The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1909-03-04

low room.
II know said Daddy Jacques. trenl
bling. they are almost alike"
And then" continued Frederic Lar
san. "the old Basque cap also found i'll
the yellow room might AT n time
have been worn by Dadd% Jacques
himself. All this. gentlemen. proves. .
think, that the murderer wished to dis
guise his real personality. He did Il In
a very clumsy way. or. at least. so II
appears 70 u>. Don't be alarmed.
Daddy jacques. We are quite sure
that YOU were not the murderer. You
never left .he side Of NJ. Stangerson.
But II NJ %StangersOn had not been
working that night aud had gone back
to the chateau after parting with his
daughter, and Daddy Jacques had gone
to sleep in his attic, no one would have
doubted that he was the murderer. He
owes his safety. therefore. to the
tragedy having been enacted too soon
the murderer. nc doubt, from the 81
lencc in the laboratory. imagined that
IL vas Nlbl's wv 'htN h'''hN ~ ~
| action had come. The man who had
been able to introduce himself here So
mystcriOusly and to leave SO many evil
dences against Daddy Jacques was.
there can be no doubt, familiar with
the house. At what hour exactly he
entered. whether In the afternoon or in
the evening, | cannot say. one ia
miliar with the proceedings and per-
sons Of this pavilion could choose his
own time for entering the yellow
room"
He could not have entered it if any
body had been in the laboratory" said
NJ. de Marquet.
How do we know that" replied
Larsan. There was the dinner in the
laboratory, the coming and going Of
the servants in attendance. There was
a chemical experiment being carried
IN between 10 and IL o'clock with NJ.
Stangerson, his daughter, and Daddy
Jacques engaged at the furnace in a
corner Of the high chimney. Who can
say that the murderer-an intimate, n
friend-did not take advantage OF that
moment to slip into the yellow room
lavatory"
1T Is very improbable" said NJ.
StangersOn.
Doubtless, but 1t is not impossible.
l assert nothing. AS to the escape
from the pavilion. that's another thing
tina mast pat,roi thine q, fIo r,ovI1 -
For a mOmen Frederic Larsan pauS-
ed-a moment that appeared to US
a very long time. The eagerness with
which we awaited what he was going
to tell us may be imagined.
II have not been In the yellow room,"
he continued. but | take 1t for grant
ed that you have satisfied yourselves
that he could have left the room only
by way of the door. 1t Is by the door,
then, that the murderer made his way
out At what time? At the moment
when 1t was most easy for him to do
SCAT the moment when it became
most ex~plainable-so completely ex-
plainaDle that there can be no other
explanation. Let us go over the mo-
mentS which followed after the crime
had been committed. There was the
first moment. when NJ. Stangerson
and Daddy Jacques were close to the
door ready 10 bar the way. There was
the second moment, during which
Daddy Jacques was absent and NJ.
StangerSon WIS left alone before the
door. There was Il third moment
when NJ. StangersOn was joined by the
concierge. There was a fourth mo-
ment, during which NJ. Stangerson,
the concierge and his wife and Daddy
Jacques were before the door. There
was a fifth moment, during which the
door was burst open and the yellow
room entered. The mt which
the flight is eXplainable Is the very mo-
ment when there was the least number
of persons before the door. There was
one m when there was but one
perSOn-M. ~Stangerson. Unless 4 COM
plicity of silence on the part Of Daddy
Jacques Is admitted-in which | do not
b~elieve-the door was opened in the
presence Of NJ. Stangprson alone. and
the man escaped.
"IHere we must admit that NJ. Stan
gerson had powerful reasons for not
arresting OF not causing the arrest Of
the murderer. since he allowed him to
reach the window In the veStibule and
closed 1t after him. That done. Mile
Stangerson. though horribly wounded.
had still strength enough. and no doubt
In obedience to the entreatieS Of her
father. to refaSten the door Of her
chamber with both the bolt and the
lock before sinking on the floor. We
do not know who committed the crime:
we do not know of what wretch ".
and Mile. S~tangerSon are the victims.
but there Is no doubt that they both
know, The secret must be n terrible
one, for the father had not hesitated
to leave his daughter TO die behind the
door which she had shut upon herself
terrible for him To have allowed the
assassin to escape. For there is no
other way in the world to explain the
murderer's Digit from the yellow
ROOM
The silence which followed this dra-
matte and lucid explanation was APP
palling. We all of us felt grieved for