"Let us hope so. Her father told me yesterday that, if she does not
recover, it will not be long before he joins her in the grave. What an
incalculable loss to science his death would be!"

"The wound on her temple is serious, is it not?"

"Evidently; but, by a wonderful chance, it has not proved mortal. The
blow was given with great force."

"Then it was not with the revolver she was wounded," said Rouletabille,
glancing at me in triumph.

Monsieur de Marquet appeared greatly embarrassed.

"I didn't say anything--I don't want to say anything--I will not say
anything," he said. And he turned towards his Registrar as if he no
longer knew us.

But Rouletabille was not to be so easily shaken off. He moved nearer
to the examining magistrate and, drawing a copy of the "Matin" from his
pocket, he showed it to him and said:

"There is one thing, Monsieur, which I may enquire of you without
committing an indiscretion. You have, of course, seen the account given
in the 'Matin'? It is absurd, is it not?"

"Not in the slightest, Monsieur."

"What! The Yellow Room has but one barred window--the bars of which have
not been moved--and only one door, which had to be broken open--and the
assassin was not found!"

"That's so, monsieur,--that's so. That's how the matter stands."

Rouletabille said no more but plunged into thought. A quarter of an hour
thus passed.

Coming back to himself again he said, addressing the magistrate:

"How did Mademoiselle Stangerson wear her hair on that evening?"

"I don't know," replied Monsieur de Marquet.

"That's a very important point," said Rouletabille. "Her hair was done
up in bands, wasn't it? I feel sure that on that evening, the evening of
the crime, she had her hair arranged in bands."

"Then you are mistaken, Monsieur Rouletabille," replied the magistrate;
"Mademoiselle Stangerson that evening had her hair drawn up in a knot
on the top of her head,--her usual way of arranging it--her forehead
completely uncovered. I can assure you, for we have carefully examined
the wound. There was no blood on the hair, and the arrangement of it has
not been disturbed since the crime was committed."

"You are sure! You are sure that, on the night of the crime, she had not
her hair in bands?"

"Quite sure," the magistrate continued, smiling, "because I remember the
Doctor saying to me, while he was examining the wound, 'It is a great
pity Mademoiselle Stangerson was in the habit of draw