Gaston Leroux: The Mystery of the Yellow Room

CHAPTER 14: "I Expect the Assassin This Evening" (continued)

After passing the donjon, which is situated at the extreme end of the left wing, we went to the back of the chateau. Rouletabille, pointing to a window which I recognised as the only one belonging to Mademoiselle Stangerson's apartment, said to me:

"If you had been here, two nights ago, you would have seen your humble servant at the top of a ladder, about to enter the chateau by that window."

As I expressed some surprise at this piece of nocturnal gymnastics, he begged me to notice carefully the exterior disposition of the chateau. We then went back into the building.

"I must now show you the first floor of the chateau, where I am living," said my friend.

To enable the reader the better to understand the disposition of these parts of the dwelling, I annex a plan of the first floor of the right wing, drawn by Rouletabille the day after the extraordinary phenomenon occurred, the details of which I am about to relate.

***

                       boudoir
___ ____ ___________ _______\___ ________4________ _______ _________ __
|             |            |   |             |           |
|             |  Mlle.     |   |    Mlle.    |___ ___ ___|    Mr.
   Lumber     |Sangerson's       Sangerson's |___ ___ ___| Sangerson's
|   Room      | Sitting    |   |   Bed Room  |___ ___ ___|   Room
|             |  Room      |   |__  __  _____|stair-case |
              |            |   |bath|anteroom|           |
|_____  ______|____  ______|___|____|___  ___|           |______  _____
|
 2 ------ Right Gallery  Right Wing--------- 3            Right Gallery
                                                           Left Wing
|_________    _____ _________ ______ _______ __ __   __ _________ _____

|Roulet-   | W G |
|tabille's | I A |        Right Wing                         Left Wing
| Room       N L           of the
|_________ | D L |         Chateau
 Frederic  | I E |
|Larsan's    N R
|  Room    | G Y |
           |     |
|____ ____ | _1_ |
 .           5  .
  .     6      .
   .         .
     .  .  .

***

Rouletabille motioned me to follow him up a magnificent flight of stairs ending in a landing on the first floor. From this landing one could pass to the right or left wing of the chateau by a gallery opening from it. This gallery, high and wide, extended along the whole length of the building and was lit from the front of the chateau facing the north. The rooms, the windows of which looked to the south, opened out of the gallery. Professor Stangerson inhabited the left wing of the building. Mademoiselle Stangerson had her apartment in the right wing.