new America alike became
fascinated. That is, in truth--I am permitted to say, because there
cannot be any author's vanity in all this, since I do nothing more than
transcribe facts on which an exceptional documentation enables me to
throw a new light--that is because, in truth, I do not know that, in
the domain of reality or imagination, one can discover or recall to mind
anything comparable, in its mystery, with the natural mystery of The
Yellow Room.

That which nobody could find out, Joseph Rouletabille, aged eighteen,
then a reporter engaged on a leading journal, succeeded in discovering.
But when, at the Assize Court, he brought in the key to the whole case,
he did not tell the whole truth. He only allowed so much of it to appear
as sufficed to ensure the acquittal of an innocent man. The reasons
which he had for his reticence no longer exist. Better still, the time
has come for my friend to speak out fully. You are going to know all;
and, without further preamble, I am going to place before your eyes
the problem of The Yellow Room as it was placed before the eyes of the
entire world on the day following the enactment of the drama at the
Chateau du Glandier.

On the 25th of October, 1892, the following note appeared in the latest
edition of the "Temps":

"A frightful crime has been committed at the Glandier, on the border of
the forest of Sainte-Genevieve, above Epinay-sur-Orge, at the house of
Professor Stangerson. On that night, while the master was working in his
laboratory, an attempt was made to assassinate Mademoiselle Stangerson,
who was sleeping in a chamber adjoining this laboratory. The doctors do
not answer for the life of Mdlle. Stangerson."

The impression made on Paris by this news may be easily imagined.
Already, at that time, the learned world was deeply interested in the
labours of Professor Stangerson and his daughter. These labours--the
first that were attempted in radiography--served to open the way for
Monsieur and Madame Curie to the discovery of radium. It was expected
the Professor would shortly read to the Academy of Sciences a
sensational paper on his new theory,--the Dissociation of Matter,--a
theory destined to overthrow from its base the whole of official
science, which based itself on the principle of the Conservation of
Energy. On the following day, the newspapers were full of the tragedy.
The "Matin," among others, published the following article, entitled: "A
Supernatural Crim