May 5, 2024 • 18 mins
"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.
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(00:02):
Chapter twenty one of the Mystery ofthe Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox
recording. All LibriVox recordings are inthe public domain. For more free audio
books or to volunteer, please visitLibriVox dot org. The Mystery of the
Yellow Room by Gaston Laroux, chaptertwenty one. On the watch the act
(00:27):
which staggered me, do not fearto affect Rouletabiune much. We returned to
his room, and without even referringto what we had seen, he gave
me his final instructions for the night. First, we were to go to
dinner. After dinner, I wasto take my stand in the dark closet
and wait there as long as itwas necessary, to look out for what
might happen. If you see anythingbefore I do, he explained, you
(00:52):
must let me know. If theman gets into the right gallery by any
other way than the off turning gallery, you will see him before I shall,
because you have a view along thewhole length of the right gallery.
Well, I can only command aview of the off turning gallery. All
you need to do to let meknow is to undo the cord holding the
curtain of the right gallery window nearestto the dark closet, the curtain will
(01:15):
fall of itself and immediately leave asquare of shadow where previously there had been
a square of light. To dothis, you need but stretch your hand
out of the closet. I shallunderstand your signal perfectly. And then then
you will see me coming round thecorner of the off turning gallery. What
am I to do? Then youwill immediately come towards me behind the man.
(01:38):
But I shall already be upon himand shall have seen his face.
I attempted a feeble smile. Whydo you smile? Well, you may
smile while you have the chance,but I swear you'll have no time for
that a few hours from now.And if the man escapes, so much
the better, said Rouletabille coolly.I don't want to capture him. He
(02:01):
may take himself off any way hecan. I will let him go after
I have seen his face, That'sall I want. I shall know afterwards
what to do, so that asfar as Mademoiselle Strangerson is concerned, he
shall be dead to her, eventhough he continues to live. If I
took him alive, Mademoiselle Strangerson andRobert Darzac would perhaps never forgive me,
(02:24):
and I wish to retain their goodwill and respect. Seeing as I have
just now seen Mademoiselle Strangerson pour anarcotic into her father's glass so he might
not be awake to interrupt the conversationshe is going to have with her murderer.
You can imagine she would not begrateful to me if I brought the
man of the Yellow Room and theinexplicable gallery bound and gagged to her father.
(02:49):
I realize now that if I amto save the unhappy woman, I
must silence the man and not capturehim. To kill a human being is
no small thing. Besides, that'snot my business unless the man himself makes
it my business. On the otherhand, to render him forever silent without
the lady's assent and confidence is toact on one's own initiative and assume a
(03:12):
knowledge of everything with nothing for abasis. Fortunately, my friend, I
have guessed, no, I havereasoned it all out. All that I
ask of the man who is comingtonight is to bring me his face so
that it may enter into the circleexactly. And his face won't surprise me.
But I thought you saw his faceon the night when you sprang into
(03:32):
the chamber only imperfectly. The candlewas on the floor, and his beard.
Will he wear his beard this evening? I think I can now say
for certain he will. But thegallery is light, and now I know,
or at least my brain knows,and my eyes will see. If
(03:54):
we are here only to see himand let him escape, why are we
armed? Because if the man ofthe yellow room in the inexplicable gallery knows
that I know, he is capableof doing anything, we should then have
to defend ourselves. And you're surehe'll come to night as sure as you
(04:15):
are standing there This morning at halfpast ten o'clock, Mademoiselle Stranderson, in
the cleverest way in the world,arranged to have no nurses to night.
She gave them leave of absence fortwenty four hours under some plausible pretexts,
and did not desire any one tobe with her but her father. Well,
they are away. Of course,her father, who is to sleep
(04:38):
in the boudoir, has gladly consentedto the arrangement. Darzac's departure and what
he told me, as well asthe extraordinary precaution, Mademoiselle Stranderson is taking
to be alone to night. Leaveme no room for doubt. She has
prepared the way for the coming ofthe man whom Darzac dreads. That's awful,
it is, and what we sawher do was done to send her
(05:02):
father to sleep. Yes, thenthere are but two of us for to
night's work. Four the concierge andhis wife will watch at all hazards.
I don't set much value on thembefore. But the concierge may be useful
after if there are to be anykillings, And do you think there may
(05:25):
be if he wishes it. Whyhaven't you brought in Daddy Jacques. Have
you made no use of him today? No, replied Rouletabille sharply.
I kept silent for a while.Then, anxious to know his thoughts,
I asked him point blank, whynot tell arthur Rance he may be of
(05:46):
great assistance to us, Oh,said Reletabille crossly. Then you want to
let every one into Mademoiselle Stranderson's secrets. Come, let us go to dinner.
It is time this evening we dinein Frederick Lassan's room. At least
if he is not on the heelsof Darzac. He sticks to him like
(06:08):
a leech. But anyhow, ifhe is not there now, I am
quite sure he will be tonight.He is the one I'm going to knock
over. At this moment, weheard a noise in the room near us.
It must be, he said,Rouletabille, I forgot to ask you,
I said, if we are tomake any allusion to tonight's business when
(06:30):
we are with this policeman, Itake it we are not. Is that
so? Evidently we are going tooperate alone on our own personal account,
so that all the glory will beours. Rouletabille laughs. We dined with
Frederick Laissan in his room. Hetold us he had just come in and
(06:55):
invited us to be seated at thetable. We ate our dinner in the
best of humors. I had nodifficulty in appreciating the feelings of certainty which
both Rouletabille and la Sent felt.Rouletabille told the Great fred that I had
come on a chance visit, andthat he had asked me to stay and
help him and the heavy battery ofwriting he had to get through for the
(07:15):
epooch. I was going back toParis, he said, by the eleven
o'clock train, taking his copy,which took a story for him, recounting
the principal episodes in the Mysteries ofthe Gladier. Larsan smiled at the explanation
like a man who was not fooled, and politely refrains from making the slightest
(07:36):
remarks on matters which did not concernhim. With infinite precautions as to the
words they used and even as tothe tone of their voices, Larsan and
Rouletabille discussed for a long time misterArthur Rent, his appearance at the Chateau
and his past in America, aboutwhich they expressed a desire to know more
(07:57):
at any rate, as far ashis relation to the Strangerson's one time Larsan,
who appeared to me to be unwell, said with an effort, I
think, Monsieur Rouletabile, that wehave not much more to do at the
Gladier, and we shan't sleep heremany more nights. I think so too,
Monsieur Fred. Then you think theconclusion of the matter has been reached,
(08:24):
I think, indeed that we havenothing more to find out, replied
Rouletabiulle. Have you found your criminal, asked Larsan, have you, yes?
So have I said Rouletabille. Canit be the same man, I
don't know if you have swerved fromyour original idea, said the young reporter.
(08:48):
Then he added, with emphasis,Monsieur Darzac is an honest man.
Are you sure of that? AskedLarsan. Well, I am sure he
is not. So it's a fight, then, yes, it is a
fight. But I shall beat you. Monsieur Frederick Lassan, how you've never
(09:09):
doubts anything, said the Great fredlaughingly, and he held out his hand
to me by way of conclusion.Ruletabille's answer came like an echo, not
anything. Suddenly Larsan, who hadrisen to wish us good night, pressed
both his hands to his chest andstaggered. He was obliged to lean on
(09:31):
Rouletabille for support and to save himselffrom falling. Oh oh, he cried,
what's the matter with me? HaveI been poisoned? He looked at
us with haggard eyes. We questionedhim vainly. He did not answer us.
He had sunk into an armchair,and we could get not a word
(09:52):
from him. We were extremely distressed, both on his account and our own,
for we had partaken in all thedishes he had eaten He seemed to
be out of pain, but hisheavy head had fallen on his shoulders,
and his eyelids were tightly closed.Rouletabille bent over him, listening for the
beatings of his heart. My friend'sface, however, when he stood up,
(10:15):
was as calm as it had beena moment before. Agitated, he
is asleep, he said. Heled me to his chamber after closing Larsan's
room. The drug, I asked, Does Mademoiselle Stranderson wish to put everybody
to sleep tonight? Perhaps, repliedRouletabille. But I could see he was
(10:39):
thinking of something else. But whatabout us, I exclaimed, How do
we know we have not been drugged? Do you feel indisposed? Realtabille asked
me coolly, not in the least. Do you feel any inclination to go
to sleep? None? Soever?Well, then my friend smoke this excellent
(11:05):
cigar, and he handed me achoice havana, though one Monsieur Darzac had
given him, while he lit hisbriarwood, his eternal briarwood. We remained
in his room until about ten o'clock, without a word passing between us.
Buried in an arm chair, Rouletabillesat and smoked steadily, his brow and
(11:26):
thought and a far away look inhis eyes. On the stroke of ten,
he took off his boots and signaledto me to do the same.
As we stood in our socks,he said in so low a tone that
I guessed rather than heard the wordrevolver. I drew my revolver from my
jacket pocket cock it, he said. I did as he directed, then,
(11:52):
moving towards the door of his room, he opened it with infinite precaution.
It made no sound. We werein the off turning gallery. Rouletabille
made another sign to me, whichI understood to mean that I was to
take up my post in the darkcloset. When I was some distance away
from him, he rejoined me andembraced me. And then I saw him
(12:16):
with the same precaution, returned tohis room, astonished by his embrace and
somewhat disquieted by it. I arrivedat the right gallery without difficulty, crossing
the landing place and reaching the darkcloset. Before entering it, I examined
the curtain rod of the window andfound that I only had to release it
(12:37):
from its fastening with my fingers forthe curtain to fall by its own weight
and hide the square of light fromRouletabille. The signal agreed upon the sound
of a footstep made me halt beforearthur Rance's door. He was not yet
in bed. Then, How strangewas it that, being the chateau,
he had not dined with Monsieur Strangersonat his door. I had not seen
(13:01):
him at the table with them.At the moment when we looked in,
I retired into the dark closet.I found myself perfectly situated. I could
see along the whole length of thegallery. Nothing absolutely nothing could pass there
without my seeing it. But whatwas going to pass there? Rouletabille's embrace
(13:24):
came back to my mind. Iargued that people don't part from each other
other in that way unless it's onan important or dangerous occasion? Was I
then in danger? My hand closedon the butt of my revolver, and
I waited. I am not ahero, but neither am I a coward.
(13:46):
I waited about an hour, andduring all that time I saw nothing
unusual. The rain, which hadbegun to come down strongly towards nine o'clock,
had now ceased. My friend hadtold me that probably nothing would occur
before midnight or one o'clock in themorning. It was not more than half
(14:07):
past eleven, however, when Iheard the door of Arthur Rance's room open
very slowly. The door remained openfor a minute, which seemed to me
a long time. As it openedinto the gallery, that is to say,
outwards, I could not see whatwas passing in the room behind the
door. At that moment, Inoticed a strange sound, three times repeated,
(14:31):
coming from the park. Ordinarily Ishould not have attached any more importance
to it than I would to thenoise of cats on the roof. But
the third time the meal was sosharp and penetrating that I remembered what I
had heard about the cry of theBete du bon dieu. As the cry
had accompanied all the events at theGladier, I could not refrain from shuddering
(14:54):
at the thought. Directly afterwards,I saw a man appear on the outside
of the door, and it closedit after him. At first I could
not easily recognize him. Flora's backwas towards me, and he was bending
over a rather bulky package. Whenhe had closed the door and picked up
the package, he turned towards thedark closet, and then I saw who
(15:18):
he was. It was the forestkeeper, the green Man. He was
wearing the same costume he had wornthe first time I saw him on the
road in front of the Donjon Inn. There was no doubt about him being
the keeper. When the cry ofthe Betsu bon dieu came for the third
time, he put down the packageand went to the second window. Counting
(15:41):
from the dark closet, I darednot risk making any movement, fearing I
might betray my presence. Arriving atthe window, he peered out onto the
park. The night was now light, the moon showing at intervals. The
green Man raised his arms twice,making sight which I did not understand.
(16:02):
Then, leaving the window, hetook up his package and moved along the
gallery towards the landing place. Rouletabillehad instructed me to undo the curtain cord
when I saw anything. Was Rouletabilleexpecting this. It was not my business
to question. All I had todo was obey instructions. I unfastened the
(16:22):
window cord, my heart beating allthe while as if it would burst.
The man reached the landing place,but to my utter surprise, I had
expected to see him continue to passalong the gallery. I saw him descend
the stairs leading to the vestibule.What was I to do? I looked
stupidly at the heavy curtain which hadshut the light from the window. The
(16:47):
signal had been given, and Idid not see Rouletabille appear at the corner
of the off turning gallery. Nobodyappeared. I was exceedingly perplexed. Half
an hour passed an age to me. What was I to do now?
Even if I did see something,the signal was already given, and I
(17:08):
could not give it a second time. To venture into the gallery might have
set all of Rouletabille's plans. Afterall, I had done nothing to reproach
myself for and if something had happenedthat my friend had not expected, he'd
only blame himself. Unable to beof any further assistance to him by means
(17:29):
of a signal, I left thedark closet, and, still in my
socks, made my way to theoff Turning Gallery. There was no one
there. I went to the doorof Rouletabille's room and listened. I could
hear nothing. I knocked gently.There was no answer. I turned the
(17:52):
door handle and the door opened,I entered Rouletabille lay extended at full length
on the floor. End of Chaptertwenty one, recorded by Oh
Chapter twenty one of the Mystery ofthe Yellow Room. This is a LibriVox
recording. All LibriVox recordings are inthe public domain. For more free audio
books or to volunteer, please visitLibriVox dot org. The Mystery of the
Yellow Room by Gaston Laroux, chaptertwenty one. On the watch the act
(00:27):
which staggered me, do not fearto affect Rouletabiune much. We returned to
his room, and without even referringto what we had seen, he gave
me his final instructions for the night. First, we were to go to
dinner. After dinner, I wasto take my stand in the dark closet
and wait there as long as itwas necessary, to look out for what
might happen. If you see anythingbefore I do, he explained, you
(00:52):
must let me know. If theman gets into the right gallery by any
other way than the off turning gallery, you will see him before I shall,
because you have a view along thewhole length of the right gallery.
Well, I can only command aview of the off turning gallery. All
you need to do to let meknow is to undo the cord holding the
curtain of the right gallery window nearestto the dark closet, the curtain will
(01:15):
fall of itself and immediately leave asquare of shadow where previously there had been
a square of light. To dothis, you need but stretch your hand
out of the closet. I shallunderstand your signal perfectly. And then then
you will see me coming round thecorner of the off turning gallery. What
am I to do? Then youwill immediately come towards me behind the man.
(01:38):
But I shall already be upon himand shall have seen his face.
I attempted a feeble smile. Whydo you smile? Well, you may
smile while you have the chance,but I swear you'll have no time for
that a few hours from now.And if the man escapes, so much
the better, said Rouletabille coolly.I don't want to capture him. He
(02:01):
may take himself off any way hecan. I will let him go after
I have seen his face, That'sall I want. I shall know afterwards
what to do, so that asfar as Mademoiselle Strangerson is concerned, he
shall be dead to her, eventhough he continues to live. If I
took him alive, Mademoiselle Strangerson andRobert Darzac would perhaps never forgive me,
(02:24):
and I wish to retain their goodwill and respect. Seeing as I have
just now seen Mademoiselle Strangerson pour anarcotic into her father's glass so he might
not be awake to interrupt the conversationshe is going to have with her murderer.
You can imagine she would not begrateful to me if I brought the
man of the Yellow Room and theinexplicable gallery bound and gagged to her father.
(02:49):
I realize now that if I amto save the unhappy woman, I
must silence the man and not capturehim. To kill a human being is
no small thing. Besides, that'snot my business unless the man himself makes
it my business. On the otherhand, to render him forever silent without
the lady's assent and confidence is toact on one's own initiative and assume a
(03:12):
knowledge of everything with nothing for abasis. Fortunately, my friend, I
have guessed, no, I havereasoned it all out. All that I
ask of the man who is comingtonight is to bring me his face so
that it may enter into the circleexactly. And his face won't surprise me.
But I thought you saw his faceon the night when you sprang into
(03:32):
the chamber only imperfectly. The candlewas on the floor, and his beard.
Will he wear his beard this evening? I think I can now say
for certain he will. But thegallery is light, and now I know,
or at least my brain knows,and my eyes will see. If
(03:54):
we are here only to see himand let him escape, why are we
armed? Because if the man ofthe yellow room in the inexplicable gallery knows
that I know, he is capableof doing anything, we should then have
to defend ourselves. And you're surehe'll come to night as sure as you
(04:15):
are standing there This morning at halfpast ten o'clock, Mademoiselle Stranderson, in
the cleverest way in the world,arranged to have no nurses to night.
She gave them leave of absence fortwenty four hours under some plausible pretexts,
and did not desire any one tobe with her but her father. Well,
they are away. Of course,her father, who is to sleep
(04:38):
in the boudoir, has gladly consentedto the arrangement. Darzac's departure and what
he told me, as well asthe extraordinary precaution, Mademoiselle Stranderson is taking
to be alone to night. Leaveme no room for doubt. She has
prepared the way for the coming ofthe man whom Darzac dreads. That's awful,
it is, and what we sawher do was done to send her
(05:02):
father to sleep. Yes, thenthere are but two of us for to
night's work. Four the concierge andhis wife will watch at all hazards.
I don't set much value on thembefore. But the concierge may be useful
after if there are to be anykillings, And do you think there may
(05:25):
be if he wishes it. Whyhaven't you brought in Daddy Jacques. Have
you made no use of him today? No, replied Rouletabille sharply.
I kept silent for a while.Then, anxious to know his thoughts,
I asked him point blank, whynot tell arthur Rance he may be of
(05:46):
great assistance to us, Oh,said Reletabille crossly. Then you want to
let every one into Mademoiselle Stranderson's secrets. Come, let us go to dinner.
It is time this evening we dinein Frederick Lassan's room. At least
if he is not on the heelsof Darzac. He sticks to him like
(06:08):
a leech. But anyhow, ifhe is not there now, I am
quite sure he will be tonight.He is the one I'm going to knock
over. At this moment, weheard a noise in the room near us.
It must be, he said,Rouletabille, I forgot to ask you,
I said, if we are tomake any allusion to tonight's business when
(06:30):
we are with this policeman, Itake it we are not. Is that
so? Evidently we are going tooperate alone on our own personal account,
so that all the glory will beours. Rouletabille laughs. We dined with
Frederick Laissan in his room. Hetold us he had just come in and
(06:55):
invited us to be seated at thetable. We ate our dinner in the
best of humors. I had nodifficulty in appreciating the feelings of certainty which
both Rouletabille and la Sent felt.Rouletabille told the Great fred that I had
come on a chance visit, andthat he had asked me to stay and
help him and the heavy battery ofwriting he had to get through for the
(07:15):
epooch. I was going back toParis, he said, by the eleven
o'clock train, taking his copy,which took a story for him, recounting
the principal episodes in the Mysteries ofthe Gladier. Larsan smiled at the explanation
like a man who was not fooled, and politely refrains from making the slightest
(07:36):
remarks on matters which did not concernhim. With infinite precautions as to the
words they used and even as tothe tone of their voices, Larsan and
Rouletabille discussed for a long time misterArthur Rent, his appearance at the Chateau
and his past in America, aboutwhich they expressed a desire to know more
(07:57):
at any rate, as far ashis relation to the Strangerson's one time Larsan,
who appeared to me to be unwell, said with an effort, I
think, Monsieur Rouletabile, that wehave not much more to do at the
Gladier, and we shan't sleep heremany more nights. I think so too,
Monsieur Fred. Then you think theconclusion of the matter has been reached,
(08:24):
I think, indeed that we havenothing more to find out, replied
Rouletabiulle. Have you found your criminal, asked Larsan, have you, yes?
So have I said Rouletabille. Canit be the same man, I
don't know if you have swerved fromyour original idea, said the young reporter.
(08:48):
Then he added, with emphasis,Monsieur Darzac is an honest man.
Are you sure of that? AskedLarsan. Well, I am sure he
is not. So it's a fight, then, yes, it is a
fight. But I shall beat you. Monsieur Frederick Lassan, how you've never
(09:09):
doubts anything, said the Great fredlaughingly, and he held out his hand
to me by way of conclusion.Ruletabille's answer came like an echo, not
anything. Suddenly Larsan, who hadrisen to wish us good night, pressed
both his hands to his chest andstaggered. He was obliged to lean on
(09:31):
Rouletabille for support and to save himselffrom falling. Oh oh, he cried,
what's the matter with me? HaveI been poisoned? He looked at
us with haggard eyes. We questionedhim vainly. He did not answer us.
He had sunk into an armchair,and we could get not a word
(09:52):
from him. We were extremely distressed, both on his account and our own,
for we had partaken in all thedishes he had eaten He seemed to
be out of pain, but hisheavy head had fallen on his shoulders,
and his eyelids were tightly closed.Rouletabille bent over him, listening for the
beatings of his heart. My friend'sface, however, when he stood up,
(10:15):
was as calm as it had beena moment before. Agitated, he
is asleep, he said. Heled me to his chamber after closing Larsan's
room. The drug, I asked, Does Mademoiselle Stranderson wish to put everybody
to sleep tonight? Perhaps, repliedRouletabille. But I could see he was
(10:39):
thinking of something else. But whatabout us, I exclaimed, How do
we know we have not been drugged? Do you feel indisposed? Realtabille asked
me coolly, not in the least. Do you feel any inclination to go
to sleep? None? Soever?Well, then my friend smoke this excellent
(11:05):
cigar, and he handed me achoice havana, though one Monsieur Darzac had
given him, while he lit hisbriarwood, his eternal briarwood. We remained
in his room until about ten o'clock, without a word passing between us.
Buried in an arm chair, Rouletabillesat and smoked steadily, his brow and
(11:26):
thought and a far away look inhis eyes. On the stroke of ten,
he took off his boots and signaledto me to do the same.
As we stood in our socks,he said in so low a tone that
I guessed rather than heard the wordrevolver. I drew my revolver from my
jacket pocket cock it, he said. I did as he directed, then,
(11:52):
moving towards the door of his room, he opened it with infinite precaution.
It made no sound. We werein the off turning gallery. Rouletabille
made another sign to me, whichI understood to mean that I was to
take up my post in the darkcloset. When I was some distance away
from him, he rejoined me andembraced me. And then I saw him
(12:16):
with the same precaution, returned tohis room, astonished by his embrace and
somewhat disquieted by it. I arrivedat the right gallery without difficulty, crossing
the landing place and reaching the darkcloset. Before entering it, I examined
the curtain rod of the window andfound that I only had to release it
(12:37):
from its fastening with my fingers forthe curtain to fall by its own weight
and hide the square of light fromRouletabille. The signal agreed upon the sound
of a footstep made me halt beforearthur Rance's door. He was not yet
in bed. Then, How strangewas it that, being the chateau,
he had not dined with Monsieur Strangersonat his door. I had not seen
(13:01):
him at the table with them.At the moment when we looked in,
I retired into the dark closet.I found myself perfectly situated. I could
see along the whole length of thegallery. Nothing absolutely nothing could pass there
without my seeing it. But whatwas going to pass there? Rouletabille's embrace
(13:24):
came back to my mind. Iargued that people don't part from each other
other in that way unless it's onan important or dangerous occasion? Was I
then in danger? My hand closedon the butt of my revolver, and
I waited. I am not ahero, but neither am I a coward.
(13:46):
I waited about an hour, andduring all that time I saw nothing
unusual. The rain, which hadbegun to come down strongly towards nine o'clock,
had now ceased. My friend hadtold me that probably nothing would occur
before midnight or one o'clock in themorning. It was not more than half
(14:07):
past eleven, however, when Iheard the door of Arthur Rance's room open
very slowly. The door remained openfor a minute, which seemed to me
a long time. As it openedinto the gallery, that is to say,
outwards, I could not see whatwas passing in the room behind the
door. At that moment, Inoticed a strange sound, three times repeated,
(14:31):
coming from the park. Ordinarily Ishould not have attached any more importance
to it than I would to thenoise of cats on the roof. But
the third time the meal was sosharp and penetrating that I remembered what I
had heard about the cry of theBete du bon dieu. As the cry
had accompanied all the events at theGladier, I could not refrain from shuddering
(14:54):
at the thought. Directly afterwards,I saw a man appear on the outside
of the door, and it closedit after him. At first I could
not easily recognize him. Flora's backwas towards me, and he was bending
over a rather bulky package. Whenhe had closed the door and picked up
the package, he turned towards thedark closet, and then I saw who
(15:18):
he was. It was the forestkeeper, the green Man. He was
wearing the same costume he had wornthe first time I saw him on the
road in front of the Donjon Inn. There was no doubt about him being
the keeper. When the cry ofthe Betsu bon dieu came for the third
time, he put down the packageand went to the second window. Counting
(15:41):
from the dark closet, I darednot risk making any movement, fearing I
might betray my presence. Arriving atthe window, he peered out onto the
park. The night was now light, the moon showing at intervals. The
green Man raised his arms twice,making sight which I did not understand.
(16:02):
Then, leaving the window, hetook up his package and moved along the
gallery towards the landing place. Rouletabillehad instructed me to undo the curtain cord
when I saw anything. Was Rouletabilleexpecting this. It was not my business
to question. All I had todo was obey instructions. I unfastened the
(16:22):
window cord, my heart beating allthe while as if it would burst.
The man reached the landing place,but to my utter surprise, I had
expected to see him continue to passalong the gallery. I saw him descend
the stairs leading to the vestibule.What was I to do? I looked
stupidly at the heavy curtain which hadshut the light from the window. The
(16:47):
signal had been given, and Idid not see Rouletabille appear at the corner
of the off turning gallery. Nobodyappeared. I was exceedingly perplexed. Half
an hour passed an age to me. What was I to do now?
Even if I did see something,the signal was already given, and I
(17:08):
could not give it a second time. To venture into the gallery might have
set all of Rouletabille's plans. Afterall, I had done nothing to reproach
myself for and if something had happenedthat my friend had not expected, he'd
only blame himself. Unable to beof any further assistance to him by means
(17:29):
of a signal, I left thedark closet, and, still in my
socks, made my way to theoff Turning Gallery. There was no one
there. I went to the doorof Rouletabille's room and listened. I could
hear nothing. I knocked gently.There was no answer. I turned the
(17:52):
door handle and the door opened,I entered Rouletabille lay extended at full length
on the floor. End of Chaptertwenty one, recorded by Oh
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