The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-03-18

ner letter But this, OF course, cannot be
done openly. In fine, driven to despair,
she has committed the matter to me. y
"Than whom" said Dupin, amid per-
feet whirlwind of smoke, ''no more saga
cious agent could, suppose, be desired, or
even imagined"
"You fatter me, replied the Prefect,
"but it is possible that some such opinion
may have been entertained
sit is clear" said l, las you observe,
that the letter is still in the possession of
the minister, since it is this possession, and
not any employment of the letter, which
bestows the power. With the employment
the power departs"
aTrue," said g.; sand upon this con-
viction 1 proceeded. My first case was
to make thorough search of the minister's
hotel; and here my chief embarrassment lay
in the necessity of searching without his
knowledge Beyond all things, | have
been warned of the danger which would
result from giving him reason to suspect
our design"
''But," said l, ''you are quite au fait in
these Investigations. The Partisan police
have done this thing often before"
''Oh, yes; and for this reason did not
despair. The habits of the minister gave
me, too, great advantage. He is fre-
quently absent from home all night. His
servants are by no means numerous. They
sleep at distance from their masters
apartments, and, being chiefly Neapolitans,
are readily made drunk. have keys, as
you know, with which l can open any
chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three
months night has not passed, during the
greater part of which l have not been
engaged, personally, in ransacking the
D. Hotel. My honor is interested,
and, to mention great secret, the reward
is enormous. So | did not abandon the
search until | had become fully satisfied
that the thief is more astute man than
myself. l fancy that have investigated
every nook and corner of the premises In
which it is possible that the paper can be
concealed.
oBut is it not possible" 1 suggested,
''that although the letter may be in his
possession, as it unquestionably is, he may
have concealed it elsewhere than upon his
own premises ?"
'This is barely possible y said DuPiu.
"The present peculiar condition of affairs
at court, and especially of those intrigues
in which Dis known to be involved,
would render the instant availability Of the
document-its susceptibility Of being pro
duced at a moments notice-a point OF
nearly equal Importance with its posses
sion"
ats susceptibility of being prOduced?"
said |.
'That is to say, of being destroyed" +"
said Dupin.
"True," 1 observed; ''the paper is clearly
then upon the premises. As for its being
upon the person of the minister, We may
consider that as out of the question.
ENTIRELY" said the Prefect. "He has
been twice waylaid, as if by footpads, and
his person vigorously searched under my
own inspection"
"You might have spared yourself this
trouble" said Dupin. D-I presume,
is not altogether fool, and, if not, must
have anticipated these waylayings, as
matter of course"
'Not altogether fool, said g., ''but
then he's poet, which take to be only
one remove from fool"
"True," said Dupin, after long and
thoughtful Whit from his meerschaum,
"although l have been guilty of certain
doggerel myself"
"Suppose you detail, > said ], "the par
ticulars of your search.
"Why, the fact is, we took our time,
and We searched everywhere. | have had
long experience in these affairs. took
the entire building, room by room; devoting
the nights of a whole week to each. We
examined, first, the furniture of each
apartment, We opened every drawer;
and | presume you know that, to prop
erly trained police agent, such thing as
secret drawer is impossible. Any man
is dolt who permits secret drawer to
escape him in search of this kind. The
thing is so plain. There is certain
amount of fbulk-of space-to be accounted
for in every cabinet. Then we have ac-
curate rules. The fiftieth part of line
could not escape u.s. After the cabinets
we took the chairs. The cushions we
probed with the fine needles you have seen
me employ. From the tables we removed
the tops"
"Why so?"
sometimes the top of table, or other
similarly arranged piece of furniture, is
removed by the person wishing to conceal
an article; then the leg is exeavated, the
article deposited within the cavity, aud the
top replaced. The bottoms and tops Of
bed-posts are employed in the same way.
"But could not the cavity be detected
by sounding?' | asked.
"By no means, if, when the article is
deposited, sufficient wadding of cotton
be placed around it. Besides, in our case,
we were obliged to proceed without noise.
''But you could not have removed
YOU could not have taken to pieces all ar.
ticles of furniture in which it would have
been possible to make deposit in the
manner you mention. A letter may be
compressed into thin spiral roll, not diff
fering much in shape or bulk from large
knitting-needle, and in this form it might
be inserted into the rung of a chair, for
example. You did not take to pieces all
the chairs 2"
''Certainly not; but we did better-we
examined the rungs of every chair in the
hotel, aud, indeed, the jointings of every
description of furniture, by the aid of a