The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1910-10-28
The Mystery Of
The Yellow Room
By GASTONLEROUX ooPT ~ asEs s9Ss;
tconunusdl

the tragedy OF the yellow room. Tn
second time he wrote asking for
meeting. the letter reaching her in he
sick chamber. she had avoided him b.
sleeping with her women. In that let
ter the scroundrel had warned he
that, since she was too III to come I,
him, he would come to her and that b,
would be in her chamber at a par
dcular hour on a particular night
Knowing that she had everything Il
fear from Ballmeyer. she had left heI
chamber on that night. 1t was Their
that the incident OF the ''inexplicablt
gallery" occurred.
The third time she had determined
TO keep the appointment He asked
for 1t In the letter he had written In
her own room on the night of the In
etdent in the gallery, which he left on
her desk. In that letter ne threatened
to burn her fathers papers If she did
/ not meet him. 1t 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
fathers lifetime would be forever lost
Since the meeting was thus inevitable
she resolved to see her husband and
appeal to his better nature. 1t was for
this interview that she had prepared
herself on the night the keeper was
killed. They did meet, and what pass
ed, between them may be imagined.
He insisted that she renounce Darzac.
She. on her part, affirmed her love for
hin. lie stabbed her In his anger, de-
termined to convict Darzac Of the
crime. AS Larsan he could do It and
had so managed things that Darzac
could never explain how he had en-
ployed the time of his. absence from
the chateau. Ballmeyer's precautions
we're most cunningly taken
Larsan had threatened Darzac as he
had threatened MRthilde- with the
same weapon and the same threats
He wrote Darzac urgent letters declar
ing himself ready to deliver up the let
tiers 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
went to Epinay expecting to find Ball
meyer, or Larsan, there. he was met by
an accomplice of Larsan's and kept
waiting until such time as the "coinci-
dence' could be established.
1t was all done with Machiavellian
but Ballmeyer had reckoned
without Joseph Rouletabille,
Now that the mystery of the yellow
Dom has been cleared up this is not
he time to tell of Rouletabille's ad-
ventures in America Knowing the
voung reporter as we do. we can I'M ,
Ierstand with what acumen he had :
raced step by step the story of Ma
hide Stangerson and Jean Roussel.
1t Philadelphia he had quickly inform
d himself as to Arthur William Rance.
here he learned of RANGES act Of de- @
otion and the reward he thought him b
elf entitled to for it, A rumor Of his
marriage with Mile. Stangerson bad i.
nee found its way into the dra wing
1oms of Philadelphia. He also learn
/ of RANGES continued attentions to
er and his opportunities for her hand. Il
-e had taken to drink. he had said, to O.
rown his grief at his unrequited love. F
can now be understood why Roule g
billie had shown so marked q GOODNESS
demeanor toward Rance when they
ct I'm the witnesses room on the day Vi
the trial II. III
The strange Roussel- Stangerson mys- OF
ry had now been laid bare. Whs to
as this Jean Roussell Rouletabille -.
ID traced him from Philadelphia to vi
In Cincinnati he became tn
Quainted with the old aunt and had co
und means to open her mouth The of
Dry of Ballmeyer's arrest threw the 90
yht light on the whole story. He -
sited the 'presbytery," small and -,
city dwelling In the old colonial NJ
yle, which had indeed lost nothing
its charm" Then, abandoning his ga
rsuit of traces of Mile. Stangerson, tn,
took up those of Ballmeyer he tb.
lowed them from prison to prison, ,of
I'm crime to crime. Finally as he
IS about leaving for Europe he learn gu
in New York that Ballmeyer had TN
e years before embarked for France VOL
tn some valuable papers belonging
merchant Of New Orleans whom enc
had murdered. str,
md yet the whole Of this mystery fed
not been revealed Mile. Stanger- rIo,
had child by her husband, son. '-O
. infant was born in the old aunt's
Use. No one knew of 1t, so well
the aunt managed to conceal the is t
mt In,
That became of that SOM That is afte
ther story, which so far am not mes
mitted to relate. plei
.x.r. ram USl