The Mystery of the Yellow Room - Chapter 22

"The Mystery of the Yellow Room" by Gaston Leroux is a classic locked-room mystery set in France. When Mathilde Stangerson is found in a locked room with no apparent way in or out, journalist Joseph Rouletabille is determined to unravel the mystery. Leroux's tale is renowned for its suspenseful plot, clever twists, and exploration of themes like deception and truth. It's a gripping story that keeps readers guessing until the end, making it a seminal work in detective fiction.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Chapter twenty two of the Mystery ofthe Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox
recording. All LibriVox recordings are inthe public domain. For more free audiobooks
or to volunteer, please visit LibriVoxdot Org. Recording by Simon Larois.
The Mystery of the Yellow Room byGaston LaRue, Chapter twenty two, The

(00:26):
Incredible Body. I bent in greatanxiety over the body of the reporter,
and had the joy to find thathe was deeply sleeping, the same unhealthy
sleep that I had seen fall uponFrederic Larsan. He had succumbed to the
influence of the same drug that hadbeen mixed with our food. How was

(00:46):
it then that I also had notbeen overcome by it? I reflected that
the drug must have been put intoour wine, because that would explain my
condition. I never drink when eating, naturally inclined to obeseit ace, I
am restricted to a dry diet.I shook Rouletabille, but could not succeed
in waking him. This, nodoubt, was the work of Mademoiselle Stangerson.

(01:11):
She had certainly thought it necessary toguard herself against this young man,
as well as her father. Irecalled that the steward in serving us had
recommended an excellent chablis, which nodoubt had come from the professor's table.
More than a quarter of an hourpassed. I resolved, under the pressing
circumstances, to resort to extreme measures. I threw a picture of cold water

(01:34):
over Rouletabille's head. He opened hiseyes. I beat his face and raised
him up. I felt him stiffenin my arms, and heard him murmur,
go on, go on, butdon't make any noise. I pinched
him and shook him until he wasable to stand up. We were saved.
They sent me to sleep, hesaid, Ah, I passed an

(01:57):
awful quarter of an hour before givingway, But it is over. Now,
don't leave me. He had nosooner uttered those words than we were
thrilled by a frightful cry that rangthrough the chateau, a veritable death cry.
Mallow roared Rouletabille. We shall betoo late. He tried to rush

(02:19):
to the door, but he wastoo dazed and fell against the wall.
I was already in the gallery,revolver in hand, rushing like a madman
towards Mademoiselle Stangerson's room. The momentI arrived at the intersection of the off
turning gallery and the right gallery.I saw a figure leaving her apartment,
which in a few strides had reachedthe landing place. I was not master

(02:40):
of myself. I fired the reportfrom the revolver, made a deafening noise,
but the man continued his flight downthe stairs. I ran behind him,
shouting stop, stop, or Iwill kill you. As I rushed
after him down the stairs, Icame face to face with Arthur Rance,
coming from the left wing of thechateau, yelling what is it? What

(03:00):
is it? We arrived almost atthe same time at the foot of the
staircase. The window of the vestibulewas open. We distinctly saw the form
of a man running away. Instinctivelywe fired our revolvers in his direction.
He was not more than ten pacesin front of us. He staggered,
and we thought he was going tofall. We had sprung out of the

(03:22):
window, but the man dashed offwith renewed vigor. I was in my
socks and the American was barefooted.There being no hope of overtaking him,
we fired our last cartridges at him, but he still kept on running.
Going along the right side of thecourt, towards the end of the right
wing of the chateau, which hadno other outlet than the door of the
little chamber occupied by the forest keeper. The man, though he was evidently

(03:46):
wounded by our bullets, was nowtwenty yards ahead of us. Suddenly,
behind us and above our heads,a window in the gallery opened, and
we heard the voice of Rouletabille cryingout desperately. Fire, Bernie. Fire.
At that moment, the clear moonlightnight was further lit by a broad
flash. By its light we sawDaddy Bernier with his gun on the threshold

(04:09):
of the Donjon d'Or. He hadtaken good aim. The shadow fell,
but as it had reached the endof the right wing of the chateau,
it fell on the other side ofthe angle of the building. That is
to say, we saw it aboutto fall, but not the actual sinking
to the ground. Bernier, ArthurRance, and myself reached the other side.
Twenty seconds later. The shadow waslying dead at our feet. Aroused

(04:33):
from his lethargy by the cries andreports, Larsan opened the window of his
chamber and called out to us.Rouletabille, quite awake, now joined us
at the same moment, and Icried out to him, he is dead.
He is dead, So much thebetter, he said, take him
into the vestibule of the chateau.Then, as if on second thought,

(04:55):
he said, no, no,let us put him in his own room.
Rouletabille knocked at the door. Nobodyanswered naturally, this did not surprise
me. He is evidently not there, otherwise he would have come out,
said the reporter. Let us carryhim to the vestibule. Then, since

(05:15):
reaching the Dead Shadow, a thickcloud had covered the moon and darkened the
night, so that we were unableto make out the features. Daddy Jacques,
who had now joined us, helpedus to carry the body into the
vestibule, where we laid it downon the lower step of the stairs.
On the way, I felt myhands wept from the warm blood flowing from
the wounds. Daddy Jacques flew tothe kitchen and returned with a lantern.

(05:41):
He held it close to the faceof the Dead Shadow, and we recognized
the keeper, the man called bythe landlord of the donjon Inn, the
green Man, whom an hour earlierI had seen come out of Arthur Rance's
chamber carrying a parcel but what Ihad seen I could only tell Rouletabille later,
when we were alone, Rouletabille andFrederic Larsan experienced a cruel disappointment at

(06:03):
the result of the Knight's adventure.They could only look in consternation and stupefaction
at the body of the green man. Daddy Jacques showed a stupidly sorrowful face,
and with silly lamentations, kept repeatingthat we were mistaken. The keeper
could not be the assailant. Wewere obliged to compel him to be quiet.

(06:24):
He could not have shown greater griefhad the body been that of his
own son. I noticed, whileall the rest of us were more or
less undressed and barefooted, that hewas fully clothed. Rouletabille had not left
the body kneeling on the flagstones bythe light of Daddy Jacques's lantern. He
removed the clothes from the body andlay bare its breast. Then, snatching

(06:46):
the lantern from Daddy Jacques, heheld it over the corpse and saw a
gaping wound rising. Suddenly, heexclaimed, in a voice filled with savage
irony, the man you believe tohave been shot was killed by the stab
of a knife in his heart.I thought Rouletabille had gone mad. But
bending over the body, I quicklysatisfied myself that Rouletabille was right. Not

(07:12):
a sign of a bullet anywhere.The wound, evidently made by a sharp
blade had penetrated the heart. Endof Chapter twenty two. Recording by Simon Laois