e by means of the mutton-bone, and Mademoiselle had not
attempted to hide it. It must have been made during the second phase. It
was to find this out that I went to The Yellow Room, and I obtained my
answer there."

Rouletabille drew a piece of white folded paper from his pocket, and
drew out of it an almost invisible object which he held between his
thumb and forefinger.

"This, Monsieur President," he said, "is a hair--a blond hair stained
with blood;--it is a hair from the head of Mademoiselle Stangerson. I
found it sticking to one of the corners of the overturned table. The
corner of the table was itself stained with blood--a tiny stain--hardly
visible; but it told me that, on rising from her bed, Mademoiselle
Stangerson had fallen heavily and had struck her head on the corner of
its marble top.

"I still had to learn, in addition to the name of the assassin, which
I did later, the time of the original attack. I learned this from
the examination of Mademoiselle Stangerson and her father, though
the answers given by the former were well calculated to deceive the
examining magistrate--Mademoiselle Stangerson had stated very minutely
how she had spent the whole of her time that day. We established the
fact that the murderer had introduced himself into the pavilion between
five and six o'clock. At a quarter past six the professor and his
daughter had resumed their work. At five the professor had been with
his daughter, and since the attack took place in the professor's
absence from his daughter, I had to find out just when he left her.
The professor had stated that at the time when he and his daughter were
about to re-enter the laboratory he was met by the keeper and held
in conversation about the cutting of some wood and the poachers.
Mademoiselle Stangerson was not with him then since the professor said:
'I left the keeper and rejoined my daughter who was at work in the
laboratory.'

"It was during that short interval of time that the tragedy took place.
That is certain. In my mind's eye I saw Mademoiselle Stangerson re-enter
the pavilion, go to her room to take off her hat, and find herself faced
by the murderer. He had been in the pavilion for some time waiting for
her. He had arranged to pass the whole night there. He had taken off
Daddy Jacques's boots; he had removed the papers from the cabinet; and
had then slipped under the bed. Finding the time long, he had risen,
gone again into the laboratory, then into