Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1909-04-22

or course he had TO make II appear as
II he also had been drugged SO that nO
susplcIOn should fall on him for my
condition Had l not been thus over
powered Larsan would never have en-
tered Mile StangersOn's chamber that
nIxht and the atIack on her would not
have taken place"
A groan came from DarZac, who ap-
peared to be unable 10 control his suf-
fering.
You can understand" added Roule-
nbille. that Larsan would feel him
self hampered from the fact that my
room was so close to his and from a
suspicion that / would be on the
watch that night Naturally he could
not for a moment believe thar l sus-
pected him But might see him leay-
ing his room when he was about to go
10 Mile. StangersOn- He waited till
was asleep and my friend Sainclair
was busy trying 70 rouse me- Ten
minutes after that mademoiseIle was
calling OUT Murder"
How did you come 10 suspect Lar
san asked the president"
My pure reason pointed TO him
That was why ] watched him. But
did not foresee the drugsing. He is
pointed TO him, but | required tangible
proof so that my eyes could see him
rs my pure reason saw him. The day
following the incident of the mex
pllcable gallery l felt myself losing
control OF IL. ! had allowed myself To
be diverted by fallacious evidence. but
l recovered and again took hold Of the
right end. | satisfied myself that the
murderer could not have left the gal
lery. either naturally or supernatural
ly. narrowed the field of considera-
ton to that small circle. so to sneak
The murderer could not be outside
that circle. Now. who were in it:
There was, first, the murderer. Then
there were Daddy Jacques. NJ. Stan
carson, Frederic I-arsan and myself
ave persons IN all, counting in the
murderer. And yet In the gallery
there were but four. Now. since It
bad been demonstrated TO me that the
nth could not have escaped. It was
sgident that one Of the four present
In the gallery must be a double-he
must be himself and the murderer also
Why had I not seen this before? Sim
ply because the phenomenon Of the
Soluble personality had not occurred
before in this inquiry.
Snow, who OF the four persons In the
gallery was both that person aud the
assassin / went over In my mind
what ] had seen. had seen at one
and the same time VI. StangersOn and
the murderer. Daddy Jacques and the
murderer. myself and the murderer, so
that the murderer. then, could not be
either NJ. Stangerson. Daddy Jacques
or myself. Had | seen Frederic Lar
saD and the murderer at the same
time? No. Two seconds had passed.
during which | lost sight Of the muir
derer, for, as have noted in my pa
pers. he arrived two seconds before
u. StangersOn, Daddy Jacques and
myself at the meeting point Of the two
galleries. That would have given Lar
san time to go through the of turn
Ing gallery. snatch of his false beard.
return and hurry with us as If. like us.
In pursuit Of the murderer. was sure
now ! had got hold Of the right end In
my reasoning. With Frederic L.arsan
was now always associated In my mind
the personality Of the unknown of
whom ! was in pursuit-the murderer.
In other words.
THAT revelation staggered me.
tried to regain my balance by going
over the evidences previously traced.
but which had diverted my mind and
led me away from Frederic Larsan.
What were these evidencesf
"Pirst.-I had seen the unknown I'm
Mile. Stangerson's chamber. On going
to Frederic Larsan's room | had found
Larssn sound asleep.
"seeond.-The ladder.
Third had placed Frederic Lar
san at the erd Of the of turning gal
lery and had told him that would
rush Into Nile. Stangerson's room to
Try to capture the murderer. Then
returned to Mile. Stangerson's cham
her. where had seen the unknown.
The first evidence did not disturb
me much. 1t is likely that when | de-
scended from my ladder, after having
seen the unknown In Mile. Stanger-
sons chamber. Larsan had already fin
hhed what he was doing there. Then.
while / was re-entering the chateau.
larssn went back TO his own room
and. undressing himself went to sleep.
"S0r did the second evidence trouble
me. IL LarsaD were the murderer ne
could have no use for q ladder. but
the ladder might have been placed
there to give an appearance to the
murderer's entrance from without the
chatean- especially as I.arsan had ac-
cused DarZac and Darzac was not in
the chateau that night. Further. the
ladder might have been placed there
to facilitate I-arsan's flight In case Of
absolute necessity.
But the third evidence puzzled me
altogether. Having placed Iarsan at
the end Of the 'or turning gallery. I