"
"Here, then," said Dupin to me, "you have precisely what you
demand to make the ascendancy complete --the robber's knowledge of the
loser's knowledge of the robber."
"Yes," replied the Prefect; "and the power thus attained has,
for some months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a
very dangerous extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly
convinced, every day, of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But
this, of course, cannot be done openly. In fine, driven to despair,
she has committed the matter to me."
"Than whom," said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, "no
more sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined."
"You flatter me," replied the Prefect; "but it is possible that
some such opinion may have been entertained."
"It is clear," said I, "as you observe, that the letter is still
in possession of the minister; since it is this possession, and not
any employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the
employment the power departs."
"True," said G. "and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first
care was to make thorough search of the minister's hotel; and here
my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his
knowledge.
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