Collected Works of Poe by Edgar Allan Poe (highly illogical behavior .TXT) đ
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âWhy so?â
âSometimes the top of a table, or other similarly arranged piece of furniture, is removed by the person wishing to conceal an article; then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity, and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedposts are employed in the same way.â
âBut could not the cavity be detected by sounding?â I asked.
âBy no means, if, when the article is deposited, a sufficient wadding of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we were obliged to proceed without noise.â
âBut you could not have removedâyou could not have taken to pieces all articles of furniture in which it would have been possible to make a deposit in the manner you mention. A letter may be compressed into a thin spiral roll, not differing much in shape or bulk from a large knitting-needle, and in this form it might be inserted into the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take to pieces all the chairs?â
âCertainly not; but we did betterâwe examined the rungs of every chair in the hotel, and, indeed the jointings of every description of furniture, by the aid of a most powerful microscope. Had there been any traces of recent disturbance we should not have failed to detect it instantly. A single grain of gimlet-dust, for example, would have been as obvious as an apple. Any disorder in the glueingâany unusual gaping in the jointsâwould have sufficed to insure detection.â
âI presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the plates, and you probed the beds and the bed-clothes, as well as the curtains and carpets.â
âThat of course; and when we had absolutely completed every particle of the furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself. We divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered, so that none might be missed; then we scrutinized each individual square inch throughout the premises, including the two houses immediately adjoining, with the microscope, as before.â
âThe two houses adjoining!â I exclaimed; âyou must have had a great deal of trouble.â
âWe had; but the reward offered is prodigious!â
âYou include the grounds about the houses?â
âAll the grounds are paved with brick. They gave us comparatively little trouble. We examined the moss between the bricks, and found it undisturbed.â
âYou looked among Dââs papers, of course, and into the books of the library?â
âCertainly; we opened every package and parcel; we not only opened every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not contenting ourselves with a mere shake, according to the fashion of some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every book-cover, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, longitudinally, with the needles.â
âYou explored the floors beneath the carpets?â
âBeyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with the microscope.â
âAnd the paper on the walls?â
âYes.â
âYou looked into the cellars?â
âWe did.â
âThen,â I said, âyou have been making a miscalculation, and the letter is not upon the premises, as you suppose.â
âI fear you are right there,â said the Prefect. âAnd now, Dupin, what would you advise me to do?â
âTo make a thorough re-search of the premises.â
âThat is absolutely needless,â replied Gâ. âI am not more sure that I breathe than I am that the letter is not at the Hotel.â
âI have no better advice to give you,â said Dupin. âYou have, of course, an accurate description of the letter?â
âOh yes!ââAnd here the Prefect, producing a memorandum-book proceeded to read aloud a minute account of the internal, and especially of the external appearance of the missing document. Soon after finishing the perusal of this description, he took his departure, more entirely depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. In about a month afterwards he paid us another visit, and found us occupied very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair and entered into some ordinary conversation. At length I said,â
âWell, but Gâ, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have at last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the Minister?â
âConfound him, say Iâyes; I made the re-examination, however, as Dupin suggestedâbut it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be.â
âHow much was the reward offered, did you say?â asked Dupin.
âWhy, a very great dealâa very liberal rewardâI donât like to say how much, precisely; but one thing I will say, that I wouldnât mind giving my individual check for fifty thousand francs to any one who could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming of more and more importance every day; and the reward has been lately doubled. If it were trebled, however, I could do no more than I have done.â
âWhy, yes,â said Dupin, drawlingly, between the whiffs of his meerschaum, âI reallyâthink, Gâ, you have not exerted yourselfâto the utmost in this matter. You mightâdo a little more, I think, eh?â
âHow?âin what way?â
âWhyâpuff, puffâyou mightâpuff, puffâemploy counsel in the matter, eh?âpuff, puff, puff. Do you remember the story they tell of Abernethy?â
âNo; hang Abernethy!â
âTo be sure! hang him and welcome. But, once upon a time, a certain rich miser conceived the design of spunging upon this Abernethy for a medical opinion. Getting up, for this purpose, an ordinary conversation in a private company, he insinuated his case to the physician, as that of an imaginary individual.
ââWe will suppose,â said the miser, âthat his symptoms are such and such; now, doctor, what would you have directed him to take?â
ââTake!â said Abernethy, âwhy, take advice, to be sure.ââ
âBut,â said the Prefect, a little discomposed, âI am perfectly willing to take advice, and to pay for it. I would really give fifty thousand francs to any one who would aid me in the matter.â
âIn that case,â replied Dupin, opening a drawer, and producing a check-book, âyou may as well fill me up a check for the amount mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter.â
I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken. For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed starting from their sockets; then, apparently recovering himself in some measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant stares, finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand francs, and handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter examined it carefully and deposited it in his pocket-book; then, unlocking an escritoire, took thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to the door, rushed at length unceremoniously from the room and from the house, without having uttered a syllable since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check.
When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanations.
âThe Parisian police,â he said, âare exceedingly able in their way. They are persevering, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly versed in the knowledge which their duties seem chiefly to demand. Thus, when Gâ detailed to us his mode of searching the premises at the Hotel Dâ, I felt entire confidence in his having made a satisfactory investigationâso far as his labors extended.â
âSo far as his labors extended?â said I.
âYes,â said Dupin. âThe measures adopted were not only the best of their kind, but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter been deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would, beyond a question, have found it.â
I merely laughedâbut he seemed quite serious in all that he said.
âThe measures, then,â he continued, âwere good in their kind, and well executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case, and to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious resources are, with the Prefect, a sort of Procrustean bed, to which he forcibly adapts his designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow, for the matter in hand; and many a schoolboy is a better reasoner than he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing in the game of âeven and oddâ attracted universal admiration. This game is simple, and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a number of these toys, and demands of another whether that number is even or odd. If the guess is right, the guesser wins one; if wrong, he loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of the school. Of course he had some principle of guessing; and this lay in mere observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For example, an arrant simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his closed hand, asks, âare they even or odd?â Our schoolboy replies, âodd,â and loses; but upon the second trial he wins, for he then says to himself, âthe simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his amount of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second; I will therefore guess odd;ââhe guesses odd, and wins. Now, with a simpleton a degree above the first, he would have reasoned thus: âThis fellow finds that in the first instance I guessed odd, and, in the second, he will propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a simple variation from even to odd, as did the first simpleton; but then a second thought will suggest that this is too simple a variation, and finally he will decide upon putting it even as before. I will therefore guess even;ââhe guesses even, and wins. Now this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows termed âlucky,ââwhat, in its last analysis, is it?â
âIt is merely,â I said, âan identification of the reasonerâs intellect with that of his opponent.â
âIt is,â said Dupin; âand, upon inquiring of the boy by what means he effected the thorough identification in which his success consisted, I received answer as follows: âWhen I wish to find out how wise, or how stupid, or how good, or how wicked is any one, or what are his thoughts at the moment, I fashion the expression of my face, as accurately as possible, in accordance with the expression of his, and then wait to see what thoughts or sentiments arise in my mind or heart, as if to match or correspond with the expression.â This response of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the spurious profundity which has been attributed to Rochefoucault, to La Bougive, to Machiavelli, and to Campanella.â
âAnd the identification,â I said, âof the reasonerâs intellect with that of his opponent, depends, if I understand you aright, upon the accuracy with which the opponentâs intellect is admeasured.â
âFor its practical value it depends upon this,â replied Dupin; âand the Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first, by default of this identification, and, secondly,
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