Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-01-28
The Mystery of
 the Yellow Room
 By GASTON LEROUX
By GASTON LEROUX

gerson he was led to hope that she might by careful nursing one day re- cover her reason.
 Rouletabille and left Versailles to- gether, after having dined at The Dog That Smokes. In the train put a number of questions to him.
 My friend" I said. q am still in the dark as to your reason for going to America When you left the Clan dier you had found out, If I rightly un- derstand. all about Frederic Larsan. You had discovered the exact way he had attempted the murder?
 Quite so. And you," he said, turn ing the conversation, "did you suspect nothing"
 "I don't see how I could have sus- pected anything You took great pains to conceal your thoughts from me. Had you already suspected Larsan when you sent for me to bring the re- volvers?'
 "Yes. I had come to that conclusion through the incident of the fnexplica- ble gallery Larsan's return to Mile. Stangerson's room, however, had not then been cleared up by the eyeglasses. My suspicious were the outcome of my reasoning ,nly, and the Idea of Larsan being the murderer seemed so extraor- dinary that resolved to walt for actual evidence before venturing to act. Nevertheless the suspicion wor- ried me, and I sometimes spoke to the detective in a way that ought to have opened your eyes. I spoke disparag- lngly of his methods. But until found the eyeglasses could but look upon my suspicion of him in the light of an absurd hypothesis only. You can imagine my elation after had ex- plained Larsan's movements. I re- member well rushing into my room like a madman and crying to you: I'll get the better of the great Fred! I'll get the better of him fin a way that will make sensationr
 But one important point escaped us both. It was one which ought to have opened our eyes to Larsan. Do you re- member the bamboo cane? l was sur prised to find Larsan had made no use of that evidence against Robert Dar- zac. Had 1t not been purchased by a man whose description tailed exactly with that of Darzac? Well, just be- fore saw him of at the train after the recess during the trial asked him why he hadn't used tho cane evidence. He told me he had never had any in- tention of doing so; that our discov- cry of 1t in the little inn at Epinay had much embarrassed him. If you will remember. he told us then that I the cane had been given him in Lon don. Why did we not immediately say to ourselves: Fred is lying: he could not have had this cane in Lon- | it in ParisT Then you found out on | inquiry at Cassette's that the cane had been bought by person dressed very like Robert Darzac. though. as we learned later from DarZac himself. it was not he who had made the pur- already knew from the letter at the poste restante that there was actually man in Paris who was passing as Robert Darzac. Why did we not i'm mediately fix on Fred himself?
 ''Of course his position was against eagerness on his part to find convict ing evidence against Darzac-nay, even i the passion he displayed in his pur- suit of the man-the lie about the cane | should have had new meaning for us. If you ask why Larsan bought the cane if he had no intention of manu- featuring evidence against Darzac by means of if, the answer is quite sim pie. He had been wounded in the hand by Mile. Stangerson, so that the cane was useful to enable him to close his hand in carrying it. You remem- Der noticed that he always car ried it.
 | "All these details came back to my mind when had once fixed on Larsan as the criminal But they were too J late then to be of any use to me. On the evening when he pretended to be drugged looked at his hand and saw q thin silk bandage covering the signs of slight healing wound. Had we taken quicker initiative at the time Larsan told us that lie about the cane am certain he would have gone off to avoid suspicion. All the same, we worried Larsan, or Ballmeyer, without our knowing it."
 But" interrupted, If Larsan had no intention of using the cane as evi- dence against Darzac, why had he made himself up to look like the man when he went in to buy itY'
 "He had not specially made up as Dargac to buy the cane; he had come straight to Cassette's immediately aft