Larsan joined me. They were the same kind of footprints as were
made at the time of the assault in The Yellow Room--one set was
from clumsy boots and the other was made by neat ones, except that
the big toe of one of the sets was of a different size from the one
measured in The Yellow Room incident. I compared the marks with
the paper patterns I had previously made.
"Still following the tracks of the prints, Larsan and I passed out
of the oak grove and reached the border of the lake. There they
turned off to a little path leading to the high road to Epinay where
we lost the traces in the newly macadamised highway.
"We went back to the chateau and parted at the courtyard. We met
again, however, in Daddy Jacques's room to which our separate trains
of thinking had led us both. We found the old servant in bed. His
clothes on the chair were wet through and his boots very muddy. He
certainly did not get into that state in helping us to carry the
body of the keeper. It was not raining then. Then his face showed
extreme fatigue and he looked at us out of terror-stricken eyes.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294