ing,--I have found the whole of the story it tells equally
strange."

"Well, but--the locked door--with the key on the inside?"

"That's the only perfectly natural thing in the whole article."

"Really!--And the bolt?"

"The bolt?"

"Yes, the bolt--also inside the room--a still further protection against
entry? Mademoiselle Stangerson took quite extraordinary precautions!
It is clear to me that she feared someone. That was why she took such
precautions--even Daddy Jacques's revolver--without telling him of it.
No doubt she didn't wish to alarm anybody, and least of all, her father.
What she dreaded took place, and she defended herself. There was a
struggle, and she used the revolver skilfully enough to wound the
assassin in the hand--which explains the impression on the wall and on
the door of the large, blood-stained hand of the man who was searching
for a means of exit from the chamber. But she didn't fire soon enough to
avoid the terrible blow on the right temple."

"Then the wound on the temple was not done with the revolver?"

"The paper doesn't say it was, and I don't think it was; because
logically it appears to me that the revolver was used by Mademoiselle
Stangerson against the assassin. Now, what weapon did the murderer use?
The blow on the temple seems to show that the murderer wished to stun
Mademoiselle Stangerson,--after he had unsuccessfully tried to strangle
her. He must have known that the attic was inhabited by Daddy Jacques,
and that was one of the reasons, I think, why he must have used a quiet
weapon,--a life-preserver, or a hammer."

"All that doesn't explain how the murderer got out of The Yellow Room,"
I observed.

"Evidently," replied Rouletabille, rising, "and that is what has to be
explained. I am going to the Chateau du Glandier, and have come to see
whether you will go with me."

"I?--"

"Yes, my boy. I want you. The 'Epoque' has definitely entrusted this
case to me, and I must clear it up as quickly as possible."

"But in what way can I be of any use to you?"

"Monsieur Robert Darzac is at the Chateau du Glandier."

"That's true. His despair must be boundless."

"I must have a talk with him."

Rouletabille said it in a tone that surprised me.

"Is it because--you think there is something to be got out of him?" I
asked.

"Yes."

That was all he would say. He retired to my sitting-room, begging me to
dress quickly.

I knew Monsieur Robert Darzac from having been of