Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1909-01-07
The Mystery
Of
TheYeIIOW Room
BY CASTOR LEROUX
By CASTOR LEROUx
eOpyrIsht. zoos. by Drsn.anO'.

md history - er Joseph Rou-
sgetabitle, rePo. 'detectfve, SUI
eSerior to you al in the faculties
~ observing everything, ren,em-
Ssring everything, dedacing all
the facts that throw light on his
bases. Before RoutefG6iHe pro-
aounced Rule ta- bee solved the
Mystery of the yellow Room he
wds known to the Paris police
us a marvel of reasoning power,
although he was only a boy in
wears. With the solution of the
famous Stangerscn enigma he be-
came a national figure in the lit
STATURE of France. As such NE
Introduce him TO our readers.
"As I am almost sure that the muir
derer is there, why do l not at once
give the alarm? The murderer may
perhaps escape, but perhaps l may be
able to save Mile. Stangerson's life.
Suppose the murderer 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? Nile. Stangerson shuts her
self up. in her apartment with her
nurses every night. Who turned the
key Of that chamber to allow the muir
derer to enter? The nurses, two faith
Tul domestics? The old chambermaid,
Sylvia? 1t is very improbable. Be
sides, they slept in the boudoir, and
Mile Stangerson, very nervous and
careful, NJ. Robert Darzac told me,
sees to her own safety since she has
been well enough to move about in her
room, which 1 have not yet seen her
leave. This nervousness and sudden
care on her part, which had struck
M. Darzac, 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 murderer. Was
he expected this night2 Was it she
herself who had opened her door to
him? Had she some reason for do
ing so? Was she obliged to do it,
Was it a meeting for purposes of
crime? Certainly it was not a lovers
meeting, for l believe Mile. Stanger-
son adores NJ. Darzac.
at is possible that there was some
reason for the awful silence. My in
tervention might do more harm than
good How could 1 tell2 How could
/ know l might not any moment cause
another crime? If l could only see
and know without breaking that ST
lence.
II left the anteroOm and descended
the central stairs to the veshbule and
as silently as possible made my way
to the little room on the ground floor
where Daddy Jacques had been sleep
ing since the attack made at the pa
ViliOn.
Il 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 Bette du Bon Dieu
and because he had heard footsteps in
the park close to his window, out of
which he had looked and just then
asked him whether he had a frearm
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 back
door into the park and stole along the
chateau to the point which is just be-
low Mile. Stangerson's window.
the wall, ordering him not to stir
from the spot, while l, taking advan-
tage 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 II, for the win
dow was half open. If l could only
know what was passing in that silent
chamber l returned to Daddy Jacques
and whispered the word ladder in his
ear. At first l had thought Of the
tree which a week ago served me for
an observatory, but l Immediately saw
that from the way the window was
half opened / should not be able to see
from that point of view anything that
was passing in the room, and l want
ed not only to see, but to hear, and to
act.
Greatly agitated, almost trembling
Daddy Jacques disappeared for mo-
ment and returned without the ladder
but making signs to me with his arms
as signals to me to come quickly to
him. When l got near him he gasped
Gomez
che led me round the chateau, past
the donjon. Arrived there, he said:
"T went to the donjon In search OF
my ladder, and in the lower part Of the
donjon which serves me and the gar
dener for a lumber room l found the
door open and the ladder gone. On
coming out that's what / caught sight
Of by the light of the moon
"And he pointed to the farther end
of the chateau, where a ladder stood
resting against the stone brackets sup
,.,r4f,,rr tha fatsroaa undar tha window