The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1909-04-17
COPYRIGHT. 1908.
BY BRENTANO'S

teTrdce anu l1drSun WIS ciedr OI the
ground. The rest was easy. His act
ing after dinner as If he had been
drugged was make believe. He was
not drugged. But he did drug me.
OF course he had to make it appear as
# he also had been drugged so that no
suspicion should fall ON him for my
condition. Had l not been thus over
powered Larsan would never have en-
tered Mile. Stangerson's chamber that
night and the attack ON her would not
have taken place"
A groan came from Darzac. who ap-
peared to be unable to control his suf-
fering.
You can understand" added Roule-
tabille, that Larsan would feel him
self hampered from the fact that my
room was so close to his and from
suspicion that / would be on the
watch that night. Naturally he could
not for moment believe that sus-
pected him. But l might see him leav-
ing his room when he was about to go
to Mile. StangersOn. He waited till
was asleep and my friend Sainclair
was busy trying 10 rouse me. Ten
minutes after that mademoiselle was
calling out 'Murder!'"
How did you come to suspect Lar
san?' asked the president"
"My pure reason pointed to him.
That was why l watched him. But
did not foresee the drugging. He is
very cunning. Yes, my pure reason
pointed to him, but required tangible
proof so that my eyes could see him
as my pure reason saw him. The day
following the incident of the mex
plicable gallery l felt myself losing
control of 1t. l had allowed myself to
be diverted by fallacious evidence, but
recovered and again took hold Of the
right end. I satisfied myself that the
murderer could not have left the gal
lery. either naturally or supernatural
ly.N l narrowed the field of considera-
tion to that small circle. so to speak
The murderer could not be outside
that circle. Now, who were in it?
There was. first. the murderer. Then
there were Daddy Jacques, NJ. Stan.
gerson, Frederic Larsan and myself
five persons in all. counting In the
murderer And yet In the gallery
there were but four. Now. since it
had been demonstrated to me that the
ffth could not have escaped, 1t was
evident that one of the four present
In the gallery must be a double-he
must be himself and the murderer also.
Why had I not seen this before? Sim
| ply because the phenomenon of the
double personality had not occurred
before in this inquiry.
"NOw, who of the four persons in the
yallery was both that person and the
assassin? ] went over in my mind
what / had seen. had seen at one
and the same time NJ. Stangerson and
| the murderer, Daddy Jacques and the
murderer. myself and the murderer so
that the murderer. then, could not be
either NJ. Stangerson, Daddy Jacques
| or myself. Had | seen Frederic Lar
san and the murderer at the same
time? No. Two seconds had passed.
during which | lost sight of the MUIR
derer, for, as ! have noted In my pa
| pers, he arrived two seconds before
M. Stangerson. Daddy Jacques and
! myself at the meeting point of the two
galleries. That would have given Lar
| san time to go through the off turn
| Ing gallery, snatch off his false beard.
return and hurry with us as If, like us.
In pursuit Of the murderer was sure
now had got hold of the right end in
my reasoning With Frederic Larsan
was now always associated In my mind
the personality of the unknown of
| whom | was in pursuit-the murderer,
| In other words.
THAT revelation staggered me.
tried to regain my balance by going
over the evidences previously traced,
but which had diverted my mind and
led me away from Frederic Larsan.
| What were these eyidences9
"First.-I had seen the unknown in
Mile. Stangerson's chamber. On going
to Frederic Larsan's room l had found
Larsan sound asleep.
"Second.-The ladder.
"Third.-l had placed Frederic Lar
san at the erd of the 'off turning gal
lery and had told him that l would
rush into Mile. Stangerson's room to
try to capture the murderer. Then l
returned to Mile. Stangerson's cham
Der, where had seen the unknown.
'The first evidence did not disturb
me much. 1t Is likely that when / de-
scended from my ladder. after having
seen the unknown in Mile. Stanger-
sons chamber. Larsan had already fin
ished what he was doing there. Then
while I was re-entering the chateau
Larsan went back to his own room
and, undressing himself. went to sleep
"Nor did the second evidence trouble
me. If Larsan were the murderer be
could have no use for ladder. but
the ladder might have been placed
there to give an appearance to the
murderer's entrance from without the
chateau. especially as Larsan had ac
cused Darzac and Darzac was not In
the chateau that night. Further, the
ladder might have been placed there
to facilitate Larsan's flight In case d
absolute necessity.
But the third evidence puzzled me
altogether. Having placed Larsan al
the end Of the off turning gallery,