Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1909-01-09
CHAPTER XVII.
The InsspIiesbls Gallery.

bille's notebook. I'VE were
near her door in the gallery where this
Incredible phenomenon had taken
place. There are moments when one
feels as If ones brain were about to
burst. A bullet In the head, fracture
Of the skull, the seat Of reason shat
tered-with only these can / compare
the sensation which exhausted and left
me void of sense.
Happily Allie Stangerson appeared
on the threshold Of her auter0on /
saw her, and that helped to relieve my
chaotic state of mind / breathed her;
l inhaled the perfume of the lady in
black who had been kind to me 10
my childhood whom | should never
see again. would have given zen
years Of my life-half my life--to see
once more the lady in black. Alas
/ no more meet her but from time to
time, aud yet, and yet, how the mem
ory of that perfume, felt by me alone
carries me back to the days of my
childhood 1t was this sharp reminder
from my beloved perfume of the lady
in black which made me go to her,
dressed wholly in white and so pale, so
pale and so beautiful, on the threshold
of the inexplicable gallery. Her beau
tiful golden hair, gathered into a knot
on the back of her neck, left visible the
red scar on her temple which had so
nearly been the cause Of her death.
When first got on the right track
Of the mystery of this case had
imagined that on the night Of the trag-
edy in the yellow room Nile. Stanger-
son had worn her hair in bands. But,
then, how could have imagined other
wise when l had not been in the yel-
low room?
"But now since the occurrence OF
the inexpllcable gallery, did not rea-
son at all. stood there, stupid, before
the apparition-so pale and so beauti-
ful-of Mile Stangerson. She was clad
in a dressing gown Of dreamy white.
One might have taken her to be a
ghost-a lovely phantom. Her father
took her in his arms and kissed her
passionately, as If he had recovered
her after being long lost to him.
dared not question her. He drew her
into the room, and we followed them
for we had to knowl The door of the
boudoir was open. The terrified faces
of the two nurses craned toward us
Mile. Stangerson inquired the meaning
OF all the disturbance. That she was
not in her own room was quite easily
explained-quite easily. She had a
fancy not to sleep that night in her
chamber, but in the boudoir with her
nurses locking the door on them. Since
the night of the crime she had expert
enced feelings of terror, and fears came
over her that are easily to be compre-
hended.
But who could imagine that on that
particular night when he was to come
she would by mere chance determine
to shut herself in with her women?
Who would think that She would act
contrary to her fathers wish to sleep
in the drawing room? Who could be-
leve that the letter which had so re-
Gently been on the table In her room
would no longer be there? He who
could understand all this would have
to assume that Mile Stangerson knew
that the murderer was coming-she
could not prevent his coming again
unknown to her father, unknown TO an
but to NJ. Robert Darzac. For he must
know il now Perhaps he had known
it beforel Did he remember that
phrase in the Elysee garden, Must 1
a crime, then, to win your
Against whom the crime if not against
the obstacle, against the murderer?
Ah, l would kill him with my own
hand! And | replied, You have not
answered my question: That was the
very truth. In truth, in truth, NJ. Oar
zac knew the murderer SO well that !
while wishing to kill him himself. he
was afraid / should find him. There
could be but two reasons why he had
assisted me in my investigation. First. /
because have forced him to do it,
and, second because she would be the
better protected.
81 am in the chamberlain room.
look at her. also at the place where the
'StNfA htA just INV Decu. cDe mas DOS /
sessed herself of it; it was evidently /
Intended for her--eyidently. How she
trembles! Trembles at the strange |
story her father is telling her, of the
Of the murderer in her cham |
Der and Of the pursuit But it is plain
y to be seen that she is not wholly |
satisfied by the assurance given her
until she had been told that the |
murderer by some incomprehensible
means had been able to elude us.
"Then followed a silence. What a
ilencel We are all there-looking at
ler-her father, Larsan, Daddy Jacques
md l. What were we all thinking OF
n the silence2 After the events Of
hat night, of the mystery Of the mex
'licable gallery, Of the prodigious fact
f the presence Of the murderer IN her
Dom, It seemed to me that all our
houghts might have been translated
nto the words which were addressed