I noticed, while all the rest of us were more or less
undressed and barefooted, that he was fully clothed.
Rouletabille had not left the body. Kneeling on the flagstones by
the light of Daddy Jacques's lantern he removed the clothes from
the body and laid bare its breast. Then snatching the lantern from
Daddy Jacques, he held it over the corpse and saw a gaping wound.
Rising suddenly he exclaimed in a voice filled with savage irony:
"The man you believe to have been shot was killed by the stab of a
knife in his heart!"
I thought Rouletabille had gone mad; but, bending over the body, I
quickly satisfied myself that Rouletabille was right. Not a sign
of a bullet anywhere--the wound, evidently made by a sharp blade,
had penetrated the heart.
CHAPTER XXIII
The Double Scent
I had hardly recovered from the surprise into which this new
discovery had plunged me, when Rouletabille touched me on the
shoulder and asked me to follow him into his room.
"What are we going to do there?"
"To think the matter over."
I confess I was in no condition for doing much thinking, nor could
I understand how Rouletabille could so control himself as to be
able calmly to sit down for reflection when he must have known that
Mademoiselle Stangerson was at that moment almost on the point of
death.
Pages:
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292