Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1909-02-04
The Mystery of
The Yellow Room
By GASTON LEROUx II 'oprHls'fr ~ ''ss ssrsrAso,

window and once more examined the
iron bars and blinds, all of which
were solid and intact At last he gave
a grunt of satisfaction and declared.
Now l am at easew
well, do you believe that the poor
dear young lady was shut I'D when
she was being murdered-when she
cried out for helpY" walled Daddy
Jacques.
Yes" said the young reporter, dry
Ing his forehead; 1.-The yellow room
was as tightly shut as an iron SAFE"
"The Bette du Bon Dieu," muttered
Daddy Jacques-''the Bette du Bon Dieu
herself, if she had committed the
crime, could not have escaped. Lis
ten! Do you hear it? Hush!"
Daddy Jacques made us a sign to
keep quiet and, stretching his arm to-
ward the wall nearest the forest, lis
tened to something which we could
not hear.
Its answering" he said at length.
81 must kill it. 1t is too wicked. but
It's the Bette du Bon Dieu, and every
night 1t goes to pray on the tomb of
st. Genevieve. and nobody dares to
touch her for fear that Mother An
genoux should cast an evil spell on
them"
How big is the Bette du Bon Dieu?"
Nearly as big as a small retriever
monster, tell you. All, have asked
myself more than once whether it was
not she that took our poor made
moiselle by the throat with her claws.
But the Bette du Bon Dieu does not
wear hobnailed boots, nor fire revolv-
ers, nor has she hand like thatv ex-
claimed Daddy Jacques, again point
Ing out to us the red mark on the wall.
Besides, we should have seen her as
well as we would have seen a man"
Evidently" l said. Before we had
seen this yellow room had also asked
myself whether the cat of Mother An
genoux"-
You alsow cried Rouletabille.
"Didu't you?" ! asked.
mot for moment. After reading
the article in the Matin l knew that
cat had nothing to do with the mat
ter. But swear now that frightful
tragedy has been enacted here. You
say nothing about the Basque cap or
the handkerchief found here, Daddy
Jacques"
"Of course the magistrate has taken
them," the old man answered hesi-
tatingly.
II haven't seen either the handker-
chief or the cap, yet l can tell you
how they are made" the reporter said
to him gravely.
''Oh, you are very clever" said Dad
dy jacques, coughing and embar-
rassed
"The handkerchief Is q large one,
blue with red stripes, and the cap is
all old Basque cap, like the one you
are wearing now"
"You are wizardr said Daddy
Jacques. trying to laugh and not quite
succeeding. How do you know that
the handkerchief is blue with red
stripesY
Because If 1t had not been blue
with red stripes it would not have
been found at ALL"
Without giving any further atten-
tion to Daddy Jacques my friend took
piece of paper from his pocket and,
taking out a pair of scissors, bent
over the footprints. Placing the pa
per over one of them, he began to
cut. In short time he had made a
perfect pattern, which he handed to
me, begging me not to lose it.
He then returned to the window
and, pointing to the figure of Fred
eric Larsan. who had not quilted the
side of the lake, asked Daddy Jacques
whether the detective had, like him
self, been working In the yellow room.
mo" replied Robert Darzac, who
since Rouletabille had handed him the
piece Of scorched paper had not ut
tered q word. "He pretends that he
does not need to examine the yellow
room. he says that the murderer
made his escape from 1t In quite nat
ural way aud that he will this evening
explain how he did it."
AS he listened to what M. Darzac
had to say Rouletabille turned pale.
Has Frederic Larsan found out the
ruth. which | can only guess at?" he
murmured. "He is very clever-very
clever-and | admire him. Yet | have
discovered many things"
Moral or materialY' | asked.
Several moral, one material. This.
for example"
And rapidly he drew from his waist
coat pocket piece of paper in which
he had placed light colored hair from
q woman's head.