the further end of the chateau, where a ladder stood
resting against the stone brackets supporting the terrace, under
the window which I had found open. The projection of the terrace had
prevented my seeing it. Thanks to that ladder, it was quite easy to get
into the 'off-turning' gallery of the first floor, and I had no doubt of
it having been the road taken by the unknown.

"We ran to the ladder, but at the moment of reaching it, Daddy Jacques
drew my attention to the half-open door of the little semi-circular
room, situated under the terrace, at the extremity of the right wing of
the chateau, having the terrace for its roof. Daddy Jacques pushed the
door open a little further and looked in.

"'He's not there!" he whispered.

"Who is not there?"

"The forest--keeper."

With his lips once more to my ear, he added:

"'Do you know that he has slept in the upper room of the donjon ever
since it was restored?' And with the same gesture he pointed to
the half-open door, the ladder, the terrace, and the windows in the
'off-turning' gallery which, a little while before, I had re-closed.

"What were my thoughts then? I had no time to think. I felt more than I
thought.

"Evidently, I felt, if the forest-keeper is up there in the chamber (I
say, if, because at this moment, apart from the presence of the ladder
and his vacant room, there are no evidences which permit me even to
suspect him)--if he is there, he has been obliged to pass by the ladder,
and the rooms which lie behind his, in his new lodging, are occupied by
the family of the steward and by the cook, and by the kitchens, which
bar the way by the vestibule to the interior of the chateau. And if he
had been there during the evening on any pretext, it would have been
easy for him to go into the gallery and see that the window could be
simply pushed open from the outside. This question of the unfastened
window easily narrowed the field of search for the murderer. He must
belong to the house, unless he had an accomplice, which I do not believe
he had; unless--unless Mademoiselle Stangerson herself had seen that
that window was not fastened from the inside. But, then,--what could
be the frightful secret which put her under the necessity of doing away
with obstacles that separated her from the murderer?

"I seized hold of the ladder, and we returned to the back of the chateau
to see if the window of the chamber was still half-open. The blind was
drawn but did not