“I can!” replied M. Darzac, solemnly; and he added: “And I opened that door only when you and Sainclair knocked upon it. I swear it.” _And in saying this, as later events proved, the man spoke the truth._ Rouletabille thanked the Berniers and dismissed them to get some rest. Then, his voice trembling, the lad said: “It is well, M. Darzac, you have closed the circle. The apartment in the Square Tower is now closed as firmly as was the Yellow Room which was like a strong box, or as the ‘inexplicable gallery.’” “One would guess immediately that Larsan was mixed up in the affair!” I exclaimed. “It is the same mode of procedure!” “Yes,” observed Mme. Darzac. “Yes, M. Sainclair, it is the same mode of procedure.” And she unfastened her husband’s collar to show the wounds hidden beneath it. “See!” she said. “They are the same nail prints. I know them well.” There was a sorrowful silence. M. Darzac, caring only to solve this strange problem, reviewed the crime of the Glandier. And he repeated what he had said in the Yellow Room: “There must be a passage in the floor, in the ceiling or in the walls.” “There is not,” replied Rouletabille. “Then he must have found some way to make one,” persisted M. Darzac. “Why?” asked Rouletabille. “Did he do anything of the sort in the Yellow Room?” “Oh, this isn’t the same thing at all!” I exclaimed. “This apartment is more firmly closed than the Yellow Room since no one could have gotten into it before nor after.” “No, it is not the same thing,” pronounced Rouletabille. “It is just the opposite. In the Yellow Room, there was a body missing: in the room in the Round Tower, there is a body too many.” And he tottered out, leaning on my arm so as not to fall. The Lady in Black rushed toward him. He had strength enough left to stop her with a gesture. “Oh--this is nothing!” he said. “I’m a little tired, that’s all!” CHAPTER XIV THE SACK OF POTATOES While M. Darzac, with the assistance of Bernier, busied himself, as Rouletabille advised, with obliterating all signs of the tragedy, the Lady in Black, who had hastily changed her dress, hurried to her father’s rooms in order not to run the risk of encountering any of the other members of the party. Her last word was to counsel us to prudence and silence. Rouletabille also took leave of us. It was now about seven o’clock in the morning and things began to stir in and about the château. We could hear the fishermen singing in their boats. I threw myself upon my bed, and in a few moments I was sleeping profoundly, vanquished by the physical weariness which was stronger than my powers of resistance. When I awakened, I lay for a few moments on my couch in a pleasant bewilderment, but as the events of the night dawned on my remembrance, I started up in terror. “Ah!” I cried out, “A body too many! No, no! It can’t be! It’s impossible!”