The Secret Of The Night(Fiscle Part 3) by Gaston Leroux (readera ebook reader txt) 📕

While Rouletabille Urged His View,  The Emperor Let Him Talk On And

On,  And Now His Eyes Were Dim.

"Is It Possible That Natacha Has Not Been The Accomplice,  In All,

Of Michael Nikolaievitch?" He Demanded.  "It Was She Who Opened Her

Father's House To Him That Night.  If She Was Not His Accomplice

She Would Have Mistrusted Him,  She Would Have Watched Him."

"Sire,  Michael Nikolaievitch Was A Very Clever Man.  He Knew So

Well How To Play Upon Natacha,  And Annouchka,  In Whom She Placed

All Her Hope.  It Was From Annouchka That She Wished To Hold The

Life Of Her Father.  It Was The Word,  The Signature Of Annouchka

That She Demanded Before Giving Her Own.  The Evening Michael

Nikolaievitch Died,  He Was Charged To Bring Her That Signature.  I

Know It,  Myself,  Because,  Pretending Drunkenness,  I Was Able To

Overhear Enough Of A Conversation Between Annouchka And A Man Whose

Name I Must Conceal.  Yes,  That Last Evening,  Michael Nikolaievitch,

When He Entered The Datcha,  Had The Signature In His Pocket,  But

Also He Carried The Weapon Or The Poison With Which He Already Had

Attempted And Was Resolved To Reach The Father Of Her Whom He

Believed Was Assuredly To Be His Wife."

"You Speak Now Of A Paper,  Very Precious,  That I Regret Not To

Possess,  Monsieur," Said The Tsar Coldly,  "Because That Paper Alone

Would Have Proved To Me The Innocence Of Your Protegee."

"If You Have Not It,  Sire,  You Know Well That It Is Because I Have

Wished You To Have It.  The Corpse Had Been Searched By Katharina,

The Little Bohemian,  And I,  Sire,  Prevented Koupriane From Finding

That Signature In Katharina's Possession.  In Saving The Secret I

Have Saved General Trebassof's Life,  Who Would Have Preferred To

Die Rather Than Accept Such An Arrangement."

The Tsar Stopped Rouletabille In His Enthusiastic Outburst.

"All That Would Be Very Beautiful And Perhaps Admirable," Said He,

More And More Coldly,  Because He Had Entirely Recovered Himself,"

If Natacha Had Not,  Herself,  With Her Own Hand,  Poisoned Her Father

And Her Step-Mother! - Always With Arsenate Of Soda."

"Oh,  Some Of That Had Been Left In The House," Replied Rouletabille.

"They Had Not Given Me All Of It For The Analysis After The First

Attempt.  But Natacha Is Innocent Of That,  Sire.  I Swear It To You.

As True As That I Have Certainly Escaped Being Hanged."

"How,  Hanged?"

"Oh,  It Has Not Amounted To Much Now,  Your Majesty."

And Rouletabille Recounted His Sinister Adventure,  Up To The Moment

Of His Death,  Or,  Rather,  Up To The Moment When He Had Believed He

Was Going To Die.

The Emperor Listened To The Young Reporter With Complete

Stupefaction.  He Murmured,  "Poor Lad!" Then,  Suddenly:

"But How Have You Managed To Escape Them?"

"Sire They Have Given Me Twenty-Four Hours For You To Set Natacha

At Liberty,  That Is To Say,  That You Restore Her To Her Rights,  All

Her Rights,  And She Be Always The Recognized Heiress Of Trebassof.

Do You Understand Me,  Sire?

"I Will Understand You,  Perhaps,  When You Have Explained To Me How

Natacha Has Not Poisoned Her Father And Step-Mother."

"There Are Some Things So Simple,  Sire,  That One Is Able To Think

Of Them Only With A Rope Around One's Neck.  But Let Us Reason It

Out.  We Have Here Four Persons,  Two Of Whom Have Been Poisoned

And The Other Two With Them Have Not Been.  Now,  It Is Certain That,

Of The Four Persons,  The General Has Not Wished To Poison Himself,

That His Wife Has Not Wished To Poison The General,  And That,  As

For Me,  I Have Not Wished To Poison Anybody.  That,  If We Are

Absolutely Sure Of It,  Leaves As The Poisoner Only Natacha.  That

Is So Certain,  So Inevitable,  That There Is Only One Case,  One

Alone,  Where,  In Such Conditions,  Natacha Would Not Be Regarded As

The Poisoner."

"I Confess That,  Logically,  I Do Not See," Said The Tsar,  "Anything

Beyond That But More And More Of A Tangle.  What Is It?"

"Logically,  The Only Case Would Be That Where No One Had Been

Poisoned,  That Is To Say,  Where No One Had Taken Any Poison."

"But The Presence Of The Poison Has Been Established!" Cried The

Emperor.

"Still,  The Presence Of The Poison Proves Only Its Presence,  Not

The Crime.  Both Poison And Ipecac Were Found In The Stomach

Expulsions.  From Which A Crime Has Been Concluded.  What State

Of Affairs Was Necessary For There To Have Been No Crime?  Simply

That The Poison Should Have Appeared In The Expulsions After The

Ipecac.  Then There Would Have Been No Poisoning,  But Everyone

Would Believe There Had Been.  And,  For That,  Someone Would Have

Poured The Poison Into The Expulsions."

The Tsar Never Quitted Rouletabille's Eyes.

"That Is Extraordinary," Said He.  "But Of Course It Is Possible.

In Any Case,  It Is Still Only An Hypothesis.

"And So Long As It Could Be An Hypothesis That No One Thought Of,

It Could Be Just That,  Sire.  But If I Am Here,  It Is Because I

Have The Proof That That Hypothesis Corresponds To The Reality.

That Necessary Proof Of Natacha's Innocence,  Your Majesty,  I Have

Found With The Rope Around My Neck.  Ah,  I Tell You It Was Time!

What Has Hindered Us Hitherto,  I Do Not Say To Realize,  But Even

To Think,  Of That Hypothesis?  Simply That We Thought The Illness

Of The General Had Commenced Before The Absorption Of The Ipecac,

Since Matrena Petrovna Had Been Obliged To Go For It To Her

Medicine-Closet After His Illness Commenced,  In Order To Counteract

The Poison Of Which She Also Appeared To Be The Victim.

"But,  If I Acquire Proof That Matrena Petrovna Had The Ipecac At

Hand Before The Sickness,  My Hypothesis Of Pretense At Poisoning

Has Irresistible Force.  Because,  If It Was Not To Use It Before,

Why Did She Have It With Her Before?  And If It Was Not That She

Wished To Hide The Fact That She Had Used It Before,  Why Did She

Wish To Make Believe That She Went To Find It Afterwards?

"Then,  In Order To Show Natacha's Innocence,  Here Is What Must Be

Proved: That Matrena Petrovna Had The Ipecac On Her,  Even When She

Went To Look For It."

"Young Rouletabille,  I Hardly Breathe," Said The Tsar.

"Breathe,  Sire.  The Proof Is Here.  Matrena Petrovna Necessarily

Had The Ipecac On Her,  Because After The Sickness She Had Not The

Time For Going To Find It.  Do You Understand,  Sire?  Between The

Moment When She Fled From The Kiosk And When She Returned There,

She Had Not The Actual Time To Go To Her Medicine-Closet To Find

The Ipecac."

"How Have You Been Able To Compute The Time?" Asked The Emperor.

"Sire,  The Lord God Directed,  Who Made Me Admire Feodor

Feodorovitch's Watch Just When We Went To Read,  And To Read On The

Dial Of That Watch Two Minutes To The Hour,  And The Lord God

Directed Yet,  Who,  After The Scene Of The Poison,  At The Time

Matrena Returned Carrying The Ipecac Publicly,  Made The Hour

Strike From That Watch In The General's Pocket.

"Two Minutes.  It Was Impossible For Matrena To Have Covered That

Distance In Two Minutes.  She Could Only Have Entered The Deserted

Datcha And Left It Again Instantly.  She Had Not Taken The Trouble

To Mount To The Floor Above,  Where,  She Told Us And Repeated When

She Returned,  The Ipecac Was In The Medicine-Closet.  She Lied!

And If She Lied,  All Is Explained.

"It Was The Striking Of A Watch,  Sire,  With A Striking Apparatus

And A Sound Like The General's,  There In The Quarters Of The

Revolutionaries,  That Roused My Memory And Indicated To Me In A

Second This Argument Of The Time.

"I Got Down From My Gallows-Scaffold,  Your Majesty,  To Experiment

On That Time-Limit.  Oh,  Nothing And Nobody Could Have Prevented

My Making That Experiment Before I Died,  To Prove To Myself That

Rouletabille Had All Along Been Right.  I Had Studied The Grounds

Around The Datcha Enough To Be Perfectly Exact About The Distances.

I Found In The Court Where I Was To Be Hanged The Same Number Of

Steps That There Were From The Kiosk To The Steps Of The Veranda,

And,  As The Staircase Of The Revolutionaries Had Fewer Steps,  I

Lengthened My Journey A Few Steps By Walking Around A Chair.

Finally,  I Attended To The Opening And Closing Of The Doors That

Matrena Would Have Had To Do.  I Had Looked At A Watch When I

Started.  When I Returned,  Sire,  And Looked At The Watch Again,  I

Had Taken Three Minutes To Cover The Distance - And It Is Not For

Me To Boast,  But I Am A Little Livelier Than The Excellent Matrena.

"Matrena Had Lied.  Matrena Had Simulated The Poisoning Of The

General.  Matrena Had Coolly Poured Ipecac In The General's Glass

While We Were Illustrating With Matches A Curious-Enough Theory Of

The Nature Of The Constitution Of The Empire."

"But This Is Abominable!" Cried The Emperor,  This Time Definitely

Convinced By The Intricate Argument Of Rouletabille.  "And What End

Could This Imitation Serve?'"

"The End Of Preventing The Real Crime!  The End That She Believed

Herself To Have Attained,  Sire,  To Have Natacha Removed Forever

- Natacha Whom She Believed Capable Of Any Crime."

"Oh,  It Is Monstrous!  Feodor Feodorovitch Has Often Told Me That

Matrena Loved Natacha Sincerely."

"She Loved Her Sincerely Up To The Day That She Believed Her Guilty.

Matrena Petrovna Was Sure Of Natacha's Complicity In Michael

Nikolaievitch's Attempt To Poison The General.  I Shared Her Stupor,

Her Despair,  When Feodor Feodorovitch Took His Daughter In His Arms

After That Tragic Night,  And Embraced Her.  He Seemed To Absolve

Her.  It Was Then That Matrena Resolved Within Herself To Save The

General In Spite Of Himself,  But I Remain Persuaded That,  If She

Had Dared Such A Plan Against Natacha,  It Would Only Be Because Of

What She Believed Definite Proof Of Her Step-Daughter's Infamy.

These Papers,  Sire,  That You Have Shown Me,  And Which Show,  If

Nothing More,  An Understanding Between Natacha And The

Revolutionaries,  Could Only Have Been In The Possession Of Michael

Or Of Natacha.  Nothing Was Found In Michael's Quarters.  Tell Me,

Then,  That Matrena Found Them In Natacha's Apartment.  Then,  She

Did Not Hesitate!"

"If One Outlined Her Crime To Her,  Do You Believe She Would Confess

It?  Asked The Emperor.

"I Am So Sure Of It That I Have Had Her Brought Here.