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Speaker 1: The pearloined letter by Edgar Allan Poe l Sapientiae Odiosius

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Acumenae Nimio Seneca. At Paris, just after dark, one gusty

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evening in the autumn of eighteen, I was enjoying the

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twofold luxury of meditation and Meerschaum in company with my

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friend see Augusta Dupin in his little back library or

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book closet Altrosime, number thirty three Rue du nott Haalberg,

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Saint Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained

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a profound silence, while each to any casual observer might

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have seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the curling neededs

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of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however,

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I was mentally discussing certain topics which had formed a

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matter of conversation between us at an earlier period of

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the evening. I mean the affair of the Rue Morgue

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and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Rogette. I

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looked upon it therefore as something of a coincidence when

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d'orvar apartment was thrown open and omitted our old acquaintance

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Monsieur g the Prefect of the Parisians Police. We gave

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him a hearty welcome, for there was nearly half as

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much of the entertaining as of the contemptible that the man. No,

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we had not seen him for several years. We had

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been sitting in the dark, and Dupin now arose for

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the purpose of lighting the lamp, but sat down again

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without doing so, upon g saying that he had called

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to consult us, or rather to us, the opinion of

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my friend, have had some official business which had occasioned

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a great deal of trouble. If it is any point

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to require in reflection, observed Dupin, as he forboret to

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enkindle the wick, we shall examine it to better purpose

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in the dark. That is another of your odd notions,

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said the Prefect, through the fashion of calling everything odd

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that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an

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absolute legion of oddities. Very true, said Dupin, as he

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supplied his visitor with a pipe and rode toward him

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a comfortable chair. And what is the difficulty now, I asked,

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nothing more in the assassination way, I hope, oh, no,

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nothing of that nature. The fact is the business is

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very simple, indeed, and I make no doubt we can

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manage it sufficiently well ourselves. But then I thought Dupin

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would like to hear the details of it, because it

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is so excessively odd, simple and odd, said Dupin. Why yes,

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and not exactly that either. The fact is we have

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opened a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple,

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and yet baffles us all together. Perhaps it is the

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very simplicity of the thing which puts you at fault,

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said my friend. What nonsense you do talk, replied the Prefect,

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laughing heartily. Perhaps the mystery is just a little too plain,

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said Dupin. Oh good heavens, who ever heard of such

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an idea? A little too self evident? Roared our visitor

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profoundly amused, Oh ho, Dupin, you will be the death

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of me. Yet, and what, after all, he is the

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matter on hand? I asked? Why I would tell you,

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replied the Prefect, As he gave a long and steady,

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imp contemplative put In settled himself in his chair. It

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will tell you in a few words. But before I begin,

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let me caution you that this is an affair of

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many the greatest secrecy, and that I should most probably

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lose the position I now hold, were it known that

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I confide it to any one, proceed said I. Oh not,

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said the new Pin. Well, then I have received personal

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information from a very high quarter that a certain document

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of the last importance has been purloined from the royal apartments.

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The individual who purloined it is known this beyond a

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doubt you seem to take it. It is known also

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that it still remains in his possession. How is this known,

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asked to Pinn, It is clearly inferred, replied the priefect

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from the nature of the document, and from the non

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appearance of certain results which would at once arise from

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its passing out of the robber's possession, that is to say,

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from his employing it as he must design in the

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end to employ it. Be a little more explicit, I said, Well,

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I may venture so far as to say that the

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paper gives it told very certain power in a certain quarter,

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where such power is immensely valuable. The Prefect was fond

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of the cant of diplomacy. Still I do not quite understand,

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said Dupinn. No, Well, the disclosure of the document to

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a third person, who shall be nameless, would bring in

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question the honor of a personage of what exalted station,

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and this fact gives the honor holder of the document

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an ascendency over the illustrious personage whose honor and peace

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are so jeopardized. But this ascendancy, I interspose, would depend

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upon the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber.

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Who would dare the thief? Said, g is the Minister D,

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who dares all things, those unbecoming as well as those

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becoming a man. The method of the theat was not

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less ingenious and bold. Document in question, a letter to

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be frank had been received by the personage robbed. While

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alone in the royal boudoirs doing it for usal, she

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was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the other exalted personage,

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from whom especially it was her wish to conceal it.

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After a hurried and vain endeavor to thrust it in

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the drawer, she was forced to place it open, as

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it was upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost.

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When the contents thus unexposed, the letter escape notice. At

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this juncture enters the Minister D. His link's eye immediately

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perceives the paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes

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the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms a secret.

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After some business transactions hurried through in his ordinary manner,

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he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question,

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opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it

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in close juxta position to the other. Again, he converses

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for some fifteen minutes upon the public affairs at length.

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In taking leave, he takes also from the table the

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letter to which he had no claim. His rightful owner saw,

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but of course dared not call attention to the act.

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In the presence of the third personage, who stood at

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her elbow, the Minister de comte, leaving his own letter

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one of no importance upon the table here, then said Dupindmi,

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you have precisely achewed the man to make the ascendancy

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complete the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge joke. The robber, yes,

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replied the prifet, and the power thus attained has for

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some months past been welded for political purposes to a

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very dangerous extent. The personage rob is more thoroughly convinced

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every day of the necessity of proclaiming her letter. But this,

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of course cannot be done openly in fine driven to despair,

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she has committed the matter to me than whom said

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dupinn Amid, a perfect whirlwind of smoke. No more sagacious

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agent could I suppose be desired, or even imagined. You

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flatter me, replied the prophet. But it is possible that

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some such opinion may have been entertained. It is clear,

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said I, as you observe that the letter is still

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in the possession of the minister. Since it is this

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possession and not any employment, a letter which bestows the

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power with the employment, the power departs, true, said she,

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And upon this conviction I proceeded. My first care was

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to make thorough sarch in the minister's hotel. And here

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my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without

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his knowledge. Beyond all things, I have been wanted the

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day which would result from giving him reason to suspect

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our design. But said I, you are quite off, Hittay,

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in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing

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often before. Oh yes, And for this reason I did

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not despair. The habits of the minister gave me to

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a great advantage. He is frequently absent from home all night.

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The servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at

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a distance from their master's apartment, and, being chiefly Neapolitans,

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are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know,

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with which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris.

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For three months a night has not passed during the

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greater part of which I have not been engaged personally

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and ransacking the d hotel. My honor is interested, and

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to mention a great secret, the reward is enormous. So

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I did not abandon the search until I had become

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fully satisfied that the thief is a more astute man

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than myself. I fancy that I investigated every nook and

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corner of the premises in which it is possible that

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the paper can be concealed. But is it not possible?

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I suggested that although the letter may be in possession

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of the minister has it in question he is, he

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may have conceived it elsewhere than upon his own premises.

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This is barely possible, said Dupin. The present peculiar condition

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of affairs at court, and especially of those artrigues in

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which d is known to be involved, would render the

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instant availability of the document, its susceptibility of being produced

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at a moment's noticed a point of nearly equal importance

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with its possession its susceptibility of being produced, said I,

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that is to say, of being destroyed, said Dupin. True,

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I observe the paper is clearly then upon the premises.

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As for its being upon the person of the minister,

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we may consider that as out of the question entirely,

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said the priefect. He has been twice way laid as

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if by footpads, and his person rigidly SERTs under my

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own inspection, you might have spared yourself this trouble, said Dupin.

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D I presume is not altogether a fool, and if not,

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must have anticipated these ways they in says, A matter

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of course, not altogether a fool. But then he is

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a poet. Try to take to be only one removed

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from a fool. True, said Dupin, after a long and

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thoughtful with from his Meerschaum. Although I have been guilty

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of certain dogger room myself, suppose you detail, said I,

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the particulars of your search. Why the fact is, we

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took our time, and we searched everywhere. I have had

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long experience in these affairs. I took the entire building

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room by room, devoting the nights of a whole week

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to each. We examined first the furniture reach apartment. We

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opened every possible drawer. I presume you know that to

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a properly trained police agent, such a thing as a

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secret drawer as impossible. Any man is an adult who permits

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a secret drawer to escape him in a search of

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this kind. The thing is so plain there is a

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certain amount of book of speech to be accounted for

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in every cabinet. Then we have accurate rules. The fiftieth

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part of a line could not escape us. After the cabinets,

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we took the chairs. The cushions we probe with the

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fine long needles you have seen me employ. From the tables,

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we remove the tops. Why so, sometimes the top of

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the table or other similarly arranged piece of furniture is

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removed by the person wishing to conceal that article. Then

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the leg is excavated, the article deposited within the cavity,

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and the top replaced. The bottoms and tops of bedpost

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are employed in the same way. But could not the

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cavity be detected by sounding? I asked by no, means

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if when the article is deposited, a sufficient wading of

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cotton be placed around it. Besides, in our case, we

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are obliged to proceed with our noise. But you could

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not have removed. You could not have taken pieces all

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articles of furniture in which it would have been possible

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to make a deposit in the manner you mentioned. A

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letter may be compressed into a thin spiral roll not

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differing much in shape, or oak from a large knitting needle,

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and in this form it might be uncertain of the

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rung of a chair, for example. You did not take

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the piece as all the chairs, certainly not. But we

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did better. We examine the runs of every chair in

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the hotel, and indeed the joinings of every description of furniture,

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by the aid of remark powerful microscope. Had there been

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any traces of recent disturbance, we should not have failed

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to detect it instantly. A single grain of gimlet dust,

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for example, would have been as obvious as an apple,

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and the disorder in the glueing and the unusual gaping

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in the joints would have sufficed to ensure detection. I

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presume you look to the mears between the boards and

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the plates. And you probed the beds and the bedclothes,

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as well as the curtains and carpets that, of course,

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And when we had absolutely completed every particle of the

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furniture in this way, then we examined the house itself.

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We divided its entire surface into compartments, which we numbered

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so that none might be missed. Then we scrutinized each

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individual square intro at the premises, including the two houses

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immediately adjoining with the microscope. As before the two houses adjoining,

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I exclaimed, you must have had a great deal of trouble.

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We had, but the world offered is prodigious. You include

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the grounds about the houses. All the grounds are paved

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with brick. They gave us comparatively little trouble. We examined

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the moss between the bricks and found it undisturbed. You

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look among these papers, of course, and into the books

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of the library. Certainly we opened every package and parcel.

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We not only opened every book, but we turned over

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every leaf and every value, not contenting ourselves with mere shake.

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According to the fashion of some of our police officers,

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we also measured the thickness of every book cover, with

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the most accurate measurement, and supplied to each the most

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jealous scrut near the microscope. Had any of the bindings

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been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly impossible

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that the fact should of escaped observation some five or

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six volumes just from the hands of the binder. We

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carefully probed, longituitedly with the needles. You explored the floors

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beneath the carpets, beyond doubt. We removed every carpet and

238
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examined the boards with the microscope and the paper on

239
00:12:40,159 --> 00:12:44,559
the walls. Yes, you looked into the cellars. We did. Then,

240
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,600
I said, you have been making a miscalculation, and the

241
00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:50,240
letter is not upon the premises as you suppose. I

242
00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,960
fear you are right there, said the Prefect. And now'd

243
00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,559
you pined, what would you advise me to do to

244
00:12:55,720 --> 00:13:00,000
make a thorough research of the premises That is absolutely needless,

245
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,120
replied g I am not more sure than I breathe

246
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,080
than I am that the letter is not at a hotel.

247
00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,600
I have no better advice to give you, said Dupin.

248
00:13:10,279 --> 00:13:13,679
You have, of course an accurate description of the letter.

249
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,200
Oh yes, and here the Prefect of producing a memorandum

250
00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,759
book proceeded to read aloud a minute account of the

251
00:13:19,799 --> 00:13:23,440
internal and especially of the external appearance of the missing document.

252
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,720
Soon after finishing the poosal of this description, took his

253
00:13:26,759 --> 00:13:29,879
departure more entirely depressed in spirits than I had ever

254
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,600
known the good gentleman before. And about a month afterward

255
00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,440
he paid us another visit and found us occupied very

256
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,039
nearly as before. He took a pipe and a chair

257
00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:43,279
and entered into some ordinary conversation. At length, I said, well,

258
00:13:43,279 --> 00:13:46,440
but g what of the purloined letter? I presume you

259
00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:48,039
have at last made up your mind that there is

260
00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,360
no such thing as overreaching. The minister confound him say, I, yes,

261
00:13:52,919 --> 00:13:56,080
I made the re examination however, as Dupin suggested, But

262
00:13:56,159 --> 00:13:58,279
it was all labor lost, as I knew it would be.

263
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:03,480
How much is the reward offered, did you say, asked Dupin?

264
00:14:03,919 --> 00:14:06,879
Why A very great deal, a very liberal award. I

265
00:14:06,919 --> 00:14:09,320
don't like to say how much precisely, but one thing

266
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,519
I will say that I wouldn't mind giving my individual

267
00:14:12,639 --> 00:14:15,519
check for fifty thousand francs to anyone who could obtain

268
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,200
me that letter. The fact is, it is becoming more

269
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,799
and more important every day. And the word has been

270
00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,399
lately doubled of it were troubled? However, I could do

271
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,519
no more than I have done. Why, yes, said Dupin,

272
00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:32,320
drawing me between the whiffs of his Meersham, I really

273
00:14:32,799 --> 00:14:37,159
think you have not exerted yourself to the earthmost in

274
00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:41,320
this manner you might do a little more. I think

275
00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:48,799
a how in what way? Why you might employ counsel

276
00:14:49,039 --> 00:14:53,879
in the matter? Do you remember the story they tell

277
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:59,159
of abanity? No, hang have anything to be sure? Hang

278
00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:03,039
him and well come. But once upon a time a

279
00:15:03,159 --> 00:15:07,080
certain rich miser conceived the design of sponging upon this

280
00:15:07,159 --> 00:15:11,360
Abernathy for a medical opinion. Getting up for this purpose

281
00:15:11,799 --> 00:15:16,360
an ordinary conversation in a private company, he insinuated his

282
00:15:16,519 --> 00:15:19,679
case to the physician as that of an imaginary individual.

283
00:15:21,159 --> 00:15:25,519
We will suppose, said the miser, that his symptoms are

284
00:15:25,679 --> 00:15:29,919
such and such. Now, doctor, what would you have directed

285
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:35,480
him to take? Take? Said Abernathy? Why take advice? To

286
00:15:35,559 --> 00:15:39,399
be sure? But said the prefect, a little discomposed, I

287
00:15:39,399 --> 00:15:41,759
am perfectly willing to take advice and to pay for it.

288
00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,559
I would really give fifty thousand francs to any one

289
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,120
who would aid me in a matter. In that case,

290
00:15:48,559 --> 00:15:51,399
replied Dupinn, opening a drawer and producing a check book.

291
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:53,879
You may as well fill me up a check for

292
00:15:53,919 --> 00:15:56,799
the amount mentioned. When you have signed it, I will

293
00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,840
hand you the letter. I was astounded. The Prefect appeared

294
00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,799
absolutely thunderstrick him. For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless,

295
00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,919
looking incredulously in my friend, with open mouth and eyes

296
00:16:07,919 --> 00:16:11,799
that seemed starting from their sockets. Then, apparently recovering himself

297
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,360
in some measure, he seized a pen, and, after several

298
00:16:14,399 --> 00:16:17,120
pauses in vacant stairs, finally filled up and signed a

299
00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,039
check for fifty thousand francs, and handed it across the

300
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,840
table to Dupin. The latter examined it carefully and deposited

301
00:16:23,879 --> 00:16:28,000
it in his pocket book, then unknocking an escritoire, took

302
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,279
thence a letter and gave it to the Prefect. This

303
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,720
functionary grasped it in a perfect agony of joy, opened

304
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,000
it with a trembling hand, cast a rapid glance at

305
00:16:36,039 --> 00:16:39,279
its contents, and then, scrambling and struggling to the door,

306
00:16:39,799 --> 00:16:42,440
crusted length unceremoniously from the room and flung the house

307
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,080
without having uttered a syllable. Since Dupin had requested him

308
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,960
to fill up the check. When he had gone, my

309
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:53,159
friend entered into some explanations. The Parisian police, he said,

310
00:16:53,399 --> 00:16:59,039
not exceeding the able in their way. They are persevering, ingenious,

311
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:02,240
cut in and thoroughly versed in the knowledge, which in

312
00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:07,039
her duties seemed chiefly to demand. Thus, when g detailed

313
00:17:07,039 --> 00:17:09,359
to us his mode of searching the premises at the

314
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,000
hotel d, I felt entire confidence in his having made

315
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,279
a satisfactory investigation, so far as his labors extended. So

316
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:22,400
far as his labors extended, said I, yes, said Dupenn.

317
00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,240
The measures adopted were not only the best of their kind,

318
00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:30,480
but carried out to absolute perfection. Had the letter been

319
00:17:30,519 --> 00:17:33,960
deposited within the range of their search, these fellows would,

320
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,960
beyond a question have found it. I merely laughed. But

321
00:17:38,039 --> 00:17:41,799
he seemed quite serious and already said. The measures, then,

322
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,640
he continued, were good in their kind and well executed.

323
00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,359
Their defect delay in their being inapplicable to the case

324
00:17:49,519 --> 00:17:53,319
and to the man. A certain set of highly ingenious

325
00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:57,240
resources are with the prefect a sort of pro Christian

326
00:17:57,319 --> 00:18:01,640
bed to which he forcibly adapts his designs. But he

327
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,119
perpetually errs by being too deep or too shallow for

328
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,240
the matter in hand, And many a schoolboys a better

329
00:18:08,319 --> 00:18:12,200
reasoner than he. I knew one about eight years of age,

330
00:18:12,319 --> 00:18:14,880
whose success at guessing in the game of even an

331
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:19,960
odd attracted universal admiration. This game is simple and is

332
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,519
played with marbles. One player holds in his hand a

333
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,119
number of these toys in the mands of another, whether

334
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,480
that number is even or odd. If the guess is right,

335
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,559
the guesser wins one. If wrong, he loses one. The

336
00:18:33,599 --> 00:18:35,960
boy to whom I allude won all the marbles of

337
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,200
the school. Of course, he had some principle of guessing,

338
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,559
and this lay in mere observation and a measurement of

339
00:18:42,599 --> 00:18:46,880
the astuteness of his opponents. For example, an eron simpleton

340
00:18:47,039 --> 00:18:50,480
is his opponent, and, holding up his closed hand, asks

341
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,359
are they even or odd? While a schoolboy replies odd

342
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,319
and loses. But upon the second trial he wins. For

343
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,200
he then says to himself, the simpleton had them even

344
00:19:03,279 --> 00:19:06,240
upon the first trial, and his amount of cunning is

345
00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,039
just sufficient to make him have them odd upon the second.

346
00:19:09,519 --> 00:19:12,880
I will therefore guess odd. He guesses odd and wins.

347
00:19:13,599 --> 00:19:16,359
Now with a simpleton a degree above the first he

348
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,559
would have reasoned. Thus, this fellow finds them. In the

349
00:19:19,599 --> 00:19:22,640
first instance, I guessed odd, and the second he will

350
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,559
propose to himself, upon the first impulse, a simple variation

351
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,039
from even to odd as to the first simpleton. But

352
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:32,240
then a second thought will suggest that this is too

353
00:19:32,319 --> 00:19:35,759
simple a variation, and finally he would decide upon putting

354
00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:39,359
it even as before. I will therefore guess even when

355
00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:43,160
he guesses even and wins. Now this mode of reasoning

356
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,119
in the schoolboy, whom his fellows termed lucky, What in

357
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,640
its least analysis is it? It is merely, I said,

358
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,599
an identification of the reason as intellect with that of

359
00:19:54,599 --> 00:19:59,440
his opponent, it is said Dupin. And upon inquiring of

360
00:19:59,519 --> 00:20:03,000
the boy by what means he affected the thorough identification

361
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,000
in which his success consisted, I received answer as follows.

362
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,799
When I wish to find out how wise or how stupid,

363
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,680
or how good or how wicked is anyone, or what

364
00:20:13,759 --> 00:20:16,799
are his thoughts of the moment, I fashion the expression

365
00:20:16,799 --> 00:20:19,839
of my face as accurately as possible in accordance with

366
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,279
the expression of his, And then we to see what

367
00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:25,200
thoughts or sentiments arise to my mind or heart, as

368
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,160
if to match or correspond with the expression. This response

369
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,359
of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the

370
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,359
spurious profundity which has been attributed to Ruccafoo called to

371
00:20:35,559 --> 00:20:41,480
la Bruyere, to Machiavelli, and to Campanella. And the identification,

372
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:44,160
I said, for the reason his intellect with that of

373
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,279
his opponent depends, if I understand, you are right upon

374
00:20:47,319 --> 00:20:50,839
the accuracy with which the opponent's intellect is unmeasured for

375
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,559
its practical value. It depends upon this, replied Dupin. And

376
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,680
the Prefect and his cohort fail so frequently, first by

377
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:04,559
default of this identification, and secondly by illed measurement, or

378
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,359
rather through non ad measurement of the intellect with which

379
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,720
they are engaged. They consider only their own ideas of ingenuity,

380
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,400
and in searching for anything hidden, advert only to the

381
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,640
modes in which they would have hidden it. They are

382
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,680
right in this much that their own ingenuity is a

383
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:24,279
faithful representative of that of the mass. But when the

384
00:21:24,319 --> 00:21:27,480
cunning of the individual felon is diverse in character from

385
00:21:27,519 --> 00:21:31,359
their own, the felon foils them. Of course, this always

386
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,240
happens when it is above their own, and very usually

387
00:21:34,279 --> 00:21:37,880
when it is below. They have no variation of principle

388
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:43,079
in their investigations. At best, when urged by some unusual emergency,

389
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:48,319
by some extraordinary reward, they extend or exaggerate their old

390
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,920
modes of practice without touching their principles. What, for example,

391
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,920
in this case of d has been done to vary

392
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,799
the principle of action? What is all this boring and probing,

393
00:22:00,079 --> 00:22:04,079
and sounding, and scrutinizing with the microscope, and dividing the

394
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,759
surface of the building into registered square inches. What is

395
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,519
it all but an exaggeration of the application of the

396
00:22:10,599 --> 00:22:13,720
one principle or set of principles of search, which are

397
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,000
based upon the one set of notions regarding human ingenuity,

398
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,240
to which the Prefect, the long routine of his duty,

399
00:22:20,319 --> 00:22:23,680
has been accustomed. Do you not see, as taking it

400
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,440
for granted, that all men proceed to conceal a letter

401
00:22:26,759 --> 00:22:29,480
not exactly in a gimlet hall board, in a chair leg,

402
00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:31,720
but at least in some out of the way hole

403
00:22:31,839 --> 00:22:34,359
or corner suggested by the same tenor of thought which

404
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:36,160
would urge a man to secrete a letter and a

405
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,559
gimlet hall board and a chair leg. And do you

406
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,920
not see also that such nooks for concealment are adapted

407
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,519
only for ordinary occasions, and would be adopted only by

408
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:51,160
ordinary intellects. For in all cases of concealment, a disposal

409
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,440
of the article concealed, disposed of it in this manner

410
00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:58,759
is in the very first instance presumable and presumed, and

411
00:22:58,839 --> 00:23:02,319
thus its discovery not at all upon the acumen, but

412
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,200
altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the seekers.

413
00:23:06,559 --> 00:23:09,440
And whether cases of importance or what amounts to the

414
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,680
same thing in the political eyes, when the reward is

415
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,880
of magnitude, the qualities in question have never been known

416
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,799
to fail. You will now understand what I meant in

417
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,440
suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden anywhere within

418
00:23:22,519 --> 00:23:26,119
the limits of the Prefect's examination, in other words, had

419
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,359
the principle of its concealment been comprehended within the principles

420
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,039
of the Prefect, its discovery would have been a matter

421
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:37,039
altogether beyond question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified,

422
00:23:37,519 --> 00:23:39,799
and the remote source of his defeat lies in the

423
00:23:39,839 --> 00:23:42,359
supposition that the minister is a fool because he is

424
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,720
quiet renowned as a poet. All fools are poets. This

425
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,599
the Prefect feels and he is merely guilty of a

426
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,480
non distributor or mid ee, and thence inferring that all

427
00:23:53,559 --> 00:23:57,960
poets are fools. But is this really the poet, I asked.

428
00:23:58,279 --> 00:24:00,680
There are two brothers I know, and both have attained

429
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,279
reputation in letters. The minister, I believe, has written learnedly

430
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:08,000
on the differential calculates. He is a mathematician and no poet.

431
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,920
You are mistaken. I know him well. He is both

432
00:24:13,559 --> 00:24:18,279
as poet and mathematician. He would reason well. As mere mathematician,

433
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:20,839
he could not have reasoned at all, and thus would

434
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,240
have been at the mercy of the prefect. You surprise me,

435
00:24:24,559 --> 00:24:27,839
I said, by these opinions, which have been contradicted by

436
00:24:27,839 --> 00:24:30,200
the voice of the world, You do not mean to

437
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,160
say it not the well digested idea of centuries. The

438
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,960
mathematical reason has long been regarded as the reason par excellence.

439
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:44,880
Ireya Pellier replied Dupin, courting from Champert quietuta idee publique,

440
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:50,160
toute convention of aqueue as den sotisse caida or convenuu

441
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:55,079
o plus grand nombre. The mathematicians, I grant you, have

442
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,200
done their best to promulgate the popular error to which

443
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,880
you allude and which is none less an error for

444
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:05,039
its promulgation as truth with an art worthy of better cause.

445
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:10,000
For example, they've insinuated the term analysis into application to algebra.

446
00:25:10,759 --> 00:25:14,319
The French are the originators of this particular deception. But

447
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,359
if a term is of any importance, if words derive

448
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,880
any value from applicability, then analysis conveys algebra about as

449
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:27,759
much as in Latin Ambetus implies ambition, religio, religion or

450
00:25:27,839 --> 00:25:31,880
hominis honest eye a set of honorable men. You have

451
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,799
a qual On one hand, I see said I for

452
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,960
some of the algebra is to Paris. But proceed. I

453
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,839
dispute the availability and thus the value of that reason

454
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,880
which is cultivated in any especial form other than the

455
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:51,200
abstractly logical. I dispute, in particular the reason attitude by

456
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,640
mathematical study. The mathematics are the science of form and quantity.

457
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,880
Mathematical reasoning is may the logic applied to observation of

458
00:26:00,319 --> 00:26:04,200
form and quantity. The great error lies in supposing that

459
00:26:04,279 --> 00:26:06,920
even the truth of what is called pure algebra are

460
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,279
abstract or general truth. And this error is so gradious

461
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,759
that I am confounded at the universality with which it

462
00:26:14,759 --> 00:26:19,839
has been received. Mathematical axioms are not axioms of general truth.

463
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,759
What is true of relation of form and quantity is

464
00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:28,039
often grossly false in regard to morals. For example, in

465
00:26:28,039 --> 00:26:31,000
this latter science, it is very usually untrue that the

466
00:26:31,079 --> 00:26:34,880
aggregated parts are equal to the whole. In chemistry, also

467
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:38,960
the axiom fails, and the consideration of motive it fails,

468
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,880
for two motives, each of a given value, have not

469
00:26:42,039 --> 00:26:46,200
necessarily a value when united equals to the sum other

470
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:50,200
values apart, there are numerous other mathematical truths which are

471
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,519
only truth within limits of relation. But the mathematician argues

472
00:26:54,559 --> 00:26:57,319
from this finite truth through habit as if they were

473
00:26:57,319 --> 00:27:01,440
of an absolutely general applicability, as the world indeed imagines

474
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,839
them to be. Bryant and his very learned mythology mentions

475
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,799
an inalguous source of error when he says that although

476
00:27:08,799 --> 00:27:12,279
the Pagan fables are not believed yet, we forget ourselves

477
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:17,680
continually and make inferences from them as existing realities. With

478
00:27:17,799 --> 00:27:22,279
the algebraists, however, who are pagans themselves, the Pagan fables

479
00:27:22,319 --> 00:27:25,640
are believed, and the inferences are made not so much

480
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,000
through lapse of memory as through an unaccountable addling of

481
00:27:29,039 --> 00:27:32,480
the brains. In short, I never yet encountered the mere

482
00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:35,519
mathematician who could be trusted out of equal roots, a

483
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,119
one who did not clandestinely hold it at a point

484
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,880
of his faith that X squared plus px was absolutely

485
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:46,039
an unconditionedly equal to Q. Say to one of these gentlemen, who,

486
00:27:46,079 --> 00:27:48,920
by way of experiment, if you please, that you believe

487
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,039
occasions may occur where x squared plus px is not

488
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,319
altogether equal to Q. And having made him understand what

489
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,079
you mean, get out of his reach as speedily as convenient,

490
00:27:58,599 --> 00:28:03,319
for beyond doubt he endeavor to knock you down, I

491
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,599
mean to say, continued to Pin, when I merely laughed

492
00:28:06,599 --> 00:28:09,799
at his last observations, that if the Minister had been

493
00:28:09,839 --> 00:28:12,319
no more than a mathematician, the Prefect would have been

494
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,119
under no necessity of giving me this check. I knew him, however,

495
00:28:16,319 --> 00:28:19,839
as both mathematician and poet, and my measures were adapted

496
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,960
to his capacity with reference to the circumstances by which

497
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,880
he was surrounded. I knew him as a courtier too,

498
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:30,079
and as a bold intringuent. Such a man considered could

499
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,880
not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes

500
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,279
of action he could not have failed to anticipate, and

501
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,200
events approved that he did not fail to anticipate the

502
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,599
way lanes to which he were subjected he must have foreseen.

503
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,440
I reflected the secret investigations of his premises, his frequent

504
00:28:47,519 --> 00:28:50,119
absences from home at night, which were held by the

505
00:28:50,119 --> 00:28:53,440
prefect of certain aids to his success. I regarded only

506
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,880
his ruses to afford opportunity for thorough search to the police,

507
00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,640
and thus the sooner to impress them with the conviction

508
00:29:00,119 --> 00:29:03,359
which g in fact had finally arrived, the conviction that

509
00:29:03,359 --> 00:29:07,559
the letter was not upon the premises. I felt also

510
00:29:07,759 --> 00:29:09,839
that the whole train of thought which I was at

511
00:29:09,839 --> 00:29:12,799
some pains in detailing to you just now, concerning the

512
00:29:12,839 --> 00:29:16,839
invariable principle of political action and searches for articles concealed,

513
00:29:17,319 --> 00:29:19,880
I felt that this whole train of thought would necessarily

514
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,799
pass through the mind as a minister. It would imperatively

515
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,640
lead them to despise all the ordinary nooks of consualment.

516
00:29:26,079 --> 00:29:28,599
It could not, I reflected, be so weak as not

517
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,160
to see that the most intricate and remote a recess

518
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,839
of his hotel would be as open as his commonest

519
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,559
closets to the eyes to the probes, to the gimlets,

520
00:29:36,599 --> 00:29:40,240
and the microscopes of the Prefect. I saw in fine

521
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,519
that he would be driven, as a matter of course

522
00:29:42,799 --> 00:29:46,039
to simplicity, if not deliberately induced to it as a

523
00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:50,039
matter of choice. You will remember, perhaps how desperately the

524
00:29:50,079 --> 00:29:53,599
Prefect laughed when I suggested, upon our first interview that

525
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,119
it was just possible. This mystery troubled him so much

526
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,440
on account of its being so very self evident. Yes,

527
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,400
I remember his merriment. Well, I really thought he would

528
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:08,400
have fallen into compulsions. The material world continued to pin

529
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,640
a bounds with very strict analogies to the immaterial, and

530
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,400
thus some color of truth has been given to the

531
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:19,160
rhetorical dogma that metaphor or simony may be made to

532
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,799
strengthen an argument as well as to embarrash a description.

533
00:30:22,599 --> 00:30:26,160
The principle of the v inertiae, for example, seems to

534
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,839
be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more

535
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,319
true in the former that a large body is with

536
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,319
more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and

537
00:30:35,359 --> 00:30:39,480
that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, that

538
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,400
it is in the latter that intellects of the vaster capacity,

539
00:30:43,559 --> 00:30:46,920
while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their

540
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,400
movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less

541
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,000
readily moved, and more embarrassed and full of hesitation in

542
00:30:54,039 --> 00:30:57,799
the first few steps of their progress. Again, have you

543
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,480
ever noticed which of the street signs of the shop

544
00:31:00,559 --> 00:31:04,960
doors the most attractive of attention? I have never given

545
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,960
the matter of thought. I said. There is a game

546
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,240
of puzzles, he resumed, which is played upon a map.

547
00:31:11,839 --> 00:31:14,839
One party plane requires another to find a given word

548
00:31:15,039 --> 00:31:18,680
the name of town, river, estate, or empire, any word

549
00:31:18,759 --> 00:31:21,519
in short, upon the motley and perplexed surface of the chart.

550
00:31:22,279 --> 00:31:25,000
A novice in the game generally seeks to embarrass his

551
00:31:25,039 --> 00:31:28,640
opponents by giving them the most minutely that adains. But

552
00:31:28,759 --> 00:31:32,079
the adepts elects such words as stretch and arge characters

553
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,039
from one end of the chart to the other. These

554
00:31:35,359 --> 00:31:37,720
likely over largely that it signs and plackets of the

555
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:42,880
street escape observation by din to being excessively obvious. And

556
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,799
here the physical oversight is precisely analoguous with the moral

557
00:31:46,839 --> 00:31:50,559
inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those

558
00:31:50,599 --> 00:31:55,200
considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably self evident.

559
00:31:55,839 --> 00:31:58,720
But this is a point it appears somewhat above or

560
00:31:58,759 --> 00:32:02,119
beneath the understanding of the Prefect. He never once thought

561
00:32:02,119 --> 00:32:06,119
it probable or possible that the Minister deposited the letter

562
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,319
immediately beneath the nose of the whole world by way

563
00:32:09,359 --> 00:32:12,920
of best preventing any portion of that world from perceiving it.

564
00:32:13,759 --> 00:32:16,839
But the more I reflected upon the daring, dashing, and

565
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,599
discriminating ingenuity of d upon the fact that the document

566
00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:22,960
must always have been at hand he intended to use

567
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:26,400
it a good purpose, And upon the decisive evidence obtained

568
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,839
by the Prefect that it was not hidden within the

569
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,559
limits of that dignitary's ordinary search, the more satisfied I

570
00:32:32,599 --> 00:32:35,960
became that to conceal this letter the Minister had resorted

571
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,680
the comprehensive and sagacious expedient of not attempting to conceal

572
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,559
it at all. Full of these ideas, I prepared myself

573
00:32:43,559 --> 00:32:47,119
with a pair of green spectacles, and called one fine morning,

574
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,279
quite by accident, at the ministery or a hotel, I

575
00:32:50,359 --> 00:32:54,039
found d at home, yawning, lounging, and dawdling as usual

576
00:32:54,599 --> 00:32:57,000
pretending to be in the last extremity of an Ui.

577
00:32:58,039 --> 00:33:02,359
He is perhaps the most really energetic human being now alive,

578
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,599
but that is only when nobody sees him to be.

579
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,480
Even with him, I complained of my weak eyes and

580
00:33:09,559 --> 00:33:12,599
lamented the necessity of the spectacles under cover which I

581
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,799
cautiously and thoroughly surveyed the whole apartment. Whilst seemingly intent

582
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:21,000
only upon the conversation of my host, I paid a

583
00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:24,400
special attention to a large writing table knew which he sat,

584
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,000
and upon which lay confusedly some miscellaneous letters and other papers,

585
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,319
with one or two musical instruments, and a few books. Here, However,

586
00:33:33,559 --> 00:33:37,160
after a long and very deliberate scrutiny, I saw nothing

587
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:41,920
to excite particular suspicion. At length, my eyes, and going

588
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,440
the circuit of the room, fell upon a trumpet fithergree

589
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,039
card rack of pasteboard that hung dangling by a dirty

590
00:33:49,039 --> 00:33:51,680
blue ribbon from a little brass knob just beneath the

591
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,000
middle of the mantel piece. In this rack, which had

592
00:33:55,039 --> 00:33:58,599
three or four compartments of five or six visiting cards

593
00:33:58,599 --> 00:34:02,720
and a solitary letter, this last was much soiled and crumpled.

594
00:34:03,119 --> 00:34:05,839
It was torn nearly in two across the middle, as

595
00:34:05,839 --> 00:34:08,400
if a design in the first instance, to tear it

596
00:34:08,559 --> 00:34:11,239
entirely up as worthless had been altered or stayed. In

597
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,159
the second. It had a large black seal bearing the

598
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,519
D cipher very conspicuously, and was addressed in a diminutive

599
00:34:19,599 --> 00:34:24,760
female hand to d the Minister himself. It was thrust carelessly,

600
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,480
and even as it seemed contemptuously, to one of the

601
00:34:28,559 --> 00:34:33,559
uppermost divisions of the rack. No sooner had I glanced

602
00:34:33,559 --> 00:34:36,039
at this letter than I concluded it to be that

603
00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:39,119
of which I was in search. To be sure, it was,

604
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,199
to all appearance radically different from the one of which

605
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:46,000
the Prefect had read us so minute a description. Here

606
00:34:46,039 --> 00:34:49,480
the seal was large and black with the D cipher.

607
00:34:50,119 --> 00:34:52,840
There it was small and red with the ducal arms

608
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,639
of the s family. Here the address to the Minister

609
00:34:57,079 --> 00:35:00,960
was diminutive and feminine. There the souper description to a

610
00:35:01,039 --> 00:35:05,920
certain royal personage was markedly bold and decided the size

611
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,519
alone from the point of correspondence. But then the radicalness

612
00:35:10,519 --> 00:35:14,679
of these differences, which was excessive, the dirt, the soiled

613
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:18,039
and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with the

614
00:35:18,079 --> 00:35:21,599
true methodical habits of d and so suggestive of a

615
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,440
design to delude the beholder into an idea of the

616
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,719
worthlessness of the document. These things, together with the hyper

617
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,239
obtrusive situation of this document, well in the view of

618
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:36,280
every visitor, and thus exactly in accordance with the conclusions

619
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,639
to which I had previously arrived, These things, I say,

620
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,920
were strongly corroborative of suspicion in one who came with

621
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:49,000
the intention to suspect. I protracted my visit as long

622
00:35:49,039 --> 00:35:53,039
as possible, and while I maintained a most animated discussion

623
00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:55,599
with the Minister upon a topic which I knew well

624
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,320
had never failed to interest and excite him, kept my

625
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,920
attention really riveted upon the letter. In this examination I

626
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,559
committed to memory its external appearance and arrangement in the rack,

627
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,480
and also fell at length upon a discovery which set

628
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,920
a arrest. Whatever trivial doubt I might have entertained in

629
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,199
scrutinizing the edges of the paper, I observed him to

630
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:22,599
be more shaffed than seemed necessary. It presented the broken

631
00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:26,239
appearance which is manifested when a stiff paper, having been

632
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,480
once folded and pressed with a folder, is refolded in

633
00:36:29,519 --> 00:36:32,920
a reverse direction in the same creases or edges which

634
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:37,320
had formed the original fold. This discovery was sufficient. It

635
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,599
was clear to me that the letter had been turned

636
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:44,159
as a glove inside out, redirected, and resealed. I bade

637
00:36:44,159 --> 00:36:47,079
the Minister good morning, and took my departure at once,

638
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,639
leaving a gold snuff box upon the table. The next morning,

639
00:36:51,679 --> 00:36:54,599
I called for the snuff box when we resumed quite

640
00:36:54,679 --> 00:36:59,360
eagerly the conversation of the preceding day. While thus engaged, however,

641
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,440
a loud report, as if of a pistol, was heard

642
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,199
immediately beneath the windows of the hotel, and was succeeded

643
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,280
by a series of fearful screens and the sheltings of

644
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,159
a terrified mob. D rushed to a casement, threw it open,

645
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,360
and looked out. In the meantime, I stepped to the

646
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,159
card rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket,

647
00:37:19,199 --> 00:37:23,079
and replaced it by a facsimile. So far as regards externals,

648
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,440
which I had carefully prepared at my lodgings, imitating the

649
00:37:26,519 --> 00:37:29,199
d cipher very readily by means of a sea are

650
00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,480
formed of bread. The disturbance in the street had been

651
00:37:32,519 --> 00:37:35,639
occasioned by the frantic behavior of a man with a musket.

652
00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:38,719
He had fired it among a crowd of women and children.

653
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,719
It proved, however, to have been without a ball, and

654
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:43,920
the fellow was suffered to go his way as a

655
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,280
lunatic or a drunkard. When he had gone, d came

656
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:50,000
from the window whither I had followed him immediately upon

657
00:37:50,039 --> 00:37:54,280
securing the object in view. Soon afterward I bade him farewell.

658
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,519
The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay.

659
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,719
But what purpose had you, I asked, replacing the letter

660
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:04,400
by facsimone. Would it not have been better at the

661
00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,000
first visit to have ceased it openly and departed? Indeed,

662
00:38:08,639 --> 00:38:12,440
replied Dupin is a desperate man and a man of nerve.

663
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,280
His hotel, too, is not without attendance devoted to his interest.

664
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,800
Had I made the wild attempt you suggest, I might

665
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,079
never have left the Ministery of Presence alive. The good

666
00:38:23,119 --> 00:38:25,360
people of Paris might have heard of me no more.

667
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,000
But I have an object apart from these considerations. You

668
00:38:29,199 --> 00:38:33,039
know my political prepossessions. In this manner I act as

669
00:38:33,079 --> 00:38:36,320
a partisan of the lady concerned. For eighteen months, the

670
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,000
Minister has had her in his power. She has now

671
00:38:39,079 --> 00:38:41,960
him and hers since been unaware that the letter is

672
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,119
not in his possession. He will proceed with his exactions

673
00:38:45,199 --> 00:38:48,960
as if it was. Thus, will he inevitably commit himself

674
00:38:49,039 --> 00:38:53,239
at once to his political destruction. His downfall, too, will

675
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,800
not be more precipitate than awkward. It is all very

676
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,920
well to talk about the facilious the census of an eye,

677
00:39:00,559 --> 00:39:03,880
But in all kinds of climbing, as Catalani said of singing,

678
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,000
tis far more easy to get up and to come down.

679
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,639
The present instance, I have no sympathy, at least no

680
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:15,039
pity for him who descends. He is, that months from horndum,

681
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,599
an unprincipled man of genius. I confess, however, that I

682
00:39:19,599 --> 00:39:22,039
should like very well to know the prise character of

683
00:39:22,079 --> 00:39:25,400
his thoughts. When being defied by her, whom the Prefect

684
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,639
terms a certain personage, he is reduced to opening the

685
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,639
letter which I left for him in the cart rack.

686
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,000
How did you put anything particular in it? Why it

687
00:39:35,039 --> 00:39:37,920
did not seem altogether right to leave the interior blank?

688
00:39:38,199 --> 00:39:42,079
That would have been insulting. D Adrienna once did me

689
00:39:42,119 --> 00:39:45,079
an evil turn, which I told him, quite good humoredly,

690
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,679
that I should remember, so, as I knew he would

691
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,280
feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of the

692
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,880
person who had outwidded him, I thought it a pity

693
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,480
not to give him a clue. He is well acquainted

694
00:39:56,519 --> 00:39:59,320
with my MS, and I just copied into the middle

695
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:04,039
of the blank se the words on the sinciphoneste sese

696
00:40:04,159 --> 00:40:09,400
dignatiatre asdigne de thyeste. They are to be found in

697
00:40:09,559 --> 00:40:16,440
Crebillon's atree end of the Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan

698
00:40:16,519 --> 00:40:16,760
Poe