Darzac rose
to his feet, frightfully pale.
The President, addressing Rouletabille, said gravely:
"I will not ask you to take the oath, because you have not been
regularly summoned; but I trust there is no need to urge upon you
the gravity of the statement you are about to make."
Rouletabille looked the President quite calmly and steadily in the
face, and replied:
"Yes, Monsieur."
"At your last appearance here," said the President, "we had arrived
at the point where you were to tell us how the murderer escaped,
and also his name. Now, Monsieur Rouletabille, we await your
explanation."
"Very well, Monsieur," began my friend amidst a profound silence.
"I had explained how it was impossible for the murderer to get away
without being seen. And yet he was there with us in the courtyard."
"And you did not see him? At least that is what the prosecution
declares."
"No! We all of us saw him, Monsieur le President!" cried
Rouletabille.
"Then why was he not arrested?"
"Because no one, besides myself, knew that he was the murderer.
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