The Mystery of the Yellow Room

Home > Fiction > The Mystery of the Yellow Room > Page 25
The Mystery of the Yellow Room Page 25

by Gaston Leroux

her love for him. He stabbed her in his anger, determined to convict

  Darzac of the crime. As Larsan he could do it, and had so managed

  things that Darzac could never explain how he had employed the time

  of his absence from the chateau. Ballmeyer's precautions were most

  cunningly taken.

  Larsan had threatened Darzac as he had threatened Mathilde--with

  the same weapon, and the same threats. He wrote Darzac urgent

  letters, declaring himself ready to deliver up the letters that had

  passed between him and his wife, and to leave them for ever, if he

  would pay him his price. He asked Darzac to meet him for the

  purpose of arranging the matter, appointing the time when Larsan

  would be with Mademoiselle Stangerson. When Darzac went to Epinay,

  expecting to find Ballmeyer or Larsan there, he was met by an

  accomplice of Larsan's, and kept waiting until such time as the

  "coincidence" could be established.

  It was all done with Machiavellian cunning; but Ballmeyer had

  reckoned without Joseph Rouletabille.

  Now that the Mystery of The Yellow Room has been cleared up, this

  is not the time to tell of Rouletabille's adventures in America.

  Knowing the young reporter as we do, we can understand with what

  acumen he had traced, step by step, the story of Mathilde Stangerson

  and Jean Roussel. At Philadelphia he had quickly informed himself

  as to Arthur William Rance. There he learned of Rance's act of

  devotion and the reward he thought himself entitled to for it. A

  rumour of his marriage with Mademoiselle Stangerson had once found

  its way into the drawing-rooms of Philadelphia. He also learned of

  Rance's continued attentions to her and his importunities for her

  hand. He had taken to drink, he had said, to drown his grief at

  his unrequited love. It can now be understood why Rouletabille

  had shown so marked a coolness of demeanour towards Rance when they

  met in the witnesses' room, on the day of the trial.

  The strange Roussel-Stangerson mystery had now been laid bare. Who

  was this Jean Roussel? Rouletabille had traced him from Philadelphia

  to Cincinnati. In Cincinnati he became acquainted with the old aunt,

  and had found means to open her mouth. The story of Ballmeyer's

  arrest threw the right light on the whole story. He visited the

  "presbytery"--a small and pretty dwelling in the old colonial style

  --which had, indeed, "lost nothing of its charm." Then, abandoning

  his pursuit of traces of Mademoiselle Stangerson, he took up those

  of Ballmeyer. He followed them from prison to prison, from crime

  to crime. Finally, as he was about leaving for Europe, he learned

  in New York that Ballmeyer had, five years before, embarked for

  France with some valuable papers belonging to a merchant of New

  Orleans whom he had murdered.

  And yet the whole of this mystery has not been revealed.

  Mademoiselle Stangerson had a child, by her husband,--a son. The

  infant was born in the old aunt's house. No one knew of it, so

  well had the aunt managed to conceal the event.

  What became of that son?--That is another story which, so far, I

  am not permitted to relate.

  About two months after these events, I came upon Rouletabille sitting

  on a bench in the Palais de Justice, looking very depressed.

  "What's the matter, old man?" I asked. "You are looking very down.

  cast. How are your friends getting on?"

  "Apart from you," he said, "I have no friends."

  "I hope that Monsieur Darzac--"

  "No doubt."

  "And Mademoiselle Stangerson--How is she?"

  "Better--much better."

  "Then you ought not to be sad."

  "I am sad," he said, "because I am thinking of the perfume of the

  lady in black--"

  "The perfume of the lady in black!--I have heard you often refer

  to it. Tell me why it troubles you."

  "Perhaps--some day; some day," said Rouletabille.

  And he heaved a profound sigh.

  End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of the Yellow Room, by Gaston Leroux

  *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM ***

  This file should be named ylorm12.txt or ylorm12.zip

  Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ylorm12.txt

  VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ylorm10a.txt

  This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer.

  Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed

  editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US

  unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not

  keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

  We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance

  of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.

  Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,

  even years after the official publication date.

  Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til

  midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.

  The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at

  Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A

  preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment

  and editing by those who wish to do so.

  Most people start at our Web sites at:

  http://gutenberg.net or

  http://promo.net/pg

  These Web sites include award-winning information about Project

  Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new

  eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).

  Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement

  can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is

  also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the

  indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an

  announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.

  http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or

  ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03

  Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90

  Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,

  as it appears in our Newsletters.

  Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)

  We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The

  time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours

  to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright

  searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our

  projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value

  per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2

  million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text

  files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+

  We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002

  If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total

  will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.

  The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!

  This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,

  which is only about 4% of the
present number of computer users.

  Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):

  eBooks Year Month

  1 1971 July

  10 1991 January

  100 1994 January

  1000 1997 August

  1500 1998 October

  2000 1999 December

  2500 2000 December

  3000 2001 November

  4000 2001 October/November

  6000 2002 December*

  9000 2003 November*

  10000 2004 January*

  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created

  to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.

  We need your donations more than ever!

  As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people

  and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,

  Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,

  Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,

  Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New

  Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,

  Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South

  Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West

  Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

  We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones

  that have responded.

  As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list

  will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.

  Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.

  In answer to various questions we have received on this:

  We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally

  request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and

  you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,

  just ask.

  While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are

  not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting

  donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to

  donate.

  International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about

  how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made

  deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are

  ways.

  Donations by check or money order may be sent to:

  Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

  PMB 113

  1739 University Ave.

  Oxford, MS 38655-4109

  Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment

  method other than by check or money order.

  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by

  the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN

  [Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are

  tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising

  requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be

  made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.

  We need your donations more than ever!

  You can get up to date donation information online at:

  http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html

  ***

  If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,

  you can always email directly to:

  Michael S. Hart

  Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.

  We would prefer to send you information by email.

  **The Legal Small Print**

  (Three Pages)

  ***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***

  Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.

  They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with

  your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from

  someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our

  fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement

  disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how

  you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.

  *BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK

  By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm

  eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept

  this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive

  a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by

  sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person

  you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical

  medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.

  ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS

  This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,

  is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart

  through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").

  Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright

  on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and

  distribute it in the United States without permission and

  without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth

  below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook

  under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.

  Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market

  any commercial products without permission.

  To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable

  efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain

  works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any

  medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other

  things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or

  corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

  intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged

  disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer

  codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

  LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES

  But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,

  [1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may

  receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims

  all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including

  legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR

  UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,

  INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE

  OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE

  POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

  If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of

  receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)

  you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that

  time to the person you received it from. If you received it

  on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and

  such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement

  copy. If you received it electronically, such person may

  choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to

  receive it electronically.

  THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER

  WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS

  TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT

  LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
FOR A

  PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

  Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or

  the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the

  above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you

  may have other legal rights.

  INDEMNITY

  You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,

  and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated

  with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm

  texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including

  legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the

  following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook,

  [2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,

  or [3] any Defect.

  DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"

  You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by

  disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this

  "Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,

  or:

  [1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this

  requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the

  eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however,

  if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable

  binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,

  including any form resulting from conversion by word

  processing or hypertext software, but only so long as

  *EITHER*:

  [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and

  does *not* contain characters other than those

  intended by the author of the work, although tilde

  (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may

  be used to convey punctuation intended by the

  author, and additional characters may be used to

  indicate hypertext links; OR

  [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at

  no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent

  form by the program that displays the eBook (as is

  the case, for instance, with most word processors);

  OR

  [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at

  no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the

  eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC

  or other equivalent proprietary form).

  [2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this

  "Small Print!" statement.

  [3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the

  gross profits you derive calculated using the method you

  already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you

  don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are

  payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"

  the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were

  legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent

  periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to

  let us know your plans and to work out the details.

  WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?

  Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of

  public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed

  in machine readable form.

  The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,

  public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.

  Money should be paid to the:

  "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

  If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or

  software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:

  [email protected]

  [Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only

  when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by

  Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be

  used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be

 

‹ Prev