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entire riddle. I look for the man here--in this room--every moment. It
is true that he may not arrive; but the probability is that he will.
Should he come, it will be necessary to detain him. Here are pistols;
and we both know how to use them when occasion demands their use."
I took the pistols, scarcely knowing what I did, or believing what
I heard, while Dupin went on, very much as if in a soliloquy. I have
already spoken of his abstract manner at such times. His discourse was
addressed to myself; but his voice, although by no means loud, had that
intonation which is commonly employed in speaking to some one at a great
distance. His eyes, vacant in expression, regarded only the wall.
"
That the voices heard in contention," he said, "by the party upon the
stairs, were not the voices of the women themselves, was fully proved
by the evidence. This relieves us of all doubt upon the question whether
the old lady could have first destroyed the daughter and afterward have
committed suicide. I speak of this point chiefly for the sake of method;
for the strength of Madame L'Espanaye would have been utterly unequal
to the task of thrusting her daughter's corpse up the chimney as it
was found; and the nature of the wounds upon her own person entirely
preclude the idea of self-destruction. Murder, then, has been committed
by some third party; and the voices of this third party were those heard
in contention. Let me now advert--not to the whole testimony respecting
these voices--but to what was peculiar in that testimony. Did you
observe any thing peculiar about it?"
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