[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
solution of this mystery, is by no means that matter for wonder which he supposes it; for, in truth, our friend
the Prefect is somewhat too cunning to be profound. In his wisdom is no stamen. It is all head and no body,
like the pictures of the Goddess Laverna--or, at best, all head and shoulders, like a codfish. But he is a good
creature after all. I like him especially for one master stroke of cant, by which he has attained his reputation
for ingenuity. I mean the way he has `de nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas.'"[1]
[1] Rousseau--Nouvelle Heloise.
The Mystery of Marie Roget
A SEQUEL TO 'THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE'
Es giebt eine Reihe idealischer Begebenheiten, die der Wirklichkeit parallel lauft. Selten fallen sie
zusammen. Menschen und Zufalle modificeren gewohnlich die idealische Begebenheit, so dass sie
unvollkommem erscheint, und ihre Folgen gleichfalls unvollkommen sind. So bei der Reformation; statt des
Protestantismus kam das Lutherthum hervor.
There are ideal series of events which run parallel with the real ones. They rarely coincide. Men and
circumstances generally modify the ideal train of events, so that it seems imperfect, and its consequences are
equally imperfect. Thus with the Reformation; instead of Protestantism came Lutheranism. --NOVALIS.
Moral Ansichten>
There are few persons, even among the calmest thinkers, who have not occasionally been startled into a
vague yet thrilling half-credence in the supernatural, by of so seemingly marvellous a
character that, as coincidences, the intellect has
Upon the original publication of , the foot-notes now appended were considered
unnecessary; but the lapse of several years since the tragedy upon which the tale is based, renders it expedient
to give them, and also to say a few words in explanation of the general design. A young girl,
The Murders In The Rue Morgue And Other Stories 19
The Black Cat and Other Stories
Rogers>, was murdered in the vicinity of New York; and although her death occasioned an intense and
long-enduring excitement, the mystery attending it had remained unsolved at the period when the present
paper was written and published (November, 1842). Herein, under pretence of relating the fate of a Parisian
, the author has followed, in minute detail, the essential, while merely paralleling the inessential,
facts of the real murder of Mary Rogers. Thus all argument upon the fiction is applicable to the truth; and the
investigation of the truth was the object.
was composed at a distance from the scene of the atrocity, and with no other
means of investigation than the newspapers afforded. Thus much escaped the writer of which he could have
availed himself had he been upon the spot and visited the localities. It may not be improper to record,
nevertheless, that the confessions of persons (one of them the Madame Deluc of the narrative), made,
at different periods, long subsequent to the publication, confirmed, in full, not only the general conclusion,
but absolutely the chief hypothetical details by which that conclusion was attained.
been unable to receive them. Such sentiments--for the halfcredences of which I speak have never the full
force of --such sentiments are seldom thoroughly stifled unless by reference to the doctrine of
chance, or, as it is technically termed, the Calculus of Probabilities. Now this Calculus is, in its essence,
purely mathematical; and thus we have the anomaly of the most rigidly exact in science applied to the
shadow and spirituality of the most intangible in speculation.
The extraordinary details which I am now called upon to make public, will be found to form, as regards
sequences of time, the primary branch of a series of scarcely intelligible , whose secondary
or concluding branch will be recognized by all readers in the late murder of MARY CECILIA ROGERS, at
New York.
When, in an article entitled, , I endeavoured, about a year ago, to depict
some very remarkable features in the mental character of my friend, the Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, it did
not occur to me that I should ever resume the subject. This depicting of character constituted my design; and
this design was thoroughly fulfilled in the wild train of circumstances brought to instance Dupin's
idiosyncrasy. I might have adduced other examples, but I should have proven no more. Late events, however,
in their surprising development, have startled me into some further details, which will carry with them the air
of extorted confession. Hearing what I have lately heard, it would be indeed strange should I remain silent in
regard to what I both heard and saw long ago.
Upon the winding up of the tragedy involved in the deaths of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter, the
Chevalier dismissed the affair at once from his attention, and relapsed into his old habits of moody reverie.
Prone, at all times, to abstraction, I readily fell in with his humour; and continuing to occupy our chambers in
the Faubourg Saint Germain, we gave the Future to the winds, and slumbered tranquillity in the Present,
weaving the dull world around us into dreams.
But these dreams were not altogether uninterrupted. It may readily be supposed that the part played by my
friend, in the drama at the Rue Morgue, had not failed of its impression upon the fancies of the
Parisian police. With its emissaries, the name of Dupin had grown into a household word. The simple
character of those inductions by which he had disentangled the mystery never having been explained even to
the Prefect, or to any other individual than myself, of course it is not surprising that the affair was regarded as
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]