The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-02-05

moment to slip into the yellow room
after having taken off his boots in the
lavatory?"
cit is very improbable" said NJ
StangersOn.
| Doubtless lgut lis not impossible
| assert nothing. AS to the escape
from the pavilion. that's another thing
the most natural thing in the world"
For a moment Frederic Larsan paus-
ed-a moment that appeared to us
q very long time. The eagerness with
which we awaited what he was going
to tell us may be imagined.
| 81 have not been in the yellow ROOM"
he continued, but l. take it 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 it was most easy for him to do
SCAT the moment when it became
| most eXp1alnable-so completely eX-
| plainable 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 to bar the way. There was
| the second moment, during which
Daddy Jacques was absent and NJ.
Stangerson was left alone before the
door. There was a third moment,
Pwhen NJ. Stangerson was Joined by the
| concierge. There was fourth mo-
| ment, during which NJ. StangersOn,
the concierge and his wife and Daddy
! Jacques were before the door. There
was fifth moment, during which the
door was burst open and the yellow
| room entered. The moment at which
the fight is explainable is the very mo-
| ment when there was the least number
of persons before the door. There was
one moment when there was but one
person-M. Stangerson. Unless com
plicity of silence on the part of Daddy
Jacques is admitted-in which | do not
| bclieve~the door was opened in the
presence OF NJ. Stangerson alone. and
| the man escaped.
Here we must admit that NJ. Stan
| gersOn had powerful reasons for not
arresting or not causing the arrest Of
the murderer, since he allowed him to
reach the window In the vestibule anC
| closed it after him. That done. Mile.
| Stangerson, though horribly wounded
| had still strength enough end no doub,
in obedience to the cntrcaties of her
! father, to refasten the door Of Der
Gh wi hn lp1 ho
lock before sinking on the floor We
90 not know who committed the crime;
we do not know of what wretch NJ
and Mile. StangerSon are the Victims
but there Is no doubt that they both
know! The secret must be terrible
| one. for the father had not hCsitatcd
to leave his daughter to die behind the
door which she had SHUT upon herself
terrible for him to have. allowed the
assassin 10 escape. For tfftre is 10
other way in the world tC{eXplaln the
murdcrcr's fllght from che yellow
room
The silence which followed this dra-
matte ana lucid explanation WIS APP
palling. We all Of us felt grieyed for
the illustrious professor, so driven into
Il corner by the pitiless logic of Fred
eric LarSan, so forced to confess the
whole truth of his martyrdom or to
keep silent and thus make yet more
terrible admission. The man himself.
Il veritablc statue of sorrow. raked 4
his hand with gesture so solemn that
we bowed our heads to it rs before
something sacred. He then pronounc
cd these words in Il voice so loud that
it seemed to exhaust him:
81 swear by the head of my suffering
child | never for an instant left the
door of her chamber after hearing her
cries for help; that that door was not
opened while l was alone in the labo-
ratory, and that, finally, when we en-
tered the yellow room, my three do
mestics and j. the murderer was no
longer there, | swear I do not know,
the murderer"
Must / say it, in spite Of the solem-
nifty Of NJ. Stangersons words we did
not believe in his denial? Frederic
Larsan had shown us the truth, and
it was not so easily given up.
NJ. de Marquet announced that the
conversation was at an end. and rs we
were about TO leave the laboratory Jo-
seph Roulctabille approached NJ. STAN
gerson. took him by the hand with
greatest respect and heard him say:
Il believe You, monsieur"
I here close the citation which l have
thought 1t my duty to make from NJ
Malcine's narrative I need not tell
the reader that all that passed in the
laboratory was Immediately and faith
fully reported to me by Roulstabille'
CONTINUED next week.