"I  know  not,"  continued  Dupin,  "what  impression
I  may  have  made,  so  far,  upon  your  own  under
standing;  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  legitimate
deductions  even  from  this  portion  of  the  testimony
— the  portion  respecting  the  gruff  and  shrill  voices
— are  in  themselves  sufficient  to  engender  a  suspi-


The  Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue     223

cion  which  should  give  direction  to  all  further  prog
ress  in  the  investigation  of  the  mystery.  I  said
'legitimate  deductions' ;  but  my  meaning  is  not  thus
fully  expressed.  I  designed  to  imply  that  the  de
ductions  are  the  sole  proper  ones,  and  that  the  sus
picion  arises  inevitably  from  them  as  the  single  re
sult.  What  the  suspicion  is,  however,  I  will  not  say
just  yet.  I  merely  wish  you  to  bear  in  mind  that,
with  myself,  it  was  sufficiently  forcible  to  give  a
definite  form — a  certain  tendency — to  my  inquiries
in  the  chamber.
"Let  us  now  transport  ourselves,  in  fancy,  to  this
chamber.  What  shall  we  first  seek  here?  The
means  of  egress  employed  by  the  murderers.  It  is
not  too  much  to  say  that  neither  of  us  believes  in
preternatural  events.  Madame  and  Mademoiselle
L/Espanaye  were  not  destroyed  by  spirits.  The
doers  of  the  deed  were  material  and  escaped  mate
rially.  Then  how?  Fortunately  there  is  but  one
mode  of  reasoning  upon  the  point,  and  that  mode
must  lead  us  to  a  definite  decision.  Let  us  ex
amine,  each  by  each,  the  possible  means  of  egress.
