Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1908-12-24

/ JACQUES leave tue po'hAS'A' -
has been spread nearly, very nearly,
mn TO the windows Of the pavilion. The
footprints of a man parallel with the
wall. marks which we will examine
presently and which / have already
seen. prove that he only needed to
make one stride to find himself In
front of the vestibule window, left
open by Daddy Jacques. The man
drew himself up by his hands ana en-
tered the vestibule."
after all, it is very possible" l said
eff / did not reason as | do in re-
gard to this gravel" Rouletabille went
ON. ii should have to assume bal
loon. SO don't say thing is possible
when it could not be otherwise. we
know now how the man entered by
the window. and we also know the
moment at which he entered-during
the 5 o'clock walk of the professor
and his daughter. The fact of the
presence Of the chambermaid, who had
come to clean up the yellow room, in
the laboratory when M. Stangerson
and his daughter returned from their
walk at half past permits us to. af-
firm that at half past 1 the murderer
was not in che chamber under the bed
unless he was in collision with the
chambermaid What do you say, M.
.DarzacT'
NJ. Darzac shook his head and said
he was sure of the chambermaid's
fidelity and that she was thorough
ly honest and devoted servant.
Besides" he addeo, "at o'clock
NJ. stangerson went into the room to
fetch his daughters hat"
'There is that Also" said Rouleta-
bile.
"That the man entered by the win
dow at the time you say, 1 admit"
said, "but why did he shut the win
dow? 1t was an act which would nee
essarily draw the attention of those
who had left it OPEN"
at may be the window was not shut
at once" replied the young reporter.
"But if he did shut the window it was
because of the bend in the gravel path
dozen yards from the pavilion and
on account of the three oaks that are
growing at that spot"
what do you mean by thatY' asked
M. Darzac, who had followed us and
listened with almost breathless atten-
ton to all that Rouletabille had said.
"I'll explain all to you later on, mon
sieur, when l think the moment to be
ripe for doing So But l don't think
l have anything of more Importance
to say on this affair if my hypothesis
is justified"
"And what is your hypOthesis~
"You will never know If it does not
turn out to be the truth 1t is of much
too grave a nature to speak of it 500
long as it continues to be only n.y.
pothesis."
''IIave you at least some idea as to
who the murderer isT'
mo, monsieur, l don't know who
the murderer is. But dent be afraid,
M. Robert Darzac. / shall know"
l could not but observe that M. Oar
FAC was deeply moved, and suspect
ed that Rouletabllles confident asser-
tion was not pleasing to him. Why,
/ asked myself, if he was really afraid
that the murderer should be discover
ed, was he helping the reporter to find
him? My young friend seemed to
have received the same impression,
for he said bluntly:
IN. Darzac, don't you want me TO
find out who the murderer wasp
"Oh, / should like to kill him with
my own handw cried Mile. Stanger-
gon's fiance, with a vehemence that
amazed me.
81 believe YOU" said Rouletabille
gravely. But you have not answered
my question"
We were passing by the thicket of
which the young reporter had spoken
to us a minute before l entered II
and pointed out evident traces of q
man who had been hidden there
Rouletabille once more was right
eyes, yes, he said. 1--WE have to do
with a thing Of flesh and blood. VIII
uses the same means that we do. tn
all come out on those lines"
Having said this, he asked me for
Tie pdptl pattern VI the lOOlpIlul
which he had given me to take care
of and applied it to very clear foot
mark behind the thicket "Ahaw he
said rising.
/ thought he was now going to trace
back the track of the murderer's foot
marks to the vestibule window, but he
led us instead far to the left, saying
that it was useless ferreting in the
mud and that he was sure now Of the
road taken by the murderer.
'He went along the wall to the hedge
and dry ditch, over which he jumped.
See, just in front Of the little path
leading to the lake, that was his near,
act NAV IN Oat out -