Then rushing to the wall, I began to trace the scene of the murder with superhuman energy. No uncertainty, no hesitation! I knew the man! I had seen him! He was there before me!
At ten o'clock the jailer came to my cell. His owl-like impassibility gave place to admiration.
"Is it possible?" he cried, standing at the threshold.
"Go, bring me my judges," I said to him, pursuing my work with an increasing exultation.
Schlüssel answered:
"They are waiting for you in the trial-room."
"I wish to make a revelation," I cried, as I put the finishing touches to the mysterious personage.
He lived; he was frightful to see. His full-faced figure, foreshortened upon the wall, stood out from the white background with an astonishing vitality.
The jailer went away.
A few minutes afterward the two judges appeared. They were stupefied. I, trembling, with extended hand, said to them: