Chapter 12 stolen letter

stolen letter On a windy evening in Paris in the autumn of 18, just after dark, I was having the double pleasure of meditating and smoking a meerschaum pipe, me and my friend C. Auguste Dupin Staying together, this is his library, a small back room for collecting books, on the fourth floor at 33 Denno Street in the old suburb of Saint-Germain.For at least an hour we were silent, and to anyone who happened to look, we both seemed preoccupied with blowing a cloud of smoke that clouded the atmosphere of the room.For my own part, however, I had in my mind the subject we were talking about in the early evening, I mean the incident in Morgue Street, and the unsolved murder of Marie Rocher. mystery.I therefore considered it a coincidence when the door of our apartment was thrown open to usher in our old acquaintance, M. G., the prefect of the Paris police.

We gave him a warm welcome, because the man was almost half as good-talked as he was contemptible, and we hadn't seen him for a few years.We had been sitting in the dark room, when Dupin got up to light the lamp, but he sat down again and did not light it, because G. said he was visiting on some official business which had caused a lot of trouble. To ask, or rather, to ask my friend for advice. "If this is something that needs to be thought about," Dupan said, since he didn't want to light the wick, "we will study it in the dark, and the effect will be better."

"That's your odd idea again," said the Chief Constable, who was in the habit of calling anything "odd" beyond his comprehension, and was therefore living in a state of utter eccentricity. "Exactly," said Dupin, handing his visitor a pipe and pushing him toward a comfortable chair. "What's the problem this time?" I asked. "I hope it's not another murder?" "Oh, no, it's not that kind of thing at all. In fact, this case is indeed very simple. I don't think there is any doubt that we can handle it fairly well, but I think that Dupin might like to listen to it. The details of the plot, because this incident is strange."

"Simple and eccentric," Dupin said. "Well, yes; but that's not quite the case. In fact we've all been terribly puzzled, because it's such a simple thing, and yet it leaves us utterly helpless." "Perhaps it is the simplicity of the case that confuses you," said my friend. "What nonsense you are talking!" replied the Chief of Police, laughing heartily. "Perhaps the answer is a little too obvious," said Dupin. "Oh, my God! Who ever heard such a thing?" "It's a little too self-explanatory." "Ha! Ha! Ha... Ha! Ha! Ha! -... Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed our visitor, who found it so amusing, "Oh, Dupin, you've killed me laughing! "

"So, what's the case at hand?" I asked. "Well, I'm going to tell you now," replied the Chief of Police, who sat down in his chair after a slow, thoughtful puff of smoke. "I could tell you in a few words, but before I do, let me remind you that this is a case of absolute secrecy, and that if it were known to whom I had disclosed information, I would probably be ten Nine times out of ten I'm going to lose the job I'm holding." "Go ahead." I said. "Or don't say it," said Dupin. "Very well, then; I have been informed personally by persons of high rank that a document of great importance has been stolen from the palace. Knowing also who the man who stole the document is, without any doubt, He was seen taking it. Also, it is known that the papers are still in his possession."

"How do you know that?" Dupan asked. "That is obvious," replied the Superintendent, "from the nature of the document, and from the immediate consequences of its circulation from the person who robbed it, that is to say, that he will take advantage of it. document, and he must have planned to use it at the end, but that didn't happen." "Please speak more clearly," I said. "Well, so far as I can go, this document confers on the bearer a power which in certain circumstances is extremely valuable." The chief of police had a penchant for diplomacy.

"I still don't quite understand," said Dupin. "Don't understand? Well; if the documents were revealed to a third person, let alone his name, it would cast doubt on the reputation of a person of high standing; had the upper hand, and the reputation and quiet life of that brilliant man were thus in jeopardy." "But to rely on this advantage," I interjected, "the one who steals the letter must know that the dishonest person also knows who is the one who steals the letter. Who would dare to..." "This thief," said G., "is Minister D. He dares to do anything manly or unmanly. The way he steals is as subtle as his audacity. So The document in question was, frankly speaking, a letter which had been received by the person who had lost it when she was alone in the inner courtyard of the palace. She was reading it carefully, but was suddenly interrupted, and another A noble person came in, and it happened that she did not want him to see the letter. She tried to put the letter in the drawer, but was in such a hurry that she left the letter open on the table. In spite of this, the top one is the address, the content is not exposed, and the letter has not attracted attention. At this juncture, Minister D came in, and his civet cat eyes immediately saw the handwriting of the letter and recognized the handwriting of the address. Perceiving the bewilderment of the addressee, and speculating on her secret, he carried out some business, hurried through it as he usually did, and produced a letter, which seemed to resemble the one in question, Opened it, pretended to read it, and then put the letter next to the other letter. He talked about business again, and talked for about fifteen minutes. Finally, he took his leave, but he left the letter on the table. A letter he had no right to possess was also taken away. The legal owner of the letter saw it, but he was standing next to her in the presence of that third person. Of course, she dared not draw attention to such behavior. .The minister moved, and he left his own letter, a non-trivial letter, on the table."

"Now, it seems," Dupin said to me, "that's exactly what you're asking for in order to have the absolute advantage that the person who steals the letter knows and the person who breaks the letter knows exactly who stole the letter." "Yes," replied the Chief of Police, "and the power thus acquired has been used to a dangerous degree in the last few months for political purposes. Every day the stolen man realizes more clearly It was necessary to get her letter back. But, of course, this could not be done in public. Finally, she was driven to a corner and entrusted the matter to me."

"Because than you," said Dupin, amidst the billowing clouds of smoke, "I do not think there could be a more capable agent than you could have hoped for, or even imagined." "You're flattered," replied the Chief Constable, "but it's possible that there were opinions of that kind at the time." "Clearly," I said, "as you have judged, the letter is still in the minister's possession, and authority comes from the letter, not from the use of the letter. Once exercised, the authority is gone." Not coming back." "Indeed," said G., "I set to work with such confidence. My first consideration was to search the minister's hotel thoroughly. At this point, the main problem that troubled me was the necessity of not Let him know that there is a search. All else aside, I have been warned that it would have dangerous consequences to give him reason to suspect our intentions."

"But," I said, "you are very good at this kind of investigation. The Paris police used to do this kind of thing." "Oh, yes; I was not disappointed just because of that. The minister's habits are also very favorable to me. He is often away all night. His servants are by no means very numerous. They sleep The place is some distance from their master's apartment, and besides, they are mostly Neapolitans, so they can easily get drunk. I have the key, you know, any room in Paris, any cabinet, I It can be opened. For three months in a row, in order to search this D-1 hotel, I didn’t miss a single night. I personally participated in a large part of the work every night. My reputation is important, and I will tell you a very confidential matter, the reward The number was enormous. So I did not give up the search, and it was not until later that I fully admired that the thief was more shrewd than I. I thought I had checked every corner where this document might be hidden."

"But is it possible," I commented, "that although the letter may be in the hands of the Minister, since there is no doubt that it is in his hands, it is not possible that he may have hidden it elsewhere. Put it in your own house?" "This is only slightly possible," Dupin said. "Judging from the current special circumstances of the court affairs, especially from the conspiracies known to involve D-1, it may be necessary to obtain the documents immediately, and it may be necessary to obtain the documents." It’s just that the need to produce documents at a moment’s notice is almost as important as possession.” "Is it possible that the papers need to be produced?" I said. "That said, destroy it," Dupin said. "Indeed," I said, "then the letter is evidently in his house, too. As for the Minister's carrying it with him, we may forget it." "Not at all," said the chief of police. "He was ransacked twice, as if he had encountered robbers blocking the way. He himself was strictly searched under my personal supervision." "You don't have to do it yourself," said Dupin. "This Minister D, I dare say, is not exactly a fool, if he is not, then he must have expected such highway robbery, and it is a matter of course." "Not exactly a fool," G. One said, "but he's a poet, and I think that's only one step away from being a fool." "It is true," said Dupin, and took a deep, thoughtful draw from his meerschaum pipe, "but I myself have a guilty conscience and have written a few limericks." "Could you please describe in detail," I said, "the circumstances of your search." "Well, actually, we took our time, and we searched everywhere. I have long experience in these matters. I searched the whole building, room by room, and took a week's night's Time to deal with a room. First, we inspected the furniture in each set of rooms. We opened every possible drawer; I guess you also know what a "secret" is to show off for a formally trained special police officer Drawers and the like are out of the question. Anyone who, after such a search, thinks that a "secret" drawer can fool the police is a fool. The thing is very clear. Every cupboard is Occupies a certain amount of volume, or space. We have exact rules. Not a single bit can be hidden from us. After searching the cupboards, we inspect the chairs. For the upholstery, we poke with the same long thin needles you've seen me use .For the table, we removed the top of the table.” "why?" "Sometimes a table, or any other similarly shaped piece of furniture, has its panels removed by someone who intends to hide something; the legs are hollowed out, the object is placed in the hollow, and the panels are installed. For bed frames The pillars can be used in the same way with their bases and capitals." "But is it possible to use sound to detect holes?" I asked. "Not at all. When you put the thing over, you can put a thick layer of cotton around it. Besides, our case requires us to be silent when we do it." "But you can't take it all apart—you can't take apart all the furniture that might store things in the way you speak of. A letter can be reduced to a little roll, about the shape and size of a thick knitting needle, and can Put such letters in, say, the rungs of the chairs. You didn't take all the chairs apart, did you?" "Of course not; but we did a better job—we checked the rungs of every chair in the hotel, and even the joints of every kind of furniture, for a microscope with a very high magnification was available. In case there was any new movement We can check the traces of pasting without fail. For example, a chip of a hand drill will probably become as obvious as an apple. Any changes in the glued joints, and any unusual seams in the joints are insurance. subject to inspection." "I think you've also checked the condition between the base plate of the mirror and the mirror glass, the bed and bedding, and the curtains and rugs." "Of course; after we have thoroughly examined every detail of the furniture in this way, we proceed to examine the house itself. We divide the whole surface of the house into sections, which are numbered, so that one part Not to be missed; then we carefully studied every square meter of the whole house, including the two houses next to it, using microscopes as before." "The two houses next door!" I exclaimed. "You must have worked hard." "We have worked hard, but the rewards for us are also extraordinary." "Have you checked the ground around the house?" "All the floors are bricked. It caused us less trouble. We checked the moss between the bricks and found that none of them had been moved." "Of course you checked D-One's papers, and the books in his library?" "Of course; we opened every package; we not only opened every book, but we turned every page, instead of shaking the book like some of our police officers do. Satisfied. We have also measured the thickness of each book's cover, calculated it with great accuracy, and inspected each one with a microscope. If the binding has been recently touched, if the binding has been recently touched, it will be misunderstood. That's quite impossible. There are five or six volumes newly bound, and we've all gone over the seams carefully with a needle." "Have you checked the floor under the rug?" "No problem. We lifted every rug and inspected the boards with a microscope." "Is there any more wallpaper?" "Checked." "Have you checked the basement?" "We checked." "Then," said I, "you have been wrong all along, and the letter was not in the house as you thought it would be." "I fear you are right," said the prefect. "And now, Dupin, what should I do in your opinion?" "Search the house thoroughly." "That's absolutely unnecessary," G-1 replied, "I'm more sure than I know I'm breathing, believe it or not in the hotel." "I can't give you a better opinion," said Dupin. "Of course, you can probably describe the character of the letter quite accurately?" "Oh, yes!" At this point, the police chief took out a notepad and read aloud the details of the lost document, especially the details of its appearance.He took his leave immediately after reading this note, more depressed than I had ever seen the good gentleman before. About a month later he visited us again and found us staying almost as before.He picked up a pipe, moved a chair, and struck up some common subject.Finally, I say: "Oh, but G—, what's next to that stolen letter? I suppose you'll finally admit that it's impossible to outwit the Minister?" "Damn him, I must say . "How much was the fee, and what did you say?" asked Dupin. "Oh, it's a huge amount... I don't spare a lot of money... I don't want to say how many, I don't need to say how many, but I can say one thing, if anyone can find that letter for me, I will open one." A personal check for 50,000 francs to him. The fact is, the matter is becoming more important every day, and lately the fee has been doubled. But even with a double, I have done everything I could. pass." "Oh, yes," said Dupin in a drawn-out drawl, drawing on his meerschaum pipe, and taking another draw. "I really . . . think, G—, that you haven't done your best . . . in this matter. You might, I think, try a little more, huh?" "How do you do your best? ... In which area?" "Oh... poof, poof... you could... poof, poof... hire a consultant on this, eh? ... poof, poof, poof. Do you remember what they told you about Abernatze ?” "Don't remember, damned Abernatse!" "Indeed! He's damned, and he deserves it. But once upon a time, there was such a rich miser who devised a plan to squeeze this Abernath into speaking his opinion on a medical matter. In order to achieve this For this purpose, he pretended to gossip in private, suggesting to the doctor his illness as if it were that of a fictional character. "'We may suppose,' said the miser, 'that his symptoms are such and such; and what, doctor, will you teach him?" "'What to do!' said Abernaze. 'Oh, get a doctor's opinion, of course.'" "But," said the police chief, looking a little disturbed, "I'd be perfectly willing to take an opinion, and pay the price." . I would really pay anyone fifty thousand francs if he would help me on this matter." "In this way," replied Dupin, who opened the drawer and took out a cheque-book, "you can write me a check for this amount. After you have signed the cheque, I will deliver this letter to you." for you." I was taken aback.The Chief of Police was completely struck by a bolt from the blue.For several minutes, he remained silent, motionless, with his mouth open, looking at my friend in complete disbelief, his eyeballs seemed to pop out of their sockets, and then he apparently recovered somewhat, he He picked up the pen, paused a few times, stared a few times, and finally wrote a check for fifty thousand francs, signed his name, and handed the check to Dupin across the table.Dupin examined the check carefully, and put it in his wallet; then, with the key to his writing-table with its compartments, he took a letter from the compartment, and handed it to the prefect of police.The official seized the letter and was overjoyed. He opened the letter with trembling hands, and quickly read the contents of the letter. Then, he got up in a panic and struggled to the door, and finally rushed out of the room regardless of politeness. , rushed out of the house.He had not uttered a word since Dupin asked him to write a check. After he left, my friend explained. "The policemen of Paris," he said, "are extremely competent in their way of doing things. They are persistent, resourceful, cunning, and perfectly versed in everything that is necessary to be known in business. Therefore, when When G. has given us a detailed account of the manner in which he searched the premises at the D-Hotel, I feel quite confident that his examination, from the labor he has expended, will be sound." "From the effort he expended?" "Yes," said Dupin, "the measures taken were not only the best of them all, but they were carried out scrupulously. If this letter had ever come within their purview, these fellows would probably have no problem finding it." letter." I was only laughing, but he seemed to take everything he said very seriously. "These measures, then," he went on, "are good in themselves, and well executed. Their defect is that they are inapplicable to this case and this person. For the Police Commissioner, a very ingenious device , a bed of Procrustes, so to speak. He insists on adapting his plans to this stratagem. He always makes the mistake of looking too deep or looking too shallow in the case at hand, and many Schoolchildren are clearer than him. I know an eight-year-old pupil. When playing the game of 'Odd and Even', he is very difficult to guess. Everyone admires him. This game is very simple. It is played with marbles. One hand He holds a certain number of marbles in his hand, and asks another person to guess whether the number is odd or even. If the guess is correct, the guesser wins one marble, and if he guesses wrong, he loses one marble. The man I am talking about The boy won all the marbles in the school. Of course, he guessed with some reason, but it was just to observe and measure the shrewdness of his opponent. For example, the opponent was a big fool holding a clenched Ask by hand, 'Is it single or double?' Our elementary school student replied, 'Single,' he lost, but the second time he tried, he won because he thought to himself, 'The first time this fool used double , his cunning is only enough for him to use odd numbers for the second time, so I will guess the odd number," he then guessed the odd number and won. Then, for the one that is a little bit dumber than the first one, he will analyze it like this : "This guy saw me guessing single for the first time, and his first thought was probably to adopt a simple change from double to single, like the first idiot, but after thinking about it again, he felt that this The change was too simple, and in the end he decided to use even numbers as before, so I guessed double; 'he guessed double and won, this is the way elementary school students reason, and the friends say he's 'lucky'... So, in the final analysis After all, what's going on here?" ① Procrustes is a robber in Greek legend. He released the person who fell into his hands on an iron bed, cut off the part longer than the bed, and stretched the person if it was shorter than the bed.Later generations used this analogy to apply mechanically, forcing consistent measures. "That's just," I said, "that the reasoner puts himself in the shoes of his opponent." "That's right," said Dupin, "and, when I asked the boy how he could put himself in the other person's place, which is what makes him so successful, I got this answer: 'If I want to find out Who is so smart, or how stupid, how good, or how bad, or what he was thinking at the time, I always have to imitate the expression on his face, learn to be exactly like him as much as possible, and then wait and see, What thoughts and emotions will arise in my head or in my heart to be worthy of this air, to pretend to be exactly the same." This reaction of the schoolboy is the cause of everything that seems to be profound, Lushevko①, Labjiv② , Machiavelli, and Campanella have all been thought to have this characteristic." ① Luoufuke (161-1680), French Minister and Doug Scholar. ② Rabjiv, name, I am unknown. ③ Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian historian, statesman and prose writer. ④ Campanella (1568-1639), an Italian philosopher. "And the reasoner must put himself fully in his opponent's intelligence," I said. "If I understand you correctly, it depends on how accurately he estimates the intelligence of his opponent." "That is the point, from a practical point of view," replied Dupin; "the prefect and his cohort have so often failed to act, first of all, because they have not put themselves in this way, and second, because they have miscalculated, or rather Said, no estimate of the intellect of those they were dealing with. They thought only of their own ingenuity, and when searching for anything hidden, only of the manner in which they themselves might hide it. That was all they had to— —their own ingenuity is a faithful reflection of the ingenuity of the masses, but if the criminal's ideas were of a different nature from their own, he would make them waste their efforts. Of course, if they were better than their own, then It happens always, and often, if not like them. They conduct their investigations on the same principles; but never touch their principles. For example, in the case of D-, was anything done to alter the principles of action? Drilling, probing, measuring, What's the use of microscopes, and the division of the surface of a house into numbered square inches? It's just based on that notion of human ingenuity, which the chief of police has taken for granted in his long-running routine. That or that set of principles of search, intensified, could it be anything else? Don't you see, as he takes it for granted, that if a person wants to hide a letter, he doesn't have to drill a hole in the leg of a chair. At least they should always be placed in some remote hole or corner. Isn’t this in line with the idea of ​​persuading people to drill holes in the legs of chairs to hide letters? Don’t you see that such elegant hiding corners are only Appropriate to ordinary cases, probably only used by people of ordinary intellect; it may be said that in any case where something is to be concealed, it is first of all conceivable that the concealed thing be treated in this elegant manner. , and would have been expected; therefore, to find the stolen goods, it is not at all dependent on intelligence, but entirely on the care, patience and determination of the pursuer; when the case is serious, or from a political point of view, it is also very important, and the reward is not small. , then never heard of anyone blundering on the conditions mentioned. Now you can see what I mean, assuming, for example, that the stolen letter was indeed hidden somewhere within the purview of the Chief of Police, in other words Assuming that the principle of hiding letters was included in those of the chief of police, it would probably have been easy to find the letter. However, the officer was completely deceived. The reason for his failure was that he surmised that the minister An idiot, because D-one already has a reputation as a poet. Every idiot is a poet; the police chief thinks that's the case, he's just making the mistake of using an ill-used proposition, and deduces that all poets are idiots .” "But is this really a poet?" I asked. "As far as I know, there are two brothers, both of whom are famous for their literary talents. I know that this minister has academic works on differential calculus. He is a mathematician. home, not a poet." "You're wrong; I know him well, he's both. As a poet and a mathematician, he's probably good at reasoning; as a mathematician alone, he can't reason at all, and is probably at the mercy of the police chief." "I am astonished by your opinion," said I, "that the whole world has always objected to. You are not trying to strike down an opinion that has been consistent for centuries. Mathematical reasoning has long been recognized as the best kind of reasoning." "'Nine times out of ten,'" Dupin replied, quoting Shafourt, "'any accepted opinion, any accepted convention is stupid, because it applies only to the masses.' Even if you are right, mathematician They have also been doing their best to propagate what you refer to as a generally accepted error, but to propagate it as truth, error is still error. For example, they go to great lengths to smuggle the word 'analysis' into algebra. The French are the originators of this peculiar blindness; but if a term is to be valued in any way.... If the word acquires any value by virtue of its use...then 'analysis' means 'algebra', almost as people It is as absurd to take the Latin 'ambitus' for 'ambition', 'religio' for 'religion', and 'homineshonesti' for a group of noble men." ①Shafour (1740-1794), French writer; his aphorisms were once popular in the court.He committed suicide during the French Revolution. "I see," said I, "you're going to argue with some algebraists in Paris; but go on." "I doubt the usefulness, that is, the value, of an intellect cultivated in any particular form other than abstract logic. I am especially skeptical of an intellect deriving from the study of mathematics. Mathematics is form and Quantitative science; mathematical reasoning is merely the logic employed in the examination of shapes and quantities. It is therefore a great mistake to suppose that even the so-called purely algebraic truths are also abstract truths or universal truths. And this mistake again It is so extraordinary that I find it repulsive from the generality with which it has always been accepted. The axioms of mathematics are not universally true axioms. For example, the correct truths applicable to expressing relations, expressing shapes and quantities, are expressed by In ethics, it is often quite wrong. In ethics, it is often completely untenable to say that the cumulative sum of the parts is equal to the whole. In chemistry, this axiom cannot be established. When examining motives, It cannot be established, because two motives, each having a given value, combine the two to obtain a value which is not necessarily equal to the sum of their respective values. There are many other mathematical truths, only within the limit of expressing the relationship is the truth. Yet the mathematician, out of habit, argues from his limited truths, as if they were of an absolutely universal nature, just as the whole world really thinks they are universally applicable. Bryant ① in A similar source of error is mentioned in his very erudite, when he says, 'While pagan legends are implausible, we continually forget our own identities, taking them as existing realities, according to which for the algebraists, since they themselves are pagans who do not believe in Christ, the 'pagan legends' are credible, and they argue from them not so much because of a bad memory, but because Out of an incomprehensible kind of confused mind. In short, I have not met a mathematician who can be relied on other than finding equal roots, and there is no mathematician who does not secretly believe that X*X+PX is absolutely and unconditionally equal to q. If you Yes, you might as well give it a try, tell one of these gentlemen that you believe it is possible that X*X+PX is not equal to q at all, and after you have made him understand what you mean, you slip away and let He can't catch you, because there is no doubt that he will knock you down." ①Bryant (Jacob Bryant 1715-1804), a British linguist and cultural relic worker, is his important work. This last sentence only makes me laugh.At this time Dupin continued: "I mean, if the minister is just a mathematician, there is no need for the police chief to give me this check. However, I know that he is both a mathematician and a poet." , my measures are programmed according to his intelligence, and take into account his circumstances. I also know that he is good at court flattery, and at the same time a bold schemer. Such a person, in my estimation, will not Didn't know the normal police way of doing things. He couldn't fail to anticipate, and it turned out he expected, that he would be subjected to a highway robbery. I also thought he must have expected his house to be searched secretly. He was often absent Sleeping over at home, which the chief of police thinks must have contributed to the police's success, I only think it's a ruse to give the police the opportunity to do a thorough search, to convince them earlier that the letter wasn't in the house and that G--has achieved this at last. I feel that there is a whole train of thought in it, which I have just laboriously explained to you, concerning the unchanging principles of police conduct in the search of concealed objects. The Minister must have had this whole train of thoughts in his head. It must have made him lose sight of all the usual corners of hiding things. I thought again that he would not be so useless as to see that in the Chief of Police's The subtlest and remotest corners of his hotel were as open as his closets to eye, probe, hand drill, and microscope. Finally, I saw that he might be compelled to keep things simple. Well, if not by choice, then of course. I suggested to the Chief Constable, on his first visit to us, that perhaps the strangeness of the case was so embarrassing to him, too, as you may recall. How he was laughing like crazy." "Yes," I said, "I remember him laughing very well. I really thought he was going to die laughing." “物质世界，”迪潘继续说，“有许多和非物质世界极其类似的地方；因此，修辞学的教条也还有其可信之处，例如它说：隐喻或者明喻既可用来润色一篇描述，也可用来加强一个论点。举例说，惯性力的原理，在物理学和形而上学上似乎是完全相同的。一个大物体要比个小物体难以起动，而且后来的动量也是与这种困难相称的，这在物理学上是真实的，然而在形而上学上，智能较大的有才识的人虽然在运用才智时比那些等而下之的人更有锐势，更持久，更多彩多姿，但是在开始前进的头几步，他们不大容易动，比较拘谨，充满了疑虑，这也是真实的，不亚于前者。再则，你有没有注意过沿街的商店门上的招牌，哪一种最有吸引力？” “我从来没有想过这种事。'我说。 “有一种智力测验的游戏，”他重新说下去，“这要用地图来玩。玩的一方要求对方找出一个指定的字一城镇、河流、国家或者帝国的名称，总之，在地图的五颜六色、错综复杂的表面上的任何一个字。玩这种游戏的新手，为了难住对方，通常都是让他们找字型最小的地名，可是老手却选择那种从地图的一端拉到一端的印得很大的字。这些，就象街道上字型过大的招牌和招贴一样，正由于过分显著，反而没有引起注意；在这里，视觉上的疏忽和是非上的失察可以说惟妙惟肖，正因为有些道理是明摆着的，十分突出，十分明显，有才智的人在思考时反而把它们放过去，没有理会。不过，这个问题，看起来，可能超过了警察局长的理解能力，也可能是他不屑于考虑的。他从来没有想一想这位部长也许，甚至可能拿信放在大庭广众眼前，把它当作让谁也不会有所觉察的绝妙好计。 “可是我愈是想到D一的敢作敢为，勇往直前，当机立断的智谋；想到他如果打算把这份文件利用得恰到好处，一定总是把它放在手边；想到警察局长得出的明确的证据——信并没有藏在这位尊贵人物平庸的搜查范围之内；我愈是相信，为了藏住这封信，这位部长采取了经过周密考虑的精明手段，索性不去把信藏起来。 “我拿定了主意，于是备了一副绿眼镜，在一个明朗的早晨，完全出于偶然，到部长的旅馆里去拜访。我发现D一正好在家，他正在打哈欠，懒洋洋地躺着闲混，跟平常一样，而且装出一副无聊之极的神气。在目前还活着的人里面，大概可以说，他是真正精力最充沛的了——不过，只有在谁也看不见他的时候他才是这样。 “为了对付他这一套，我说我的视力弱，并且为必需戴眼镜感叹了一番；我装做只顾和我的东道主谈天，却在眼镜的掩饰下小心谨慎地把房间里详细察看了一遍。 “我特别注意到靠近他坐的地方的那张大写字台，那上面杂乱无章地放着一些信和其它的文件，还有一两件乐器和几本书。然而，在经过长时间周密的观察之后，我看不出有什么可以引起怀疑的东西。 “我用眼睛向房间里巡视了一圈，最后，我的眼光落到一个用金银丝和硬纸板做的好看而不值钱的卡片架上，架子上拴着一根肮脏的蓝带子，吊在壁炉架中下方一个小铜疙瘩上晃来晃去。这个卡片架有三四个格子，里面放着五六张名片和一封孤零零的信。这封信已经弄得很脏，而且给揉皱了，它已经差不多从当中断成了两半，仿佛起初的打算是觉得这封信没有用，要把它完全撕碎，可是再想一想又改变了主意，就此住手。信上面有一个大黑印章，非常明显地印着D一的姓名的首字母，这封信是写给D一这位部长的，纤细的字迹象是出自女人的手笔。它是漫不经心地，甚至好象很轻蔑地塞在卡片架最上一层的格子里的。 “我一瞧到这封信，立即断定这正是我要找的那封，当然，从外表的各方面来看，这跟警察局长向我们宣读的详细说明完全不同。印章又大又黑，印着D一的姓名的首字母；在原来的信上是一个小红印章，印着S一家族的公爵信章。这封信是写给部长的，字迹纤细，出自女入的手笔，那封信姓名地址抬头是某一位皇室人物，字体粗扩鲜明，只有信的大小跟原信一样。然而，从另一方面来看，这些区别的截然不同，也嫌过分肮脏；信纸污染和破损的情况，这些都跟D一实际的有条不紊的习惯那样自相矛盾，而且那样使人联想到这是在企图欺骗看到信的人，让他以为这封信没有用，这些情况，再加上信的位置过分突出，来访的每一个人完全看得清清楚楚，这正同我先前得出的结论完全一致；这些情况，嘿，对于一个抱着怀疑的目的而来的人来说，都是引起疑心的强有力的证据。 “我尽可能拖长这次访问的时间，我一方面跟这位部长极其热烈地高谈阔论下去，我深知这个题目万无一失，一定会使他感到兴致勃勃，另一方面，我的注意力其实是集中在那封信上。经过这样的观察，我把信的外表，以及它放在卡片架里的方式都牢牢地记在心里，而且，我终于发现了一个情况，使我排除了我原来感到的任何一点疑问。在仔细观察信纸的边角的时候，我看出边角的伤损超过了似乎应有的程度。信纸破损的样子，仿佛把一张硬纸先折叠一次，用文件夹压平，然后又按原来折叠的印子，朝相反的方向重新折叠了一次。发现了这个情况就足够了。我看得很清楚，这封信翻了个面，好象一只把里面翻到外面的手套，重新添上姓名地址，重新加封过。我于是向部长说了一声早安，立即告辞，可是把一只金鼻烟壶放在桌子上了。 “第二天早晨，我假托拿回鼻烟壶又去访问，我们又兴冲冲地接着前一天的话谈下去。可是，谈着谈着，又听见紧挨着旅馆的窗户下面很响地爆炸了一声，仿佛是手枪的声音，接着是一连串可怕的尖叫的声音和吓坏了的人群喧叫的声音。D一冲到一扇窗口，推开窗户向外面张望。这时候，我走到卡片架旁边，拿起那封信，放在我的口袋里，同时用一封复制的信来掉包（只从外表来说），这是我在家里先仔细地复制好的，并且仿造了D一的姓名的首字母，我用一块面团当作印章，做起来很方便。 “街上的混乱是一个佩带滑膛枪的人的胡作非为引起的。他在一群妇女儿童中间放了一枪。可是经过查证，枪膛里没有实弹，就把这个家伙当作疯子或者醉汉随他自己走开了。他走之后，D一也从窗口回来了，我一拿到我要的东西也立刻跟着他走到窗口。不久之后，我向他告辞。那个假装的疯子是我出钱雇来的。” “可是你用复制的信来掉包，你有什么目的吗？”我问道，“如果你在第一次访问的时候公开地拿起信来就走，那岂不更好吗？” “D一是一个穷凶极恶的人，”迪潘回答说，“而且通事沉着。他的旅馆里也不是没有甘心为他效劳的仆人。假使我象你提出的那样轻举妄动，我大概永远不会活着离开那位部长的旅馆了，好心的巴黎人大概再也不会听到有人说起我了。你知道我在政治上的倾向。在这件事情上，我充当了那位有关的夫人的坚决拥护者。这位部长已经把她摆布了十八个月。现在要由她来摆布他了，既然他没有发觉信已经不在他手里，他会继续勒索，仿佛信还在手里一样。因此，他就免不了要弄得他自己马上在政治上毁灭。他的垮台，与其说是一落千丈，倒不如说是难堪。常言说，下地狱容易，这种话好倒是好，可是，在各种各样的攀援过程之中，正象卡塔兰尼①谈唱歌一样，升高要比降低容易得多。对于他这样除了格的人，我不同情他，至少是不怜悯他。他是那种十分残忍的怪物，一个有天才而不顾廉耻的人。不过，我得承认，等到警察局长称之为'某一位大人物'的那位夫人公然反抗他了，他只好去打开我放在卡片架里那封留给他的信的时候，我倒十分想知道他究竟有何感想。” ①卡塔兰尼（Catalano1780—1849）：意大利女高音歌唱家。 “怎么？你在信里写了什么东西吗？” “呀……要是在信封里放一张白纸，那也看起来完全不妥当……那岂不是侮辱。先前有一次，在维也纳，D一做了一件对我有损的事，我十分委婉地对他说，我是该记住这件事的。所以，既然我知道他会觉得有点奇怪，想知道比他手段高明的那个人究竟是谁，我觉得如果不给他留下一点线索，未免遗憾。他很熟悉我的笔迹，我于是在那张空白纸当中抄写了几个字： “……这样恶毒的计策如果配不上阿尔特拉厄，也配得上蒂埃斯特了。” 这些话在克雷比戎的《阿尔特拉厄》里可以查得出来。 "