At length I said,--
"Well, but G--, what of the purloined letter? I presume you have
at last made up your mind that there is no such thing as
overreaching the Minister?"
"Confound him, say I --yes; I made the reexamination, however,
as Dupin suggested --but it was all labor lost, as I knew it would
be."
"How much was the reward offered, did you say?" asked Dupin.
"Why, a very great deal --a very liberal reward --I don't like
to say how much, precisely; but one thing I will say, that I
wouldn't mind giving my individual check for fifty thousand francs
to any one who could obtain me that letter. The fact is, it is
becoming of more and more importance every day; and the reward has
been lately doubled. If it were trebled, however, I could do no more
than I have done."
"Why, yes," said Dupin, drawlingly, between the whiffs of his
meerschaum, "I really --think, G--, you have not exerted
yourself--to the utmost in this matter. You might --do a little
more, I think, eh?"
"How? --In what way?"
"Why --puff, puff --you might --puff, puff --employ counsel in the
matter, eh? --puff, puff, puff. Do you remember the story they tell of
Abernethy?"
"No; hang Abernethy!"
"To be sure! hang him and welcome.
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