Collected Works of Poe | Page 3

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[Redactor's Note--There are some Greek letters in this volume
(Silence--A Fable, the introduction, and two words in The Assignation)
which may not display correctly in the ISO character set. Use of a word
processor with the WP Greek character set may restore the Greek
original. Some endnotes are by Poe and some were added by Griswold.
In this volume the notes are at the end.]

Contents
VOLUME II
The Purloined Letter
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherezade
A Descent into the Maelström
Von Kempelen and his Discovery
Mesmeric Revelation
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Black Cat
The Fall of the House of Usher
Silence -- a Fable
The Masque of the Red Death
The Cask of Amontillado
The Imp of the Perverse
The Island of the Fay
The Assignation

The Pit and the Pendulum
The Premature Burial
The Domain of Arnheim
Landor's Cottage
William Wilson
The Tell-Tale Heart
Berenice
Eleonora
{Notes}
====== ======
THE PURLOINED LETTER
Nil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio.
Seneca.
At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I was
enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in
company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or
book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain.
For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence; while each,
to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and exclusively
occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the
atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally
discussing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation
between us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of the
Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Rogêt. I
looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when the door
of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old acquaintance,

Monsieur G--, the Prefect of the Parisian police.
We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of
the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not
seen him for several years. We had been sitting in the dark, and Dupin
now arose for the purpose of lighting a lamp, but sat down again,
without doing so, upon G.'s saying that he had called to consult us, or
rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business
which had occasioned a great deal of trouble.
"If it is any point requiring reflection," observed Dupin, as he forebore
to enkindle the wick, "we shall examine it to better purpose in the
dark."
"That is another of your odd notions," said the Prefect, who had a
fashion of calling every thing "odd" that was beyond his
comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities."
"Very true," said Dupin, as he supplied