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and made him a direct, and certainly a liberal proposition, the precise
nature of which I do not feel myself at liberty to disclose, but which
has no bearing upon the proper subject of my narrative.
The compliment my friend rebutted as best he could, but the proposition
he accepted at once, although its advantages were altogether
provisional. This point being settled, the Prefect broke forth at
once into explanations of his own views, interspersing them with
long comments upon the evidence; of which latter we were not yet in
possession. He discoursed much, and beyond doubt, learnedly; while
I hazarded an occasional suggestion as the night wore drowsily away.
Dupin, sitting steadily in his accustomed arm-chair, was the embodiment
of respectful attention. He wore spectacles, during the whole interview;
and an occasional signal glance beneath their green glasses, sufficed
to convince me that he slept not the less soundly, because silently,
throughout the seven or eight leaden-footed hours which immediately
preceded the departure of the Prefect.
In the morning, I procured, at the Prefecture, a full report of all
the evidence elicited, and, at the various newspaper offices, a copy
of every paper in which, from first to last, had been published any
decisive information in regard to this sad affair. Freed from all that
was positively disproved, this mass of information stood thus:
Marie Rogêt left the residence of her mother, in the Rue Pavée
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