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"
Dupin!" I said, completely unnerved; "this hair is most unusual--this
is no human hair."
"I have not asserted that it is," said he; "but, before we decide this
point, I wish you to glance at the little sketch I have here traced upon
this paper. It is a fac-simile drawing of what has been described in
one portion of the testimony as 'dark bruises, and deep indentations
of finger nails,' upon the throat of Mademoiselle L'Espanaye, and in
another, (by Messrs. Dumas and Etienne,) as a 'series of livid spots,
evidently the impression of fingers.'
"You will perceive," continued my friend, spreading out the paper upon
the table before us, "that this drawing gives the idea of a firm
and fixed hold. There is no slipping apparent. Each finger has
retained--possibly until the death of the victim--the fearful grasp by
which it originally imbedded itself. Attempt, now, to place all your
fingers, at the same time, in the respective impressions as you see
them."
I made the attempt in vain.
"We are possibly not giving this matter a fair trial," he said. "The
paper is spread out upon a plane surface; but the human throat is
cylindrical. Here is a billet of wood, the circumference of which
is about that of the throat. Wrap the drawing around it, and try the
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