The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1910-10-14

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strong iron peg.
This. monsieur" he said. lis a
spike which perfectly fits a hole still
TO be seen In the eOrnlce supporting
the terrace. Larsan. who thought and
prepared for everything in case of any
emergency. had fixed this spike into
the cornice. All he had to do to make
his escape good was to plant one foot
on a stone which is placed at the cor
ner of the chateau. another on this
support, one hand on the cornice OF
the keepers door and the other on the
terrace. and Larsan was clear OF 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
If he also had been drugged 50 that no
suspicion should fall on him for my
condition. Had | 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 sur
fering.
"You can understand" added Route
tabille. "that Larsan would feel him.
/ self bampered 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 might see him leav-
/, ing mis- room when ne was about 10 go
10 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 'Murderr
"How did you come to suspect Lar
san? 2" asked the president"
'eNfy pure reason pointed to him.
That was why / watched him. But
| did not foresee the drugging He is
very cunning. Yes, my pure reason
pointed to him, but l 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 felt myself losing
control of it. | had allowed myself to
be diverted by fallacious evidence. but
l recovered and again took hold or the
right end. satisfied myself that the
murderer could not have left the gal
lerv. either naturally or supernatural
ly. narrowed the field of considera-
ton 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 1t
had been demonstrated to me that the
fifth 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.
snow, who of the four persons in the
gallery 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 90 through the OF turn
ing gallery. snatch off his false beard.
return ana hurry with us as IT, like us,
In pursuit Of the murderer. was sure
now I had got hold Of the right end In
nv reasoning With Frederic Lars"n
was now always associated in my nina
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 evidencesf
s'First.-I had seen the unknown In
Mile. Stangerson's chamber. On going
to Frederic Larsan's room had found
Larsan sound asleep.
"Second.-Th ladder.
"Third.-I had placed Frederic Lar
san at the end of the off turning gal
lery and had told him that would
rush into Nile Stangerson's room 10
trv to capture the murderer. Then
returned to Mile Stangerson's cham
her where had seen the unknown
"The first evidence did not disturb
me much. 1t is likely that when de