He had
almost arrived at the donjon, when he saw a figure running swiftly
in a direction opposite to him, towards the right wing of the
chateau. He heard revolver shots from behind the figure and saw
Rouletabille at one of 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 a knife thrust. Who had given
it he could not imagine. "Nobody could have been near the spot
without my seeing him." When the examining magistrate reminded him
that the spot where the body was found was very dark and that he
himself had not been able to recognise the keeper before firing,
Daddy Bernier replied that neither had they seen the other body;
nor had they found it. In the narrow court where five people were
standing it would have been strange if the other body, had it been
there, could have escaped. The only door that opened into the court
was that of the keeper's room, and that door was closed, and the
key of it was found in the keeper's pocket.
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