The shadow fell. But as it had reached the
end of the right wing of the chateau, it fell on the other side of
the angle of the building; that is to say, we saw it about to fall,
but not the actual sinking to the ground. Bernier, Arthur Rance
and myself reached the other side twenty seconds later. The shadow
was lying dead at our feet.
Aroused from his lethargy by the cries and reports, Larsan opened
the window of his chamber and called out to us. Rouletabille, quite
awake now, joined us at the same moment, and I cried out to him:
"He is dead!--is dead!"
"So much the better," he said. "Take him into the vestibule of the
chateau." Then as if on second thought, he said: "No!--no! Let us
put him in his own room."
Rouletabille knocked at the door. Nobody answered. Naturally, this
did not surprise me.
"He is evidently not there, otherwise he would have come out," said
the reporter. "Let us carry him to the vestibule then."
Since reaching the dead shadow, a thick cloud had covered the moon
and darkened the night, so that we were unable to make out the
features.
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