Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/36

36 36 THE MYSTERY OF MADELINE LE BLANG

He almost leaped down the remaining steps, and amid suffocating odors, lighted a candle. But no one was there. The smells rendered him almost unconscious, as he made his way up the stairs. Flashing the candle into the face of the figure on the floor, he saw the pale distorted features of an unknown person—but resembling Doctor Satiani.

There was at that moment a noise in the front part of the house. The bewildered dwarf went stealthily in that direction, when he distinctly heard keys rattling in the front door. He ran noiselessly into the half-story overhead; and looking out the window, in the darkness of the night, saw a man bending over the lock.

The only night officer in the town had by accident wandered in this direction; and when before the stone house, about to turn back, he had been attracted by the strange noises. He was trying to enter the front door; but finding that impossible, he walked around the house and tried the side entrance. He succeeded in prying it open, and as he stepped noiselessly into the room, fell over the body on the floor. Lowering his lantern, he beheld the same