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At 3 o’clock in the morning, dreadful shrieks awaken

a quiet street in XIXth century Paris. Neighbours rush to

the scene only to fi nd that a mother and her daughter

have just been brutally murdered. The police fi nd

it all very confusing. Of course the young Monsieur

Dupin, cool-headed and clever, can no doubt solve the

mystery...

Envie de lire en anglais ?

Dorénavant, c’est possible grâce à Harrap’s.

Découvrez une célèbre nouvelle policière d’Edgar Allan

Poe, pionnier du genre, en VO et avec des traductions

en marge pour vous aider à bien comprendre le texte.

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Avec Harrap’s, Yes you can!

ISBN 356-0-39-556080-2

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ISBN 356 0 39 556080 2

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Après un premier conte fantastique (Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille, 1833), Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), jour-naliste littéraire américain, publie des récits d’épouvante ou des contes à énigmes, inventant ce faisant la nouvelle policière. Selon un schéma récurrent, le narrateur relate une énigme qui laisse perplexes la police comme le lecteur, et que seul le héros enquêteur peut résoudre par son esprit analytique hors pair.


Direction De la publication : Carine Girac-Marinier

Direction éDitoriale : Claude Nimmo

Un certain nombre d’annotations proviennent de la traduction de Charles Baudelaire.

révision Des notes : Marianne Mouchot

relecture : Élisabeth Le Saux

informatique éDitoriale : Philippe Cazabet, Marie-Noëlle Tilliette

conception graphique : Uli Meindl

mise en pages : Patrick Mahé, Cynthia Savage

fabrication : Rebecca Dubois

Remerciements à Marie Gabiache


Mot de l’éditeur

Vous aimeriez lire en langue originale, mais le vocabulaire, les expressions figurées ou la syntaxe vous arrêtent parfois ?

Cette collection est faite pour vous !

Vous trouverez en effet, en note dans la marge, une traduction de certains mots et expressions qui vous permettra d’avancer facilement dans votre lecture.

Nous n’avons pas cherché à vous donner une traduction littéraire de l’ouvrage et nous nous sommes parfois écartés du sens littéral pour vous fournir celui qui convient le mieux à l’histoire. Aussi les mots sont-ils traduits dans le contexte du texte original.

Les expressions figées anglaises sont, bien entendu, rendues par une expression équivalente en français.

Les allusions à des réalités culturelles du monde anglo-saxon sont expliquées également dans la marge, pour vous aider à mieux comprendre la trame de l’histoire.

Vous aurez ainsi, en regard du texte original, tout le savoir-faire d’un dictionnaire rien que pour vous et adapté à ce livre !

Notre objectif est de vous mener jusqu’au mot FIN en vous donnant les clés nécessaires à la compréhension du récit.

Laissez-vous gagner par l’angoisse, l’humour et le suspense qui règnent chez les maîtres de la littérature anglo-saxonne.

Lire en VO ? You can indeed!


Coup de pouce pour vous aider à bien comprendre le début de l’histoire...

Les ressources de l’esprit humain sont infinies. Selon la situation, au jeu de dames par exemple, c’est une bonne logique qui fera la différence ; aux échecs, un sens aigu de l’observation sera plus utile. Avec de tels atouts, on atteint des sommets de virtuosité.

Chez M. Dupin, gentleman doué d’une perspicacité hors du commun, cette finesse analytique tient du génie. Son dis-cernement ne sera pas de trop lorsqu’il s’agira de résoudre une curieuse affaire de meurtres, une nuit, en plein Paris…


9

1. sirènes 2. avait-il pris3. épineuses4. au-delà de toute5. facultés6. dites analytiques7. fort peu8. Ce que nous en savons9. à un degré extraordinaire10. jouissance des plus vives11. se réjouit de12. l’analyste s’enorgueillit de13. dont la fonction est de démêler14. tire du15. simples16. qui mettent ses talents en jeu17. raffole18. devinettes19. perspicacité20. au commun des mortels21. relever du surnaturel22. habilement déduits par23. l’âme même24. tire peut-être une grande force de25. fort improprement26. simplement en raison27. elle était l’analyse par excellence28. joueur d’échecs29. s’ensuit30. sur

What song the Syrens1 sang, or what name Achil les

as sumed2 when he hid him self among women, al though

puz zling3 ques tions, are not be yond all4 con jec ture.

—Sir Thomas Browne.

The men tal fea tures5 discoursed of as the analyt ic al6, are, in them selves, but lit tle7 sus cep tible of ana lysis. We ap pre ci ate them only in their effects. We know of them8, among other things, that they are al ways to their pos ses sor, when in or dinate ly9 possessed, a source of the live li est en joyment10. As the strong man exults in11 his phys ical abil ity, delighting in such ex er cises as call his muscles into ac tion, so glor ies the ana lyst in12 that moral ac tiv ity which disentangles13. He de rives14 pleas ure from even the most triv ial15 occupations bring ing his tal ent into play16. He is fond17 of enigmas, of conundrums18, of hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his so lu tions of each a de gree of acu men19 which appears to the or din ary20 ap pre hen sion præternatural21. His re sults, brought about by22 the very soul23 and es sence of method, have, in truth, the whole air of in tu ition.

The fac ulty of reso lu tion is pos sibly much invigorated by24 math em at ic al study, and es pe cially by that highest branch of it which, un just ly25, and mere ly on ac count26 of its retro grade op erations, has been called, as if par ex cel lence27, ana lysis. Yet to cal cu late is not in it self to ana lyze. A chessplay er28, for ex ample, does the one without ef fort at the other. It follows29 that the game of chess, in its ef fects upon30 men tal char ac ter, is


10

Murders in the rue Morgue

1. traité2. récit passa-

blement singulier3. tout à fait

décousues4. donc

5. proclamer6. activement

7. mis à profit8. modeste

9. dames10. futilité labo-rieuse des échecs

11. Dans ce dernier jeu

12. mouvements13. diverses et

variées14. pris

15. puissamment mise en jeu

16. se relâche17. erreur

18. perte [d’un pion]

19. non seule-ment variés,

mais complexes20. sur

21. habile22. gagne

23. n’étant pas accaparée

24. tous les avantages

25. chacun des joueurs

26. il n’y aurait pas lieu de

s’attendre à des étourderies

27. absolument28. puissant

effort29. Privé

30. entre dans31. s’identifiant

complètement avec lui

32. souvent33. ainsi

great ly mis un der stood. I am not now writ ing a trea tise1, but sim ply pref acing a some what pe culiar nar ra tive2 by observations very much at random3; I will, there fore4, take oc ca sion to as sert5 that the higher powers of the re flect ive in tel lect are more de cided ly6 and more use ful ly tasked7 by the un osten ta tious8 game of draughts9 than by all the elab or ate fri vol ity of chess10. In this lat ter11, where the pieces have dif fer ent and bizarre motions12, with vari ous and vari able13 values, what is only com plex is mis taken14 (a not unusual error) for what is pro found. The at ten tion is here called power ful ly into play15. If it flag16 for an in stant, an over sight17 is com mit ted re sulting in in jury18 or de feat. The pos sible moves being not only mani fold but in vo lute19, the chances of such oversights are multi plied; and in nine cases out of20 ten it is the more con cen tra tive ra ther than the more acute21 play er who conquers22. In draughts, on the con trary, where the moves are unique and have but lit tle vari ation, the prob abil ities of in ad ver tence are diminished, and the mere at ten tion being left com para tive ly un employed23, what ad van tages24 are obtained by ei ther party25 are obtained by su per ior acu men. To be less ab stract — let us sup pose a game of draughts where the pieces are re duced to four kings, and where, of course, no over sight is to be ex pect ed26. It is ob vi ous that here the vic tory can be de cided (the players being at all27 equal) only by some recherché move ment, the re sult of some strong ex er tion28 of the in tel lect. Deprived29 of or din ary re sources, the ana lyst throws him self into30 the spirit of his op pon ent, iden ti fies him self there with31, and not unfrequently32 sees thus33,


Edgar allan PoE

11

1. d’un seul coup d’œil2. Le whist3. a longtemps été cité4. sur ce qu’on appelle5. incompréhen-sible6. tout en ne voyant dans les échecs qu’un jeu7. qui fasse plus travailler8. de la chrétienté9. la force10. spéculations11. lutte12. les cas dont on peut légitimement tirer avantage13. se dérobent14. dans des recoins de la pensée15. somme toute16. [écrivain anglais du xviiie s., spécialisé dans les règles des jeux de cartes]17. facilement18. fidèle19. se conformer aux règles20. constituant, pour l’opinion commune,21. summum22. dans les cas23. simple24. talent25. se manifeste 26. une foule27. déductions28. Ses parte-naires en font peut-être autant

at a glance1, the sole methods (some times in deed ab surd ly sim ple ones) by which he may se duce into error or hurry into mis cal cu la tion.

Whist2 has long been noted3 for its in flu ence upon what is termed4 the cal cu lat ing power; and men of the highest order of in tel lect have been known to take an ap par ent ly un account able5 delight in it, while eschewing chess as6 friv olous. Beyond doubt there is noth ing of a simi lar nature so great ly tasking7 the fac ulty of ana lysis. The best chessplay er in Chris ten dom8 may be little more than the best play er of chess; but pro ficiency9 in whist im plies cap acity for suc cess in all those more im port ant undertakings10 where mind struggles11 with mind. When I say pro fi ciency, I mean that per fec tion in the game which includes a com pre hen sion of all the sources whence le gitim ate ad van tage may be derived12. These are not only mani fold but multi form, and lie13 fre quent ly among recesses of thought14 al together15 in accessible to the or din ary under stand ing. To ob serve atten tive ly is to re mem ber dis tinct ly; and, so far, the con cen tra tive chessplay er will do very well at whist; while the rules of Hoyle16 (them selves based upon the mere mech an ism of the game) are suf fi cient ly17 and gen er al ly com pre hen sible. Thus to have a re ten tive18 mem ory, and to pro ceed by “the book”19 are points com mon ly regarded as20 the sum total21 of good play ing. But it is in matters22 be yond the limits of mere23 rule that the skill24 of the ana lyst is evinced25. He makes, in silence, a host26 of observations and inferences27. So, per haps, do his companions28; and the dif ference in the ex tent of the in for ma tion obtained, lies not so much in the val id ity of the in fer ence


12


1. L’important est de savoir

2. ne se confine pas dans son jeu

3. l’objet actuel de son attention

4. physionomie5. avec celle de

chacun6. tenir7. atout

8. par9. que

s’échangent10. les joueurs

entre eux11. inférant

beaucoup12. dont l’un ramasse une

levée,13. à la suite14. par feinte15. désinvolte

16. chute17. l’air inquiet

ou dégagé18. avec lequel

on la dissimule19. impatience20. inquiétude

21. tout est pour lui

22. situation réelle du jeu23. manches24. dès lors25. retourné

26. une grande ingéniosité 27. car, si

as in the qual ity of the ob ser va tion. The ne cessary know ledge is that of1 what to ob serve. Our play er confines him self not at all2; nor, be cause the game is the ob ject3, does he re ject de ductions from things ex ter nal to the game. He examines the coun ten ance4 of his part ner, com par ing it care ful ly with that of each5 of his op pon ents. He considers the mode of assorting6 the cards in each hand; often counting trump7 by trump, and honor by honor, through8 the glances bestowed by9 their holders upon each10. He notes every variation of face as the play pro gress es, gath er ing a fund of thought11 from the dif fer enc es in the expres sion of cer tainty, of sur prise, of tri umph, or of chag rin. From the man ner of gath er ing up a trick12 he judges whether the per son tak ing it can make an other in the suit13. He recognizes what is played through feint14, by the air with which it is thrown upon the table. A cas ual15 or in ad vert ent word; the ac ci den tal drop ping16 or turn ing of a card, with the ac com pany ing anx iety or care lessness17 in re gard to its con ceal ment18; the counting of the tricks, with the order of their ar rangement; em bar rass ment, hesi ta tion, eager ness19 or trepi da tion20 — all af ford21, to his ap par ent ly intui tive per cep tion, indications of the true state of af fairs22. The first two or three rounds23 having been played, he is in full pos ses sion of the con tents of each hand, and thence for ward24 puts down his cards with as ab so lute a pre ci sion of pur pose as if the rest of the party had turned outward25 the faces of their own.

The ana lyt ic al power should not be con founded with ample in genu ity26; for while27 the ana lyst is ne ces sar ily in geni ous, the in geni ous man is often


Edgar allan PoE

13

1. [qui voyaient un lien entre les fonctions mentales, le tempérament de chacun et la forme de son crâne]2. ils ont tort, selon moi3. en supposant qu’elle soit4. confinait à5. la rêverie6. caractère

7. On verra8. n’est jamais autre chose

9. comme une sorte de10. des

11. j’y fis la connaissance d’un certain

12. malencontreux

13. y succomba14. de se pousser15. rétablissement16. Grâce à la bonne volonté17. reliquat18. la rente qu’il en tirait

re mark ably in cap able of ana lysis. The con structive or com bin ing power, by which in genu ity is usu al ly manifested, and to which the phrenologists1 (I be lieve er ro ne ous ly2) have assigned a separ ate organ, sup pos ing it3 a primi tive fac ulty, has been so fre quent ly seen in those whose in tel lect bordered other wise upon4 idi ocy, as to have attracted general ob ser va tion among writers on morals. Between in genu ity and the ana lyt ic abil ity there exists a dif fe rence far greater, in deed, than that be tween the fancy5 and the im agin ation, but of a char ac ter6 very strict ly analo gous. It will be found7, in fact, that the in geni ous are al ways fanci ful, and the truly im agina tive never other wise8 than ana lyt ic.

The nar ra tive which follows will ap pear to the read er some what in the light of a9 com men tary upon the10 propositions just ad vanced.

Residing in Paris dur ing the spring and part of the sum mer of 18—, I there be came ac quaint ed with a11 Mon sieur C. Au guste Dupin. This young gentle man was of an ex cel lent—in deed of an illus tri ous fam ily, but, by a var iety of un to ward12 events, had been re duced to such pov erty that the en ergy of his char ac ter succumbed be neath it13, and he ceased to be stir him self14 in the world, or to care for the re trieval15 of his fortunes. By cour tesy16 of his cre dit ors, there still remained in his pos ses sion a small rem nant17 of his patrimony; and, upon the in come aris ing from this18, he man aged, by means of a rigor ous econ omy, to pro cure the ne ces sar ies of life, with out troubling him self about its super flu ities. Books, in deed,


14


1. seul luxe2. on se les

procure facilement

3. le fait d’être tous deux par

hasard4. nous

rapprocha5. qui est le

propre de tout Français

6. quand il parle de ses propres

affaires7. étendue8. lectures

9. l’âme prise10. Cherchant

11. qui faisaient mon unique

étude12. Nous déci-

dâmes enfin13. affaires

14. mal en point15. de louer et

meubler16. mélancolie

17. antique18. villa

19. dont nous ne daignâmes pas

nous enquérir20. tombant

presque en ruine

21. inoffensive22. réclusion

were his sole lux ur ies1, and in Paris these are easily obtained2.

Our first meet ing was at an ob scure li brary in the Rue Mont martre, where the ac ci dent of our both being3 in search of the same very rare and very re mark able vol ume, brought us into closer com mu nion4. We saw each other again and again. I was deep ly inter est ed in the lit tle fam ily history which he detailed to me with all that can dor which a French man in dul ges5 when ever mere self is his theme6. I was as ton ished, too, at the vast extent7 of his read ing8; and, above all, I felt my soul enkindled with in me9 by the wild fer vor, and the vivid fresh ness of his im agin ation. Seeking10 in Paris the ob jects I then sought11, I felt that the soci ety of such a man would be to me a treas ure beyond price; and this feel ing I frank ly confided to him. It was at length arranged12 that we should live to gether dur ing my stay in the city; and as my world ly cir cum stances13 were some what less em bar rassed14 than his own, I was per mit ted to be at the ex pense of rent ing, and furnishing15 in a style which suit ed the ra ther fan tas tic gloom16 of our com mon tem per, a timeeaten17 and grotesque man sion18, long deserted through superstitions into which we did not in quire19, and tot tering to its fall20 in a retired and deso late por tion of the Faubourg St. Germain.

Had the rou tine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as mad men — al though, per haps, as mad men of a harm less21 na ture. Our se clu sion22 was per fect. We ad mit ted no visitors. Indeed the lo cal ity of our re tire ment had been care ful ly kept a se cret


Edgar allan PoE

15

1. anciens camarades

2. qu’entre nous3. bizarrerie d’humeur qu’avait4. d’aimer la nuit pour elle-même5. lubies6. noire7. demeurer8. simuler9. Au point du jour,10. lourds11. volets12. bougies13. très faibles et très pâles14. la pendule nous prévînt de l’arrivée15. partions gaillardement16. bras dessus bras dessous17. rôdant au hasard18. dans19. donner

20. un vif plaisir à l’exercer — plutôt qu’à en faire montre21. qu’il en tirait22. se vantait auprès de moi23. un petit rire 24. cœurs25. accompagnait d’ordinaire

from my own for mer associates1; and it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We exist ed with in our selves alone2.

It was a freak of fancy in3 my friend (for what else shall I call it?) to be enamored of the Night for her own sake4; and into this bi zar rerie, as into all his others, I quiet ly fell; giv ing my self up to his wild whims5 with a per fect aban don. The sable6 div in ity would not her self dwell7 with us al ways; but we could coun ter feit8 her pres ence. At the first dawn of the morn ing9 we closed all the massy10 shutters11 of our old build ing; lighting a couple of tapers12 which, strong ly per fumed, threw out only the ghast li est and feeb lest13 of rays. By the aid of these we then busied our souls in dreams — reading, writ ing, or con vers ing, until warned by the clock of the ad vent14 of the true Darkness. Then we sal lied forth15 into the streets arm in arm16, con tinu ing the topics of the day, or roaming far and wide17 until a late hour, seek ing, amid18 the wild lights and shadows of the popu lous city, that in fin ity of men tal ex cite ment which quiet ob ser vation can’t af ford19.

At such times I could not help remarking and ad mir ing (al though from his rich ideal ity I had been prepared to ex pect it) a pe cu liar ana lyt ic abil ity in Dupin. He seemed, too, to take an eager de light in its ex er cise — if not exact ly in its dis play20 — and did not hesi tate to con fess the pleas ure thus derived21. He boasted to me22, with a low chuck ling laugh23, that most men, in re spect to him self, wore win dows in their bosoms24, and was wont to fol low up25 such assertions by dir ect


16


1. des plus surprenantes

2. glaciale3. regardaient

dans le vide4. montait

dans des aigus5. pu être signes

de colère6. sans

7. rêvais à8. double

9. l’autre, qui résout

10. Qu’on ne s’imagine pas

11. écris12. roman

13. malade14. donnera une

meilleure idée

15. flânions16. aux

abords du

17. Tout à coup,18. s’écria19. C’est

quelqu’un de très petit

20. sans y penser

21. s’accordait à22. repris mes

esprits23. étonnement

and very start ling1 proofs of his in tim ate knowledge of my own. His man ner at these moments was fri gid2 and ab stract; his eyes were va cant in ex pres sion3; while his voice, usu al ly a rich tenor, rose into a treble4 which would have sounded petu lant ly5 but for6 the de lib er ate ness and en tire dis tinct ness of the enun ci ation. Observing him in these moods, I often dwelt medi ta tive ly upon7 the old phil oso phy of the BiPart8 Soul, and amused my self with the fancy of a double Dupin — the cre ative and the re solv ent9.

Let it not be supposed10, from what I have just said, that I am detailing any mys tery, or penning11 any ro mance12. What I have de scribed in the French man, was mere ly the re sult of an excited, or per haps of a dis eased13 in tel li gence. But of the char ac ter of his remarks at the periods in ques tion an ex ample will best con vey the idea14.

We were strolling15 one night down a long dirty street in the vicin ity of16 the Palais Royal. Being both, ap par ent ly, oc cu pied with thought, nei ther of us had spoken a syl lable for fif teen min utes at least. All at once17 Dupin broke forth with these words18:

“He is a very lit tle fel low19, that’s true, and would do bet ter for the Théâtre des Variétés.”

“There can be no doubt of that,” I re plied unwit ting ly20, and not at first ob serv ing (so much had I been ab sorbed in re flec tion) the extra or dinary man ner in which the speak er had chimed in with21 my meditations. In an in stant after ward I recollected my self22, and my as ton ish ment23 was pro found.


Edgar allan PoE

17

1. peux à peine en croire mes sens2. m’assurer indubitablement qu’3. à qui4. petite taille5. le rendait impropre à6. ancien7. savetier8. pris de la rage du théâtre9. du même nom10. ce qui avait fait de lui un sujet de risée11. l’amour du Ciel 12. pu pénétrer mon âme13. surpris14. n’aurais voulu le dire15. fruitier16. raccommodeur de semelles17. et tous les rôles de ce genre18. strictement aucun fruitier19. vous est rentré dedans

20. panier21. failli me renverser

“Dupin,” said I, grave ly, “this is be yond my com pre hen sion. I do not hesi tate to say that I am amazed, and can scarce ly credit my senses1. How was it pos sible you should know I was think ing of —?” Here I paused, to as cer tain be yond a doubt whether2 he real ly knew of whom3 I thought.

—”of Chan tilly,” said he, “why do you pause? You were remarking to your self that his di minutive fig ure4 un fit ted him for5 tra gedy.”

This was pre cise ly what had formed the sub ject of my reflections. Chan tilly was a quon dam6 cobbler7 of the Rue St. Denis, who, be com ing stagemad8, had at tempted the rôle of Xer xes, in Crébillon’s tra gedy so called9, and been no tori ous ly Pasquinaded for his pains10.

“Tell me, for Heaven’s sake11,” I exclaimed, “the method — if method there is — by which you have been enabled to fathom my soul12 in this mat ter.” In fact I was even more star tled13 than I would have been will ing to ex press14.

“It was the fruit er er15,” re plied my friend, “who brought you to the con clu sion that the mend er of soles16 was not of suf fi cient height for Xer xes et id genus omne17.”

“The fruit er er! — you as ton ish me — I know no fruit er er whom so ever18.”

“The man who ran up against you19 as we entered the street — it may have been fif teen minutes ago.”

I now re mem bered that, in fact, a fruit erer, carry ing upon his head a large bas ket20 of apples, had near ly thrown me down21, by acci dent, as we passed from the Rue C— into


18


1. l’artère principale

2. afin que3. reprendre le

cours4. anneaux

5. se suivent6. Épicure

7. pavés8. le chemin

9. leur esprit était arrivé à certaines conclusions

10. celui11. but

12. Qu’on juge donc de mon étonnement

13. dus reconnaître14. si je ne

m’abuse15. passant

précipitamment devant

16. vous jeta17. pavés

18. amoncelés19. la chaussée est en travaux20. avez mis le

pied sur21. pierres branlantes

22. vous avez glissé

23. vous êtes légèrement foulé

la cheville24. grognon

25. avez marmonné

26. avez continué

the thor ough fare1 where we stood; but what this had to do with Chan tilly I could not pos sibly under stand.

There was not a par ticle of charlâtanerie about Dupin. “I will ex plain,” he said, “and that2 you may com pre hend all clear ly, we will first re trace the course3 of your meditations, from the mo ment in which I spoke to you until that of the ren contre with the fruit er er in ques tion. The lar ger links4 of the chain run5 thus — Chan tilly, Orion, Dr. Nichols, Epi curus6, Stereotomy, the street stones7, the fruit er er.”

There are few per sons who have not, at some period of their lives, amused them selves in retracing the steps8 by which par ticu lar con clu sions of their own minds have been attained9. The occu pa tion is often full of inter est and he10 who attempts it for the first time is as ton ished by the ap par ent ly il lim it able dis tance and in co her ence be tween the start ingpoint and the goal11. What, then, must have been my amaze ment12 when I heard the French man speak what he had just spoken, and when I could not help ac know ledg ing13 that he had spoken the truth. He con tinued:

“We had been talk ing of horses, if I re member aright14, just be fore leav ing the Rue C—. This was the last sub ject we discussed. As we crossed into this street, a fruit er er, with a large bas ket upon his head, brushing quick ly past15 us, thrust you16 upon a pile of pav ing stones17 col lect ed18 at a spot where the causeway is under go ing re pair19. You stepped upon20 one of the loose fragments21, slipped22, slight ly strained your ankle23, ap peared vexed or sulky24, muttered25 a few words, turned to look at the pile, and then proceeded26 in si


Edgar allan PoE

19

1. ces derniers temps

2. aux ornières

3. ruelle4. unis 5. solidement assemblés6. physionomie7. s’est éclaircie8. prétentieuse-ment9. genre10. atomes11. et comme12. sans que personne y prît garde13. conjectures14. avaient été confirmées15. récentes découvertes de la cosmogonie16. porter17. nébuleuse

18. quand il a embrassé la carrière tragique19. vers20. causé21. [« La première lettre perdit son ancien son. »]22. anciennement

lence. I was not par ticu lar ly at ten tive to what you did; but ob ser va tion has be come with me, of late1, a spe cies of ne ces sity.

“You kept your eyes upon the ground — glancing, with a petu lant ex pres sion, at the holes and ruts2 in the pave ment, (so that I saw you were still think ing of the stones) until we reached the lit tle alley3 called La mar tine, which has been paved, by way of ex peri ment, with the over lap ping4 and riveted5 blocks. Here your coun ten ance6 brightened up7, and, per ceiv ing your lips move, I could not doubt that you murmured the word ‘stereotomy,’ a term very affectedly8 ap plied to this spe cies9 of pave ment. I knew that you could not say to yourself ‘stereotomy’ with out being brought to think of atom ies10, and thus of the the or ies of Epi curus; and since11, when we discussed this sub ject not very long ago, I men tioned to you how sin gu larly, yet with how lit tle no tice12, the vague guesses13 of that noble Greek had met with con firm ation14 in the late nebu lar cos mog ony15, I felt that you could not avoid cast ing16 your eyes up ward to the great nebula17 in Orion, and I cer tain ly ex pected that you would do so. You did look up; and I was now assured that I had cor rect ly fol lowed your steps. But in that bit ter tir ade upon Chantilly, which ap peared in yes ter day’s ‘Musée,’ the sat ir ist, mak ing some dis grace ful allusions to the cob bler’s change of name upon as sum ing the buskin18, quoted a Latin line19 about which we have often conversed20. I mean the line

Perdidit antiquum litera sonum.21

“I had told you that this was in ref er ence to Orion, for mer ly22 writ ten Urion; and, from cer


20


1. remarques caustiques

2. conscient3. ne pouviez

manquer4. d’associer5. je le vis au

style du sourire6. aviez marché courbé en deux

7. vous redresser8. pensiez à la

très petite taille

9. réveillés10. cris

effrayants11. provenant

12. étage13. que l’on

savait occupée uniquement par

14. retard15. des efforts

infructueux16. parvenir à

entrer17. grande porte

18. pince19. voisins20. tout ce

monde21. montait

en courant la première volée

d’escaliers22. fortes

23. en pleine querelle

tain pungencies1 con nect ed with this ex plan ation, I was aware2 that you could not have for got ten it. It was clear, there fore, that you would not fail3 to com bine4 the two ideas of Orion and Chan tilly. That you did com bine them I saw by the char acter of the smile5 which passed over your lips. You thought of the poor cob bler’s im mol ation. So far, you had been stooping in your gait6; but now I saw you draw your self up7 to your full height. I was then sure that you refl ec ted upon the di minutive fig ure8 of Chan tilly. At this point I interrupted your meditations to re mark that as, in fact, he was a very lit tle fel low — that Chan tilly — he would do bet ter at the Théâtre des Variétés.”

Not long after this, we were looking over an even ing edi tion of the “Gazette des Tribunaux,” when the fol low ing paragraphs arrested our at ten tion.

“EXTRAORDINARY MURDERS. — This morning, about three o’clock, the in hab it ants of the Quartier St Roch were aroused from sleep9 by a suc ces sion of ter rifi c shrieks10, is su ing11, ap parent ly, from the fourth story12 of a house in the Rue Morgue, known to be in the sole oc cu pancy of13 one Ma dame L’Espanaye, and her daugh ter Ma demois elle Ca mille L’Espanaye. After some delay14, occasioned by a fruit less at tempt15 to pro cure admis sion16 in the usual man ner, the gate way17 was broken in with a crow bar18, and eight or ten of the neighbors19 entered ac com pan ied by two gendarmes. By this time the cries had ceased; but, as the party20 rushed up the first flight of stairs21, two or more rough22 voices in angry con ten tion23 were dis tin guished and seemed to pro ceed from


Edgar allan PoE

21

1. étages supérieurs2. Quand on arriva au second palier3. Les gens se répartirent4. pièce5. dont la porte, étant fermée6. frappa7. d’une terreur non moins grande que leur étonnement8. éparpillés9. lit10. matelas11. maculé de12. Dans l’âtre,13. boucles épaisses14. trempées de15. arrachées16. racines17. boucle d’oreille18. cuillers d’argent19. tiroirs 20. commode21. fouillés22. coffret de fer23. ne contenait rien24. hormis25. de peu d’importance26. suie27. foyer28. chose horrible à dire !

the upper part1 of the house. As the se cond landing was reached2, these sounds, also, had ceased and every thing remained per fect ly quiet. The party spread them selves3 and hur ried from room to room. Upon ar riv ing at a large back cham ber4 in the fourth story, (the door of which, being found locked5, with the key in side, was forced open) a spec tacle pre sented it self which struck6 every one pre sent not less with hor ror than with as ton ish ment7.

“The apart ment was in the wildest dis order —the fur ni ture broken and thrown about8 in all direc tions. There was only one bed stead9; and from this the bed10 had been removed, and thrown into the mid dle of the floor. On a chair lay a razor, besmeared with11 blood. On the hearth12 were two or three long and thick tresses13 of grey human hair, also dabbled in14 blood, and seem ing to have been pulled out15 by the roots16. Upon the floor were found four Napoleons, an earring17 of topaz, three large sil ver spoons18, three small er of métal d’Alger, and two bags, con tain ing near ly four thou sand francs in gold. The drawers19 of a bureau20, which stood in one cor ner, were open, and had been, ap par ent ly, rifled21, al though many art icles still remained in them. A small iron safe22 was discovered under the bed (not under the bedstead). It was open, with the key still in the door. It had no con tents23 be yond24 a few old let ters, and other papers of lit tle con se quence25.

“Of Ma dame L’Espanaye no traces were here seen; but an un usual quan tity of soot26 being observed in the fireplace27, a search was made in the chim ney, and (hor rible to re late!28) the


22


1. cadavre2. tête en bas3. en fut tiré4. poussé par

l’étroite ouverture5. égratignures

6. fourré7. puis dégagé

8. fortes égratignures

9. gorge10. des

meurtrissures 11. marques

d’ongles12. la victime 13. étranglée

14. examen minutieux

15. découverte nouvelle

16. cour située à l’arrière de la

bâtisse17. quand on essaya de la

relever18. terriblement

19. à tel point20. qu’il

gardait à peine apparence

humaine21. pour l’instant

22. la moindre piste

23. journal24. détails25. terrible

26. la légèreté de ton de l’anglais

« affair »27. qui puisse jeter quelque

jour28. dépositions

obtenues29. blanchisseuse

30. déclare

corpse1 of the daugh ter, head down ward2, was dragged there from3; it hav ing been thus forced up the nar row aper ture4 for a con sid er able distance. The body was quite warm. Upon examin ing it, many excoriations5 were per ceived, no doubt occasioned by the vio lence with which it had been thrust up6 and disengaged7. Upon the face were many se vere scratches8, and, upon the throat9, dark bruises10, and deep indentations of fin ger nails11, as if the de ceased12 had been throttled to death13.

“After a thor ough in ves ti ga tion14 of every portion of the house, with out far ther dis cov ery15, the party made its way into a small paved yard in the rear of the build ing16, where lay the corpse of the old lady, with her throat so en tire ly cut that, upon an at tempt to raise her17, the head fell off. The body, as well as the head, was fear ful ly18 mutilated —the for mer so much so19 as scarce ly to re tain any semb lance of hu man ity20.

“To this hor rible mys tery there is not as yet21, we be lieve, the slight est clew22.”

The next day’s paper23 had these add ition al par ticu lars24.

“The Tragedy in the Rue Morgue. Many in di viduals have been exam ined in re la tion to this most extra or din ary and fright ful25 af fair. [The word ‘affaire’ has not yet, in France, that lev ity of im port which it conveys with us26] “but noth ing what ever has transpired to throw light27 upon it. We give below all the ma ter ial tes ti mony elicited28.

“Paul ine Dubourg, laun dress29, deposes30 that she has known both the de ceased for three years, hav ing washed for them dur ing that period.


Edgar allan PoE

23

1. Elles payaient très bien.2. Ne peut rien dire3. quant à leur mode de vie4. leurs moyens de subsistance5. disait la bonne aventure6. de côté7. venait prendre le linge8. domestique9. buraliste10. tabac à fumer et à priser

11. sous-louait

12. son locataire, qui dégradait les lieux13. d’en louer une seule partie14. puérile15. Le témoin16. excessive-ment retirée17. commission-naire18. médecin19. ont déposé20. dans le même sens21. On ne cite personne comme ayant fréquenté

The old lady and her daugh ter seemed on good terms — very af fec tion ate to wards each other. They were ex cel lent pay.1 Could not speak2 in re gard to their mode3 or means of liv ing4. Believed that Madame L. told fortunes5 for a liv ing. Was reputed to have money put by6. Never met any per sons in the house when she called for the clothes7 or took them home. Was sure that they had no ser vant in em ploy8. There ap peared to be no fur ni ture in any part of the build ing ex cept in the fourth story.

“Pierre Mo reau, to bac con ist9, deposes that he has been in the habit of sell ing small quan tities of to bacco and snuff10 to Ma dame L’Espanaye for near ly four years. Was born in the neigh bor hood, and has al ways resided there. The de ceased and her daugh ter had oc cu pied the house in which the corpses were found, for more than six years. It was for mer ly oc cu pied by a jew el ler, who underlet11 the upper rooms to vari ous per sons. The house was the prop erty of Ma dame L. She became dis sat is fied with the abuse of the prem ises by her ten ant12, and moved into them her self, refus ing to let any por tion13. The old lady was childish14. Witness15 had seen the daugh ter some five or six times dur ing the six years. The two lived an ex ceed ing ly retired16 life — were reputed to have money. Had heard it said among the neighbors that Ma dame L. told fortunes — did not be lieve it. Had never seen any per son enter the door ex cept the old lady and her daugh ter, a por ter17 once or twice, and a phys ician18 some eight or ten times.

“Many other per sons, neighbors, gave evidence19 to the same ef fect20. No one was spoken of as frequenting21 the house. It was not known


24


1. parents vivants

2. rarement

3. qui s’efforçaient de

pénétrer dans la maison4. enfin

5. la porte étant6. à deux battants

7. verrouillée8. en proie

aux plus vives douleurs

9. très prolongés

10. bourrue11. beaucoup

plus aiguë12. certain

13. étranger

14. distinguer

15. de son état16. orfèvre

whether there were any liv ing connexions1 of Madame L. and her daugh ter. The shutters of the front win dows were sel dom2 opened. Those in the rear were al ways closed, with the ex cep tion of the large back room, fourth story. The house was a good house—not very old.

“Isi dore Muset, gen darme, deposes that he was called to the house about three o’clock in the morn ing, and found some twenty or thirty persons at the gate way, endeavoring to gain ad mittance3. Forced it open, at length4, with a bay onet — not with a crow bar. Had but lit tle dif fi culty in get ting it open, on ac count of its being5 a double or fold ing gate6, and bolted7 nei ther at bot tom not top. The shrieks were con tinued until the gate was forced — and then sud den ly ceased. They seemed to be screams of some per son (or per sons) in great agony8 — were loud and drawn out9, not short and quick. Witness led the way up stairs. Upon reach ing the first land ing, heard two voices in loud and angry con ten tion — the one a gruff10 voice, the other much shriller11 — a very strange voice. Could dis tin guish some words of the former, which was that of a French man. Was positive12 that it was not a woman’s voice. Could distin guish the words ‘sacré ’ and ‘diable.’ The shrill voice was that of a for eign er13. Could not be sure whether it was the voice of a man or of a woman. Could not make out14 what was said, but be lieved the lan guage to be Span ish. The state of the room and of the bod ies was de scribed by this wit ness as we de scribed them yes ter day.

“Henri Duval, a neigh bor, and by trade15 a sil versmith16, deposes that he was one of the


Edgar allan PoE

25

1. Confirme

2. foule3. s’amassait4. malgré5. l’heure tardive

6. familiarisé

7. celle d’aucune

8. a sponta- nément souhaité témoigner9. interrogé par le canal d’un10. Natif11. Passait devant12. atroces 13. navrants14. témoignage15. à l’exception d’un seul point16. prononcés17. d’un ton inégal18. criarde19. banquier20. maison21. l’aîné22. quelque fortune

party who first entered the house. Corroborates1 the tes ti mony of Muset in general. As soon as they forced an en trance, they reclosed the door, to keep out the crowd2, which col lect ed3 very fast, notwith stand ing4 the late ness of the hour5. The shrill voice, this wit ness thinks, was that of an Ital ian. Was cer tain it was not French. Could not be sure that it was a man’s voice. It might have been a woman’s. Was not ac quaint ed6 with the Ital ian lan guage. Could not dis tin guish the words, but was con vinced by the in ton ation that the speak er was an Ital ian. Knew Ma dame L. and her daughter. Had conversed with both fre quent ly. Was sure that the shrill voice was not that of ei ther7 of the de ceased.

“— Odenheimer, res taura teur. This wit ness volunteered his tes ti mony8. Not speak ing French, was exam ined through an9 in ter pret er. Is a native10 of Am ster dam. Was pass ing11 the house at the time of the shrieks. They last ed for sev eral min utes — prob ably ten. They were long and loud — very awful12 and dis tress ing13. Was one of those who entered the build ing. Corroborated the previ ous evi dence14 in every re spect but one15. Was sure that the shrill voice was that of a man — of a French man. Could not dis tin guish the words uttered16. They were loud and quick — un equal17 — spoken ap par ent ly in fear as well as in anger. The voice was harsh18 — not so much shrill as harsh. Could not call it a shrill voice. The gruff voice said re peat ed ly ‘sacré,’ ‘diable,’ and once ‘mon Dieu.’

“Jules Mignaud, bank er19, of the firm of20 Mignaud et Fils, Rue Deloraine. Is the elder21 Mignaud. Ma dame L’Espanaye had some prop erty22.


26


1. auparavant2. sommes

3. N’était rien venue retirer

4. commis5. chez6. midi

7. le déchargeait8. les salua

9. rue à l’écart

10. tailleur

11. monter

12. distinguer

13. grattement14. un

piétinement

15. susdits16. assignés de

nouveau

Had opened an ac count with his banking house in the spring of the year — (eight years pre vi ously1). Made fre quent de posits in small sums2. Had checked for noth ing3 until the third day be fore her death, when she took out in per son the sum of 4000 francs. This sum was paid in gold, and a clerk4 went home with the money.

“Adolphe Le Bon, clerk to5 Mignaud et Fils, deposes that on the day in ques tion, about noon6, he ac com pan ied Ma dame L’Espanaye to her residence with the 4000 francs, put up in two bags. Upon the door being opened, Ma de mois elle L. appeared and took from his hands one of the bags, while the old lady relieved him7 of the other. He then bowed8 and de part ed. Did not see any person in the street at the time. It is a byestreet9 — very lone ly.

“Wil liam Bird, tailor10, deposes that he was one of the party who entered the house. Is an English man. Has lived in Paris two years. Was one of the first to as cend11 the stairs. Heard the voices in con ten tion. The gruff voice was that of a French man. Could make out12 sev eral words, but can not now re mem ber all. Heard dis tinct ly ‘sacré’ and ‘mon Dieu.’ There was a sound at the mo ment as if of sev eral per sons strug gling — a scrap ing13 and scuf fling sound14. The shrill voice was very loud — loud er than the gruff one. Is sure that it was not the voice of an Eng lish man. Appeared to be that of a German. Might have been a woman’s voice. Does not under stand German.

“Four of the abovenamed15 wit nesses, being recalled16, deposed that the door of the cham ber in which was found the body of Ma de mois elle L.


Edgar allan PoE

27

1. gémissements2. d’aucune sorte3. [mani-festement à guillotine]4. fermées5. solidement bloquées de l’intérieur6. à l’entrée du corridor7. entrebâillée 8. etc.

9. Des balais10. passés dans [pour ramoner]11. trappe12. solidement fermée avec des clous 13. écoulé14. varie selon

15. entrepreneur de pompes funèbres

16. Ne monta pas à l’étage.17. redoute

was locked on the in side when the party reached it. Every thing was per fect ly si lent — no groans1 or noises of any kind2. Upon for cing the door no per son was seen. The win dows3, both of the back and front room, were down4 and firm ly fas tened from with in5. A door be tween the two rooms was closed, but not locked. The door lead ing from the front room into the pas sage was locked, with the key on the in side. A small room in the front of the house, on the fourth story, at the head of the passage6 was open, the door being ajar7. This room was crowded with old beds, boxes, and so forth8. These were care ful ly removed and searched. There was not an inch of any por tion of the house which was not care ful ly searched. Sweeps9 were sent up and down10 the chimneys. The house was a four story one, with garrets (mansardes.) A trapdoor11 on the roof was nailed down very se curely12 — did not ap pear to have been opened for years. The time elap sing13 be tween the hear ing of the voices in con ten tion and the break ing open of the room door, was vari ous ly stated by14 the witnesses. Some made it as short as three min utes — some as long as five. The door was opened with dif fi culty.

“Alfonzo Garcio, under taker15, deposes that he resides in the Rue Morgue. Is a na tive of Spain. Was one of the party who entered the house. Did not pro ceed up stairs.16 Is ner vous, and was ap prehen sive17 of the con se quences of agi ta tion. Heard the voices in con ten tion. The gruff voice was that of a French man. Could not dis tin guish what was said. The shrill voice was that of an Eng lish man — is sure of this. Does not under stand the Eng lish lan guage, but judges by the in ton ation.


28


1. confiseur

2. faire des remontrances

3. par saccades

4. balais5. on entendait

6. chaque conduit

7. enfoncé

8. au point du jour

9. sur le fond de sangle du lit

10. écorché11. pourrait

suffire à expliquer12. à vif

13. menton14. marques

bleuâtres15. des

empreintes

“Al berto Montani, con fec tion er1, deposes that he was among the first to as cend the stairs. Heard the voices in ques tion. The gruff voice was that of a French man. Distinguished sev eral words. The speak er ap peared to be ex pos tu lat ing2. Could not make out the words of the shrill voice. Spoke quick and un even ly3. Thinks it the voice of a Russian. Corroborates the general tes ti mony. Is an Ital ian. Never conversed with a na tive of Rus sia.

“Several wit nesses, recalled, here testi fied that the chimneys of all the rooms on the fourth story were too nar row to admit the pas sage of a human being. By ‘sweeps4’ were meant5 cy lin dric al sweep ing brushes, such as are em ployed by those who clean chimneys. These brushes were passed up and down every flue6 in the house. There is no back pas sage by which any one could have descend ed while the party proceeded up stairs. The body of Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye was so firm ly wedged7 in the chim ney that it could not be got down until four or five of the party united their strength.

“Paul Dumas, phys ician, deposes that he was called to view the bod ies about daybreak8. They were both then lying on the sacking of the bedstead9 in the cham ber where Ma de mois elle L. was found. The corpse of the young lady was much bruised and excoriated10. The fact that it had been thrust up the chim ney would suf fi cient ly ac count for11 these ap pear ances. The throat was great ly chafed12. There were sev eral deep scratches just below the chin13, to gether with a ser ies of livid spots14 which were evi dent ly the im pres sion15 of fin gers. The face was fear ful ly discolored, and the


Edgar allan PoE

29

1. les yeux étaient exorbités2. entaillée3. creux de l’estomac4. genou

5. os6. fracassés 7. brisé en esquilles

8. massue de bois9. barre de fer10. contondante11. arme12. elle est maniée13. coups14. affûté

15. chirurgien

16. On n’a pu obtenir aucun autre renseigne-ment significatif17. si toutefois il y a eu assassinat18. fautive19. chose inhabituelle pour

eyeballs protruded1. The tongue had been partial ly bit ten through2. A large bruise was discovered upon the pit of the stom ach3, prod uced, appar ent ly, by the pres sure of a knee4. In the opin ion of M. Dumas, Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye had been throttled to death by some per son or per sons unknown. The corpse of the mother was hor ribly mutilated. All the bones5 of the right leg and arm were more or less shat tered6. The left tibia much splintered7, as well as all the ribs of the left side. Whole body dread ful ly bruised and discolored. It was not pos sible to say how the in jur ies had been inflicted. A heavy club of wood8, or a broad bar of iron9 — a chair — any large, heavy, and ob tuse10 weapon11 would have prod uced such re sults, if wielded12 by the hands of a very power ful man. No woman could have inflicted the blows13 with any weapon. The head of the de ceased, when seen by wit ness, was en tire ly separated from the body, and was also great ly shat tered. The throat had evi dent ly been cut with some very sharp14 in stru ment — prob ably with a razor.

“Alex andre Etienne, sur geon15, was called with M. Dumas to view the bod ies. Corroborated the tes ti mony, and the opin ions of M. Dumas.

“Nothing far ther of im port ance was elicited16, al though sev eral other per sons were exam ined. A mur der so mys teri ous, and so perplexing in all its par ticu lars, was never be fore com mit ted in Paris — if in deed a mur der has been com mit ted at all17. The po lice are en tire ly at fault18 — an un usual occur rence in19 af fairs of this na ture. There is not, how ever, the shadow of a clew ap par ent.”


30


1. Selon l’édition du soir,

2. agitation3. fouillées de

nouveau4. on dut

réinterroger des témoins

5. sans résultat6. l’incriminer

7. autant, du moins, que je pus en juger

8. y voyant9. cette

instruction stérile

10. si réputée pour son flair

11. rusée12. mal

appropriées13. au but visé

14. qu’elles font penser

15. réclamant16. dus à

17. insuffisantes18. plans

19. échouent20. [bagnard,

puis chef de la brigade de

sûreté, sous l’Empire et la

Restauration]21. marchait à

l’intuition

The even ing edi tion of the paper stated that1 the great est ex cite ment2 still con tinued in the Quartier St Roch — that the prem ises in ques tion had been care ful ly researched3, and fresh examinations of wit nesses instituted4, but all to no pur pose5. A post script, how ever, men tioned that Adolphe Le Bon had been arrested and imprisoned — al though noth ing ap peared to criminate him6, be yond the facts al ready detailed.

Dupin seemed sin gu lar ly inter est ed in the progress of this af fair — at least so I judged7 from his man ner, for he made no comments. It was only after the an nounce ment that Le Bon had been imprisoned, that he asked me my opin ion respecting the murders.

I could mere ly agree with all Paris in con sid ering them8 an in sol uble mys tery. I saw no means by which it would be pos sible to trace the mur der er.

“We must not judge of the means,” said Dupin, “by this shell of an exam in ation9. The Paris ian po lice, so much ex tolled for acu men10, are cun ning11, but no more. There is no method in their pro ceed ings, be yond the method of the moment. They make a vast par ade of meas ures; but, not unfrequently, these are so ill adapted12 to the ob jects proposed13, as to put us in mind14 of Monsieur Jourdain’s call ing for15 his robedechambre — pour mieux en ten dre la mu sique. The re sults attained by them are not unfrequently sur pris ing, but, for the most part, are brought about by16 sim ple dili gence and ac tiv ity. When these qual ities are un avail ing17, their schemes18 fail19. Vidocq20, for ex ample, was a good guess er21 and a per sever ing man. But, with out educated thought, he


Edgar allan PoE

31

1. faisait fausse route2. restreignait3. ce faisant,4. perdait la vision5. dans son ensemble6. puits7. quant à8. profondeur9. cîmes10. trouvent une parfaite illustration 11. corps célestes12. obliquement13. sensibles14. faibles15. regarder16. éclat17. qui s’obscurcit18. en plein19. en réalité20. une réception plus complète21. outrée22. affaiblit23. attention trop soutenue

24. enquête25. nous procurera

26. dont je lui suis reconnaissant

erred1 con tinu al ly by the very in ten sity of his inves ti ga tions. He impaired2 his vi sion by holding the ob ject too close. He might see, per haps, one or two points with un usual clear ness, but in so doing3 he, ne ces sar ily, lost sight4 of the mat ter as a whole5. Thus there is such a thing as being too pro found. Truth is not al ways in a well6. In fact, as regards7 the more im port ant know ledge, I do be lieve that she is in vari ably super fi cial. The depth8 lies in the valleys where we seek her, and not upon the moun taintops9 where she is found. The modes and sources of this kind of error are well typi fied10 in the con tem pla tion of the heav enly bod ies11. To look at a star by glances — to view it in a sidelong way12, by turn ing to ward it the exter ior portions of the ret ina (more sus cep tible13 of fee ble14 impressions of light than the in ter ior), is to be hold15 the star dis tinct ly — is to have the best ap pre ci ation of its lustre16 — a lustre which grows dim17 just in pro por tion as we turn our vi sion fully18 upon it. A greater num ber of rays ac tu al ly19 fall upon the eye in the lat ter case, but, in the former, there is the more refined cap acity for compre hen sion20. By un due21 pro fund ity we per plex and en fee ble22 thought; and it is pos sible to make even Venus her self van ish from the firmanent by a scru tiny too sustained23, too concentrated, or too dir ect.

“As for these murders, let us enter into some examinations for our selves, be fore we make up an opin ion respecting them. An in quiry24 will af ford us25 amuse ment,” [I thought this an odd term, so ap plied, but said noth ing] “and, be sides, Le Bon once ren dered me a ser vice for which I am not ungrate ful26. We will go and see the prem ises with


32


1. nous rendîmes

2. relient

3. quartier4. de celui que

nous habitions5. bien vite

6. de badauds7. rue

8. vitrée9. guichet

10. panneau coulissant

11. attention minutieuse

12. Revenant sur nos pas

13. façade de la maison

14. laissez-passer

15. Le désordre 16. comme c’est

l’usage 17. laissé en

l’état

our own eyes. I know G—, the Prefect of Police, and shall have no dif fi culty in obtaining the neces sary per mis sion.”

The per mis sion was obtained, and we proceeded1 at once to the Rue Morgue. This is one of those miser able thoroughfares which inter vene be tween2 the Rue Riche lieu and the Rue St Roch. It was late in the after noon when we reached it; as this quarter3 is at a great dis tance from that in which we resided4. The house was read ily5 found; for there were still many per sons gaz ing up at the closed shutters, with an ob ject less6 curi os ity, from the op pos ite side of the way7. It was an or din ary Paris ian house, with a gate way, on one side of which was a glazed8 watchbox9, with a slid ing panel10 in the win dow, in di cat ing a loge de con ci erge. Before going in we walked up the street, turned down an alley, and then, again turn ing, passed in the rear of the build ing — Dupin, mean while exam in ing the whole neigh bor hood, as well as the house, with a mi nute ness of at ten tion11 for which I could see no pos sible ob ject.

Retracing our steps12, we came again to the front of the dwelling13, rang, and, hav ing shown our cre den tials14, were ad mit ted by the agents in charge. We went up stairs — into the cham ber where the body of Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye had been found, and where both the de ceased still lay. The disorders15 of the room had, as usual16, been suf fered to exist17. I saw noth ing be yond what had been stated in the “Gazette des Tribunaux.” Dupin scrutinized every thing — not excepting the bod ies of the vic tims. We then went into the other rooms, and into the yard; a gen darme ac com


Edgar allan PoE

33

1. toujours2. jusqu’au soir3. entra4. dans les bureaux5. [je m’en accommodais]6. Il entrait dans sa fantaisie

7. quoi que ce soit d’étrange

8. me donna le frisson

9. ne tenez pas compte10. vaines11. feuille12. qui devrait le faire regarder13. son caractère excessif14. déroutée15. apparente

16. Elle est intriguée17. concilier

18. aucun moyen de sortir19. être vu par

pany ing us through out1. The exam in ation oc cupied us until dark2, when we took our de part ure. On our way home my com pan ion stepped in3 for a mo ment at the of fice4 of one of the daily papers.

I have said that the whims of my friend were mani fold, and that je les ménageais5: — for this phrase there is no Eng lish equiva lent. It was his humor6, now, to de cline all con ver sa tion on the sub ject of the mur der, until about noon the next day. He then asked me, sud den ly, if I had observed any thing pe cu liar7 at the scene of the atro city.

There was some thing in his man ner of em phasiz ing the word “pe cu liar,” which caused me to shud der8, with out know ing why.

“No, noth ing pe cu liar,” I said; “noth ing more, at least, than we both saw stated in the paper.”

“The ‘Gazette,’” he re plied, “has not entered, I fear, into the un usual hor ror of the thing. But dis miss the9 idle10 opin ions of this print11. It appears to me that this mys tery is considered insol uble, for the very rea son which should cause it to be regarded12 as easy of so lu tion — I mean for the outré char ac ter of its fea tures13. The police are con founded14 by the seem ing15 ab sence of mo tive — not for the mur der it self — but for the atro city of the mur der. They are puzzled16, too, by the seem ing im pos si bil ity of rec on cil ing17 the voices heard in con ten tion, with the facts that no one was discovered up stairs but the assassinated Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye, and that there were no means of egress18 with out the no tice of19 the party as cend ing. The wild dis order of the room; the corpse thrust, with the head down ward, up the chim ney; the fright ful mu ti la tion of the body of


34


1. déroutant complètement

2. perspicacité si vantée

3. grossière mais courante

4. et l’inintelligible

5. cours ordi-naire des choses

6. trouve son chemin

7. il ne faut pas tant se demander

8. proportion-nelle à

9. étonnement10. en train d’attendre

11. responsable de cette

boucherie12. en partie

13. car14. c’est là-

dessus que je fonde

15. résoudre toute l’énigme

16. d’une minute à l’autre

17. le retenir18. en cas de

nécessité19. sans trop

20. en croire mes oreilles

the old lady; these considerations, with those just men tioned, and others which I need not mention, have sufficed to para lyze the powers, by putting com plete ly at fault1 the boasted acu men2, of the gov ern ment agents. They have fall en into the gross but com mon3 error of confounding the unusual with the ab struse4. But it is by these deviations from the plane of the or din ary5, that reason feels its way6, if at all, in its search for the true. In in ves ti ga tions such as we are now pur suing, it should not be so much asked7 ‘what has occurred,’ as ‘what has oc curred that has never occurred be fore.’ In fact, the fa cil ity with which I shall ar rive, or have ar rived, at the so lu tion of this mys tery, is in the dir ect ratio of8 its ap par ent insolu bil ity in the eyes of the po lice.”

I stared at the speak er in mute as ton ish ment9.

“I am now await ing10,” con tinued he, looking to ward the door of our apart ment — ”I am now await ing a per son who, al though per haps not the per pet ra tor of these butch er ies11, must have been in some meas ure12 im pli cat ed in their per pet ration. Of the worst por tion of the crimes com mitted, it is prob able that he is in no cent. I hope that I am right in this sup pos ition; for13 upon it I build14 my ex pect ation of read ing the en tire rid dle15. I look for the man here — in this room — every mo ment16. It is true that he may not ar rive; but the prob abil ity is that he will. Should he come, it will be ne ces sary to de tain him17. Here are pistols; and we both know how to use them when oc ca sion de mands their use18.”

I took the pistols, scarce ly19 know ing what I did, or be liev ing what I heard20, while Dupin went


Edgar allan PoE

35

1. monologue

2. à un niveau sonore raisonnable3. d’ordinaire

4. Cela nous ôte

5. d’abord tué6. ensuite7. surtout8. par esprit9. absolument incapable

10. blessures11. exclut le suicide12. des tiers

13. Venons-en maintenant

14. un seul individu15. criarde 16. ce qui est bizarre dans ce témoignage17. de particulier

on, very much as if in a so lilo quy1. I have al ready spoken of his ab stract man ner at such times. His dis course was ad dressed to my self; but his voice, al though by no means loud2, had that in ton ation which is com mon ly3 em ployed in speak ing to some one at a great dis tance. His eyes, va cant in ex pres sion, regarded only the wall.

“That the voices heard in con ten tion,” he said, “by the party upon the stairs, were not the voices of the women them selves, was fully proved by the evi dence. This relieves us of4 all doubt upon the ques tion whether the old lady could have first destroyed5 the daugh ter and after ward6 have commit ted sui cide. I speak of this point chiefl y7 for the sake8 of method; for the strength of Ma dame L’Espanaye would have been ut ter ly un equal to the task9 of thrusting her daugh ter’s corpse up the chim ney as it was found; and the na ture of the wounds10 upon her own per son en tire ly pre clude the idea of selfde struc tion11. Murder, then, has been com mit ted by some third party12; and the voices of this third party were those heard in conten tion. Let me now ad vert13 — not to the whole tes ti mony respecting these voices — but to what was pe cu liar in that tes ti mony. Did you ob serve any thing pe cu liar about it?”

I remarked that, while all the wit nesses agreed in sup pos ing the gruff voice to be that of a Frenchman, there was much dis agree ment in re gard to the shrill, or, as one in di vid ual14 termed it, the harsh15 voice.

“That was the evi dence it self,” said Dupin, “but it was not the pe cu li ar ity of the evi dence16. You have observed noth ing dis tinct ive17. Yet there was


36


1. il y a unanimité

2. Espagnol

3. compatriotes4. la compare

5. dont la langue lui serait

familière6. contraire

7. s’il avait su un peu d’espagnol

8. Néerlandais

9. n’est pas d’accord

10. cependant11. n’ayant pas la connaissance

12. langue13. cette voix

devait être en effet fort

étrange14. si elle a pu

susciter de tels témoignages

15. des citoyens

some thing to be observed. The wit nesses, as you re mark, agreed about the gruff voice; they were here unani mous1. But in re gard to the shrill voice, the pe cu li ar ity is — not that they dis agreed — but that, while an Ital ian, an Eng lish man, a Spaniard2, a Hol land er, and a French man at tempted to de scribe it, each one spoke of it as that of a for eign er. Each is sure that it was not the voice of one of his own coun try men3. Each likens it4 — not to the voice of an in di vid ual of any na tion with whose lan guage he is con ver sant5 — but the con verse6. The French man supposes it the voice of a Span iard, and ‘might have dis tin guished some words had he been ac quaint ed with the Span ish7.’ The Dutch man8 maintains it to have been that of a French man; but we find it stated that ‘not under stand ing French this wit ness was exam ined through an in ter pret er.’ The Eng lish man thinks it the voice of a German, and ‘does not under stand German.’ The Span iard ‘is sure’ that it was that of an Eng lish man, but ‘judges by the in ton ation’ altogether, ‘as he has no know ledge of the Eng lish.’ The Ital ian believes it the voice of a Rus sian, but ‘has never conversed with a na tive of Rus sia.’ A se cond French man differs9, more over10, with the first, and is posi tive that the voice was that of an Ital ian; but, not being cog ni zant11 of that tongue12, is, like the Span iard, ‘convinced by the in ton ation.’ Now, how strange ly un usual must that voice have real ly been13, about which such tes ti mony as this could have been elicited14! — in whose tones, even, denizens15 of the five great div isions of Europe could rec og nise noth ing fa mil iar! You will say that it might have been the voice of an Asi at ic — of an Af ri can. Neither Asiatics nor Africans abound


Edgar allan PoE

37

1. nier que cela puisse donc être le cas

2. brève et saccadée3. ne sais4. j’ai pu faire5. pour faire naître un soupçon6. devrait nous orienter et permettre d’avancer vers la résolution7. Je voulais faire entendre8. seules9. convenables10. en surgit inévitablement comme le seul résultat possible11. immédiate-ment12. que vous pensiez13. tout comme moi14. suffisait15. en imagination16. L’issue par laquelle sont sortis17. surnaturels 18. Les assassins19. des êtres de chair et d’os20. par des voies concrètes21. il n’y a qu’une manière de raisonner

in Paris; but, with out deny ing the in fer ence1, I will now mere ly call your at ten tion to three points. The voice is termed by one wit ness ‘harsh rather than shrill.’ It is rep re sent ed by two others to have been ‘quick and un equal.’2 No words — no sounds re sem bling words — were by any wit ness men tioned as dis tin guish able.

“I know not3,” con tinued Dupin, “what im pression I may have made4, so far, upon your own under stand ing; but I do not hesi tate to say that le git im ate de duc tions even from this por tion of the tes ti mony — the por tion respecting the gruff and shrill voices — are in them selves suf fi cient to en gen der a sus pi cion5 which should give dir ection to all far ther pro gress in the in ves ti ga tion6 of the mys tery. I said ‘legitimate de duc tions;’ but my mean ing is not thus fully ex pressed. I de signed to imply7 that the de duc tions are the sole8 proper9 ones, and that the sus pi cion arises in ev it ably from them as the sin gle re sult10. What the sus pi cion is, how ever, I will not say just yet11. I mere ly wish you to bear in mind12 that, with my self13, it was suf ficient ly for cible14 to give a defi n ite form — a certain ten dency — to my in quir ies in the cham ber.

“Let us now trans port our selves, in fancy15, to this cham ber. What shall we first seek here? The means of egress em ployed by16 the murderers. It is not too much to say that nei ther of us be lieve in præternatural17 events. Ma dame and Ma de moiselle L’Espanaye were not destroyed by spirits. The doers of the deed18 were ma ter ial19, and escaped ma teri al ly20. Then how? Fortunately, there is but one mode of rea son ing21 upon the point, and that mode must lead us to a defi n ite de ci sion. — Let


38


1. adjacente

2. chambres3. ôté les parquets

4. plafonds5. mis à nu la

maçonnerie6. ne me fiant

pas

7. largeur8. sur environ

3 mètres9. ne laisseraient

pas passer10. tout le long

du conduit

11. par des déductions aussi

incontestables12. nous ne

saurions13. en nous

fondant sur14. n’existent

pas15. n’est pas

obstruée16. entièrement

17. Le bas18. massif

19. collée dessus20. bloquée de

l’intérieur21. aux efforts les plus violents

us exam ine, each by each, the pos sible means of egress. It is clear that the assassins were in the room where Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye was found, or at least in the room ad join ing1, when the party ascended the stairs. It is then only from these two apart ments2 that we have to seek issues. The po lice have laid bare the floors3, the ceilings4, and the ma son ry5 of the walls, in every dir ec tion. No se cret issues could have escaped their vigi lance. But, not trust ing6 to their eyes, I exam ined with my own. There were, then, no se cret issues. Both doors lead ing from the rooms into the pas sage were se cure ly locked, with the keys in side. Let us turn to the chimneys. These, al though of ordin ary width7 for some eight or ten feet8 above the hearths, will not admit9, through out their extent10, the body of a large cat. The im pos si bil ity of egress, by means al ready stated, being thus abso lute, we are re duced to the win dows. Through those of the front room no one could have escaped with out no tice from the crowd in the street. The murderers must have passed, then, through those of the back room. Now, brought to this conclu sion in so un equivo cal a man ner11 as we are, it is not our part12, as reasoners, to re ject it on account of13 ap par ent im pos si bil ities. It is only left for us to prove that these ap par ent ‘impossibilities’ are, in real ity, not such14.

“There are two win dows in the cham ber. One of them is un ob struct ed15 by fur ni ture, and is whol ly16 vis ible. The lower por tion17 of the other is hid den from view by the head of the un wieldy18 bed stead which is thrust close up against it19. The for mer was found se cure ly fas tened from within20. It resisted the ut most force21 of those who


Edgar allan PoE

39

1. essayèrent2. trou avec une vrille3. châssis4. gros clou5. fiché dedans6. enfoncé jusqu’au bout7. châssis8. superflu9. retirer

10. minutieux

11. Par conséquent12. refermé13. de par son évidence14. pouvoir15. se fermer d’eux-mêmes16. m’approchai de17. fenêtre18. Un ressort caché 19. hypothèses20. quelque mystérieuses que m’apparussent toujours21. relatives aux22. révéla l’emplacement du

endeavored1 to raise it. A large gim lethole2 had been pierced in its frame3 to the left, and a very stout nail4 was found fit ted there in5, near ly to the head6. Upon exam in ing the other win dow, a similar nail was seen simi lar ly fit ted in it; and a vigor ous at tempt to raise this sash7, failed also. The po lice were now en tire ly sat is fied that egress had not been in these dir ec tions. And, there fore, it was thought a mat ter of super eroga tion8 to with draw9 the nails and open the win dows.

“My own exam in ation was some what more par ticu lar10, and was so for the rea son I have just given — be cause here it was, I knew, that all appar ent im pos si bil ities must be proved to be not such in real ity.

“I proceeded to think thus — a pos teri ori. The murderers did es cape from one of these win dows. This being so11, they could not have refastened12 the sashes from the in side, as they were found fas tened; — the con sid er ation which put a stop, through its ob vi ous ness13, to the scru tiny of the po lice in this quar ter. Yet the sashes were fastened. They must, then, have the power of14 fasten ing them selves15. There was no es cape from this con clu sion. I stepped to16 the un ob struct ed case ment17, with drew the nail with some dif ficulty and at tempted to raise the sash. It resisted all my ef forts, as I had an tici pated. A con cealed spring18 must, I now know, exist; and this cor robor ation of my idea con vinced me that my premises19 at least, were cor rect, how ever mys teri ous still ap peared20 the cir cum stances at tend ing the21 nails. A care ful search soon brought to light the22


40


1. je m’abstins

2. sortant par3. se serait

enclenché4. claire

5. réduisait encore

6. dont ils avaient été fixés

7. Une fois monté sur

8. par-dessus la tête de lit

9. avec un soin minutieux

10. facilement11. fis jouer

12. un terme sportif

13. n’avais pas commis une seule

« faute ». 14. piste

15. un seul instant

16. aucun défaut dans aucun

maillon de la chaîne

17. suivi18. en tous

points19. du clou

correspondant20. quelque

concluant qu’il fût en apparence

hid den spring. I pressed it, and, sat is fied with the dis cov ery, for bore1 to up raise the sash.

“I now replaced the nail and regarded it at tentive ly. A per son pass ing out through2 this window might have reclosed it, and the spring would have caught3 — but the nail could not have been replaced. The con clu sion was plain4, and again nar rowed in5 the field of my in ves ti ga tions. The assassins must have escaped through the other win dow. Supposing, then, the springs upon each sash to be the same, as was prob able, there must be found a dif fe rence be tween the nails, or at least be tween the modes of their fix ture6. Getting upon7 the sacking of the bed stead, I looked over the headboard8 mi nute ly9 at the se cond casement. Passing my hand down be hind the board, I read ily10 discovered and pressed11 the spring, which was, as I had supposed, iden ti cal in charac ter with its neigh bor. I now looked at the nail. It was as stout as the other, and ap par ent ly fit ted in the same man ner — driven in near ly up to the head.

“You will say that I was puzzled; but, if you think so, you must have mis un der stood the na ture of the inductions. To use a sport ing phrase12, I had not been once ‘at fault.’13 The scent14 had never for an in stant15 been lost. There was no flaw in any link of the chain16. I had traced17 the se cret to its ul tim ate re sult, — and that re sult was the nail. It had, I say, in every re spect18, the ap pearance of its fel low19 in the other win dow; but this fact was an ab so lute null ity (con clu sive as it might seem to be20) when compared with the con sid eration that here, at this point, terminated the clew.


Edgar allan PoE

41

1. tige2. me resta

3. les bords étaient incrustés de rouille4. marteau5. enfoncé6. creux7. d’où

8. sans bouger9. logement

10. Une première énigme était résolue.11. Qu’elle fût retombée12. d’elle-même13. qu’on l’eût refermée14. résistance

15. À env. 1, 70 m16. paratonnerre

17. à plus forte raison

‘There must be some thing wrong,’ I said, ‘about the nail.’ I touched it; and the head, with about a quar ter of an inch of the shank1, came off2 in my fin gers. The rest of the shank was in the gim lethole where it had been broken off. The frac ture was an old one (for its edges were incrusted with rust3), and had ap par ent ly been ac comp lished by the blow of a ham mer4, which had par tial ly imbedded5, in the top of the bot tom sash, the head por tion of the nail. I now care ful ly replaced this head por tion in the in den ta tion6 whence7 I had taken it, and the re sem blance to a per fect nail was com plete — the fis sure was in vis ible. Pressing the spring, I gen tly raised the sash for a few inches; the head went up with it, remaining firm8 in its bed9. I closed the win dow, and the semb lance of the whole nail was again per fect.

“The rid dle, so far, was now unriddled.10 The as sas sin had escaped through the window which looked upon the bed. Dropping11 of its own ac cord12 upon his exit (or per haps purpose ly closed13), it had be come fas tened by the spring; and it was the re ten tion14 of this spring which had been mis taken by the po lice for that of the nail, — farther in quiry being thus considered un neces sary.

“The next ques tion is that of the mode of descent. Upon this point I had been sat is fied in my walk with you around the build ing. About five feet and a half15 from the case ment in ques tion there runs a light ningrod16. From this rod it would have been im pos sible for any one to reach the win dow it self, to say noth ing17 of enter ing it. I observed, how ever, that the shutters of the fourth story were


42


1. menuisiers2. de nos jours

3. simple4. à double

battant5. à croisillons

6. treillissée7. prise

8. Dans le cas présent,

9. font au moins 1,05 m

10. de large11. faisaient

angle droit avec12. bâtiment

13. dans le sens de leur largeur

14. ne lui ont pas accordé

l’importance nécessaire

15. n’auront procédé ici qu’à

16. sommaire17. de

18. si on le rabat sur

19. arriverait20. moins de

60 cm21. en faisant

preuve22. d’une énergie

et d’un courage hors du commun23. complètement

ouvert24. voleur

25. prise solide26. Lâchant dès

lors27. s’élançant

vivement

of the pe cu liar kind called by Pa ris ian carpenters1 ferrades — a kind rare ly em ployed at the pre sent day2, but fre quent ly seen upon very old mansions at Lyons and Bor deaux. They are in the form of an or din ary door, (a sin gle3, not a fold ing4 door) except that the lower half is latticed5 or worked in open trel lis6 — thus affording an ex cel lent hold7 for the hands. In the pre sent in stance8 these shutters are fully three feet and a half9 broad10. When we saw them from the rear of the house, they were both about half open — that is to say, they stood off at right angles from11 the wall. It is probable that the po lice, as well as my self, exam ined the back of the tene ment12; but, if so, in looking at these ferrades in the line of their breadth13 (as they must have done), they did not per ceive this great breadth it self, or, at all events, failed to take it into due con sid er ation14. In fact, having once sat is fied them selves that no egress could have been made in this quar ter, they would nat ural ly be stow here15 a very curs ory16 exam in ation. It was clear to me, how ever, that the shut ter belonging to17 the win dow at the head of the bed, would, if swung fully back to18 the wall, reach19 to with in two feet20 of the light ningrod. It was also evi dent that, by ex er tion21 of a very un usual de gree of activ ity and cour age22, an en trance into the win dow, from the rod, might have been thus effected. — By reach ing to the dis tance of two feet and a half (we now sup pose the shut ter open to its whole extent23) a rob ber24 might have taken a firm grasp25 upon the trel liswork. Letting go, then, his hold upon26 the rod, pla cing his feet se cure ly against the wall, and spring ing bold ly27 from it, he might have swung the shut ter so as to close it, and, if we


Edgar allan PoE

43

1. nécessaire2. entreprise

3. principalement4. attirer votre attention sur

5. je devrais plutôt sous-évaluer6. réclamer l’exacte estima-tion

7. qui n’a parlé que par borbo-rygmes

8. passa dans9. au bord de10. sur le point de se souvenir11. déplacé12. entrée13. Mon but était14. démontrer

im agine the win dow open at the time, might even have swung him self into the room.

“I wish you to bear es pe cial ly in mind that I have spoken of a very un usual de gree of ac tivity as requis ite1 to suc cess in so haz ard ous and so dif fi cult a feat2. It is my de sign to show you, first, that the thing might pos sibly have been ac complished: — but, sec ond ly and chief y3, I wish to impress upon your under stand ing4 the very extra or din ary — the al most præternatural char ac ter of that agil ity which could have ac comp lished it.

“You will say, no doubt, using the lan guage of the law, that ‘to make out my case,’ I should rather under value5, than in sist upon a full es ti mation6 of the ac tiv ity re quired in this mat ter. This may be the prac tice in law, but it is not the usage of rea son. My ul tim ate ob ject is only the truth. My im me di ate pur pose is to lead you to place in juxta pos ition, that very un usual ac tiv ity of which I have just spoken with that very pe cu liar shrill (or harsh) and un equal voice, about whose nation al ity no two per sons could be found to agree, and in whose ut ter ance no syl labi fi ca tion could be detected7.”

At these words a vague and halfformed concep tion of the mean ing of Dupin flit ted over8 my mind. I seemed to be upon the verge of9 com prehen sion with out power to com pre hend — men, at times, find them selves upon the brink of re membrance10 with out being able, in the end, to re member. My friend went on with his dis course.

“You will see,” he said, “that I have shifted11 the ques tion from the mode of egress to that of in gress12. It was my de sign13 to con vey the idea14


44


1. Mais retournons

2. Examinons

3. vêtements

4. ne représentent pas tout ce que

5. ne voyaient personne

6. peu d’occasions

7. de changer de toilette

8. vraisembla-blement

9. voleur10. s’encombrer11. d’un paquet

de linge 12. écarter

13. saugrenue

14. livraison15. moins de

trois jours après réception16. sans attirer notre attention un seul instant

17. pierres d’achoppement

that both were effected in the same man ner, at the same point. Let us now re vert1 to the in ter ior of the room. Let us survey2 the ap pear ances here. The drawers of the bureau, it is said, had been rifled, al though many art icles of ap parel3 still remained with in them. The con clu sion here is absurd. It is a mere guess — a very silly one — and no more. How are we to know that the art icles found in the drawers were not all4 these drawers had ori gin al ly contained? Ma dame L’Espanaye and her daugh ter lived an ex ceed ing ly retired life — saw no com pany5 — seldom went out — had lit tle use6 for nu mer ous chan ges of ha bili ment7. Those found were at least of as good qual ity as any likely8 to be possessed by these la dies. If a thief9 had taken any, why did he not take the best — why did he not take all? In a word, why did he abandon four thou sand francs in gold to en cum ber him self10 with a bun dle of linen11? The gold was abandoned. Nearly the whole sum men tioned by Mon sieur Mignaud, the bank er, was discovered, in bags, upon the floor. I wish you, there fore, to discard12 from your thoughts the blun der ing13 idea of mo tive, engendered in the brains of the po lice by that por tion of the evi dence which speaks of money de livered at the door of the house. Coincidences ten times as re mark able as this (the de livery14 of the money, and mur der com mit ted with in three days upon the party re ceiv ing it15), hap pen to all of us every hour of our lives, with out attracting even mo ment ary no tice16. Coincidences, in general, are great stum blingblocks17 in the way of that class of thinkers who have been educated to know noth ing of the the ory of prob abil ities — that the ory to which the most glori ous ob jects of


Edgar allan PoE

45

1. doivent

2. saccage3. indécis

4. Encore moins5. cachent-ils ainsi

6. inconciliable7. même en supposant8. pervertis

9. ouverture

10. à peine

human re search are in debt ed for1 the most glorious of il lus tra tion. In the pre sent in stance, had the gold been gone, the fact of its de liv ery three days be fore would have formed some thing more than a co in ci dence. It would have been cor rob orative of this idea of mo tive. But, under the real circum stances of the case, if we are to sup pose gold the mo tive of this out rage2, we must also im agine the per pet ra tor so vacil lat ing3 an idiot as to have abandoned his gold and his mo tive to gether.

“Keeping now stead ily in mind the points to which I have drawn your at ten tion — that pe culiar voice, that un usual agil ity, and that start ling ab sence of mo tive in a mur der so sin gu lar ly atrocious as this — let us glance at the butch ery it self. Here is a woman strangled to death by man ual strength, and thrust up a chim ney, head downward. Ordinary assassins em ploy no such modes of mur der as this. Least of all4, do they thus dispose of5 the murdered. In the man ner of thrusting the corpse up the chim ney, you will admit that there was some thing ex ces sive ly outré — something al together ir re con cil able6 with our com mon notions of human ac tion, even when we sup pose7 the actors the most depraved8 of men. Think, too, how great must have been that strength which could have thrust the body up such an aper ture9 so for cibly that the united vigor of sev eral per sons was found bare ly10 suf fi cient to drag it down!

“Turn, now, to other indications of the employ ment of a vigor most mar vel lous. On the hearth were thick tresses — very thick tresses — of grey human hair. These had been torn out by the roots. You are aware of the great force ne ces


46


1. arracher

2. mèches3. À leurs

racines (affreux spectacle ! )

adhéraient des4. cuir chevelu

5. preuve6. déployée pour

7. déraciner8. séparée

9. actes

10. honorable confrère

11. contondant

12. de plus13. nous sommes

allés assez avant pour

14. stupéfiante15. étrangère

16. où il était impossible de

discerner aucune syllabe

sary in tearing1 thus from the head even twenty or thirty hairs to gether. You saw the locks2 in ques tion as well as my self. Their roots (a hideous sight!) were clot ted with3 fragments of the flesh of the scalp4 — sure token5 of the pro di gious power which had been exerted in6 uprooting7 per haps half a mil lion of hairs at a time. The throat of the old lady was not mere ly cut, but the head ab so lute ly sev ered8 from the body: the instru ment was a mere razor. I wish you also to look at the bru tal fer ocity of these deeds9. Of the bruises upon the body of Ma dame L’Espanaye I do not speak. Mon sieur Dumas, and his worthy coad ju tor10 Mon sieur Etienne, have pronounced that they were inflicted by some ob tuse11 in stru ment; and so far these gentle men are very cor rect. The ob tuse in stru ment was clear ly the stone pave ment in the yard, upon which the vic tim had fall en from the win dow which looked in upon the bed. This idea, how ever sim ple it may now seem, escaped the po lice for the same rea son that the breadth of the shutters escaped them — be cause, by the af fair of the nails, their perceptions had been her met ical ly sealed against the pos si bil ity of the win dows hav ing ever been opened at all.

“If now, in add ition to all these things12, you have prop er ly refl ec ted upon the odd dis order of the cham ber, we have gone so far as to13 com bine the ideas of an agil ity as tound ing14, a strength super human, a fer ocity bru tal, a butch ery with out mo tive, a gro tesque rie in hor ror ab so lute ly alien15 from hu man ity, and a voice for eign in tone to the ears of men of many nations, and de void of all dis tinct or in tel li gible syl labi fi ca tion16. What


Edgar allan PoE

47

1. Qu’en ressort-il donc ?2. frisson3. fou4. fou furieux

5. ne manque pas de pertinence

6. ne ressemblent pas à ce que7. touffe8. raides et crispés9. déconcerté

10. affirmé

11. croquis

12. Vous voyez13. en déployant14. Il n’y a pas d’apparence que les doigts aient glissé

re sult, then, has ensued?1 What im pres sion have I made upon your fancy?”

I felt a creep ing of the flesh2 as Dupin asked me the ques tion. “A mad man3,” I said, “has done this deed — some rav ing ma niac4, escaped from a neighboring Maison de Santé.”

“In some re spects,” he re plied, “your idea is not ir rele vant5. But the voices of mad men, even in their wildest par ox ysms, are never found to tally with that pe cu liar voice heard upon the stairs. Madmen are of some na tion, and their lan guage, how ever in co her ent in its words, has al ways the co her ence of syl labi fi ca tion. Besides, the hair of a mad man is not such as6 I now hold in my hand. I disentangled this lit tle tuft7 from the ri gid ly clutched8 fin gers of Ma dame L’Espanaye. Tell me what you can make of it.”

“Dupin!” I said, com plete ly unnerved9; “this hair is most un usual — this is no human hair.”

“I have not asserted10 that it is,” said he; “but, be fore we de cide this point, I wish you to glance at the lit tle sketch11 I have here traced upon this paper. It is a facsim ile draw ing of what has been de scribed in one por tion of the tes ti mony as ‘dark bruises, and deep indentations of fin ger nails,’ upon the throat of Ma de mois elle L’Espanaye, and in an other, (by Messrs. Dumas and Etienne) as a ‘series of livid spots, evi dent ly the im pres sion of fin gers.’

“You will per ceive12,” con tinued my friend, spread ing out13 the paper upon the table be fore us, “that this draw ing gives the idea of a firm and fixed hold. There is no slip ping ap par ent14. Each fin ger has retained — pos sibly until the death of


48


1. Sans doute ne procédons-nous

pas comme il convient

2. rouleau3. à peu près

celle4. Enroulez

5. [naturaliste français mort

en 1832]6. minutieuse7. description

générale8. à poil fauve

9. facultés10. de ces

mammifères

11. doigts12. s’accorde parfaitement

13. espèce14. marques

15. fauves16. poils

the vic tim — the fear ful grasp by which it origin al ly imbedded it self. Attempt, now, to place all your fin gers, at the same time, in the re spect ive impressions as you see them.”

I made the at tempt in vain.

“We are pos sibly not giv ing this mat ter a fair trial1,” he said. “The paper is spread out upon a plane sur face; but the human throat is cy lindric al. Here is a bil let2 of wood, the cir cum ference of which is about that3 of the throat. Wrap4 the draw ing around it, and try the ex peri ment again.”

I did so; but the dif fi culty was even more ob vi ous than be fore. “This,” I said, “is the mark of no human hand.”

“Read now,” re plied Dupin, “this pas sage from Cuvier5.”

It was a mi nute6 ana tom ic al and gen er al ly descrip tive ac count7 of the large ful vous8 OurangOutang of the East In dian Is lands. The gi gan tic stat ure, the pro di gious strength and ac tiv ity, the wild fer ocity, and the imi ta tive pro pen sities9 of these mammalia10 are suf fi cient ly well known to all. I under stood the full horrors of the mur der at once.

“The de scrip tion of the digits11,” said I, as I made an end of read ing, “is in exact ac cord ance12 with this draw ing. I see that no ani mal but an OurangOutang, of the spe cies13 here men tioned, could have im pressed the indentations14 as you have traced them. This tuft of tawny15 hair16, too, is iden ti cal in char ac ter with that of the beast of Cuvier. But I can not pos sibly com pre hend


Edgar allan PoE

49

1. incontesta-blement

2. qualifié

3. reproche

4. a eu connaissance

5. qui ont suivi6. dans la nature

7. d’une profondeur à peine suffisante

8. annonce9. consacré10. aux questions maritimes11. recherché12. les marins

the par ticu lars of this fright ful mys tery. Besides, there were two voices heard in con ten tion, and one of them was un ques tion ably1 the voice of a French man.”

“True; and you will re mem ber an ex pres sion attributed al most unani mous ly, by the evi dence, to this voice, — the ex pres sion, ‘mon Dieu!’ This, under the cir cum stances, has been just ly characterized2 by one of the wit nesses (Montani, the con fec tion er), as an ex pres sion of rem on strance or ex pos tu la tion3. Upon these two words, therefore, I have main ly built my hopes of a full so lution of the rid dle. A French man was cog ni zant4 of the mur der. It is pos sible — in deed it is far more than prob able — that he was in no cent of all partici pa tion in the bloody trans ac tions which took place. The OurangOutang may have escaped from him. He may have traced it to the cham ber; but, under the agi tat ing cir cum stances which ensued5, he could never have recaptured it. It is still at large6. I will not pur sue these guesses — for I have no right to call them more — since the shades of re flec tion upon which they are based are scarce ly of suf fi cient depth7 to be ap pre ciable by my own in tel lect, and since I could not pretend to make them in tel li gible to the under standing of an other. We will call them guesses then, and speak of them as such. If the French man in ques tion is in deed, as I sup pose, in no cent of this atro city, this ad ver tise ment8 which I left last night, upon our re turn home, at the of fice of ‘Le Monde,’ (a paper devoted9 to the ship ping inter est10, and much sought11 by sailors12), will bring him to our resi dence.”


50


1. du ... courant2. de Bornéo

3. qu’on sait être4. maltais

5. navire6. s’il rembourse

7. les frais de8. sa garde

9. S’adresser

10. graisseux11. nouer12. nœud

13. de ceux que peu hormis les marins savent

faire14. caractéris-

tique des15. à aucune des

deux victimes

16. je n’aurai fait de mal à

personne

17. induit en erreur

He hand ed me a paper, and I read thus:

CAUGHT — In the Bois de Boulogne, early in the morn ing of the — inst.1, (the morn ing of the mur der), a very large, tawny OurangOutang of the Bornese2 spe cies. The owner, (who is as cer tained to be3 a sail or, belonging to a Mal tese4 ves sel5) may have the ani mal again, upon iden ti fy ing it sat is fac tor ily, and pay ing6 a few charg es aris ing from7 its cap ture and keep ing8. Call9 at No. —, Rue —, Faubourg St Germain — au troisième.

“How was it pos sible,” I asked, “that you should know the man to be a sail or, and belonging to a Mal tese ves sel?”

“I do not know it,” said Dupin. “I am not sure of it. Here, how ever, is a small piece of rib bon, which from its form, and from its greasy10 ap pearance, has evi dent ly been used in tying11 the hair in one of those long queues of which sailors are so fond. Moreover, this knot12 is one which few be sides sailors can tie13, and is pe cu liar to the14 Mal tese. I picked the rib bon up at the foot of the light ningrod. It could not have belonged to ei ther of the de ceased15. Now if, after all, I am wrong in my in duc tion from this rib bon, that the Frenchman was a sail or belonging to a Mal tese ves sel, still I can have done no harm16 in say ing what I did in the ad ver tise ment. If I am in error, he will mere ly sup pose that I have been misled17 by some cir cum stance into which he will not take the trouble to in quire. But if I am right, a great point is gained. Cognizant al though in no cent of the murder, the French man will nat ur al ly hesi tate about re ply ing to the ad ver tise ment — about demanding the OurangOutang. He will rea son thus: —


Edgar allan PoE

51

1. pour quelqu’un dans ma situation 2. vaines3. à portée de main

4. le moindre indice5. que j’aie eu connaissance6. de m’incriminer

7. Si j’évite

8. attirer au moins sur l’animal un dangereux soupçon9. le tenir enfermé jusqu’à ce que l’affaire soit oubliée10. un pas

11. ne vous en servez pas

’I am in no cent; I am poor; my OurangOutang is of great value — to one in my cir cum stances1 a for tune of it self — why should I lose it through idle2 apprehensions of dan ger? Here it is, with in my grasp3. It was found in the Bois de Boulogne — at a vast dis tance from the scene of that butchery. How can it ever be sus pect ed that a brute beast should have done the deed? The po lice are at fault — they have failed to pro cure the slightest clew4. Should they even trace the ani mal, it would be im pos sible to prove me cog ni zant5 of the mur der, or to im pli cate me in guilt6 on ac count of that cog ni zance. Above all, I am known. The ad ver tiser designates me as the pos ses sor of the beast. I am not sure to what limit his know ledge may ex tend. Should I avoid7 claiming a prop erty of so great value, which it is known that I possess, I will ren der the ani mal at least, li able to suspi cion8. It is not my pol icy to at tract at ten tion either to my self or to the beast. I will an swer the ad ver tise ment, get the OurangOutang, and keep it close until this mat ter has blown over9.’”

At this mo ment we heard a step10 upon the stairs.

“Be ready,” said Dupin, “with your pistols, but nei ther use them11 nor show them until at a signal from my self.”

The front door of the house had been left open, and the visitor had entered, with out ring ing, and ad vanced sev eral steps upon the stair case. Now, how ever, he seemed to hesi tate. Presently we heard him des cend ing. Dupin was mov ing quickly to the door, when we again heard him coming up. He did not turn back a se cond time, but


52


1. frappa

2. gai et cordial

3. trapu4. expression

hardie5. pas

totalement6. déplaisante

7. hâlée8. une barbe

9. gourdin de chêne

10. s’inclina11. gauchement

12. nous souhaita

13. teinté de suisse [de

Neuchâtel]

14. prit une profonde

inspiration15. poids

16. n’avions pas de lieu commode

17. écurie de manège

18. près d’ici

19. Certainement

stepped up with de ci sion, and rapped1 at the door of our cham ber.

“Come in,” said Dupin, in a cheer ful and hearty2 tone.

A man entered. He was a sail or, evi dent ly, — a tall, stout3, and mus cu larlooking per son, with a cer tain daredevil ex pres sion of coun ten ance4, not al together5 un pre pos sess ing6. His face, great ly sun burnt7, was more than half hid den by whis ker8 and mustachio. He had with him a huge oaken cudgel9, but ap peared to be other wise unarmed. He bowed10 awk ward ly11, and bade us12 “good even ing,” in French accents, which, al though some what Neufchatelish13, were still suf fi cient ly in di ca tive of a Pa ris ian ori gin.

“Sit down, my friend,” said Dupin. “I sup pose you have called about the OurangOutang. Upon my word, I al most envy you the pos ses sion of him; a re mark ably fine, and no doubt a very valuable ani mal. How old do you sup pose him to be?”

The sail or drew a long breath14, with the air of a man relieved of some in toler able bur den15, and then re plied, in an assured tone:

“I have no way of tell ing — but he can’t be more than four or five years old. Have you got him here?”

“Oh no, we had no con veni ences16 for keeping him here. He is at a liv ery stable17 in the Rue Dubourg, just by18. You can get him in the morning. Of course you are prepared to iden tify the prop erty?”

“To be sure I am19, sir.”


Edgar allan PoE

53

1. m’en séparer2. vous ayez pris tant de peine3. J’paierai volontiers4. récompense5. un chiffre raisonnable6. fort juste

7. de son sein8. le moindre émoi9. devint pourpre10. se leva11. saisit

12. Je le plaignis13. voix pleine de bonté14. Nous ne vous voulons aucun mal15. Sur mon16. aucun mal17. Cela ne veut pas dire18. que vous n’y soyez pas

19. Voici où en sont les choses.

“I shall be sorry to part with him1 ,” said Dupin.

“I don’t mean that you should be at all this trouble2 for noth ing, sir,” said the man. “Couldn’t ex pect it. Am very will ing to pay3 a re ward4 for the find ing of the ani mal — that is to say, any thing in rea son5.”

“Well,” re plied my friend, “that is all very fair6, to be sure. Let me think! — what should I have? Oh! I will tell you. My re ward shall be this. You shall give me all the in for ma tion in your power about these murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Dupin said the last words in a very low tone, and very quiet ly. Just as quiet ly, too, he walked toward the door, locked it and put the key in his pocket. He then drew a pis tol from his bosom7 and placed it, with out the least flurry8, upon the table.

The sail or’s face flushed up9 as if he were struggling with suf fo ca tion. He start ed to his feet10 and grasped11 his cudgel, but the next mo ment he fell back into his seat, trem bling vio lent ly, and with the coun ten ance of death it self. He spoke not a word. I pit ied him12 from the bot tom of my heart.

“My friend,” said Dupin, in a kind tone13, “you are alarming your self un neces sar ily — you are indeed. We mean you no harm14 what ever. I pledge you the15 honor of a gentle man, and of a Frenchman, that we in tend you no in jury16. I per fectly well know that you are in no cent of the atro cities in the Rue Morgue. It will not do17, how ever, to deny that you are18 in some meas ure im pli cat ed in them. From what I have al ready said, you must know that I have had means of in for ma tion about this mat ter — means of which you could never have dreamed. Now the thing stands thus.19 You


54


1. auriez pu voler

2. cacher

3. accusé du

4. recouvré

5. prononçait6. hardiesse

7. je dirai tout ce que j’ai sur le

cœur8. même si je

dois en mourir

9. dont il faisait partie

10. de loisir

11. indomptable12. à la longue

13. enfermé14. jusqu’à ce qu’il ait guéri

have done noth ing which you could have avoided — noth ing, cer tain ly, which renders you culpable. You were not even guilty of rob bery, when you might have robbed1 with im pun ity. You have noth ing to con ceal2. You have no rea son for conceal ment. On the other hand, you are bound by every prin ciple of honor to con fess all you know. An in no cent man is now imprisoned, charged with that3 crime of which you can point out the per pet ra tor.”

The sail or had re covered4 his pres ence of mind, in a great meas ure, while Dupin uttered5 these words; but his ori gin al bold ness of bear ing6 was all gone.

“So help me God,” said he, after a brief pause, “I will tell you all I know about this af fair; — but I do not ex pect you to be lieve one half I say — I would be a fool in deed if I did. Still, I am in nocent, and I will make a clean breast7 if I die for it8.”

What he stated was, in sub stance, this. He had late ly made a voy age to the In dian Archipelago. A party, of which he formed one9, land ed at Borneo, and passed into the in ter ior on an ex cur sion of pleas ure10. Himself and a com pan ion had captured the OurangOutang. This com pan ion dying, the ani mal fell into his own ex clu sive pos ses sion. After great trouble, occasioned by the in tractable11 fer ocity of his cap tive dur ing the home voy age, he at length12 suc ceed ed in lodg ing it safe ly at his own resi dence in Paris, where, not to at tract to ward him self the un pleas ant curi os ity of his neighbors, he kept it care ful ly seclud ed13, until such time as it should re cover14


Edgar allan PoE

55

1. d’une blessure au pied2. à la suite d’une écharde

3. orgie

4. cabinet voisin5. comme il le croyait6. enfermé7. tout barbouillé de savon8. miroir9. de se raser10. sans doute11. trou de la serrure12. n’avait su quel parti prendre13. calmer l’animal14. accès les plus furieux15. fouet16. il avait voulu y recourir17. dégringola18. d’une fenêtre du bas19. s’était enfui dans20. désespéré21. singe22. l’eût presque rattrapé23. avait repris sa course24. course-poursuite25. brillant à

from a wound in the foot1, re ceived from a splinter2 on board ship. His ul tim ate de sign was to sell it.

Returning home from some sailors’ frolic3 the night, or ra ther in the morn ing of the mur der, he found the beast oc cu py ing his own bedroom, into which it had broken from a closet ad join ing4, where it had been, as was thought5, se cure ly confined6. Razor in hand, and fully lathered7, it was sit ting be fore a lookingglass8, attempting the oper ation of shav ing9, in which it had no doubt10 pre vi ous ly watched its mas ter through the keyhole11 of the closet. Terrified at the sight of so danger ous a weapon in the pos ses sion of an ani mal so fer ocious, and so well able to use it, the man, for some moments, was at a loss what to do12. He had been ac cus tomed, how ever, to quiet the creature13, even in its fier cest moods14, by the use of a whip15, and to this he now resorted16. Upon sight of it, the OurangOutang sprang at once through the door of the cham ber, down17 the stairs, and thence, through a win dow18, un for tu nate ly open, into19 the street.

The French man fol lowed in des pair20; the ape21, razor still in hand, oc ca sion al ly stop ping to look back and ges ticu late at its pur suer, until the lat ter had near ly come up with it22. It then again made off23. In this man ner the chase24 continued for a long time. The streets were pro foundly quiet, as it was near ly three o’clock in the morning. In pass ing down an alley in the rear of the Rue Morgue, the fu gi tive’s at ten tion was arrested by a light gleaming from25 the open win dow of Ma dame L’Espanaye’s cham ber, in the fourth sto


56


1. avait grimpé2. s’était élancé

3. tête4. L’exploit

5. ne lui avait pas pris

6. avait été rouvert d’un coup de pied

7. joyeux

8. piège9. il y avait

lieu d’être fort inquiet

10. avait incité

11. était située assez loin

12. il n’avait pu aller plus loin13. se dresser

14. C’est alors15. avaient

retenti dans16. réveillé en

sursaut17. habitants18. vêtues de

19. traîné

20. le dos tourné à

21. vu le temps écoulé

22. entrée

ry of her house. Rushing to the build ing, it perceived the light ning rod, clambered up1 with incon ceiv able agil ity, grasped the shut ter, which was thrown fully back against the wall, and, by its means, swung it self2 dir ect ly upon the headboard3 of the bed. The whole feat4 did not oc cupy5 a mi nute. The shut ter was kicked open again6 by the OurangOutang as it entered the room.

The sail or, in the mean time, was both rejoiced7 and per plexed. He had strong hopes of now re captur ing the brute, as it could scarce ly es cape from the trap8 into which it had ventured, ex cept by the rod, where it might be intercepted as it came down. On the other hand, there was much cause for anx iety9 as to what it might do in the house. This lat ter re flec tion urged10 the man still to follow the fu gi tive. A light ningrod is ascended without dif fi culty, es pe cial ly by a sail or; but, when he had ar rived as high as the win dow, which lay far11 to his left, his car eer was stopped12; the most that he could ac com plish was to reach over13 so as to ob tain a glimpse of the in ter ior of the room. At this glimpse he near ly fell from his hold through ex cess of hor ror. Now it was14 that those hid eous shrieks arose upon15 the night, which had star tled from slum ber16 the inmates17 of the Rue Morgue. Ma dame L’Espanaye and her daugh ter, hab it ed in18 their night clothes, had ap par ent ly been occu pied in ar ran ging some papers in the iron chest al ready men tioned, which had been wheeled19 into the mid dle of the room. It was open, and its con tents lay be side it on the floor. The vic tims must have been sit ting with their backs to ward20 the win dow; and, from the time elap sing21 between the in gress22 of the beast and the screams,


Edgar allan PoE

57

1. elles ne l’avaient pas aperçu tout de suite2. claquement

3. empoigné4. défaits5. en train de les peigner6. avait agité7. tel un barbier8. gisait, immobile 9. s’était évanouie10. fureur11. D’un mouvement ample et décidé12. avait transformé13. en furie14. Grinçant des dents15. les yeux lançant des éclairs16. s’était jeté17. griffes18. égarés19. pouvait être aperçu20. se souvenait21. redouté22. avait arpenté23. arrachant le matelas24. avait précipité25. la tête la première

it seems prob able that it was not im me di ate ly perceived1. The flap pingto2 of the shut ter would natur al ly have been attributed to the wind.

As the sail or looked in, the gi gan tic ani mal had seized3 Ma dame L’Espanaye by the hair, (which was loose4, as she had been comb ing it5), and was flour ish ing6 the razor about her face, in imita tion of the motions of a bar ber7. The daugh ter lay pros trate and mo tion less8; she had swooned9. The screams and struggles of the old lady (during which the hair was torn from her head) had the ef fect of chan ging the prob ably pacific purposes of the OurangOutang into those of wrath10. With one de ter mined sweep11 of its mus cu lar arm it near ly sev ered her head from her body. The sight of blood inflamed12 its anger into phrenzy13. Gnashing its teeth14, and flash ing fire from its eyes15, it flew16 upon the body of the girl, and imbedded its fear ful talons17 in her throat, retaining its grasp until she expired. Its wandering18 and wild glances fell at this mo ment upon the head of the bed, over which the face of its mas ter, rigid with hor ror, was just dis cern ible19. The fury of the beast, who no doubt bore still in mind20 the dreaded21 whip, was in stant ly converted into fear. Conscious of hav ing de served pun ish ment, it seemed de sir ous of con ceal ing its bloody deeds, and skipped about22 the cham ber in an agony of ner vous agi ta tion; throwing down and break ing the fur ni ture as it moved, and drag ging the bed23 from the bed stead. In con clu sion, it seized first the corpse of the daugh ter, and thrust it up the chim ney, as it was found; then that of the old lady, which it im me di ate ly hurled24 through the window head long25.


58


1. fardeau2. avait reculé,

3. épouvanté4. descendant

le paratonnerre d’une glissade [sans s’aider

des mains]

5. d’effroi6. mêlées aux

7. glapissements diaboliques

8. que la porte fût enfoncée

9. ensuite10. relâché

11. après que nous eûmes

raconté toutes les circonstances

de l’affaire12. quelque bien disposé qu’il fût

envers13. tout à fait

14. se laissa aller à

15. parlant de l’opportunité

qu’il y avait à ce que

16. s’occupe de ses propres

affaires17. soulager18. sur son

propre terrain19. n’est pas

aussi étonnant20. qu’il le croit

21. rusé22. Sa sagesse

n’a pas d’assise.

As the ape approached the case ment with its mutilated bur den1, the sail or shrank2 aghast3 to the rod, and, ra ther glid ing than clambering down it4, hur ried at once home — dreading the con se quences of the butch ery, and glad ly abandoning, in his ter ror, all so lici tude about the fate of the OurangOutang. The words heard by the party upon the stair case were the French man’s exclamations of hor ror and af fright5, commingled with the6 fiend ish jabberings7 of the brute.

I have scarce ly any thing to add. The OurangOutang must have escaped from the cham ber, by the rod, just be fore the break of the door8. It must have closed the win dow as it passed through it. It was sub se quent ly9 caught by the owner him self, who obtained for it a very large sum at the Jardin des Plantes. Le Bon was in stant ly released10, upon our nar ra tion of the cir cum stances11 (with some comments from Dupin) at the bureau of the Prefect of Police. This func tion ary, how ever well disposed to12 my friend, could not al together13 con ceal his chag rin at the turn which af fairs had taken, and was fain to in dulge14 in a sar casm or two, about the pro pri ety of15 every per son minding his own busi ness16.

“Let him talk,” said Dupin, who had not thought it ne ces sary to reply. “Let him dis course; it will ease17 his con science, I am sat is fied with hav ing de feat ed him in his own cas tle18. Nevertheless, that he failed in the so lu tion of this mys tery, is by no means that mat ter for won der19 which he supposes it20; for, in truth, our friend the Prefect is some what too cun ning21 to be pro found. In his wis dom is no sta men.22 It is all head and no body,


Edgar allan PoE

59

1. [déesse romaine des Enfers et des escrocs]2. morue3. brave homme4. coup de maître5. raisonnement conformiste6. d’astuce7. cette façon qu’il a

like the pic tures of the Goddess Laverna1,—or, at best, all head and shoulders, like a cod fish2. But he is a good crea ture3 after all. I like him es pecial ly for one mas ter stroke4 of cant5, by which he has attained his repu ta tion for in genu ity6. I mean the way he has7 ‘de nier ce qui est, et d’expliquer ce qui n’est pas.’ ”

Imprimé en Italie par La Tipografica Varese S.p.a Dépôt légal : mai 2014

31511701/11028650mai 2014


At 3 o’clock in the morning, dreadful shrieks awaken

a quiet street in XIXth century Paris. Neighbours rush to

the scene only to fi nd that a mother and her daughter

have just been brutally murdered. The police fi nd

it all very confusing. Of course the young Monsieur

Dupin, cool-headed and clever, can no doubt solve the

mystery...

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ISBN 356-0-39-556080-2

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