CHAPTER XXIV. Rouletabille Knows the Two Halves of the Murderer
Mademoiselle Stangerson had been almost murdered for the second time.Unfortunately, she was in too weak a state to bear the severer injuriesof this second attack as well as she had those of the first. She hadreceived three wounds in the breast from the murderer's knife, and shelay long between life and death. Her strong physique, however, savedher; but though she recovered physically it was found that her mind hadbeen affected. The slightest allusion to the terrible incident sent herinto delirium, and the arrest of Robert Darzac which followed on theday following the tragic death of the keeper seemed to sink her fineintelligence into complete melancholia.
Robert Darzac arrived at the chateau towards half-past nine. I saw himhurrying through the park, his hair and clothes in disorder and his facea deadly white. Rouletabille and I were looking out of a window in thegallery. He saw us, and gave a despairing cry: "I'm too late!"
Rouletabille answered: "She lives!"
A minute later Darzac had gone into Mademoiselle Stangerson's room and,through the door, we could hear his heart-rending sobs.
"There's a fate about this place!" groaned Rouletabille. "Some infernalgods must be watching over the misfortunes of this family!--If I had notbeen drugged, I should have saved Mademoiselle Stangerson. I should havesilenced him forever. And the keeper would not have been killed!"
Monsieur Darzac came in to speak with us. His distress was terrible.Rouletabille told him everything: his preparations for MademoiselleStangerson's safety; his plans for either capturing or for disposing ofthe assailant for ever; and how he would have succeeded had it not beenfor the drugging.
"If only you had trusted me!" said the young man, in a low tone. "Ifyou had but begged Mademoiselle Stangerson to confide in me!--But, then,everybody here distrusts everybody else, the daughter distrusts herfather, and even her lover. While you ask me to protect her she is doingall she can to frustrate me. That was why I came on the scene too late!"
At Monsieur Robert Darzac's request Rouletabille described the wholescene. Leaning on the wall, to prevent himself from falling, he had madehis way to Mademoiselle Stangerson's room, while we were running afterthe supposed murderer. The ante-room door was open and when he enteredhe found Mademoiselle Stangerson lying partly thrown over the desk.Her dressing-gown was dyed with the blood flowing from her bosom. Stillunder the influence of the drug, he felt he was walking in a horriblenightmare.
He went back to the gallery automatically, opened a window, shouted hisorder to fire, and then returned to the room. He crossed the desertedboudoir, entered the drawing-room, and tried to rouse MonsieurStangerson who was lying on a sofa. Monsieur Stangerson rose stupidlyand let himself be drawn by Rouletabille into the room where, on seeinghis daughter's body, he uttered a heart-rending cry. Both united theirfeeble strength and carried her to her bed.
On his way to join us Rouletabille passed by the desk. On the floor,near it, he saw a large packet. He knelt down and, finding the wrapperloose, he examined it, and made out an enormous quantity of papersand photographs. On one of the papers he read: "New differentialelectroscopic condenser. Fundamental properties of substanceintermediary between ponderable matter and imponderable ether." Strangeirony of fate that the professor's precious papers should be restoredto him at the very time when an attempt was being made to deprive him ofhis daughter's life! What are papers worth to him now?
The morning following that awful night saw Monsieur de Marquet once moreat the chateau, with his Registrar and gendarmes. Of course we were allquestioned. Rouletabille and I had already agreed on what to say. I keptback any information as to my being in the dark closet and saidnothing about the drugging. We did not wish to suggest in any way thatMademoiselle Stangerson had been expecting her nocturnal visitor.The poor woman might, perhaps, never recover, and it was none of ourbusiness to lift the veil of a secret the preservation of which she hadpaid for so dearly.
Arthur Rance told everybody, in a manner so natural that it astonishedme, that he had last seen the keeper towards eleven o'clock of thatfatal night. He had come for his valise, he said, which he was to takefor him early next morning to the Saint-Michel station, and had beenkept out late running after poachers. Arthur Rance had, indeed, intendedto leave the chateau and, according to his habit, to walk to thestation.
Monsieur Stangerson confirmed what Rance had said, adding that he hadnot asked Rance to dine with him because his friend had taken his finalleave of them both earlier in the evening. Monsieur Rance had hadtea served him in his room, because he had complained of a slightindisposition.
Bernier testified, instructed by Rouletabille, that the keeper hadordered him to meet at a spot near the oak grove, for the purpose oflooking out for poachers. Finding that the keeper did not keep hisappointment, he, Bernier, had gone in search of him. He had almostarrived at the donjon, when he saw a figure running swiftly in adirection opposite to him, towards the right wing of the chateau. Heheard revolver shots from behind the figure and saw Rouletabille at oneof the gallery windows. He heard Rouletabille call out to him to fire,and he had fired. He believed he had killed the man until he learned,after Rouletabille had uncovered the body, that the man had died from aknife thrust. Who had given it he could not imagine. "Nobody could havebeen near the spot without my seeing him." When the examining magistratereminded him that the spot where the body was found was very dark andthat he himself had not been able to recognise the keeper before firing,Daddy Bernier replied that neither had they seen the other body; nor hadthey found it. In the narrow court where five people were standing itwould have been strange if the other body, had it been there, couldhave escaped. The only door that opened into the court was that of thekeeper's room, and that door was closed, and the key of it was found inthe keeper's pocket.
However that might be, the examining magistrate did not pursue hisinquiry further in this direction. He was evidently convinced that wehad missed the man we were chasing and we had come upon the keeper'sbody in our chase. This matter of the keeper was another matterentirely. He wanted to satisfy himself about that without any furtherdelay. Probably it fitted in with the conclusions he had already arrivedat as to the keeper and his intrigues with the wife of Mathieu, thelandlord of the Donjon Inn. This Mathieu, later in the afternoon, wasarrested and taken to Corbeil in spite of his rheumatism. He had beenheard to threaten the keeper, and though no evidence against him hadbeen found at his inn, the evidence of carters who had heard the threatswas enough to justify his retention.
The examination had proceeded thus far when, to our surprise, FredericLarsan returned to the chateau. He was accompanied by one of theemployeeees of the railway. At that moment Rance and I were in thevestibule discussing Mathieu's guilt or innocence, while Rouletabillestood apart buried, apparently, in thought. The examining magistrate andhis Registrar were in the little green drawing-room, while Darzac waswith the doctor and Stangerson in the lady's chamber. As Frederic Larsanentered the vestibule with the railway employeee, Rouletabille and I atonce recognised him by the small blond beard. We exchanged meaningfulglances. Larsan had himself announced to the examining magistrate by thegendarme and entered with the railway servant as Daddy Jacques came out.Some ten minutes went by during which Rouletabille appeared extremelyimpatient. The door of the drawing-room was then opened and we heard themagistrate calling to the gendarme who entered. Presently he came out,mounted the stairs and, coming back shortly, went in to the magistrateand said:
"Monsieur,--Monsieur Robert Darzac will not come!"
"What! Not come!" cried Monsieur de Marquet.
"He says he cannot leave Mademoiselle Stangerson in her present state."
"Very well," said Monsieur de Marquet; "then we'll go to him."
Monsieur de Marquet and the gendarme mounted the stairs. He made a signto Larsan and the railroad employeee to follow. Rouletabille and I wentalong too.
On reaching the door of Mademoiselle Stangerson's chamber, Monsieur deMarquet k
nocked. A chambermaid appeared. It was Sylvia, with her hairall in disorder and consternation showing on her face.
"Is Monsieur Stangerson within?" asked the magistrate.
"Yes, Monsieur."
"Tell him that I wish to speak with him."
Stangerson came out. His appearance was wretched in the extreme.
"What do you want?" he demanded of the magistrate. "May I not be left inpeace, Monsieur?"
"Monsieur," said the magistrate, "it is absolutely necessary that Ishould see Monsieur Darzac at once. If you cannot induce him to come, Ishall be compelled to use the help of the law."
The professor made no reply. He looked at us all like a man being led toexecution, and then went back into the room.
Almost immediately after Monsieur Robert Darzac came out. He was verypale. He looked at us and, his eyes falling on the railway servant, hisfeatures stiffened and he could hardly repress a groan.
We were all much moved by the appearance of the man. We felt that whatwas about to happen would decide the fate of Monsieur Robert Darzac.Frederic Larsan's face alone was radiant, showing a joy as of a dog thathad at last got its prey.
Pointing to the railway servant, Monsieur de Marquet said to MonsieurDarzac:
"Do you recognise this man, Monsieur?"
"I do," said Monsieur Darzac, in a tone which he vainly tried to makefirm. "He is an employeee at the station at Epinay-sur-Orge."
"This young man," went on Monsieur de Marquet, "affirms that he saw youget off the train at Epinay-sur-Orge--"
"That night," said Monsieur Darzac, interrupting, "at half-past ten--itis quite true."
An interval of silence followed.
"Monsieur Darzac," the magistrate went on in a tone of deep emotion,"Monsieur Darzac, what were you doing that night, at Epinay-sur-Orge--atthat time?"
Monsieur Darzac remained silent, simply closing his eyes.
"Monsieur Darzac," insisted Monsieur de Marquet, "can you tell me howyou employeeed your time, that night?"
Monsieur Darzac opened his eyes. He seemed to have recovered hisself-control.
"No, Monsieur."
"Think, Monsieur! For, if you persist in your strange refusal, I shallbe under the painful necessity of keeping you at my disposition."
"I refuse."
"Monsieur Darzac!--in the name of the law, I arrest you!"
The magistrate had no sooner pronounced the words than I sawRouletabille move quickly towards Monsieur Darzac. He would certainlyhave spoken to him, but Darzac, by a gesture, held him off. As thegendarme approached his prisoner, a despairing cry rang through theroom:
"Robert!--Robert!"
We recognised the voice of Mademoiselle Stangerson. We all shuddered.Larsan himself turned pale. Monsieur Darzac, in response to the cry, hadflown back into the room.
The magistrate, the gendarme, and Larsan followed closely after.Rouletabille and I remained on the threshold. It was a heart-breakingsight that met our eyes. Mademoiselle Stangerson, with a face of deathlypallor, had risen on her bed, in spite of the restraining efforts of twodoctors and her father. She was holding out her trembling arms towardsRobert Darzac, on whom Larsan and the gendarme had laid hands. Herdistended eyes saw--she understood--her lips seemed to form a word, butnobody made it out; and she fell back insensible.
Monsieur Darzac was hurried out of the room and placed in the vestibuleto wait for the vehicle Larsan had gone to fetch. We were all overcomeby emotion and even Monsieur de Marquet had tears in his eyes.Rouletabille took advantage of the opportunity to say to MonsieurDarzac:
"Are you going to put in any defense?"
"No!" replied the prisoner.
"Very well, then I will, Monsieur."
"You cannot do it," said the unhappy man with a faint smile.
"I can--and I will."
Rouletabille's voice had in it a strange strength and confidence.
"I can do it, Monsieur Robert Darzac, because I know more than you do!"
"Come! Come!" murmured Darzac, almost angrily.
"Have no fear! I shall know only what will benefit you."
"You must know nothing, young man, if you want me to be grateful."
Rouletabille shook his head, going close up to Darzac.
"Listen to what I am about to say," he said in a low tone, "and letit give you confidence. You do not know the name of the murderer.Mademoiselle Stangerson knows it; but only half of it; but I know histwo halves; I know the whole man!"
Robert Darzac opened his eyes, with a look that showed he had notunderstood a word of what Rouletabille had said to him. At that momentthe conveyance arrived, driven by Frederic Larsan. Darzac and thegendarme entered it, Larsan remaining on the driver's seat. The prisonerwas taken to Corbeil.