Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-05-09

" you must have had great deal Of trouble y
We had; but the reward offered is prodi-
gious."
:" Yeu explored the floors beneath the car.
Beyond doubt; we removed every carpet,
ande1amined the boards with the microscope"
And the paper on the wallsF'
You looked into the cellar ?"
We did and az time and labor were Of
nc no m im pSrtapce; we dug up every one Of them
70 the depth Of four feet"
miscalculation, and the letter ID nor upop
the premises, as you suppose -
fear you are right there, 4" said the pre-
wise me to do 1''
premises"
" That is absolutely needless" replied g..
am that the letter is not at the hotel -
{" have no better advice to give you, . said
Dupin. "You have, of course, an accurate
description of the letter."
"Oh yes" And here the prefect, produc-
ing memorandum book, proceeded 10 read
aloud minute account Of the internal, and
especially Of the external appearance Of the
missing document. Soon after ihishing the
perusal of this description, he took his depar-
Il
had ever known the good gentleman before.
In about a month afterwards he paid us
another visit, and found us occupied very
nearly as before. He took pipe and chair,
and entered into some ordinary conversation.
At length 1 said
"Well, but c., what Of the purloined
letter? presume you have at last made mp
your mind that there is no such thing as
overreaching the minister?''
"Too true; L made the re-examination,
however, as Dupin suggested but il was all
labor lost, as l knew it would be-"
How much was the reward offered, did
you sayH" asked Dupin.
why. very great deal-a very liberal
reward-I don't like to say how much pre-
cisely; but one thing tciA say, that L
wouldn't mind giving my individual check
for fifty thousand francs to any one who could
obtain me that letter. The fact is, il is be-
coming Of more and more Importance every
day; and the reward has been lately doubled.
[ would really give fifty thousand francs,
every centime of it, TO any one who would aid
me in the matter"
Z" In that case, replied Dupin, opening a
drawer, and producing check book, you
may as we'll fll me up check for the amount
mentioned. When you have signed il, will
hand you the letter"
was astounded. The prefect appeared
absolutely thunderstricken For some min
utes he remained speechless and motionless,
looking incredulously at my friend, with
open mouth, and eyes that seemed starting
from their sockets; then, apparently recover
ing himself in some measure, he seized a pen,
and after several psuses and vscant stsres,
finally filed up and signed q check for fifty
thousand francs and handed il across the ta-
bic 10 Dupin. The latter examined il care,
fully, and deposited it in his pocket-book;
then, unlocking an escritOtre, took thence
letter and gave it to the prefect. This func-
tionary grasped il In a perfect agony Of Joy,
opened il with a trembling hand, cast glance
at its contents, and then, scrambling and
struggling 10 the door, rushed at length un-
tremendously from the room and from the
house, without having uttered syllable since
Dupin had requested him to gil up the check.
When be had gone, my friend entered into
some explanations.
The Partisan police" he said, are ex-
ceedingly able in their way. They are per-
severing, ingenious, cunning, and thoroughly
versed in the knowledge which their duties
seem chiefly to demand Thus, when G.
detailed to US his mode Of searching the pre-
mises of the hotel D, felt entire conf.
dence in his having mace a satisfsctOry in
veStigation, so far his lsbors extended
YES" said Dupin. "Their measures
adopted were not only the best of their kind.
but carried out to absolute perfection. Had
the letter been deposited within the range Of
their search, these fellows would, beyond a
question, have found It,"
L merely laughed, but he seemed quite Sc
rious in all that he said.
"The measures. them" he continued, "wsre
good in their kind, and well executed; their
defect lay in their being inapplicable TO the
case and to the man. A certain set of highly
Ingenious resources are, with the prefect,
sort Of Procrustean bed, TO which he forcibIy
adspts his designs. But he perpetually errs
by being too deep or too shallow for the mat
ter In hand; and many a schoolboy is q bet
ter reasoner than he. / knew one, about
eight years Of age, whose success at guessing
in the game of "odd and even" attracted uni
versal admiration. The game is simple, and
is played with marbles. One player holds in
bis hand a number Of these toys, and demands
Of another whether that number is even or
odd. If the guess is right the guesser wins
one; If wrong, he loses one. The boy TO whom
L allude won all the marbles of the school.
Of course he had some principle of guessing,
and this lay in mere observation and admeas-
urement Of the astuteness Of his opponents.
For example, an arrant simpleton is his oppo-
1ent, and holding up his closed hands, asks,
are they even or odd?' Our schoolboy re-
plies odd, and loses; but upon the second
rial he wins, for he then says to himself, this
'impleton had them even upon the first trial,
Ind his amount of cunning is just sufficient to
make him have them odd upon the second;
will, therefore, guess odd; be guesses odd,
and wins. Now, with a simpletOn, degree
above the first, he would have reasoned thus:
This fellow finds in the first instance guessed
odd, and, in the second, he will propose to
himself, upon the first impulse, a simple vari-
alton from even to odd, as did the first simple
on but then q second thought will suggest
hat this is too simple a variation, and finally,
ne will decide upon putting it even as before;
Wi tharafnra - he
md wins. Now this mode Of reasoning in the
choolboy, whom his fellows termed lucky
What, in its last analysis, is il 20
TO BE CONTINUED
INSTINCT MIR. Putnam, Of the Adams