that Frederic Larsan, like myself, found himself
face to face with Mademoiselle Stangerson since the attack in The Yellow
Room. Like me, he had insisted on being allowed to question the unhappy
lady; but he had not, any more than had I, been permitted. To him, as to
me, the same answer had always been given: Mademoiselle Stangerson was
too weak to receive us. The questionings of the examining magistrate
had over-fatigued her. It was evidently intended not to give us any
assistance in our researches. I was not surprised; but Frederic Larsan
had always resented this conduct. It is true that he and I had a totally
different theory of the crime.

"I still catch myself repeating from the depths of my heart: 'Save
her!--save her without his speaking!' Who is he--the murderer? Take him
and shut his mouth. But Monsieur Darzac made it clear that in order to
shut his mouth he must be killed. Have I the right to kill Mademoiselle
Stangerson's murderer? No, I had not. But let him only give me the
chance! Let me find out whether he is really a creature of flesh and
blood!--Let me see his dead body, since it cannot be taken alive.

"If I could but make this woman, who does not even look at us,
understand! She is absorbed by her fears and by her father's distress of
mind. And I can do nothing to save her. Yes, I will go to work once more
and accomplish wonders.

"I move towards her. I would speak to her. I would entreat her to
have confidence in me. I would, in a word, make her understand--she
alone--that I know how the murderer escaped from The Yellow Room--that
I have guessed the motives for her secrecy--and that I pity her with
all my heart. But by her gestures she begged us to leave her alone,
expressing weariness and the need for immediate rest. Monsieur
Stangerson asked us to go back to our rooms and thanked us. Frederic
Larsan and I bowed to him and, followed by Daddy Jacques, we regained
the gallery. I heard Larsan murmur: 'Strange! strange!' He made a sign
to me to go with him into his room. On the threshold he turned towards
Daddy Jacques.

"'Did you see him distinctly?' he asked.

"'Who?'

"'The man?'

"'Saw him!--why, he had a big red beard and red hair.'

"'That's how he appeared to me,' I said.

"'And to me,' said Larsan.

"The great Fred and I were alone in his chamber, now, to talk over this
thing. We talked for an hour, turning the matter over and viewing it
from every side. From the questions put by him,