The Mystery of Orcival | Page 7

the gate, and all entered
the little court. The gendarmes had just arrived. The mayor told the
brigadier to follow him, and placed two men at the gate, ordering them
not to permit anyone to enter or go out, unless by his orders. Then the
valet de chambre opened the door of the house.

II
If there had been no crime, at least something extraordinary had taken
place at the chateau; the impassible justice might have been convinced
of it, as soon as he had stepped into the vestibule. The glass door
leading to the garden was wide open, and three of the panes were
shattered into a thousand pieces. The carpeting of waxed canvas
between the doors had been torn up, and on the white marble slabs
large drops of blood were visible. At the foot of the staircase was a
stain larger than the rest, and upon the lowest step a splash hideous to
behold.
Unfitted for such spectacles, or for the mission he had now to perform,
M. Courtois became faint. Luckily, he borrowed from the idea of his
official importance, an energy foreign to his character. The more

difficult the preliminary examination of this affair seemed, the more
determined he was to carry it on with dignity.
"Conduct us to the place where you saw the body," said he to Bertaud.
But Papa Plantat intervened.
"It would be wiser, I think," he objected, "and more methodical, to
begin by going through the house."
"Perhaps-yes-true, that's my own view," said the mayor, grasping at the
other's counsel, as a drowning man clings to a plank. And he made all
retire excepting the brigadier and the valet de chambre, the latter
remaining to serve as guide. "Gendarmes," cried he to the men
guarding the gate, "see to it that no one goes out; prevent anybody from
entering the house, and above all, let no one go into the garden."
Then they ascended the staircase. Drops of blood were sprinkled all
along the stairs. There was also blood on the baluster, and M. Courtois
perceived, with horror, that his hands were stained.
When they had reached the first landing-stage, the mayor said to the
valet de chambre:
"Tell me, my friend, did your master and mistress occupy the same
chamber?"
Yes, sir."
"And where is their chamber?"
"There, sir."
As he spoke, the valet de chambre staggered back terrified, and pointed
to a door, the upper panel of which betrayed the imprint of a bloody
hand. Drops of perspiration overspread the poor mayor's forehead he
too was terrified, and could hardly keep on his feet. Alas, authority
brings with it terrible obligations! The brigadier, an old soldier of the
Crimea, visibly moved, hesitated.

M. Plantat alone, as tranquil as if he were in his garden, retained his
coolness, and looked around upon the others.
"We must decide," said he.
He entered the room; the rest followed.
There was nothing unusual in the apartment; it was a boudoir hung in
blue satin, furnished with a couch and four arm-chairs, covered also
with blue satin. One of the chairs was overturned.
They passed on to the bed-chamber.
A frightful disorder appeared in this rooM. There was not an article of
furniture, not an ornament, which did not betray that a terrible, enraged
and merciless struggle had taken place between the assassins and their
victims. In the middle of the chamber a small table was overturned, and
all about it were scattered lumps of sugar, vermilion cups, and pieces of
porcelain.
"Ab!" said the valet de chambre, "Monsieur and Madame were taking
tea when the wretches came in!"
The mantel ornaments had been thrown upon the floor; the clock, in
falling, had stopped at twenty minutes past three. Near the clock were
the lamps; the globes were in pieces, the oil had been spilled.
The canopy of the bed had been torn down, and covered the bed.
Someone must have clutched desperately at the draperies. All the
furniture was overturned. The coverings of the chairs had been hacked
by strokes of a knife, and in places the stuffing protruded. The secretary
had been broken open; the writing-slide, dislocated, hung by its hinges;
the drawers were open and empty, and everywhere, blood - blood upon
the carpet, the furniture, the curtains - above all, upun the bed-curtains.
Poor wretches! " stammered the mayor. "They were murdered here."
Every one for a moment was appalled. But meanwhile, the justice of

the peace devoted himself to a minute scrutiny, taking notes upon his
tablets, and looking into every corner. When he had finished:
Come," said he, "let us go into the other rooms.
Every where there was the same disorder. A band of furious maniacs,
or criminals seized with a frenzy, had certainly passed the night in