Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-01-29
The Mystery of
 the Yellow Room
 By GASTON LEROUX
By GASTON LEROUX

that. since she was too i'll to come to him, he would come to her and that he would be in her chamber at par ticular hour on a particular night Knowing that she had everything to fear from Ballmeyer. she had left her chamber on that night. It was then that the incident of the '1nexplicable gallery" occurred.
 The third time she had determined to keep the appointment. He asked for it in the letter be had written in her own room on the night of the in- cident in the gallery. which he left on her desk. In that letter he threatened to burn her fathers papers if she did not meet him. It was to rescue these papers that she made up her mind to see him. She did not for one moment doubt that the wretch would carry out his threat If she persisted In avoiding him, and in that case the labors of her l fathers lifetime would be forever lost. Since the meeting was thus inevitable she resolved to see her husband and appeal to his better nature. It was for | this interview that she had prepared herself on the night the keeper was killed. They did meet. and what pass cd between them may be imagined. He insisted that she renounce DarZac. She, on her part, affirmed her love for him. He stabbed her in his anger, de- : termined to convict DarZac of the crime. As Larsan he could do it and , haI fhtnns that IlQrza0 could never explain how he had em- ployed the time of his absence from tue chateau Ballmeyer's precautions were most cunningly taken.
 Larsan had threatened Darzac as he had threatened Mathilde-with the same weapon and the same threats He wrote Darzac urgent letters declar- I ing himself ready to deliver up the let ters that had passed between him and his wife and to leave them forever If he would pay him his price. He asked Darzac to meet him for the pur- pose of arranging the matter. appoint ing the time when Larsan would be ' with Mile Stangerson. When Darzac 1 went to EpiDay, expecting to find Ball | meyer. or Larsan. there. he was met by an accoInplice of Larsan's and kept waiting until such time as the ''coinci- dence" could be established.
 It was all done with Machiavelliau cunning. but Ballmeyer had reckoned without Joseph Rouletabille.
 
 Now that the mystery of the yellow room has been cleared up this is not the time to tell of Rouletabille's ad- ventures in America. Knowing the young reporter as we do. we can un- derstand with what acumen he had traced step by step the story of Ma | thilde Stangerson and Jean Roussel. At Philadelphia he had quickly inform ed himself as to Arthur William Rance. | There he learned of Rance's act of de- | yotion and the reward he thought him. self entitled to for 1t. A rumor of his marriage with Mile. Stangerson had once found its way into the drawing rooms r: Philadelphia. He also learn ed of kance's continued attentions to her and Lis importunitIes for her hand. He had taken to drink. he had said. to drown his grief at his unrequited love. It can now be understood why Roule- tabille had shown so marked coolness of demeanor toward Rance when they met in the witnesses room on the day of the trial
 The strange ssel-Stangerson myse tery had now been laid bare. Who was this Jean Roussel? Rouletabfiis had traced him from Philadelphia to Cincinnati In Cincinnati he became acquainted with the old aunt and ha5 found means to open her mouth. The story of Ballmeyer's arrest threw the right light on the swhole story. He visited the 'presbytery," small eA.i pretty dwelling in the old colonial style, which had indeed Host nothing of it's charm.' Then. abandoning his pursuit of traces of Mile. Stangerson, he took up those of BaIlmeyer. He followed them from prison to prison, from crime to crime Finally as he was about leaving for Europe he learn ed in New York that Ballmeyer had five years before embarked for France with some valuable papers belonging to merchant of New Orleans whom he had murdered.
 And yet the whole of this mystery has not been revealed Mile. Sanger son had child by her husband, a son The infant was born in the old aunts
 house. No one knew of it, so well H had the aunt managed to conceal the event
 What became of that son? That is another story, which so far am not permitted to relate.
 THE END.
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