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murder of a young girl named Marie Rogêt.
This event occurred about two years after the atrocity in the Rue
Morgue. Marie, whose Christian and family name will at once arrest
attention from their resemblance to those of the unfortunate
"cigargirl," was the only daughter of the widow Estelle Rogêt. The
father had died during the child's infancy, and from the period of his
death, until within eighteen months before the assassination which forms
the subject of our narrative, the mother and daughter had dwelt together
in the Rue Pavée Saint Andrée; (*3) Madame there keeping a pension,
assisted by Marie. Affairs went on thus until the latter had attained
her twenty-second year, when her great beauty attracted the notice of a
perfumer, who occupied one of the shops in the basement of the Palais
Royal, and whose custom lay chiefly among the desperate adventurers
infesting that neighborhood. Monsieur Le Blanc (*4) was not unaware of
the advantages to be derived from the attendance of the fair Marie in
his perfumery; and his liberal proposals were accepted eagerly by the
girl, although with somewhat more of hesitation by Madame.
The anticipations of the shopkeeper were realized, and his rooms soon
became notorious through the charms of the sprightly grisette. She had
been in his employ about a year, when her admirers were thrown info
confusion by her sudden disappearance from the shop. Monsieur Le Blanc
was unable to account for her absence, and Madame Rogêt was distracted
with anxiety and terror. The public papers immediately took up
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