1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:11,119 The pearloined letter by Edgar Allan Poe l Sapientiae Odiosius Acumenae Nimio Seneca. At 2 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,480 Paris, just after dark, one gusty evening in the autumn of eighteen, 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,600 I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and Meerschaum in company with my friend 4 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:25,320 see Augusta Dupin in his little back library or book closet Altrosime, number thirty 5 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,359 three Rue du nott Haalberg, Saint Germain. For one hour at least we 6 00:00:29,399 --> 00:00:33,640 had maintained a profound silence, while each to any casual observer might have seemed 7 00:00:33,679 --> 00:00:38,079 intently and exclusively occupied with the curling neededs of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of 8 00:00:38,079 --> 00:00:43,079 the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally discussing certain topics which 9 00:00:43,079 --> 00:00:46,520 had formed a matter of conversation between us at an earlier period of the evening. 10 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,159 I mean the affair of the Rue Morgue and the mystery attending the murder 11 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,119 of Marie Rogette. I looked upon it therefore as something of a coincidence when 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:59,479 d'orvar apartment was thrown open and omitted our old acquaintance Monsieur g the Prefect of 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,200 the Parisians Police. We gave him a hearty welcome, for there was nearly 14 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,359 half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible that the man. No, 15 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,480 we had not seen him for several years. We had been sitting in 16 00:01:08,519 --> 00:01:11,719 the dark, and Dupin now arose for the purpose of lighting the lamp, 17 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,680 but sat down again without doing so, upon g saying that he had called 18 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,079 to consult us, or rather to us, the opinion of my friend, 19 00:01:19,519 --> 00:01:23,000 have had some official business which had occasioned a great deal of trouble. If 20 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:29,079 it is any point to require in reflection, observed Dupin, as he forboret 21 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,879 to enkindle the wick, we shall examine it to better purpose in the dark. 22 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,640 That is another of your odd notions, said the Prefect, through the 23 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,840 fashion of calling everything odd that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,200 an absolute legion of oddities. Very true, said Dupin, as he supplied 25 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,680 his visitor with a pipe and rode toward him a comfortable chair. And what 26 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,239 is the difficulty now, I asked, nothing more in the assassination way, 27 00:01:55,319 --> 00:01:57,760 I hope, oh, no, nothing of that nature. The fact is 28 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,920 the business is very simple, indeed, and I make no doubt we can 29 00:02:00,959 --> 00:02:06,079 manage it sufficiently well ourselves. But then I thought Dupin would like to hear 30 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,719 the details of it, because it is so excessively odd, simple and odd, 31 00:02:12,199 --> 00:02:15,000 said Dupin. Why yes, and not exactly that either. The fact 32 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,319 is we have opened a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, 33 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,240 and yet baffles us all together. Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the 34 00:02:23,319 --> 00:02:29,120 thing which puts you at fault, said my friend. What nonsense you do 35 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:34,919 talk, replied the Prefect, laughing heartily. Perhaps the mystery is just a 36 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,000 little too plain, said Dupin. Oh good heavens, who ever heard of 37 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:49,240 such an idea? A little too self evident? Roared our visitor profoundly amused, 38 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,000 Oh ho, Dupin, you will be the death of me. Yet, 39 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,039 and what, after all, he is the matter on hand? I 40 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,719 asked? Why I would tell you, replied the Prefect, As he gave 41 00:02:58,759 --> 00:03:01,479 a long and steady, imp contemplative put In settled himself in his chair. 42 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,080 It will tell you in a few words. But before I begin, let 43 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,560 me caution you that this is an affair of many the greatest secrecy, and 44 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,800 that I should most probably lose the position I now hold, were it known 45 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,240 that I confide it to any one, proceed said I. Oh not, 46 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:22,560 said the new Pin. Well, then I have received personal information from a 47 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,280 very high quarter that a certain document of the last importance has been purloined from 48 00:03:27,319 --> 00:03:30,560 the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it is known this beyond a doubt 49 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,599 you seem to take it. It is known also that it still remains in 50 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:39,719 his possession. How is this known, asked to Pinn, It is clearly 51 00:03:39,759 --> 00:03:44,159 inferred, replied the priefect from the nature of the document, and from the 52 00:03:44,199 --> 00:03:46,759 non appearance of certain results which would at once arise from its passing out of 53 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,280 the robber's possession, that is to say, from his employing it as he 54 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,280 must design in the end to employ it. Be a little more explicit, 55 00:03:54,639 --> 00:03:58,639 I said, Well, I may venture so far as to say that the 56 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,240 paper gives it told very certain power in a certain quarter, where such power 57 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:06,639 is immensely valuable. The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy. Still 58 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:13,439 I do not quite understand, said Dupinn. No, Well, the disclosure 59 00:04:13,479 --> 00:04:15,199 of the document to a third person, who shall be nameless, would bring 60 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,040 in question the honor of a personage of what exalted station, and this fact 61 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:24,879 gives the honor holder of the document an ascendency over the illustrious personage whose honor 62 00:04:24,959 --> 00:04:30,600 and peace are so jeopardized. But this ascendancy, I interspose, would depend 63 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,160 upon the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. Who would dare 64 00:04:33,319 --> 00:04:38,360 the thief? Said, g is the Minister D, who dares all things, 65 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,120 those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the 66 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:46,079 theat was not less ingenious and bold. Document in question, a letter to 67 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,639 be frank had been received by the personage robbed. While alone in the royal 68 00:04:48,639 --> 00:04:53,759 boudoirs doing it for usal, she was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the 69 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,079 other exalted personage, from whom especially it was her wish to conceal it. 70 00:04:57,639 --> 00:05:00,959 After a hurried and vain endeavor to thrust it in the drawer, she was 71 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,199 forced to place it open, as it was upon a table. The address, 72 00:05:03,199 --> 00:05:06,639 however, was uppermost. When the contents thus unexposed, the letter escape 73 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:12,720 notice. At this juncture enters the Minister D. His link's eye immediately perceives 74 00:05:12,759 --> 00:05:16,079 the paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the 75 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,839 personage addressed, and fathoms a secret. After some business transactions hurried through in 76 00:05:20,879 --> 00:05:25,639 his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, 77 00:05:26,079 --> 00:05:28,879 opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close 78 00:05:28,959 --> 00:05:31,759 juxta position to the other. Again, he converses for some fifteen minutes upon 79 00:05:31,759 --> 00:05:35,759 the public affairs at length. In taking leave, he takes also from the 80 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,040 table the letter to which he had no claim. His rightful owner saw, 81 00:05:40,199 --> 00:05:43,079 but of course dared not call attention to the act. In the presence of 82 00:05:43,079 --> 00:05:46,000 the third personage, who stood at her elbow, the Minister de comte, 83 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,800 leaving his own letter one of no importance upon the table here, then said 84 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:58,160 Dupindmi, you have precisely achewed the man to make the ascendancy complete the robber's 85 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:02,399 knowledge of the loser's knowledge joke. The robber, yes, replied the prifet, 86 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,040 and the power thus attained has for some months past been welded for political 87 00:06:06,079 --> 00:06:11,600 purposes to a very dangerous extent. The personage rob is more thoroughly convinced every 88 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,120 day of the necessity of proclaiming her letter. But this, of course cannot 89 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,120 be done openly in fine driven to despair, she has committed the matter to 90 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:24,720 me than whom said dupinn Amid, a perfect whirlwind of smoke. No more 91 00:06:24,879 --> 00:06:30,959 sagacious agent could I suppose be desired, or even imagined. You flatter me, 92 00:06:30,399 --> 00:06:34,079 replied the prophet. But it is possible that some such opinion may have 93 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:39,160 been entertained. It is clear, said I, as you observe that the 94 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,600 letter is still in the possession of the minister. Since it is this possession 95 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,439 and not any employment, a letter which bestows the power with the employment, 96 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,000 the power departs, true, said she, And upon this conviction I proceeded. 97 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,399 My first care was to make thorough sarch in the minister's hotel. And 98 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,519 here my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his knowledge. Beyond 99 00:06:58,519 --> 00:07:00,319 all things, I have been wanted the day which would result from giving him 100 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,879 reason to suspect our design. But said I, you are quite off, 101 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:10,240 Hittay, in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing often before. 102 00:07:10,439 --> 00:07:13,560 Oh yes, And for this reason I did not despair. The habits 103 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,720 of the minister gave me to a great advantage. He is frequently absent from 104 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,360 home all night. The servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at 105 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:25,879 a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly Neapolitans, are readily 106 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,600 made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with which I can 107 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,199 open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a night has not 108 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:35,639 passed during the greater part of which I have not been engaged personally and ransacking 109 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:41,040 the d hotel. My honor is interested, and to mention a great secret, 110 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,319 the reward is enormous. So I did not abandon the search until I 111 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,720 had become fully satisfied that the thief is a more astute man than myself. 112 00:07:47,199 --> 00:07:51,120 I fancy that I investigated every nook and corner of the premises in which it 113 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,839 is possible that the paper can be concealed. But is it not possible? 114 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,600 I suggested that although the letter may be in possession of the minister has it 115 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,120 in question he is, he may have conceived it elsewhere than upon his own 116 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,439 premises. This is barely possible, said Dupin. The present peculiar condition of 117 00:08:07,439 --> 00:08:11,279 affairs at court, and especially of those artrigues in which d is known to 118 00:08:11,279 --> 00:08:16,079 be involved, would render the instant availability of the document, its susceptibility of 119 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,360 being produced at a moment's noticed a point of nearly equal importance with its possession 120 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,600 its susceptibility of being produced, said I, that is to say, of 121 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:31,240 being destroyed, said Dupin. True, I observe the paper is clearly then 122 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,600 upon the premises. As for its being upon the person of the minister, 123 00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:39,519 we may consider that as out of the question entirely, said the priefect. 124 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,200 He has been twice way laid as if by footpads, and his person rigidly 125 00:08:43,279 --> 00:08:48,080 SERTs under my own inspection, you might have spared yourself this trouble, said 126 00:08:48,159 --> 00:08:52,360 Dupin. D I presume is not altogether a fool, and if not, 127 00:08:54,039 --> 00:08:58,399 must have anticipated these ways they in says, A matter of course, not 128 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:01,120 altogether a fool. But then he is a poet. Try to take to 129 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:07,759 be only one removed from a fool. True, said Dupin, after a 130 00:09:07,759 --> 00:09:11,480 long and thoughtful with from his Meerschaum. Although I have been guilty of certain 131 00:09:11,519 --> 00:09:16,840 dogger room myself, suppose you detail, said I, the particulars of your 132 00:09:16,879 --> 00:09:22,799 search. Why the fact is, we took our time, and we searched 133 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,840 everywhere. I have had long experience in these affairs. I took the entire 134 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,799 building room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week to each. 135 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,919 We examined first the furniture reach apartment. We opened every possible drawer. I 136 00:09:35,039 --> 00:09:39,519 presume you know that to a properly trained police agent, such a thing as 137 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,879 a secret drawer as impossible. Any man is an adult who permits a secret 138 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,000 drawer to escape him in a search of this kind. The thing is so 139 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,759 plain there is a certain amount of book of speech to be accounted for in 140 00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:54,480 every cabinet. Then we have accurate rules. The fiftieth part of a line 141 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:56,720 could not escape us. After the cabinets, we took the chairs. The 142 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:01,360 cushions we probe with the fine long needles you have seen me employ. From 143 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,960 the tables, we remove the tops. Why so, sometimes the top of 144 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,440 the table or other similarly arranged piece of furniture is removed by the person wishing 145 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:15,159 to conceal that article. Then the leg is excavated, the article deposited within 146 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,639 the cavity, and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedpost are 147 00:10:18,639 --> 00:10:22,559 employed in the same way. But could not the cavity be detected by sounding? 148 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,320 I asked by no, means if when the article is deposited, a 149 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:31,399 sufficient wading of cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, 150 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,879 we are obliged to proceed with our noise. But you could not have removed. 151 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,879 You could not have taken pieces all articles of furniture in which it would 152 00:10:37,879 --> 00:10:39,840 have been possible to make a deposit in the manner you mentioned. A letter 153 00:10:39,919 --> 00:10:43,200 may be compressed into a thin spiral roll not differing much in shape, or 154 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,440 oak from a large knitting needle, and in this form it might be uncertain 155 00:10:46,519 --> 00:10:50,240 of the rung of a chair, for example. You did not take the 156 00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:54,000 piece as all the chairs, certainly not. But we did better. We 157 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:56,879 examine the runs of every chair in the hotel, and indeed the joinings of 158 00:10:56,919 --> 00:11:01,919 every description of furniture, by the aid of remark powerful microscope. Had there 159 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,039 been any traces of recent disturbance, we should not have failed to detect it 160 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:07,799 instantly. A single grain of gimlet dust, for example, would have been 161 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,639 as obvious as an apple, and the disorder in the glueing and the unusual 162 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:16,279 gaping in the joints would have sufficed to ensure detection. I presume you look 163 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,399 to the mears between the boards and the plates. And you probed the beds 164 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:22,840 and the bedclothes, as well as the curtains and carpets that, of course, 165 00:11:24,159 --> 00:11:26,480 And when we had absolutely completed every particle of the furniture in this way, 166 00:11:26,759 --> 00:11:31,960 then we examined the house itself. We divided its entire surface into compartments, 167 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,679 which we numbered so that none might be missed. Then we scrutinized each 168 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:39,919 individual square intro at the premises, including the two houses immediately adjoining with the 169 00:11:39,919 --> 00:11:45,000 microscope. As before the two houses adjoining, I exclaimed, you must have 170 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,679 had a great deal of trouble. We had, but the world offered is 171 00:11:48,759 --> 00:11:52,600 prodigious. You include the grounds about the houses. All the grounds are paved 172 00:11:52,639 --> 00:11:56,519 with brick. They gave us comparatively little trouble. We examined the moss between 173 00:11:56,559 --> 00:12:01,679 the bricks and found it undisturbed. You look among these papers, of course, 174 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,399 and into the books of the library. Certainly we opened every package and 175 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,639 parcel. We not only opened every book, but we turned over every leaf 176 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,519 and every value, not contenting ourselves with mere shake. According to the fashion 177 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:16,159 of some of our police officers, we also measured the thickness of every book 178 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,519 cover, with the most accurate measurement, and supplied to each the most jealous 179 00:12:18,519 --> 00:12:22,879 scrut near the microscope. Had any of the bindings been recently meddled with, 180 00:12:22,039 --> 00:12:26,879 it would have been utterly impossible that the fact should of escaped observation some five 181 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,200 or six volumes just from the hands of the binder. We carefully probed, 182 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:35,000 longituitedly with the needles. You explored the floors beneath the carpets, beyond doubt. 183 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,039 We removed every carpet and examined the boards with the microscope and the paper 184 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:43,519 on the walls. Yes, you looked into the cellars. We did. 185 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,919 Then, I said, you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter 186 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,200 is not upon the premises as you suppose. I fear you are right there, 187 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,679 said the Prefect. And now'd you pined, what would you advise me 188 00:12:54,720 --> 00:13:00,000 to do to make a thorough research of the premises That is absolutely needless, 189 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,720 replied g I am not more sure than I breathe than I am that the 190 00:13:03,799 --> 00:13:07,480 letter is not at a hotel. I have no better advice to give you, 191 00:13:07,879 --> 00:13:13,679 said Dupin. You have, of course an accurate description of the letter. 192 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,279 Oh yes, and here the Prefect of producing a memorandum book proceeded to 193 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,600 read aloud a minute account of the internal and especially of the external appearance of 194 00:13:22,639 --> 00:13:26,720 the missing document. Soon after finishing the poosal of this description, took his 195 00:13:26,759 --> 00:13:31,399 departure more entirely depressed in spirits than I had ever known the good gentleman before. 196 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,200 And about a month afterward he paid us another visit and found us occupied 197 00:13:35,279 --> 00:13:39,720 very nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair and entered into 198 00:13:39,759 --> 00:13:43,320 some ordinary conversation. At length, I said, well, but g what 199 00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:46,639 of the purloined letter? I presume you have at last made up your mind 200 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:50,360 that there is no such thing as overreaching. The minister confound him say, 201 00:13:50,399 --> 00:13:54,799 I, yes, I made the re examination however, as Dupin suggested, 202 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,399 But it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be. How 203 00:13:58,519 --> 00:14:03,200 much is the reward offered, did you say, asked Dupin? Why A 204 00:14:03,279 --> 00:14:07,679 very great deal, a very liberal award. I don't like to say how 205 00:14:07,759 --> 00:14:11,879 much precisely, but one thing I will say that I wouldn't mind giving my 206 00:14:11,039 --> 00:14:16,120 individual check for fifty thousand francs to anyone who could obtain me that letter. 207 00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:20,039 The fact is, it is becoming more and more important every day. And 208 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,279 the word has been lately doubled of it were troubled? However, I could 209 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,519 do no more than I have done. Why, yes, said Dupin, 210 00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:33,480 drawing me between the whiffs of his Meersham, I really think you have not 211 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:39,639 exerted yourself to the earthmost in this manner you might do a little more. 212 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:48,240 I think a how in what way? Why you might employ counsel in the 213 00:14:48,279 --> 00:14:56,399 matter? Do you remember the story they tell of abanity? No, hang 214 00:14:56,519 --> 00:15:01,159 have anything to be sure? Hang him and well come. But once upon 215 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:07,919 a time a certain rich miser conceived the design of sponging upon this Abernathy for 216 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:13,120 a medical opinion. Getting up for this purpose an ordinary conversation in a private 217 00:15:13,159 --> 00:15:18,679 company, he insinuated his case to the physician as that of an imaginary individual. 218 00:15:20,159 --> 00:15:26,320 We will suppose, said the miser, that his symptoms are such and 219 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,559 such. Now, doctor, what would you have directed him to take? 220 00:15:31,759 --> 00:15:37,159 Take? Said Abernathy? Why take advice? To be sure? But said 221 00:15:37,159 --> 00:15:41,080 the prefect, a little discomposed, I am perfectly willing to take advice and 222 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:43,559 to pay for it. I would really give fifty thousand francs to any one 223 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,360 who would aid me in a matter. In that case, replied Dupinn, 224 00:15:48,519 --> 00:15:52,200 opening a drawer and producing a check book. You may as well fill me 225 00:15:52,279 --> 00:15:56,519 up a check for the amount mentioned. When you have signed it, I 226 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,879 will hand you the letter. I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunderstrick 227 00:16:00,919 --> 00:16:06,240 him. For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking incredulously in my 228 00:16:06,279 --> 00:16:10,279 friend, with open mouth and eyes that seemed starting from their sockets. Then, 229 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,720 apparently recovering himself in some measure, he seized a pen, and, 230 00:16:12,759 --> 00:16:17,519 after several pauses in vacant stairs, finally filled up and signed a check for 231 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:22,200 fifty thousand francs, and handed it across the table to Dupin. The latter 232 00:16:22,279 --> 00:16:26,320 examined it carefully and deposited it in his pocket book, then unknocking an escritoire, 233 00:16:26,799 --> 00:16:30,480 took thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This functionary grasped 234 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,720 it in a perfect agony of joy, opened it with a trembling hand, 235 00:16:33,919 --> 00:16:37,919 cast a rapid glance at its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to 236 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,919 the door, crusted length unceremoniously from the room and flung the house without having 237 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,879 uttered a syllable. Since Dupin had requested him to fill up the check. 238 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:52,279 When he had gone, my friend entered into some explanations. The Parisian police, 239 00:16:52,679 --> 00:16:56,799 he said, not exceeding the able in their way. They are persevering, 240 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:02,360 ingenious, cut in and thoroughly versed in the knowledge, which in her 241 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:07,960 duties seemed chiefly to demand. Thus, when g detailed to us his mode 242 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,400 of searching the premises at the hotel d, I felt entire confidence in his 243 00:17:11,519 --> 00:17:17,599 having made a satisfactory investigation, so far as his labors extended. So far 244 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:22,599 as his labors extended, said I, yes, said Dupenn. The measures 245 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,279 adopted were not only the best of their kind, but carried out to absolute 246 00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:33,160 perfection. Had the letter been deposited within the range of their search, these 247 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,960 fellows would, beyond a question have found it. I merely laughed. But 248 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:41,920 he seemed quite serious and already said. The measures, then, he continued, 249 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:47,559 were good in their kind and well executed. Their defect delay in their 250 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,640 being inapplicable to the case and to the man. A certain set of highly 251 00:17:52,839 --> 00:17:57,519 ingenious resources are with the prefect a sort of pro Christian bed to which he 252 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:03,480 forcibly adapts his designs. But he perpetually errs by being too deep or too 253 00:18:03,519 --> 00:18:07,880 shallow for the matter in hand, And many a schoolboys a better reasoner than 254 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,559 he. I knew one about eight years of age, whose success at guessing 255 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:18,559 in the game of even an odd attracted universal admiration. This game is simple 256 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:23,079 and is played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a number of 257 00:18:23,079 --> 00:18:26,839 these toys in the mands of another, whether that number is even or odd. 258 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,640 If the guess is right, the guesser wins one. If wrong, 259 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,960 he loses one. The boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of 260 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,920 the school. Of course, he had some principle of guessing, and this 261 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:44,759 lay in mere observation and a measurement of the astuteness of his opponents. For 262 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,559 example, an eron simpleton is his opponent, and, holding up his closed 263 00:18:48,559 --> 00:18:55,839 hand, asks are they even or odd? While a schoolboy replies odd and 264 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,400 loses. But upon the second trial he wins. For he then says to 265 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,480 himself, the simpleton had them even upon the first trial, and his amount 266 00:19:04,559 --> 00:19:08,039 of cunning is just sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second. 267 00:19:08,519 --> 00:19:14,319 I will therefore guess odd. He guesses odd and wins. Now with a 268 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,799 simpleton a degree above the first he would have reasoned. Thus, this fellow 269 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,279 finds them. In the first instance, I guessed odd, and the second 270 00:19:22,319 --> 00:19:26,960 he will propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a simple variation from 271 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,240 even to odd as to the first simpleton. But then a second thought will 272 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,400 suggest that this is too simple a variation, and finally he would decide upon 273 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:40,200 putting it even as before. I will therefore guess even when he guesses even 274 00:19:40,279 --> 00:19:44,880 and wins. Now this mode of reasoning in the schoolboy, whom his fellows 275 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,799 termed lucky, What in its least analysis is it? It is merely, 276 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,160 I said, an identification of the reason as intellect with that of his opponent, 277 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,880 it is said Dupin. And upon inquiring of the boy by what means 278 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:06,519 he affected the thorough identification in which his success consisted, I received answer as 279 00:20:06,559 --> 00:20:11,039 follows. When I wish to find out how wise or how stupid, or 280 00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:14,599 how good or how wicked is anyone, or what are his thoughts of the 281 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,759 moment, I fashion the expression of my face as accurately as possible in accordance 282 00:20:18,799 --> 00:20:22,240 with the expression of his, And then we to see what thoughts or sentiments 283 00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:26,799 arise to my mind or heart, as if to match or correspond with the 284 00:20:26,839 --> 00:20:32,039 expression. This response of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the spurious 285 00:20:32,079 --> 00:20:37,640 profundity which has been attributed to Ruccafoo called to la Bruyere, to Machiavelli, 286 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:42,240 and to Campanella. And the identification, I said, for the reason his 287 00:20:42,319 --> 00:20:45,640 intellect with that of his opponent depends, if I understand, you are right 288 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:52,319 upon the accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is unmeasured for its practical value. 289 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:56,640 It depends upon this, replied Dupin. And the Prefect and his cohort fail 290 00:20:56,759 --> 00:21:03,200 so frequently, first by default of this identification, and secondly by illed measurement, 291 00:21:03,519 --> 00:21:07,240 or rather through non ad measurement of the intellect with which they are engaged. 292 00:21:07,799 --> 00:21:12,680 They consider only their own ideas of ingenuity, and in searching for anything 293 00:21:12,759 --> 00:21:17,000 hidden, advert only to the modes in which they would have hidden it. 294 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:22,240 They are right in this much that their own ingenuity is a faithful representative of 295 00:21:22,279 --> 00:21:26,559 that of the mass. But when the cunning of the individual felon is diverse 296 00:21:26,599 --> 00:21:30,799 in character from their own, the felon foils them. Of course, this 297 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,680 always happens when it is above their own, and very usually when it is 298 00:21:33,759 --> 00:21:40,240 below. They have no variation of principle in their investigations. At best, 299 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:47,079 when urged by some unusual emergency, by some extraordinary reward, they extend or 300 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:52,920 exaggerate their old modes of practice without touching their principles. What, for example, 301 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:56,000 in this case of d has been done to vary the principle of action? 302 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,960 What is all this boring and probing, and sounding, and scrutinizing with 303 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,799 the microscope, and dividing the surface of the building into registered square inches. 304 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,519 What is it all but an exaggeration of the application of the one principle or 305 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,480 set of principles of search, which are based upon the one set of notions 306 00:22:15,519 --> 00:22:19,240 regarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect, the long routine of his duty, 307 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:23,319 has been accustomed. Do you not see, as taking it for granted, 308 00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:27,200 that all men proceed to conceal a letter not exactly in a gimlet hall 309 00:22:27,319 --> 00:22:30,240 board, in a chair leg, but at least in some out of the 310 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,920 way hole or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought which would urge a 311 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,920 man to secrete a letter and a gimlet hall board and a chair leg. 312 00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:42,359 And do you not see also that such nooks for concealment are adapted only for 313 00:22:42,599 --> 00:22:48,119 ordinary occasions, and would be adopted only by ordinary intellects. For in all 314 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,759 cases of concealment, a disposal of the article concealed, disposed of it in 315 00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:59,319 this manner is in the very first instance presumable and presumed, and thus its 316 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,960 discovery not at all upon the acumen, but altogether upon the mere care, 317 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:07,759 patience, and determination of the seekers. And whether cases of importance or what 318 00:23:07,839 --> 00:23:11,720 amounts to the same thing in the political eyes, when the reward is of 319 00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:17,240 magnitude, the qualities in question have never been known to fail. You will 320 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:21,720 now understand what I meant in suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden 321 00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:26,200 anywhere within the limits of the Prefect's examination, in other words, had the 322 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,240 principle of its concealment been comprehended within the principles of the Prefect, its discovery 323 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,680 would have been a matter altogether beyond question. This functionary, however, has 324 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:40,440 been thoroughly mystified, and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition 325 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,039 that the minister is a fool because he is quiet renowned as a poet. 326 00:23:44,839 --> 00:23:48,480 All fools are poets. This the Prefect feels and he is merely guilty of 327 00:23:48,519 --> 00:23:53,559 a non distributor or mid ee, and thence inferring that all poets are fools. 328 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,200 But is this really the poet, I asked. There are two brothers 329 00:23:59,279 --> 00:24:03,039 I know, and both have attained reputation in letters. The minister, I 330 00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:07,319 believe, has written learnedly on the differential calculates. He is a mathematician and 331 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,920 no poet. You are mistaken. I know him well. He is both 332 00:24:12,559 --> 00:24:18,440 as poet and mathematician. He would reason well. As mere mathematician, he 333 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,759 could not have reasoned at all, and thus would have been at the mercy 334 00:24:21,799 --> 00:24:26,079 of the prefect. You surprise me, I said, by these opinions, 335 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,079 which have been contradicted by the voice of the world, You do not mean 336 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:33,400 to say it not the well digested idea of centuries. The mathematical reason has 337 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:41,519 long been regarded as the reason par excellence. Ireya Pellier replied Dupin, courting 338 00:24:41,559 --> 00:24:48,400 from Champert quietuta idee publique, toute convention of aqueue as den sotisse caida or 339 00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:55,400 convenuu o plus grand nombre. The mathematicians, I grant you, have done 340 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,880 their best to promulgate the popular error to which you allude and which is none 341 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,039 less an error for its promulgation as truth with an art worthy of better cause. 342 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:10,839 For example, they've insinuated the term analysis into application to algebra. The 343 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:15,119 French are the originators of this particular deception. But if a term is of 344 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:21,440 any importance, if words derive any value from applicability, then analysis conveys algebra 345 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:27,319 about as much as in Latin Ambetus implies ambition, religio, religion or hominis 346 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:32,960 honest eye a set of honorable men. You have a qual On one hand, 347 00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:36,839 I see said I for some of the algebra is to Paris. But 348 00:25:37,079 --> 00:25:42,240 proceed. I dispute the availability and thus the value of that reason which is 349 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:48,839 cultivated in any especial form other than the abstractly logical. I dispute, in 350 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,920 particular the reason attitude by mathematical study. The mathematics are the science of form 351 00:25:53,960 --> 00:26:00,720 and quantity. Mathematical reasoning is may the logic applied to observation of form and 352 00:26:00,839 --> 00:26:04,480 quantity. The great error lies in supposing that even the truth of what is 353 00:26:04,519 --> 00:26:11,279 called pure algebra are abstract or general truth. And this error is so gradious 354 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:17,079 that I am confounded at the universality with which it has been received. Mathematical 355 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:22,559 axioms are not axioms of general truth. What is true of relation of form 356 00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:27,039 and quantity is often grossly false in regard to morals. For example, in 357 00:26:27,039 --> 00:26:32,519 this latter science, it is very usually untrue that the aggregated parts are equal 358 00:26:32,519 --> 00:26:37,559 to the whole. In chemistry, also the axiom fails, and the consideration 359 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,279 of motive it fails, for two motives, each of a given value, 360 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:47,160 have not necessarily a value when united equals to the sum other values apart, 361 00:26:47,839 --> 00:26:52,240 there are numerous other mathematical truths which are only truth within limits of relation. 362 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,400 But the mathematician argues from this finite truth through habit as if they were of 363 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:03,119 an absolutely general applicability, as the world indeed imagines them to be. Bryant 364 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,400 and his very learned mythology mentions an inalguous source of error when he says that 365 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:12,559 although the Pagan fables are not believed yet, we forget ourselves continually and make 366 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:18,720 inferences from them as existing realities. With the algebraists, however, who are 367 00:27:18,759 --> 00:27:25,119 pagans themselves, the Pagan fables are believed, and the inferences are made not 368 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,680 so much through lapse of memory as through an unaccountable addling of the brains. 369 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,319 In short, I never yet encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out 370 00:27:33,319 --> 00:27:37,119 of equal roots, a one who did not clandestinely hold it at a point 371 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:42,640 of his faith that X squared plus px was absolutely an unconditionedly equal to Q. 372 00:27:44,559 --> 00:27:47,160 Say to one of these gentlemen, who, by way of experiment, 373 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,839 if you please, that you believe occasions may occur where x squared plus px 374 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,720 is not altogether equal to Q. And having made him understand what you mean, 375 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,799 get out of his reach as speedily as convenient, for beyond doubt he 376 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,400 endeavor to knock you down, I mean to say, continued to Pin, 377 00:28:04,559 --> 00:28:08,799 when I merely laughed at his last observations, that if the Minister had been 378 00:28:08,839 --> 00:28:12,440 no more than a mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no necessity of 379 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:17,640 giving me this check. I knew him, however, as both mathematician and 380 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:22,559 poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity with reference to the circumstances 381 00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:26,200 by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a courtier too, and 382 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,119 as a bold intringuent. Such a man considered could not fail to be aware 383 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:34,799 of the ordinary political modes of action he could not have failed to anticipate, 384 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,279 and events approved that he did not fail to anticipate the way lanes to which 385 00:28:40,279 --> 00:28:45,640 he were subjected he must have foreseen. I reflected the secret investigations of his 386 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,119 premises, his frequent absences from home at night, which were held by the 387 00:28:49,119 --> 00:28:53,720 prefect of certain aids to his success. I regarded only his ruses to afford 388 00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:59,039 opportunity for thorough search to the police, and thus the sooner to impress them 389 00:28:59,079 --> 00:29:03,440 with the conviction which g in fact had finally arrived, the conviction that the 390 00:29:03,519 --> 00:29:07,720 letter was not upon the premises. I felt also that the whole train of 391 00:29:07,759 --> 00:29:11,680 thought which I was at some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning 392 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:17,839 the invariable principle of political action and searches for articles concealed, I felt that 393 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,240 this whole train of thought would necessarily pass through the mind as a minister. 394 00:29:21,839 --> 00:29:26,119 It would imperatively lead them to despise all the ordinary nooks of consualment. It 395 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,279 could not, I reflected, be so weak as not to see that the 396 00:29:29,279 --> 00:29:33,279 most intricate and remote a recess of his hotel would be as open as his 397 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,920 commonest closets to the eyes to the probes, to the gimlets, and the 398 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,400 microscopes of the Prefect. I saw in fine that he would be driven, 399 00:29:41,519 --> 00:29:45,920 as a matter of course to simplicity, if not deliberately induced to it as 400 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,759 a matter of choice. You will remember, perhaps how desperately the Prefect laughed 401 00:29:49,759 --> 00:29:53,799 when I suggested, upon our first interview that it was just possible. This 402 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,440 mystery troubled him so much on account of its being so very self evident. 403 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,480 Yes, I remember his merriment. Well, I really thought he would have 404 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:10,319 fallen into compulsions. The material world continued to pin a bounds with very strict 405 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:15,279 analogies to the immaterial, and thus some color of truth has been given to 406 00:30:15,319 --> 00:30:19,359 the rhetorical dogma that metaphor or simony may be made to strengthen an argument as 407 00:30:19,359 --> 00:30:23,960 well as to embarrash a description. The principle of the v inertiae, for 408 00:30:25,039 --> 00:30:29,839 example, seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more 409 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,759 true in the former that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion 410 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,119 than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, 411 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,799 that it is in the latter that intellects of the vaster capacity, while 412 00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:47,960 more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of 413 00:30:48,039 --> 00:30:52,039 inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed and full 414 00:30:52,079 --> 00:30:56,799 of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress. Again, have you 415 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:02,559 ever noticed which of the street signs of the shop doors the most attractive of 416 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,400 attention? I have never given the matter of thought. I said. There 417 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,240 is a game of puzzles, he resumed, which is played upon a map. 418 00:31:11,839 --> 00:31:15,839 One party plane requires another to find a given word the name of town, 419 00:31:15,119 --> 00:31:18,599 river, estate, or empire, any word in short, upon the 420 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:23,279 motley and perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks 421 00:31:23,279 --> 00:31:27,839 to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely that adains. But the 422 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:33,359 adepts elects such words as stretch and arge characters from one end of the chart 423 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:37,720 to the other. These likely over largely that it signs and plackets of the 424 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:44,640 street escape observation by din to being excessively obvious. And here the physical oversight 425 00:31:44,759 --> 00:31:49,279 is precisely analoguous with the moral inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed 426 00:31:49,359 --> 00:31:56,359 those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably self evident. But this is 427 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:00,279 a point it appears somewhat above or beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He 428 00:32:00,359 --> 00:32:07,200 never once thought it probable or possible that the Minister deposited the letter immediately beneath 429 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,119 the nose of the whole world by way of best preventing any portion of that 430 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:15,680 world from perceiving it. But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, 431 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:21,319 and discriminating ingenuity of d upon the fact that the document must always have 432 00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:23,839 been at hand he intended to use it a good purpose, And upon the 433 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:29,319 decisive evidence obtained by the Prefect that it was not hidden within the limits of 434 00:32:29,359 --> 00:32:34,519 that dignitary's ordinary search, the more satisfied I became that to conceal this letter 435 00:32:34,759 --> 00:32:38,839 the Minister had resorted the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not attempting to conceal it 436 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:44,119 at all. Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of 437 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:47,319 green spectacles, and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the 438 00:32:47,359 --> 00:32:52,759 ministery or a hotel, I found d at home, yawning, lounging, 439 00:32:52,799 --> 00:32:57,000 and dawdling as usual pretending to be in the last extremity of an Ui. 440 00:32:58,039 --> 00:33:02,440 He is perhaps the most really energetic human being now alive, but that is 441 00:33:02,519 --> 00:33:07,279 only when nobody sees him to be. Even with him, I complained of 442 00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:13,240 my weak eyes and lamented the necessity of the spectacles under cover which I cautiously 443 00:33:13,279 --> 00:33:17,440 and thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment. Whilst seemingly intent only upon the conversation of 444 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,839 my host, I paid a special attention to a large writing table knew which 445 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:29,000 he sat, and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other papers, 446 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,319 with one or two musical instruments, and a few books. Here, However, 447 00:33:32,559 --> 00:33:37,279 after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing to excite particular 448 00:33:37,319 --> 00:33:43,000 suspicion. At length, my eyes, and going the circuit of the room, 449 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,640 fell upon a trumpet fithergree card rack of pasteboard that hung dangling by a 450 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:52,519 dirty blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the middle of the mantel 451 00:33:52,519 --> 00:33:57,279 piece. In this rack, which had three or four compartments of five or 452 00:33:57,359 --> 00:34:01,720 six visiting cards and a solitary letter, this last was much soiled and crumpled. 453 00:34:02,119 --> 00:34:06,559 It was torn nearly in two across the middle, as if a design 454 00:34:06,799 --> 00:34:09,559 in the first instance, to tear it entirely up as worthless had been altered 455 00:34:09,639 --> 00:34:15,159 or stayed. In the second. It had a large black seal bearing the 456 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:20,840 D cipher very conspicuously, and was addressed in a diminutive female hand to d 457 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:27,400 the Minister himself. It was thrust carelessly, and even as it seemed contemptuously, 458 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,000 to one of the uppermost divisions of the rack. No sooner had I 459 00:34:32,119 --> 00:34:36,880 glanced at this letter than I concluded it to be that of which I was 460 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,320 in search. To be sure, it was, to all appearance radically different 461 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,800 from the one of which the Prefect had read us so minute a description. 462 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:50,679 Here the seal was large and black with the D cipher. There it was 463 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,800 small and red with the ducal arms of the s family. Here the address 464 00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:00,400 to the Minister was diminutive and feminine. There the souper description to a certain 465 00:35:00,559 --> 00:35:07,280 royal personage was markedly bold and decided the size alone from the point of correspondence. 466 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:14,039 But then the radicalness of these differences, which was excessive, the dirt, 467 00:35:14,079 --> 00:35:17,360 the soiled and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with the true 468 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:22,639 methodical habits of d and so suggestive of a design to delude the beholder into 469 00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:28,280 an idea of the worthlessness of the document. These things, together with the 470 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:32,039 hyper obtrusive situation of this document, well in the view of every visitor, 471 00:35:32,559 --> 00:35:37,000 and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions to which I had previously arrived, 472 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:43,760 These things, I say, were strongly corroborative of suspicion in one who came 473 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:49,800 with the intention to suspect. I protracted my visit as long as possible, 474 00:35:50,079 --> 00:35:53,880 and while I maintained a most animated discussion with the Minister upon a topic which 475 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:59,800 I knew well had never failed to interest and excite him, kept my attention 476 00:36:00,079 --> 00:36:05,760 really riveted upon the letter. In this examination I committed to memory its external 477 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:10,039 appearance and arrangement in the rack, and also fell at length upon a discovery 478 00:36:10,039 --> 00:36:15,920 which set a arrest. Whatever trivial doubt I might have entertained in scrutinizing the 479 00:36:15,039 --> 00:36:20,559 edges of the paper, I observed him to be more shaffed than seemed necessary. 480 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,039 It presented the broken appearance which is manifested when a stiff paper, having 481 00:36:25,079 --> 00:36:30,559 been once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded in a reverse direction 482 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,920 in the same creases or edges which had formed the original fold. This discovery 483 00:36:36,039 --> 00:36:38,880 was sufficient. It was clear to me that the letter had been turned as 484 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:45,000 a glove inside out, redirected, and resealed. I bade the Minister good 485 00:36:45,039 --> 00:36:49,119 morning, and took my departure at once, leaving a gold snuff box upon 486 00:36:49,159 --> 00:36:52,599 the table. The next morning, I called for the snuff box when we 487 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:59,360 resumed quite eagerly the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, however, 488 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,480 a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard immediately beneath 489 00:37:02,519 --> 00:37:07,199 the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded by a series of fearful screens 490 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:12,679 and the sheltings of a terrified mob. D rushed to a casement, threw 491 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,360 it open, and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the 492 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:19,800 card rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced 493 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:23,280 it by a facsimile. So far as regards externals, which I had carefully 494 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:28,679 prepared at my lodgings, imitating the d cipher very readily by means of a 495 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,239 sea are formed of bread. The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by 496 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:37,199 the frantic behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among 497 00:37:37,199 --> 00:37:39,840 a crowd of women and children. It proved, however, to have been 498 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,920 without a ball, and the fellow was suffered to go his way as a 499 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,920 lunatic or a drunkard. When he had gone, d came from the window 500 00:37:47,079 --> 00:37:52,039 whither I had followed him immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterward 501 00:37:52,119 --> 00:37:57,519 I bade him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay. 502 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,719 But what purpose had you, I asked, replacing the letter by facsimone. 503 00:38:02,079 --> 00:38:05,840 Would it not have been better at the first visit to have ceased it 504 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,960 openly and departed? Indeed, replied Dupin is a desperate man and a man 505 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,800 of nerve. His hotel, too, is not without attendance devoted to his 506 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:20,159 interest. Had I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might never have 507 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,559 left the Ministery of Presence alive. The good people of Paris might have heard 508 00:38:23,599 --> 00:38:28,519 of me no more. But I have an object apart from these considerations. 509 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,840 You know my political prepossessions. In this manner I act as a partisan of 510 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:37,599 the lady concerned. For eighteen months, the Minister has had her in his 511 00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,960 power. She has now him and hers since been unaware that the letter is 512 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,960 not in his possession. He will proceed with his exactions as if it was. 513 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:51,119 Thus, will he inevitably commit himself at once to his political destruction. 514 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,280 His downfall, too, will not be more precipitate than awkward. It is 515 00:38:55,320 --> 00:39:00,639 all very well to talk about the facilious the census of an eye, But 516 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:05,079 in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani said of singing, tis far more 517 00:39:05,119 --> 00:39:08,079 easy to get up and to come down. The present instance, I have 518 00:39:08,199 --> 00:39:13,519 no sympathy, at least no pity for him who descends. He is, 519 00:39:13,559 --> 00:39:17,920 that months from horndum, an unprincipled man of genius. I confess, however, 520 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,639 that I should like very well to know the prise character of his thoughts. 521 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,920 When being defied by her, whom the Prefect terms a certain personage, 522 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,360 he is reduced to opening the letter which I left for him in the cart 523 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:35,280 rack. How did you put anything particular in it? Why it did not 524 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,400 seem altogether right to leave the interior blank? That would have been insulting. 525 00:39:39,159 --> 00:39:44,360 D Adrienna once did me an evil turn, which I told him, quite 526 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,679 good humoredly, that I should remember, so, as I knew he would 527 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:52,599 feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the person who had outwidded him, 528 00:39:52,039 --> 00:39:54,719 I thought it a pity not to give him a clue. He is 529 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:59,559 well acquainted with my MS, and I just copied into the middle of the 530 00:39:59,559 --> 00:40:07,480 blank se the words on the sinciphoneste sese dignatiatre asdigne de thyeste. They are 531 00:40:07,599 --> 00:40:15,760 to be found in Crebillon's atree end of the Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe