chief smiled ah young roultaby i've heard of him he is considered red clever let him come in mr. joseph roultaby was allowed to enter i had made his acquaintance in the train that morning on the way to épiner sur orge he had introduced himself almost against my wish into our compartment i had better say at once that his manners and the arrogance who is which he assumed to know what was incomprehensible even to us impressed him unfavorably on my mind i do not like journalists there are a class of writers to be avoided as the pests they think that everything is permissible and they respect nothing grant them the least favor allow them even to approach you and you never can tell what annoyance they might give you this one appears to be scarcely 20 years old and the effrontery with which he dealt to question us and discuss the matter with us made him particularly obnoxious to me besides he had a way of expressing himself that left us guessing as to whether he was mocking us or not i know quite well that the epoch is an influential paper with which it is well to be on good terms but the paper ought not to allow itself to be represented by sneaking reporters mr. joseph roultaby entered the laboratory bowed to us and waited for monsieur de marquet to ask him to explain his presence you pretend monsieur that you know the motive of the crime and that's that motive in the face of all the evidence that has been forthcoming was robbery no monsieur i do not pretend that i do not say that robbery was the motive for the crime and i don't believe it was then what is the meaning of this card it means that robbery was one of the motives for the crime what leads you to think that if you will be good enough to accompany me i will show you the young man asked us to follow him into the vestibule and we did he led us towards the laboratory and begged monsieur de marquet to kneel beside him this laboratory is lit by the glass door and when the door was open the light which penetrated was sufficient to lit it perfectly monsieur de marquet and mr. joseph roultaby knelt down on the threshold and the young man pointed to a spot on the pavement the stones of the laboratory have not been washed by daddy jack for some time he said that can be seen by the layer of dust that covers them now notice here the marks of two large footprints and the black ash they left where they have been that ash is nothing else than the charcoal dust that covers the path along which you must pass through the forest in order to get directly from epine to the glandier you know there is a little village of charcoal burners at that place who make large quantities of charcoal what the murderer did was to come here at midday when there was nobody at the pavilion and attempt his robbery but what robbery where do you see any signs of robbery what proves to you that robbery has been committed we all cried at once what put me on the trace of it continued the journalist was this interrupted monsieur de marquet still on his knees evidently said roultaby and monsieur de marquet explained that there were on the dust of the pavement marks of two footsteps as well as the impression freshly made of a heavy rectangular parcel the marks of the cord with which it had been fastened being easily distinguished you have been here then mr. roultaby i thought i had given orders to daddy jack who was left in charge of the pavilion not to allow anybody to enter don't scourge daddy jack i came here with monsieur robert d'arzak ah indeed exclaimed the monsieur de marquet disagreeably casting a sidelands at monsieur d'arzak who remained perfectly silent when i saw the mark of the parcel by the side of the footprint i had no doubt as to the robbery replied monsieur roultaby the thief had not brought a parcel with him he had made one here a parcel with the stolen objects no doubt and he put it in this corner intending to take it away when the moment came for him to make his escape he had also placed his heavy boots beside the parcel for see there are no marks of steps leading to the marks left by the boot which replaced side by side that accounts for the fact that the murderer left no trace of his steps when he fled from the yellow room nor any in the laboratory nor in the vestibule after entering the yellow room in his boots he took them off finding them troublesome or because he wished to make as little noise as possible the marks made by him in going through the vestibule and the laboratory were subsequently washed out by daddy jack having for some reason or other taking off his boot the murderer carried them in his hand and placed them by the side of the parcel he had made by that time the robbery had been accomplished the man then returned to the yellow room and slipped under the bed where the mark of his body is perfectly visible on the floor and even on the mat which has been slightly moved from its place and creased fragments of straw also recently torn bear witness to the murderous movements under the bed yes yes we know all about that said monsieur de marquet the robber had another motive for returning to hide under the bed continued the astonishing boy journalist you might think that he was trying to hide himself quickly unseeing through the vestibule window monsieur and one was as dangerous and about to enter the pavilion it would have been much easier for him to have climbed up to the attic and hidden there waiting for an opportunity to get away if his purpose had been only flight no no he had to be in the yellow room here the chief intervened that's not at all bad young man i compliment you if we do not know yet how the murderer succeeded in getting away we can at any rate see how he came in and committed the robbery but what did he steal something very valuable replied the young reporter at that moment we heard a cry from the laboratory we rushed in and found mr. Stangerson his eyes haggard his limbs trembling pointing to a sort of bookcase which he had opened and which we saw was empty at the same instinct he sank into the large armchair that was placed before the desk and ground the tears rolling down his cheeks i have been robbed again for god's sake do not say a word of this to my daughter she would be more pain than i am he heaved a deep sigh and added in a tone i shall never forget it after all what does it matter so long as she lives she will live said mr. d'arzak in a voice strangely touching and we will find the stolen articles said muslim dax but what was in the cabinet twenty years of my life replied the illustrious professor sadly or rather of our lives the lives of myself and my daughter yes our most precious documents the records of our secret experiments and our labors of twenty years were in that cabinet it is an irreparable loss to us and i venture to say to science all the processes by which i had been able to arrive at the precious proof of the destructibility of matter were there all the man who came wished to take all from me my daughter and my work my heart and my soul and the great scientist wept like a child we stood around him in silence deeply affected by his great distress mr. d'arzak pressed closely to his side and tried in vain to restrain his tears a sight which for the moment almost made me like him in spite of an instinctive repulsion which is strange demeanor and his inexplicable anxiety had inspired me as if his precious time and mission on earth did not permit him to dwell in the contemplation on human suffering had very calmly stepped up to the empty cabinet and pointing at it broke the almost solemn silence he entered into explanations for which there was no need as to why he had been led to believe that a robbery had been committed which included the simultaneous discovery he had made in the laboratory and the empty precious cabinet in the laboratory the first thing that had struck him he said was the unusual form of that piece of furniture it was very strongly built a fireproof iron clearly showing that it was intended for the keeping of most valuable objects then he noticed that the key had been left in the lock one does not ordinary have a safe and leave it open he had said to himself this little key with its brass head and complicated words had strongly attracted him its presence had suggested robbery mr. de marquet appeared to be greatly perplexed as if he did not know whether he ought to be glad of the new direction given to the inquiry by the young reporter or sorry that it had not been done by himself in our profession and for the general welfare we have to put up with such mortifications and very selfish feelings that was why mr. de marquet controlled himself and joined his compliments to those of mr. dax as for mr. old tabay he simply shrugged his shoulders and said there's nothing at all in that I should have liked to box his ears especially when he added you will do well monsieur to ask mr. stangerson who usually kept the key my daughter replied mr. stangerson she was never without it ah then that changes the aspect of things which no longer corresponds with mr. old tabay's ideas cried mr. de marquet if that key never left man was in stangerson the murderer must have waited for her in her room for the purpose of stealing it and the robbery could not have been committed until after the attack had been made on her but after the attack four persons were in the laboratory I can't make it out the robbery said the reporter could only have been committed before the attack upon man was stangerson in her room when the murderer entered the pavilion he already possessed the brass headed key that is impossible said mr. stangerson in a low voice it is quite possible monsieur as this proves as the young rascal drew a copy of the apoc from his pocket dated the 21st of October I recall the fact that the crime was committed on the nights between the 24th and the 25th and showing us an advertisement he read yesterday a black satin reticule was lost in the grand magasin de la louvre it contained amongst other things a small key with a brass head a handsome reward will be given to the person who has found it this person must write post restant bureau 40 to this address m a t h s n do not these letters suggest man was a stangerson continue the reporter the key with a brass head is not this the key I always read advertisements in my business as in yours monsieur one should always read the personals they are often the keys to intrigues that are not always brass headed but which are none the less interesting this advertisement interested me especially the woman of the key surrounded it with a kind of mystery evidently she valued the key since she promised a big reward for its restoration and I thought on these six letters m a t h s n the first war at once pointed to a christian name evidently said math is matilde but I could make nothing of the two last letters so I drew the journal aside and occupied myself with other matters four days later when the evening paper appeared with enormous headlines announcing the merger of man was a stangerson the letters in the advertisement mechanically recurred to me I had forgotten the two last letters s n when I saw them again I could not help exclaiming stangerson I jumped into a cab and rushed into the bureau number 40 asking have you a letter addressed to m a t h s n the clerk replied that he had not I insisted begged and then treated him to search he wanted to know if I were playing a joke on him and then told me that he had had a letter with the initials m a t h s n but he had given it up three days ago to a lady who came for it you come today to claim the letter and the day before yesterday another gentleman claimed it I've had enough of this he concluded angrily I tried to question him as to the two persons who had already claimed the letter but whether he wished to entrench himself behind professional secrecy he may have thought that he had already said too much or whether he was disgusted at the joke that had been played on him he would not answer any of my questions we all remained silent each drew his own conclusions from the strange story of the post-restaurant letter it seemed indeed that we now had the thread by means of which we should be able to follow up this extraordinary mystery then it is almost certain said Mr Stangerson that my daughter did lose the key and that she did not tell me of it wishing to spare any anxiety and that she begs whoever had found it to write to the post-restaurant she evidently feared that by giving our address inquiries would have resulted that would have apprised me of the loss of the key it was quite logical quite natural for her to have taken that course for I have been robbed once before where was that and when asked the chief of the Surtee oh many years ago in America in Philadelphia there were stolen from my laboratory the drawings of two inventions that might have made the fortune of a man not only have I never learnt who the thief was but I have never heard even a word of the object of the robbery doubtless because in order to defeat the plans of the person who had robbed me I myself brought these two inventions before the public and so rendered the robbery of no avail from that time on I have been very careful to shut myself in when I am at work the bars to these windows the lonely situation of this pavilion this cabinet which I had specially constructed this special lock this unique key all our precautions against fears inspired by a sad experience most interesting remarked monsieur Dax monsieur Huerta Bay asked about the reticule neither monsieur Stangerson nor daddy Jacques had seen it for several days but a few hours later we learned from mademoiselle Stangerson herself that the reticule had either been stolen from her or she had lost it she further corroborated all that had passed just as her father had stated she had gone to the post restante and on the 23rd of October had received a letter which she affirmed contained nothing but a vulgar pleasantry which she had immediately burned to return to our examination or rather to our conversation I must state that the chief of the sûreté having inquired of monsieur Stangerson under what conditions his daughter had gone to Paris on the 20th of October we learned that monsieur Robert Darzak had accompanied her and Darzak had not been again seen at the château from that time to the day after the crime had been committed the fact that monsieur Darzak was with her in the grand magasin de la Louvre when the reticule disappeared could not pass unnoticed and it must be said strongly awakened our interest this conversation between magistrates accused victim witnesses and journalists was coming to a close when quite a theatrical sensation an incident of a kind displeasing to monsieur de marquet was produced the officer of the gendarme came to announce that frédéric larcent requested to be admitted a request that was at once complied with he held in his hand a heavy pair of muddy boots which he threw on the pavement of the laboratory here he said are the boots worn by the murderer do you recognize them daddy jack daddy jack bent over them and stupefied recognized a pair of old boots which he had sometime back thrown in a corner of his attic he was so taken aback that he could not hide his agitation then pointing to the handkerchief in the old man's hand frédéric larcent said that a handkerchief astonishing like the one found in the yellow room i know said daddy jack trembling they are almost alike and then continued frédéric larcent the old basket cap also found in the yellow room might at one time have been worn by daddy jack himself all this gentleman proves i think that the murderer wished to disguise his real personality he did it in a very clumsy way or at least so it appears to us don't be alarmed daddy jack we are quite sure that you were not the murderer you never left the side of mr stanger son but if mr stanger son had not been working that night and had gone back to the chateau after parting with his daughter and daddy jack had gone to sleep in his attic no one would have doubted that he was the murderer he owes his safety therefore to the tragedy having been enacted so soon the murderer no doubt from the silence in the laboratory imagined that it was empty and that the moment for action had come the man who had been able to introduce himself here so mysteriously and to leave so many evidences against daddy jack was there can be no doubt familiar with the house at what hour exactly he entered whether in the afternoon or in the evening i cannot say one familiar with the proceedings and persons of this pavilion could choose his own time for entering the yellow room he could not have entered it if anybody had been in the laboratory said monsieur de marquet how do we know that replied laissant there was the dinner in the laboratory the coming and going of the servants in attendance there was a chemical experiment being carried on between 10 and 11 o'clock with mr stanger son his daughter and daddy jack engaged at the furnace in a corner of the high chimney who can say that the murderer an intimate a friend did not take advantage of that moment to slip into the yellow room after having taken off his boots in the laboratory it is very improbable said mr stanger son doubtless but it is not impossible i assert nothing as to the escape from the pavilion that's another thing the most natural thing in the world for a moment frédéric laissant paused a moment that appeared to us a very long time the eagerness with which we awaited what he was going to tell us may be imagined i have not been in the yellow room he continued but i take it for granted that you have satisfied yourself that he could have left the room only by way of the door it is by the door then that the murderer made his way out at what time at the moment when it was most easy for him to do so at the moment when it became most explainable so completely explainable that there can be no other explanation let us go over the moments which followed after the crime had been committed there was the first moment when mr stanger son and daddy jack were close to the door ready to bar the way there was a second moment during which daddy jack was absent and mr stanger son was left alone before the door there was a third moment when mr stanger son was joined by the concierge there was a fourth moment during which mr stanger son the concierge and his wife and daddy jack were before the door there was a fifth moment during which the door was burst open and the yellow room entered the moment at which the flight is explainable is the very moment when there was the least number of persons before the door there was one moment when there was but one person mr stanger son unless a complicity of silence on the part of daddy jack is admitted in which i do not believe the door was opened in the presence of mr stanger son alone and the man escaped here we must admit that mr stanger son had powerful reasons for not arresting or not causing the arrest of the murderer since he allowed him to reach the window in the vestibule and closed it after him that's done but was it stanger son though horribly wounded had still strength enough and no doubt in obedience to the entreaties of her father to refasten the door of her chamber with both the bolt and the lock before sinking on the floor we do not know who committed the crime we do not know of what wretch mr and man was else stanger son are the victims but there is no doubt that they both know the secret must be a terrible one but the father had not hesitated to leave his daughter to die behind the door which he has shot upon herself terrible for him to have allowed the assassin to escape for there is no other way in the world to explain the mergers flight from the yellow room the silence which followed this dramatic and lucid explanation was appalling we all of us felt grieved for the illustrious professor driven into a corner by the pitiless logic of frederick larcent forced to confess the whole truth of his martyrdom or to keep silent and thus make a yet more terrible admission the man himself a veritable statue of sorrow raised his hand with a gesture so solemn that we bowed our heads to it as before something sacred he then pronounced these words in a voice so loud that it seemed to exhaust him I swear by the head of my suffering child that I never for an instant left the door of her chamber after hearing her cries for help that that door was not opened while I was alone in the laboratory and that finally when we entered the yellow room my three domestics and I the murderer was no longer there I swear I do not know the murderer must I say it in spite of the solemnity of mr. Stangerson's words we did not believe in his denial frederick larcent had shown us this truth and it was not so easily given up mr. de marquet announced that the conversation was at an end and as we were about to leave the laboratory joseph roldabe approached mr. Stangerson took him by the hand with the greatest respect and I heard him say I believe you mr. I hear close the citation which I have thought in my duty to make from mr. my lens narrative I need not tell the reader that all that passed in the laboratory was immediately and faithfully reported to me by roldabe and up chapter 11 chapter 12 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks all to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by stewart bell the mystery of the yellow room by gaston la rue chapter 12 frederick larcent's cane it was not till six o'clock that I left the chateau taking with me the article hastily written by my friend in the little sitting room which mongeur robert darzak placed at her disposal the reporter was to sleep at the chateau taking advantage of the to me inexplicable hospitality offered him by mongeur robert darzak to whom mongeur stengerson in that sad time left the care of all his domestic affairs nevertheless he insisted on accompanying me to the station at epony in crossing the park he said to me frederick is really very clever and has not belied his reputation do you know how he came to find darzak boots near the spot where we noticed the traces of the neat boots and the disappearance of the rough ones there was a square hole freshly made in the moist ground where a stone had evidently been removed larcent's search for that stone without finding it and it once imagined that it had been used by the murderer with which to sink the boots in the lake fred's calculation was an excellent one as the success of his search proves that escaped me but my mind was turned in another direction by the large number of force indications of his track which the murderer left and by the measure of the black footmarks corresponding with that of darzak boots which i had established without his suspecting it on the floor of the yellow room all which was approved for my eyes that the murderer had sought to turn suspicion onto the old servant up to that point larcent and i are in accord but no further it's going to be a terrible matter for i tell you he is working on wrong lines and i i must fight him with nothing i was surprised at the profoundly grave accent with which my young friend pronounced the last words he repeated yes terrible terrible for it is fighting with nothing when you only have an idea to fight with at that moment we passed by the back of the shadow night had come a window on the first floor was partly open a feeble light came from it as well as some sounds which drew our attention we approached until we had reached the side of a door that was situated just under the window ruta bill in a low tone made me understand that this was the window of man was else danger since chamber the sounds which had attracted our attention ceased then were renewed for a moment and then we had stifled sobs we were only able to catch these words which reached us distinctly my poor robert ruta bill whispered in my ear if only we knew what was being said in that chamber my inquiry would soon be finished he looked about him the darkness of the evening enveloped us we could not see much beyond the narrow path bordered by trees which ran behind the shadow the sobs had ceased if we can't hear we may at least try to see said ruta bill and making a sign to me to deaden the sound of my steps he led me across the path to the trunk of a tall beach tree the white bowl of which was visible in the darkness this tree drew exactly in front of the window in which we were so much interested its lower branches being on a level with the first floor of the shadow from the height of those branches one might certainly see what was passing in man was else dangerous and chamber evidently that was what ruta bill thought for enjoining me to remain hidden he clasped the trunk with his vigorous arms and climbed up I soon lost sight of him amid the branches and then followed a deep silence in front of me the open window remained lighted and I saw no shadow move across it I listened and presently from above me these words reached my ears after you after you pray somebody was overhead speaking exchanging courtesies what was my astonishment to see on the slippery column of the tree two human forms appear and quietly slipped down to the ground ruta bill had mounted alone and had returned with another good evening it was frederick lasa the detective had already occupied the post of observation when my young friend had thought to reach it alone neither noticed my astonishment I explained that to myself by the fact that they must have been witnesses of some tender and despairing scene between man was else dangerous and lying in her bed and manager does act on his knees by her pillow I guess that each had drawn different conclusions from what they had seen it was easy to see that the scene had strongly impressed ruta bill in favor of manager Robert Dazak while to lasa it showed nothing but consummate hypocrisy acted with finished art by man was else dangerous and fiancee as we reached the park gate lasa and stopped us my cane he cried I left it near the tree he left us saying he would rejoin us presently have you noticed Frederick Larson's cane asked a young reporter as soon as we were alone it's quite a new one which I've never seen him use before he seems to take great care of it it never leaves him one would think he was afraid it might fall into the hands of strangers I never saw it before today when did he find it isn't natural that a man who never before used a walking stick should the day after the glandier crime never move a step without one on the day of our arrival the shadow as soon as he saw us he put his watch into his pocket and picked up his cane from the ground a proceeding to which I was perhaps wrong not to attach some importance we were now out of the park ruta bill had dropped into silence his thoughts were certainly still occupied with Frederick Larson's new cane I had proof of that when as we came near to eponae he said Frederick Larson arrived at the glontier before me he began his inquiry before me he has had time to find out things about which I know nothing where did he find that cane then he added it's probable that his suspicion more than that is his reasoning has led him to lay his hand on something tangible has this cane anything to do with it where the juice could he have found it as I had to wait 20 minutes for the train at eponae we entered a wine shop almost immediately the door opened and Frederick Larson made his appearance brandishing his famous cane I found it he said laughingly the three of us seated ourselves at a table ruta bill never took his eyes off the cane he was so absorbed that he did not notice a sign Larson made for a railway employee a young man with a chin decorated by a tiny blonde and ill-kept beard on the sign he rose paid for his drink bowled and went out I should not myself have attached any importance to the circumstance if it had not been recalled to my mind some months later by the reappearance of the man with the beard at one of the most tragic moments of this case I then learned that the youth was one of Larson's assistants and had been charged by him to watch the going and coming of travellers at the station of eponae surge Larson neglected nothing in any case on which he was engaged I turned my eyes again on ruta bill uh monge Fred he said when did you begin to use a walking stick I've always seen you walking with your hands in your pockets it is a present replied the detective recent insisted ruta bill no it was given to me in London ah yes I remember you've just come from London may I look at it oh uh suddenly Fred passed the cane to ruta bill it was a large yellow bamboo with a crutch handle and ornamented with a gold ring ruta bill after examining it minutely returned it to Larson with a bantering expression on his face saying you were given a french cane in London possibly said Fred imperturbably read them out there in tiny letters cassette 6a opera cannot English people buy canes in Paris when ruta bill had seen me into the train he said you remember the address yes cassette 6a opera rely on me you shall have word tomorrow morning that evening on reaching Paris I saw monge cassette dealer and walking sticks and umbrellas and wrote to my friend a man unmistakably answering to the description of monge Robert Darzak same height slightly stooping putty colored overcoat all a hat purchased a cane similar to the one in which we're interested on the evening of the crime about eight o'clock monge cassette had not sold another such cane during the last two years fred's cane is new it is quite clear that it's the same cane fred did not buy it since he was in London like you I think that he found it somewhere near monge Robert Darzak but if as you suppose the murderer was in the yellow room for five or even six hours and the crime was not committed until towards midnight the purchase of this cane proves an incontestable alibi for Darzak end of chapter 12 recording by Stuart Bell Cambridge UK chapter 13 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Gloria Zablicky the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston Leroux chapter 13 the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness a week after the occurrence of the events I have just recounted on the 2nd of November to be exact I received at my home in Paris the following telegraphic message come to the Glendier by the earliest train bring revolvers friendly greetings Ruta B I have already said I think that at that period being a young barrister with but few briefs I frequented the Palais des Justices rather for the purpose of familiarizing myself with my professional duties than for the defense of the widow and orphan I could therefore feel no surprise at Ruta B disposing of my time moreover he knew how keenly interested I was in his journalistic adventures in general and above all in the murder at the Glendier I had not heard from him for a week nor of the progress made with that mysterious case except by the innumerable paragraphs in the newspapers and by the very brief notes of Ruta B in the apoc those notes had divulged the fact that traces of human blood had been found on the mutton bone as well as fresh traces of the blood of Mademoiselle Stonjison the old stains belong to other crimes probably dating years back it may be easily imagined that the crime engaged the attention of the press throughout the world no crime known had more absorbed the minds of people it appeared to me however that the judicial inquiry was making but very little progress and I should have been very glad if on the receipt of my friend's invitation to rejoin him at the Glendier the dispatch had not contained the words bring revolvers that puzzled me greatly Ruta B telegraphing for revolvers meant that there might be occasion to use them now I confess it without shame I am not a hero but here was a friend evidently in danger calling on me to go to his aid I did not hesitate long and after assuring myself that the only revolver I possessed was properly loaded I hurried towards the Orleans station on the way I remembered that Ruta B had asked for two revolvers I therefore entered a gunsmith shop and bought an excellent weapon for my friend I had hoped to find him at the station at Epine but he was not there however a cab was waiting for me and I was soon at the Glendier nobody was at the gate and it was only on the threshold of the chateau that I met the young man he saluted me with a friendly gesture and threw his arms about me inquiring warmly as to the state of my health when we were in the little sitting room of which I have spoken Ruta B made me sit down it's going badly he said what's going badly I asked everything he came nearer to me and whispered Frederick Lawson is working with might and mean against Dazak this did not astonish me I had seen the poor show Mademoiselle Stonjison's fiancee had made at the time of the examination of the footprints however I immediately asked what about that cane it is still in the hands of Frederick Lawson he never lets go of it but doesn't it prove the alibi for Mr. Dazak not at all gently questioned by me Dazak denied having on that evening or on any other purchased a cane at cassettes however said Ruta B I'll not swear to anything Mr. Dazak has such strange fits of silence that one does not know exactly what to think of what he says to Frederick Lawson this cane must mean a piece of very damaging evidence but in what way the time when it was bought shows it could not have been in the murderer's possession the time doesn't worry Lawson he is not obliged to adopt my theory which assumes that the murderer got into the yellow room between five and six o'clock but there's nothing to prevent him assuming that the murderer got in between ten and eleven o'clock at night at that hour Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison assisted by Daddy Jacques were engaged in making an interesting chemical experiment in the part of the laboratory taken up by the furnaces Lawson says unlikely as that may seem that the murderer may have slipped behind them he has already got the examining magistrate to listen to him when one looks closely into it the reasoning is absurd seeing that the intimate if there is one must have known that the professor would shortly leave the pavilion and that the friend had only to put off operating till after the professor's departure why should he have risked crossing the laboratory while the professor was in it and then when he had got into the yellow room there are many points to be cleared up before Lawson's theory can be admitted I shan't waste my time over it for my theory won't allow me to occupy myself with mere imagination only as I am obliged for the moment to keep silent and Lawson sometimes talks he may finish by coming out openly against Mishua Dazak if I'm not there added the young reporter proudly for there are surface evidences against Dazak much more convincing than that cane which remains incomprehensible to me all the more so as Lawson does not in the least hesitate to let Dazak see him with it I understand many things in Lawson's theory but I can't make anything of that cane is he still at the chateau yes he hardly ever leaves he sleeps there as I do at the request of Mishua Stangerson who has done for him what Mishua Robert Dazak has done for me in spite of the accusation made by Lawson that Mishua Stangerson knows who the murderer is he yet affords him every facility for arriving at the truth just as Dazak is doing for me but you are convinced of Dazak's innocence at one time I did believe in the possibility of his guilt that was when we arrived here for the first time the time has come for me to tell you what has passed between Mishua Dazak and myself here Ruta B interrupted himself and asked me if I had brought the revolvers I showed him them having examined both he pronounced them excellent and handed them back to me shall we have any use for them I asked no doubt this evening we shall pass the night here if that won't hire you on the contrary I said with an expression that made Ruta be laugh no no he said this is no time for laughing you remember the phrase which was the open sesame of this chateau full of mystery yes I said perfectly the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness it was the phrase which you found on the half burned piece of paper amongst the ashes in the laboratory yes at the bottom of the paper where the flame had not reached was this date 23rd of October remember this date it is highly important I am now going to tell you about that curious phrase on the evening before the crime that is to say on the 23rd Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison were at a reception at the LSA I know that because I was there on duty having to interview one of the savants of the Academy of Philadelphia who was being fated there I had never before seen either Mishua or Mademoiselle Stonjison I was seated in the room which precedes the Salon de ambassadures and tired of being jostled by so many noble personages I had fallen into a vague reverie when I sent it near me the perfume of the lady in black do you ask me what is the perfume of the lady in black it must suffice for you to know that it is the perfume of which I am very fond because it was that of a lady who had been very kind to me in my childhood a lady whom I had always seen dressed in black the lady who that evening was scented with the perfume of the lady in black was dressed in white she was wonderfully beautiful I could not help rising and following her an old man gave her his arm and as they passed I heard voices say professor Stonjison and his daughter it was in that way I learned who it was I was following they met Mishua whom I knew by sight professor Stonjison accosted by Mr. Arthur William Rance one of the American savants seated himself in the great gallery and Mishua led Mademoiselle Stonjison into the conservatory I followed the weather was very mild that evening the garden doors were open Mademoiselle Stonjison threw a fissue shawl over her shoulders and I plainly saw that it was she who was begging Mishua Dazak to go with her into the garden I continued to follow interested by the agitation plainly exhibited by the bearing of Mishua Dazak they slowly passed along the wall abutting on the avenue Marini I took the central alley walking parallel with them and then crossed over for the purpose of getting nearer to them the night was dark and the grass deadened the sound of my steps they had stopped under the vacillating light of a gas jet and appeared to be both bending over a paper held by Mademoiselle Stonjison reading something which deeply interested them I stopped in the darkness and silence neither of them saw me and I distinctly heard Mademoiselle Stonjison repeat as she was refolding the paper the presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness was set in a tone at once mocking and despairing and was followed by a burst of such nervous laughter that I think her words will never cease to sound in my ears but another phrase was uttered by Mishua Robert Dazak must I commit a crime then to win you he was in an extraordinarily agitated state he took the hand of Mademoiselle Stonjison and held it for a long time to his lips and I thought from the movement of his shoulders that he was crying then they went away when I returned to the great gallery continued Ruta B. I saw no more of Mishua Robert Dazak and I was not to see him again until after the tragedy at the Glendier Mademoiselle was near Mr. Rantz who was talking with much animation his eyes during the conversation glowing with a singular brightness Mademoiselle Stonjison I thought was not even listening to what he was saying her face expressing perfect indifference his face was the red face of a drunkard when Mishua and Mademoiselle Stonjison left he went to the bar and remained there I joined him and rendered him some little service in the midst of the press and crowd he thanked me and told me he was returning to America three days later that is to say on the 26th the day after the crime I talked with him about Philadelphia he told me he had lived there for five and twenty years and that it was there he had met the illustrious professor Stonjison and his daughter he drank a great deal of champagne and when I left him he was very nearly drunk such were my experiences on that evening and I leave you to imagine what affect the news of the attempted murder of Mademoiselle Stonjison produced on me with what forced those words pronounced by Mishua Robert Dazak must I commit a crime then to win you recurred to me it was not this phrase however that I repeated to him when we met here at Glendier the sentence of the Presbytery and the bright garden suffice to open the gate of the Chateau if you ask me if I believe now that Mishua Dazak is the murderer I must say that I do not I do not think I ever quite thought that at the time I could not really think seriously of anything I had so little evidence to go on but I needed to have it once the proof that he had not been wounded in the hand when we were alone together I told him how I had chance to overhear a part of his conversation with Mademoiselle Stonjison in the garden of the LSA and when I repeated to him the words must I commit a crime then to win you he was greatly troubled though much less so than he had been by hearing me repeat the phrase about the Presbytery what threw him into a state of real consternation was to learn for me that the day on which he had gone to meet Mademoiselle Stonjison at the LSA was the very day on which she had gone to the post office for the letter it was that letter perhaps which ended with the words the Presbytery has lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness my surmise was confirmed by my finding if you remember in the ashes of the laboratory the fragment of paper dated October the 23rd the letter had been written and withdrawn from the post office on the same day there can be no doubt that on returning from the LSA that night Mademoiselle Stonjison had tried to destroy that compromising paper it was in vain that Michaud Dazak denied that that letter had anything whatever to do with the crime I told him that in an affair so filled with mystery as this he had no right to hide this letter that I was persuaded it was of considerable importance that the desperate tone in which Mademoiselle Stonjison had pronounced the prophetic phrase that his own tears and the threat of a crime which he had professed after the letter was read all these facts tended to leave no room for me to doubt Michaud Dazak became more and more agitated and I determined to take advantage of the effect I had produced on him you were on the point of being married Michaud I said negligently and without looking at him and suddenly your marriage becomes impossible because of the writer of that letter because as soon as his letter was read you spoke of the necessity for a crime to win Mademoiselle Stonjison therefore there is someone between you and her someone who has attempted to kill her so that she should not be able to marry and I concluded with these words and now Michaud you have only to tell me in confidence the name of the murderer the words I had uttered must have struck him ominously for when I turned my eyes on him I saw that his face was haggard the perspiration standing on his forehead and terror showing in his eyes Michaud he said to me I'm going to ask of you something which may appear insane but in exchange for which I place my life in your hands you must not tell the magistrates of what you saw and heard in the garden of the LSA neither to them nor to anybody I swear to you that I am innocent and I know I feel that you believe me but I would rather be taken for the guilty man than see justice go astray on that phrase the presbyterias lost nothing of its charm nor the garden its brightness the judges must know nothing about that phrase all this matter is in your hands Michaud I leave it there but forget the evening at the LSA 100 other roads are open for you in your search for the criminal I will open them for you myself I will help you will you take up your quarters here you may remain here to do as you please eat sleep here watch my actions the actions of all here you shall be master of the Glendier Michaud but forget the evening at the LSA we're to be here paused to take breath I now understood what had appeared so unexplainable in the demeanor of Michaud Robert Dawzak was my friend and the facility with which the young reporter had been able to install himself on the scene of the crime my curiosity could not fail to be excited by all I had heard I asked Ruta B to satisfy it still further what had happened at the Glendier during the past week had he not told me that there was surface indications against Michaud Dawzak much more terrible than that of the king found by Lawson everything seems to be pointing against him replied my friend and the situation is becoming exceedingly grave Michaud Dawzak appears not to mind it much but in that he is wrong I was interested only in the health of Mademoiselle Stangeson which was daily improving when something occurred that is even more mysterious than than the mystery of the yellow room impossible I cried what could be more mysterious than that I'll let us first go back to Michaud Robert Dawzak said Ruta B calming me I have said that everything seems to be pointing against him the marks of the neat boots frowned by Frederick Lawson appear to be really the footprints of Mademoiselle Stangeson's fiance the marks made by the bicycle may have been made by his bicycle he had usually left it at the Chateau why did he take it to Paris on that particular occasion was it because he was not going to return again to the Chateau was it because owing to the breaking off of his marriage his relations with the Stangesons were to cease all who are interested in the matter affirm that those relations were to continue unchanged Frederick Lawson however believes that all relations were at an end from the day when Michaud Dawzak accompanied Mademoiselle Stangeson to the Grand Magazines de la Louvre until the day after the crime he had not been at the Glendier remember that Mademoiselle Stangeson lost her reticule containing the key with the brass head while she was in his company from that day to the evening at the LSA the Sorbonne Professor and Mademoiselle Stangeson did not see one another but they may have written to each other Mademoiselle Stangeson went to the post office to get a letter which Lawson says was written by Robert Dawzak for knowing nothing of what had passed at the LSA Lawson believes that it was Michaud Dawzak himself who stole the reticule with the key with the design of forcing her consent by getting possession of the precious papers of her father papers which he would have restored to him on condition that the marriage engagement was to be fulfilled all that would have been a very doubtful and almost absurd hypothesis as Lawson admitted to me but for another and much graver circumstance in the first place here is something which I have not been able to explain Michaud Dawzak had himself on the 24th gone to the post office to ask for the letter which Mademoiselle had called for and received on the previous evening the description of the man who made application tallies in every respect with the appearance of Michaud Dawzak who in answer to the questions put to him by the examining magistrate denies that he went to the post office now even admitting that the letter was written by him which I do not believe he knew that Mademoiselle Stongerson had received it since he had seen it in her hands in the garden at the LSA it could not have been he then who had gone to the post office the day after the 24th to ask for a letter which he knew was no longer there to me it appears clear that somebody strongly resembling him stole Mademoiselle Stongerson's reticule and in that letter had demanded of her something which she had not sent him he must have been surprised at the failure of his demand hence his application at the post office to learn whether his letter had been delivered to the person to whom it had been addressed finding that it had been claimed he had become furious what had he demanded nobody but Mademoiselle Stongerson knows then on the day following it is reported that she has been attacked during the night and the next day I discovered that the professor had at the same time been robbed by means of the key referred to in the post restaunt it would seem then that the man who went to the post office to inquire for the letter must have been the murderer all these arguments Lawson applies as against Michelle Dazak you may be sure that the examining magistrate Lawson and myself have done our best to get from the post office precise details relative to the singular personage who applied there on the 24th of October but nothing has been learned we don't know where he came from or where he went beyond the description which makes him resemble Michelle Dazak we know nothing I have announced in the leading journals that a handsome reward will be given to a driver of any public conveyance who drove a fare to number 40 post office about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 24th of October information to be addressed to mr at the office of the apoc but no answer has resulted the man may have walked but as he was most likely in a hurry there was a chance that he might have gone in a cab who I keep asking myself night and day is the man who so strongly resembles Michelle Robert Dazak and who was also known to have bought the cane which has fallen into Lawson's hands the most serious fact is that Michelle Dazak was at the very same time that his double presented himself at the post office scheduled for a lecture at the Sorbonne he had not delivered that lecture and one of his friends took his place when I questioned him as to how he had employed the time he told me that he had gone for a stroll in the Bois Duboulon what do you think of a professor who instead of giving his lecture obtains a substitute to go for a stroll in the Bois Duboulon when Frederick Lawson asked him for information on this point he quietly replied that it was no business of his how he spent his time in Paris on which Fred swore aloud that he would find out without anybody's help all this seems to fit in with Fred's hypothesis namely that Michelle Stangerson allowed the murderer to escape in order to avoid a scandal the hypothesis is further substantiated by the fact that Dazak was in the yellow room and was permitted to get away that hypothesis I believe to be a false one Lawson is being misled by it and though that would not displease me did it not affect an innocent person now does that hypothesis really mislead Frederick Lawson that is the question that is the question perhaps he is right I cried interrupting Wu Tabi are you sure that Michelle Dazak is innocent it seems to me that these are extraordinary coincidences coincidences replied my friend are the worst enemies to truth what does the examining magistrate think now of the matter Michelle De Marquet hesitates to accuse Michelle Dazak in the absence of absolute proofs not only would he have public opinion wholly against him to say nothing of the Sorbonne but Michelle and Mademoiselle Stangerson she adores Michelle Robert Dazak indistinctly as she saw the murderer it would be hard to make the public believe that she could not have recognized him if Dazak had been the criminal no doubt the yellow room was very dimly lit but a night light however small gives some light here my boy is how things stood when three days or rather three nights ago an extraordinarily strange incident occurred end of chapter 13 recording by Gloria Ziblicky floral park new york chapter 14 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Madera the mystery of the yellow room by Gaston LaRue chapter 14 i expect the assassin this evening i must take you said route to bill so as to enable you to understand the various scenes i myself believe that i have discovered what everybody else is searching for namely how the murderer escaped from the yellow room without any accomplice and without Mademoiselle Stangerson having had anything to do with it but so long as i am not sure of the real murderer i cannot state the theory on which i am working i can only say that i believe it to be correct and in any case a quite natural and simple one as to what happened in this place three nights ago i must say it kept me wondering for a whole day and a night it passes all belief the theory i have formed from the incident is so absurd that i would rather matters remained as yet unexplained saying which the young reporter invited me to go and make the tour of the chateau with him the only sound to be heard was the crunching of the dead leaves beneath our feet the silence was so intense that one might have thought the chateau had been abandoned the old stones the stagnant water of the ditch surrounding the donjon the bleak ground strewn with the dead leaves the dark skeleton like outlines of the trees all contributed to give to the desolate place now filled with its awful mystery a most funereal aspect as we passed around the donjon we met the green man the forest keeper who did not greet us but walked by as if we had not existed he was looking just as i had formerly seen him through the window of the donjon in he had still his fouling piece slung at his back his pipe was in his mouth and his eyeglasses on his nose an odd kind of fish wrote to be said to me in a low tone have you spoken to him i asked yes but i could get nothing out of him his only answers are grunts and shrugs of the shoulders he generally lives on the first floor of the donjon a big room that once served for an oratory he lives like a bear never goes out without his gun and is only pleasant for the girls the women for 12 miles round are all setting their caps for him for the present he is paying attention to madame matthieu whose husband is keeping a link sigh upon her in consequence after passing the donjon which is situated at the extreme end of the left wing we went to the back of the chateau rout de bill pointing to a window which i recognized as the only one belonging to mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment said to me if you had been here two nights ago you would have seen your humble servant at the top of a ladder about to enter the chateau by that window as i expressed some surprise at this piece of nocturnal gymnastics he begged me to notice carefully the exterior disposition of the chateau we then went back into the building i must now show you the first floor of the chateau where i'm living said my friend rout de bill motioned me to follow him up a magnificent flight of stairs ending in a landing on the first floor from this landing one could pass to the right or left wing of the chateau by a gallery opening from it this gallery high and wide extended along the whole length of the building and was lit from the front of the chateau facing the north the rooms the windows of which looked to the south opened out of the gallery professor dangerouson inhabited the left wing of the building mademoiselle dangerouson had her apartment in the right wing we entered the gallery to the right a narrow carpet laid on the waxed oaken floor which shone like glass deaden the sound of our footsteps rout de bill asked me in a low tone to walk carefully as we were passing the door of mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment this consisted of a bedroom an ante room a small bathroom a boudoir and a drawing room one could pass from one to another of these rooms without having to go by way of the gallery the gallery continued straight to the western end of the building where it was lit by a high window at about two-thirds of its length this gallery at a right angle joined another gallery following the course of the right wing the better to follow this narrative we shall call the gallery leading from the stairs to the eastern window the right gallery and the gallery quitting it at a right angle the off-turning gallery it was at the meeting point of the two galleries that rout de bill had his chamber adjoining that of fredéric larcent the door of each opening on to the off-turning gallery while the doors of mademoiselle dangerouson's apartment opened into the right gallery rout de bill opened the door of his room and after we had passed in carefully drew the bolt i had not had time to glance round the place in which he had been installed when he uttered a cry of surprise and pointed to a pair of eyeglasses on a side table what are these doing here he asked i should have been puzzled to answer him i wonder he said i wonder if this is what i've been searching for i wonder if these are the eyeglasses from the prosperity he sees them eagerly his fingers caressing the glass then looking at me with an expression of terror on his face he murmured oh oh he repeated the exclamation again and again as if his thoughts had suddenly turned his brain he rose and putting his hand on my shoulder laughed like one demented as he said this glasses will drive me silly mathematically speaking the thing is possible but humanly speaking it is impossible or afterwards or afterwards two light knocks struck the door rout de bill opened it a figure entered i recognized the concierge whom i had seen when she was being taken to the pavilion for examination i was surprised thinking she was still under lock and key this woman said in a very low tone in the grove of the parquet ruled to be replied thanks the woman then left he again turned to me his look haggard after having carefully refastered the door muttering some incomprehensible phrases if the thing is mathematically possible why should it not be humanly and if it is humanly possible the matter is simply awful i interrupted him in his soliloquy have they said the concierge is at liberty then i asked yes he replied i had them liberated i needed people i could trust the woman is thoroughly devoted to me and her husband would lay down his life for me oh oh i said when will we have an occasion to do it this evening for this evening i expect the murderer you expect the murderer this evening then you know him i shall know him but i would be mad to affirm categorically at this moment that i do know him the mathematical idea i have of the murderer gives results so frightful so monstrous that i hope it is still possible that i am mistaken i hope so with all my heart five minutes ago you did not know the murderer how can you say that you expect him this evening because i know that he must come root to be a very slowly filled his pipe and lidded that meant an interesting story at that moment we heard someone walking in the gallery and passing before our door were to be listened the sound of the footsteps died away in the distance is fredrik lasan in his room i asked pointing to the partition no my friend answered he went to paris this morning still on the scent of darzak who also left for paris that matter will turn out badly i expect that monster darzak will be arrested in the course of the next week the worst of it is that everything seems to be in league against him circumstances things people not an hour passes without bringing some new evidence against him the examining magistrate is overwhelmed by it and blind fredrik lasan however is not a novice i said i thought so said root to be able to slightly contemptuous turn of his lips i fancied he was a much abler man i had indeed a great admiration for him before i got to know his method of working it's deplorable he owes his reputation solely to his ability but he lacks reasoning power the mathematics of his ideas are very poor i looked closely at root to be and could not help smiling on hearing this boy of 18 talking of a man who had proved to the world that he was the finest police luth in europe you smile he said you are wrong i swear i will outwit him and in a striking way but i must make haste about it for he has an enormous start on me given him by moncier robert darzak who is this evening going to increase it still more think of it every time the murderer comes to the chateau moncier darzak by a strange fatality absents himself and refuses to give any account of how he employs his time every time the assassin comes to the chateau i cried has he returned then yes during that famous night when the strange phenomenon occurred i was now going to learn about the astonishing phenomenon to which root to be had made an illusion half an hour earlier without giving me any explanation of it but i had learned never to press root to be ill in his narratives he spoke when the fancy took him and when he judged it to be right he was less concerned about my curiosity than he was for making a complete summing up for himself of any important matter in which he was interested at last in short rapid phrases he acquainted me with things which plunged me into a state bordering on complete bewilderment indeed the results of that still unknown science known as hypnotism for example were not more inexplicable than the disappearance of the matter of the murderer at the moment when four persons were within touch of him i speak of hypnotism as i would of electricity for of the nature of both we are ignorant and we know little of their laws i cite these examples because at the time the case appeared to me to be only explicable by the inexplicable that is to say by an event outside of no natural laws and yet if i had had root to be his brain i should like him have had a presentiment of the natural explanation for the most curious thing about all the mysteries of the glandia case was the natural manner in which he explained them i have among the papers that were sent to me by the young man after the affair was over a notebook of his in which a complete account is given of the phenomenon of the disappearance of the matter of the assassin and the thoughts to which it gave rise in the mind of my young friend it is preferable i think to give the reader this account rather than continue to reproduce my conversation with root to bill for i should be afraid in a history of this nature to add a word that was not in accordance with the strictest truth end of chapter 14 recording by madara chapter 15 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by jc equan the mystery of the yellow room by guest on the road chapter 15 the trap extract from the notebook of joseph roltaby last night the night between the 29th and the 30th of october wrote joseph roltaby i woke up towards one o'clock in the morning was it sleeplessness or noise without the cry of the bet du bon dieu rang out with sinister loudness from the end of the park i rose and opened the window cold wind and rain opaque darkness silence i reclosed my window again the sound of the cat's weird crying the distance i partly dressed in haste the weather was too bad for even a cat to be turned out in it what did it mean then that imitating of the mewing of mother ajano's cat so near the chateau i seized a good-sized stick the only weapon i had and without making any noise opened the door the gallery into which i went was well lit by a lamp with a reflector i felt a keen current of air and on turning found the winter open at the extreme end of the gallery which i called the off-turning gallery to distinguish it from the right gallery on to which the apartment of mud ones and strangers and opened these two galleries cross each other at right angles who had left that window open or who had come to open it i went to the window and leaned out five feet below me there was a sort of terrace over the semicircular projection of a room on the ground floor one could if one wanted jump from the window on to the terrace and allow oneself to drop from it into the court of the chateau whoever had entered by this road had evidently not had a key to the vestibule door but why should i be thinking of my previous night's attempt with the ladder because of the open window left open perhaps but the negligence of the servant i reclosed it smiling at the ease with which i built a drama on the mere suggestion of an open window again the cry of the bit du bon dieu and then silence the rain ceased to beat on the window all in the chateau slept i walked with infinite precaution on the carpet of the gallery on reaching the corner of the right gallery i peered around it cautiously there was another lamp there with a reflector which quite lit up the several objects in it three chairs and some pictures hanging on the wall what was i doing there perfect silence rained throughout everything was sunk in repose what was the instinct that urged me towards mademoiselle stangerson's chamber why did the voice within me cry go on to the chamber of mademoiselle stangerson i cast my eyes down upon the carpet on which i was treading and saw that my steps were being directed towards mademoiselle stangerson's chamber by the marks of steps that had already been made there yes on the carpet were traces of footsteps stained with mud leading to the chamber of mademoiselle stangerson horror horror i recognized in those footprints the impression of the neat boots of the murderer he had come then from without in this wretched night if you could descend from the gallery by way of the window by means of the terrace then you could get into the chateau by the same means the murderer was still in the chateau for here were marks as of returning footsteps he had entered by the open window at the extremity of the off-turning gallery he had passed fredéric larson's door and mine had turned to the right and had entered mademoiselle stangerson's room i am before the door of her enter room it is open i push it without making the least noise under the door of the room itself i see a streak of light i listen no sound not even of breathing ah if i only knew what was passing in the silence that is behind that door i find the door locked and the k turned on the inner side and the murderer is there perhaps he must be there well he escaped this time all depends on me i must be calm and above all i must make no false steps i must see into that room i can enter it by mademoiselle stangerson's drawing room but to do that i should have to cross her boudoir and while i am there the merger may escape by the gallery door the door in front of which i am now standing i am sure that no other crime is being committed on this night for there is complete silence in her boudoir where two nurses are taking care of mademoiselle stangerson until she is restored to health as i am almost sure that the merger is there why do i not at once give the alarm the merger may perhaps escape but perhaps i may be able to save mademoiselle stangerson's life suppose the merger on this occasion is not here to murder the door has been opened to allow him to enter by whom and it has been refastened by whom mademoiselle stangerson shut herself up in her apartment with her nurses every night who turned the key of that chamber to allow the merger to enter the nurses two faithful domestics the old chambermaid sylvia it is very improbable besides they slept in the boudoir and mademoiselle stangerson very nervous and careful monsieur robert d'arzac told me cease to her own safety since she has been well enough to move about in her room which i have not yet seen her leave this nervousness and sudden care on her part which had struck monsieur d'arzac had given me also food for thought at the time of the crime in the yellow room there can be no doubt that she expected the merger was he expected this night was it she herself who had opened her door to him had she some reason for doing so was she obliged to do it was it a meeting for purposes of crime certainly it was not a lovers meeting for i believe mademoiselle stangerson adores monsieur d'arzac all these reflections ran through my brain like a flash of lightning what would i not give to know it is possible that there was some reason for the awful silence my intervention might do more harm than good how could i tell how could i know i might not any moment cause another crime if i could only see and know without breaking that silence i left the enter room and descended the central stairs to the vestibule and as silently as possible made my way to the little room on the ground floor where daddy jack had been sleeping since the attack made at the pavilion i found him dressed his eyes wide open almost haggard he did not seem surprised to see me he told me that he had got up because he had heard the cry of the bed jubon dieu and because he had heard footsteps in the park close to his window out of which he had looked and just then had seen a black shadow pass by i asked him whether he had a firearm of any kind no he no longer kept one since the examining magistrate had taken his revolver from him we went out together by a little black door into the park and stole along the shadow to the point which is just below mademoiselle stangerson's window i placed daddy jack against the wall ordering him not to stir from the spot while i taking advantage of a moment when the moon was hidden by a cloud moved to the front of the window out of the patch of light which came from it where the window was half open if i could only know what was passing in that silent chamber i returned to daddy jack and whispered the word ladder in his ear at first i had thought of the tree which a week ago served me for an observatory but i immediately saw that from the way the window was half opened i should not be able to see from that point of view anything that was passing in the room and i wanted not only to see but to hear and to act greatly agitated almost trembling daddy jack disappeared for a moment and returned without the ladder but making signs to me with his arms as signals to me to come quickly to him when i got near him he gasped come i went to the donjon in search of my ladder and in the lower part of the donjon which shows me and the gardener for a lumber room i found the door open and the ladder gone on coming out that's what i caught sight of by the light of the moon and he pointed to the further end of the chateau where a ladder stood resting against the stone brackets supporting the terrace under the window which i had found open the projection of the terrace had prevented my seeing it thanks to that ladder it was quite easy to get into the afternoon gallery of the first floor and i had no doubt of it having been the road taken by the unknown we ran to the ladder but at the moment of reaching it daddy jack drew my attention to the half open door of the little semicircular room situated under the terrace at the extremity of the right wing of the chateau having the terrace for its roof daddy jack pushed the door open a little further and looked in he's not there he whispered who is not there the forest keeper with his lips once more to my ear he added do you know that he has slept in the upper room of the donjon ever since it was restored and with the same gesture he pointed to the half open door the ladder the terrace and the windows in the afternoon gallery which a little while before i had reclosed what were my thoughts then i had no time to think i felt more than i thought evidently i felt if the forest keeper is up there in the chamber i say if because at this moment apart from the presence of the ladder and his vacant room there are no evidences which permit me to even suspect him if he is there he has been obliged to pass by the ladder and the rooms which lie behind his in his new lodging are occupied by the family of the steward and by the cook and by the kitchens which barred away by the vestibule to the interior of the chateau and if he had been there during the evening on any pretext it would have been easy for him to go into the gallery and see that the window could be simply pushed open from the outside this question of the unfastened window easily narrowed the field of search for the murderer he must belong to the house unless he had an accomplice which i do not believe he had unless unless mademoiselle stangeerson herself had seen that that window was not fastened from the inside but then what could be the frightful secret which put her under the necessity of doing away with obstacle that separated her from the murderer i seized hold of the ladder and we returned to the back of the chateau to see if the window of the chamber was still half open the blind was drawn but did not join and allowed a bright stream of light to escape and fall upon the path at our feet i planted the ladder under the window i am almost sure that i made no noise and while the hijack remained at the foot of the ladder i mounted it very quietly my stout stick in my hand i held my breath and lift on my feet with the greatest care suddenly a heavy cloud discharged itself at that moment in a fresh downpour of rain at the same instant the sinister cry of the bit du bon dieu arrested me in my ascent it seemed to me to have come from close by me only a few yards away was the cry a signal had some accomplice of the man seen me on the ladder what the cry bring the man to the window perhaps ah there he was at the window i felt his head above me i heard the sound of his breath i could not look up towards him the leased movement of my head and i might be lost would he see me would he be here into the darkness no he went away he had seen nothing i felt rather than heard him moving on tiptoe in the room and i mounted a few steps higher my head reached to the level of the windowsill my forehead rose above it my eyes looked between the opening in the blinds and i saw a man seated at mademoiselle stangerson's little desk writing his back was turned towards me a candle was lit before him and he bent over the flame the light from it projecting shapeless shadows i saw nothing but a monstrous stupid bat mademoiselle stangerson herself was not there her bed had not been laid on where then was she sleeping that night doubtless in the side room with her women perhaps this was but a guess i must content myself with the joy of finding the man alone i must be calm and prepare my trap but who then is this man writing there before my eyes seated at the desk as if he were in his own home if there had not been that ladder under the window if there had not been those footprints on the carpet in the gallery if there had not been that open window i might have been led to think that this man had a right to be there and that he was there as a matter of course and for reasons about which as yet i knew nothing but there was no doubt that this mysterious unknown was the man of the yellow room the man to whose murderous assault mademoiselle stangerson without denouncing him had had to submit if i could but see his face surprise and capture him if i spring into the room at this moment he will escape by the right hand door opening into the boudoir or crossing the drawing room he will reach the gallery and i shall lose him i have him now and in five minutes more he'll be safer than if i had him in a cage what is he doing there alone in mademoiselle stangerson's room what is he writing i descend and place the ladder on the ground daddy jack follows me we re-enter the chateau i sent daddy jack to wake mr stangerson and instruct him to await my coming in mademoiselle stangerson's room and to say nothing definite to him before my arrival i will go and awaken frédéric larcent it's a bore to have to do it for i should have liked to work alone and to have carried off all the honors of this affair myself right under the very nose of the sleeping detective but daddy jack and mr stangerson are old men and i am not yet fully developed i might not be strong enough larcent is used to wrestling and putting on the handcuffs he opened his eyes swollen with sleep ready to send me flying without in the least believing in my reporter's fancies i had to assure him that the man was there that's strange he said i thought i left him this afternoon in Paris he dressed himself in haste and armed himself with a revolver we stole quietly into the gallery where is he larcent asked in mademoiselle stangerson's room and mademoiselle stangerson she is not in there let's go in don't go there on the least alarm the man will escape he has four ways by which to do it the door the window the boudoir or the room in which the women are sleeping i'll draw him from below and if you fail if you only succeed in wounding him he'll escape again without reckoning that he is certainly armed no let me direct the expedition and i'll answer for everything as you like he replied with fairly good craze then after satisfying myself that all the windows of the two galleries were thoroughly secure i placed red reg larcent at the end of the off-turning gallery before the window which i had found open and had reclosed under no consideration i said to him must you stir from this post till i call you the chances are even that the man who and he is pursued will return to this window and try to save himself that way for it is by that way he came in and is made away ready for his flight you have a dangerous post what will be yours asked fred i shall spring into the room and knock him over for you take my revolver said fred and i'll take your stick thanks i said you are a brief man i accepted his offer i was going to be alone with the man in the room writing and was really thankful to have the weapon i left fred having posted him at the window and with the greatest precaution went towards mr. stangerson's apartment in the left wing of the chateau found him with daddy jack who had faithfully obeyed my directions confining himself to asking his master to dress as quickly as possible in a few words i explained to mr. stangerson what was passing he armed himself with a revolver followed me and we were all three speedily in the gallery since i had seen the merger seated at the desk 10 minutes had elapsed mr. stangerson wished to spring upon the assassin at once and kill him i made him understand that above all he must not in his desire to kill him miss him when i had sworn to him that his daughter was not in the room and in no danger he conquered his impatience and left me to direct the operations i told them that they must come to me the moment i called to them or when i fired my revolver i then sent daddy jack to place himself before the window at the end of the right gallery i chose that physician for daddy jack because i believed that the merger tracked on leaving the room would run through the gallery towards the window which he had left open and instantly seeing that it was guarded by larcent would pursue his course along the right gallery there he would encounter daddy jack who would prevent his springing out of the window into the park under that window there was a sort of buttress while all the other windows in the galleries were at such a height from the ground that it was almost impossible to jump from them without breaking one's neck all the doors and windows including those of the lumber room at the end of the right gallery as i had rapidly assured myself were strongly secured having indicated to daddy jack the post he was to occupy and having seen him take up his position i placed mr stanger son on the landing at the head of the stairs not far from the door of his daughter's enterium rather than the boudoir where the women were and the door of which must have been locked by madwaza stangerson herself if as i thought she had taken refuge in the boudoir for the purpose of avoiding the merger who was coming to see her in any case he must return to the gallery where my people were awaiting him at every possible exit on coming there he would say on his left mr stangerson he would turn to the right towards the off-turning gallery the way he had pre-arranged for flight where at the intersection of the two galleries he would see at once as i have explained on his left frédéric larcent at the end of the off-turning gallery and in front daddy jack at the end of the right gallery mr stangerson and myself would arrive by way of the back of the chateau he is ours he can no longer escape us i was sure of that the plan i had formed seemed to me the best the surest and the most simple it would no doubt have been simpler still if we had been able to place someone directly behind the door of mademoiselle's boudoir which opened out of her bedchamber and in that way had been in a position to besiege the two doors of the room in which the man was but we could not penetrate the boudoir except by way of the drawing room the door of which had been locked on the inside by mademoiselle stangerson but even if i had had the free disposition of the boudoir i should have held to the plan i had formed because any other plan of attack would have separated us at the moment of the struggle with the man while my plan united us all for the attack at a spot which i had selected with almost mathematical precision the intersection of the two galleries having so placed my people i again left the chateau hurried to my ladder and replacing it climbed up revolver in hand if there be any inclined to smile at my taking so many precautionary measures i refer them to the mystery of the yellow room and to all the proofs we have of the weird cunning of the murderer further if there be some who sink my observations needlessly minute at a moment when they ought to be completely held by rapidity of movement and decision of action i reply that i have wished to report here at length and completely all the details of a plan of attack conceived so rapidly that it is only the slowness of my pen that gives an appearance of slowness to the execution i have wished by this slowness and precision to be certain that nothing should be omitted from the conditions under which this strange phenomenon was produced which until some natural explanation of it is forthcoming seems to me to prove even better than the theories of professor stangerson the dissociation of matter i will even say the instantaneous dissociation of matter and of chapter 15 read by jc guan montreal january 2009 chapter 16 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librew box recording all librew box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librewbox.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roux chapter 16 strange phenomenon of the dissociation of matter extract from the notebook of joseph roultaby continued i am again at the windowsill continues roultaby and once more i've raised my head above it through an opening in the curtains the arrangement of which has not been changed i am ready to look anxious to note the position in which i am going to find the murderer whether his back will still be turned towards me whether he is still seated at the desk writing but perhaps perhaps he's no longer there yet how could he have fled was i not in possession of his ladder i force myself to be cool i raise my head yet higher i look he's still there i see his monstrous back deformed by the shadow thrown by the candle he's no longer writing now and the candle is on the pocket over which he's bending a position which serves my purpose i hold my breath i mount the ladder i am on the uppermost rung of it and with my left hand sees hold of the windowsill in this moment of approaching success i feel my heart beating widely i put my revolver between my teeth a quick spring and i shall be on the window ledge but the ladder i had been obliged to press on it heavily and my foot had scarcely left it when i felt it swaying beneath me it created on the wall and fell but already my knees were touching the windowsill and by a movement quick as lightning i got onto it but the murderer had been even quicker than i had been he had heard the creating of the ladder on the wall and i saw the monstrous back of the man raise itself i saw his head did i really see it the candle on the pocket lit up his legs only above the height of the table the chamber was in darkness i saw a man with long hair a full beard wide-looking eyes a pale face framed in large whiskers as well as i could distinguish and as i think red in color i did not know the face that was in brief the chief sensation i received from that face in the dim half light in which i saw it i did not know it or at least i did not recognize it now for quick action it was indeed time for that for as i was about to place my legs through the window the man had seen me had bound it to his feet had sprung as i foresaw he would to the door of the anti chamber had time to open it and fled but i was already behind him revolver in hand shouting help like an arrow i crossed the room but noticed a letter on the table as i rushed i almost came up with the man in the anti room for he had lost time in opening the door to the gallery i flew on wings and in the gallery was but a few feet behind him he had taken as i supposed he would the gallery on his right that is to say the road he had prepared for his flight help jack help larcen i cried he could not escape us i raised a shout of joy of savage victory the man reached the intersection of the two galleries hardly two seconds before me for the meeting which i had prepared the fatal shock which must inevitably take place at that spot we all rushed to the crossing place monsieur stranger son and i coming from one end of the right gallery daddy jack coming from the other end of the same gallery and frédéric larcen coming from the off turning gallery the man was not there we looked at each other stupidly and with eyes terrified the man had vanished like a ghost where is he where is he we all asked it is impossible he can have escaped i cried my terror mastered by my anger i touched him exclaimed frédéric larcen i felt his breath on my face cried daddy jack where is he where is he we all cried we raced like mad men along the two galleries we visited doors and windows they were closed hermetically closed they had not been opened besides the opening of a door or window by this man whom we were hunting without our having perceived it would have been more inexplicable than his disappearance where is he where is he he could not have got away by a door or window nor by any other way he could not have passed through our bodies i confess that for the moment i felt done for for the gallery was perfectly lighted and there was neither trap nor secret door in the walls nor any sort of hiding place we moved the chairs and lifted the pictures nothing nothing we would have looked into a flower pot if there had been one to look into when this mystery thanks to wultaby was naturally explained by the help alone of his masterful mind we were able to realize that the murderer had got away neither by a door a window nor the stairs a fact which the judges would not admit end of chapter 16 recording by eswar in belgium in august 2008 chapter 17 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a liber box recording all liber box recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit liberbox.org recording by madera the mystery and the yellow room by gaston la rue chapter 17 the inexplicable gallery mademoiselle stanger sent a pair to the door of her anti room continues rule to build notebook we were near her door in the gallery where this incredible phenomenon had taken place there are moments when one feels as if one's brain were about to burst a bullet in the head a fracture of the skull the seat of reason shattered with only these can i compare the sensation which exhausted and let me void of sense happily mademoiselle stanger sent appeared on the threshold of anti room i saw her and that helped to relieve my chaotic state of mind i breathed her i inhaled the perfume of the lady in black whom i should never see again i would have given ten years of my life half my life to see once more the lady in black alas i no more meet her but from time to time and yet and yet how the memory of that perfume felt by me alone carries me back to the days of my childhood it was this sharp reminder from my beloved perfume of the lady in black which made me go to her dressed wholly in white and so pale so pale and so beautiful on the threshold of the inexplicable gallery her beautiful golden hair gathered into a knot on the back of her neck left visible the red star on her temple which had so nearly been the cause of her death when i first got on the right track of the mystery of this case i had imagined that on the night of the tragedy in the yellow room man was so stentious and had worn her having bands but then how could i have imagined otherwise when i had not been in the yellow room when i wrote these lines joseph ruled the bill was eighteen years of age and he spoke of his youth i have kept the text of my friend but i informed the reader here that the episode of the mystery of the yellow room has no connection with that of the perfume of the lady in black it is not my fault if in the document which i have cited root the bill thought fit to refer to his childhood but now since the occurrence of the inexplicable gallery i did not reason at all i stood there stupid before the apparition so pale and so beautiful of man was el stencherson she was glad in the dressing gown of dreamy white one might have taken her to be a ghost a lovely phantom her father took her in his arms and kissed her passionately as if he had recovered her after being long lost to him i dared not question her he drew her into the room and we followed them for we had to know the door of the boudoir was open the terrified faces of the two nurses crane towards us man was el stencherson inquired the meaning of all the disturbance that she was not in her own rooms quite easily explained quite easily she had a fancy not to sleep that night in her chamber but in the boudoir with her nurses locking the door on them since the night of the crime she had experienced feelings of terror and fears came over her that are easily to be comprehended but who could imagine that on that particular night when he was to come she would by a mere chance determined to shut herself in with her women who would think that she would act contrary to her father's wish to sleep in the drawing room who could believe that the letter which had so recently been on the table in her room would no longer be there he who could understand all this would have to assume the man was el stencherson knew that the murderer was coming she could not prevent his coming again unknown to her father unknown to all but to monsayor robert darzak for he must know it now perhaps he had known it before did he remember that phrase in the lsc garden must i commit a crime then to win you against whom the crime if not against the obstacle against the murderer ah i would kill him with my own hand and i replied you have not answered my question that was the very truth in truth in truth monsayor darzak knew the murderer so well that while wishing to kill him himself he was afraid i should find him there could be but two reasons why he had assisted me in my investigation first because i've forced him to do it and second because she would be the better protected i am in the chamber her room i look at her also in the place where the letter had just now been she has possessed herself of it it was evidently intended for her evidently how she trembles trembles at the strange story her father is telling her of the presence of the murderer in her chamber and of the pursuit but it is plainly to be seen that she is not wholly satisfied by the assurance given her until she has been told that the murderer by some incomprehensible means has been able to elude us then follows a silence what a silence we are all there looking at her her father lasso daddy jack and i what were we all thinking of in the silence after the events of that night of the mystery of the inexplicable gallery of the prodigious fact of the presence of the murderer in her room it seemed to me that all our thoughts might have been translated into the words which were addressed to her you who know of this mystery explain it to us and we shall perhaps be able to save you how i longed to save her for herself and from the other it brought the tears to my eyes she is there shedding about her the perfume of the lady in black at last i see her in the silence of her chamber since the fatal hour of the mystery of the yellow room we have hung about this invisible and silent woman to learn what she knows our desires our wish to know must be a torment to her who can tell that should we learn the secret of a mystery it would not precipitate a tragedy more terrible than that which had already been enacted here who can tell if it might not mean her death yet it had brought her close to death and we still knew nothing or rather there are some of us who know nothing but i if i knew who i should know all who who not knowing who i must remain silent out of pity for her for there is no doubt that she knows how he escaped from the yellow room and yet she keeps the secret when i know who i will speak to him to him she looked at us now with a faraway look in her eyes as if we were not in the chamber Montseil's dangerous and broke the silence he declared that henceforth he would no more absent himself from his daughter's apartments she tried to oppose him in vain he had here firmly to his purpose he would install himself there this very night he said solely concerned for the health of his daughter he reproached for having left her bed then he suddenly began talking to her as if she were a little child he smiled at her and seemed not to know either what he said or what he did the illustrious professor had lost his head Mademoiselle Stangerson in a tone of tender distress said father father daddy Jacques blows his nose and frederick Laesson himself is obliged to turn away to hide his emotion for myself i am able neither to think or feel i felt an infinite contempt for myself it was the first time that frederick Laesson like myself found himself face to face with Mademoiselle Stangerson since the attack in the yellow room like me he had insisted on being allowed to question the unhappy lady but he had not any more than i had been permitted to him as to me the same answer had always been given Mademoiselle Stangerson was too weak to receive us the questionings of the examining magistrate had over fatigued her it was evidently intended not to give us any assistance in our researches i was not surprised but frederick Laesson had always resented this conduct it is true that he and i had a totally different theory of the crime i still catch myself repeating from the depths of my heart save her save her without his speaking who is he the murderer take him and shut his mouth but Montréal D'Azac made it clear that in order to shut his mouth he must be killed have i the right to kill Mademoiselle Stangerson's murderer no i had not but let him only give me the chance let me find out whether he is really a creature of flesh and blood let me see his dead body since he cannot be taken alive if i could but make this woman who does not even look at us understand she is absorbed by her fears and by her father's distress of mind and i can do nothing to save her yes i will go to work once more and accomplish wonders i move towards her i would speak to her i would entreat her to have confidence in me i would in a word make her understand she alone that i know how the murderer escaped from the yellow room that i have guessed the motive for her secrecy and that i pity her with all my heart but by her gestures she begged us to leave her alone expressing weariness and the need for immediate rest Montréal Stangerson asked us to go back to our rooms and thanked us Frederic Larson and i bowed to him and followed by Daddy Jacques we regained the gallery i heard Larson murmur strange strange he made a sign to me to go with him into his room on the threshold he turned toward Daddy Jacques did you see him distinctly he asked who the man saw him why he had a big red beard and red hair that's how he appeared to me i said and to me said Larson the great Fred and i were alone in his chamber now to talk over this thing we talked for an hour turning the matter over and viewing it from every side from the questions put by him from the explanation which he gives me it is clear to me that in spite of all our senses he is persuaded that the man disappeared by some secret passage in the chateau known to him alone he knows the chateau he said to me he knows it well he is rather a tall man well built i suggested he is as tall as he wants to be moment Fred i understand i said but how do you account for his red hair and beard too much beard too much hair false says Fred that's easily said you are always thinking of Robert Darzak can't you get rid of that idea i am certain that he is innocent so much the better i hope so but everything condemns him did you notice the marks in the carpet come and look at them i have seen them they are the marks of the neat boots the same as those we saw on the border of the lake can you deny that they belong to Robert Darzak of course one may be mistaken have you noticed that those footprints only go in one direction that there are no return marks when the man came from the chamber pursued by all of us his footsteps left no traces behind them he had perhaps been in the chamber for hours the mud from his boots had dried and he moved with such rapidity and the points of his toes we saw him running but we did not hear his steps i suddenly put an end to this idle chatter void of any logic and made a sign to larcent to listen there below someone is shutting at all i rise larcent follows me we descend to the ground floor of the chateau i lead him to the little semicircular room under the terrace beneath the window of the off-turning gallery i point to the door now closed open a short time before under which a shaft of light is visible the forest keeper says read come on i whisper prepared i know not why to believe that the keeper is the guilty man i go to the door and wrap smartly on it some might think that we were rather late thinking of the keeper since our first business having found that the murderer had escaped us in the gallery ought to have been to search everywhere else around the chateau in the park had this criticism been made at the time we could only have answered that the assassin had disappeared from the gallery in such a way that we thought he was no longer anywhere he had eluded us when we all had our hand stretched out ready to seize him when we were almost touching him we had no longer any ground for hoping that we could clear up the mystery of that night as soon as i wrapped at the door it was opened and the keeper asked us quietly what we wanted he was undressed and preparing to go to bed the bed had not yet been disturbed we entered an eye affected surprise not gone to bed yet no he replied roughly i've been making a round of the park and in the woods i'm only just back and sleepy good night listen i said an hour or so ago there was a ladder close by your window what ladder i did not see any ladder good night and he simply put us out of the room when we were outside i looked at larcent his face was impenetrable well i said well he repeated does that open out any new view to you there was no mistaking larcent's bad temper on re-entering the chateau i heard him mutter it would be strange very strange if i deceived myself on that point he seemed to be talking to me rather than to himself he added in any case we shall soon know what to think the morning will bring light with it end of chapter 17 recording by madera in seattle washington chapter 18 of the mystery of the yellow room this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more free audiobooks or to volunteer please visit librivox.org the mystery of the yellow room by gaston le roux chapter 18 roule tabby has drawn a circle between the two bumps on his forehead extract from the notebook of joseph roule tabby continued we separated on the thresholds of our rooms with a melancholy shake of the hands i was glad to have aroused in him a suspicion of error he was an original brain very intelligent but without method i did not go to bed i awaited the coming of daylight and then went down to the front of the chateau and made a detour examining every trace of footsteps coming towards it or going from it these however were so mixed and confusing that i could make nothing of them here i may make a remark i am not accustomed to attach an exaggerated importance to exterior signs left in the track of a crime the method which traces the criminal by means of the tracks of his footsteps is altogether primitive so many footprints are identical however in the disturbed state of my mind i did go into the deserted court and did look at all the footprints i could find there seeking for some indication as a basis for reasoning if i could but find a right starting point in despair i seated myself on a stone for over an hour i busyed myself with the common ordinary work of a policeman like the least intelligent of detectives i went unblindly over the traces of footprints which told me just no more than they could i came to the conclusion that i was a fool lower in the scale of intelligence than even the police of the modern romanza novelists build mountains of stupidity out of a footprint on the sand or from an impression of a hand on the wall that's the way innocent men are brought to prison it might convince an examining magistrate or the head of a detective department but it's not proof you writers forget that what the census furnish is not proof if i am taking cognizance of what is offered me by my senses i do so but to bring the results within the circle of my reason that circle may be the most circumscribed but if it is it has this advantage it holds nothing but the truth yes i swear that i have never used the evidence of the senses but as servants to my reason i have never permitted them to become my master they have not made of me that monstrous thing worse than a blind man a man who sees falsely and that is why i can triumph over your error and your merely animal intelligence frédéric larcent be of good courage then friend roultaby it is impossible that the incident of the inexplicable gallery should be outside the circle of your reason you know that then have faith and take thought with yourself and forget not that you took hold of the right hand when you drew that circle in your brain within which to unravel this mysterious play of circumstance to it once again go back to the gallery take your stand on your reason and rest there as frédéric larcent rests on his cane you will then soon prove that the great fred is nothing but a fool 30th october noon joseph roultaby i acted as i planned with head on fire i retraced my way to the gallery and without having found anything more than i had seen on the previous night