'How much money did you say the reward was?' he asked. I am perfectly willing to pay for advice.'ĭupin smiled at Germont. ''Oh, that is quite simple,' said Abernathy. 'Now doctor,' the old man said, 'suppose you had a patient like that. So he described his problems to Abernathy. He decided he would get a medical opinion from the doctor without paying for it. 'Once, a rich old man met Abernathy at a party. Do you remember the famous doctor, Louis Abernathy?' 'Then why did you make me search the apartment again?' he shouted. 'But I still have not found the letter.'ĭupin smiled. 'I advise you to go back and search the apartment again,' he said.Ībout one month later, Germont came back to see us. 'The address is written in large black letters.'ĭupin puffed on his pipe again. 'It is in a white envelope with a red stamp,' Germont said. 'What does the letter look like?' he asked. What do you advise me to do?'ĭupin puffed on his pipe. We even took the tops off the tables to see if he had hidden the letter in the table legs. We searched behind all the paintings on the walls. 'First, we examined the furniture in every room. 'Tell me how you looked for it,' he said. But we cannot find it.'ĭupin stopped smoking. For the last three months, my men and I have spent every evening looking for the letter in his apartment. 'As you know, I have keys which can open any lock in Paris. D'Arcy plans to use the letter to embarrass Madame X's husband and destroy his political power. We also know it is somewhere in his apartment. 'We know that her husband's political enemy, Mr. She is offering a large amount of money to anyone who can return the letter to her. Three months ago, someone stole a letter from Madame X. I cannot tell you her name, because her husband is a powerful man in the French government. 'The wife of a very important person needs help. 'But you must never tell anyone I told you this.' 'Why don't you tell us the problem?' I said. 'Perhaps the mystery is too simple,' he said. But we still cannot solve it.'ĭupin took the pipe out of his mouth. 'My men and I have worked on this case for three months,' Germont said. But I thought you would like to hear about it, because it is so strange. It is also a very simple case, so I really need your help. 'I am trying to solve a very important case. 'I came to ask your advice,' Germont said to my friend Dupin. Edmund Quinn's sculpture of Edgar Allan Poe is on display at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia.

The purloined letter point of view