had been doing, had begged me not to
trouble myself, but leave her to do it; and they were just as I had
left them, fastened with an iron catch on the inside. The assassin,
therefore, could not have passed either in or out that way; but neither
could I get in.

"'It was unfortunate,--enough to turn one's brain! The door of the room
locked on the inside and the blinds on the only window also fastened on
the inside; and Mademoiselle still calling for help!--No! she had ceased
to call. She was dead, perhaps. But I still heard her father, in the
pavilion, trying to break down the door.

"'With the concierge I hurried back to the pavilion. The door, in spite
of the furious attempts of Monsieur Stangerson and Bernier to burst
it open, was still holding firm; but at length, it gave way before our
united efforts,--and then what a sight met our eyes! I should tell you
that, behind us, the concierge held the laboratory lamp--a powerful
lamp, that lit the whole chamber.

"'I must also tell you, monsieur, that The Yellow Room is a very small
room. Mademoiselle had furnished it with a fairly large iron bedstead,
a small table, a night-commode; a dressing-table, and two chairs. By
the light of the big lamp we saw all at a glance. Mademoiselle, in
her night-dress, was lying on the floor in the midst of the greatest
disorder. Tables and chairs had been overthrown, showing that there had
been a violent struggle. Mademoiselle had certainly been dragged
from her bed. She was covered with blood and had terrible marks of
finger-nails on her throat,--the flesh of her neck having been almost
torn by the nails. From a wound on the right temple a stream of
blood had run down and made a little pool on the floor. When Monsieur
Stangerson saw his daughter in that state, he threw himself on his knees
beside her, uttering a cry of despair. He ascertained that she still
breathed. As to us, we searched for the wretch who had tried to kill our
mistress, and I swear to you, monsieur, that, if we had found him, it
would have gone hard with him!

"'But how to explain that he was not there, that he had already escaped?
It passes all imagination!--Nobody under the bed, nobody behind the
furniture!--All that we discovered were traces, blood-stained marks of
a man's large hand on the walls and on the door; a big handkerchief red
with blood, without any initials, an old cap, and many fresh footmarks
of a man on the floor,--footmarks of a man with large fee