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adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment,
a disposal of the article concealed--a disposal of it in this recherché
manner,--is, in the very first instance, presumable and presumed; and
thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, but altogether
upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the seekers; and
where the case is of importance--or, what amounts to the same thing in
the policial eyes, when the reward is of magnitude,--the qualities in
question have never been known to fail. You will now understand what I
meant in suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden any where
within the limits of the Prefect's examination--in other words, had the
principle of its concealment been comprehended within the principles of
the Prefect--its discovery would have been a matter altogether beyond
question. This functionary, however, has been thoroughly mystified;
and the remote source of his defeat lies in the supposition that the
Minister is a fool, because he has acquired renown as a poet. All fools
are poets; this the Prefect feels; and he is merely guilty of a non
distributio medii in thence inferring that all poets are fools."
"But is this really the poet?" I asked. "There are two brothers, I know;
and both have attained reputation in letters. The Minister I believe has
written learnedly on the Differential Calculus. He is a mathematician,
and no poet."
"You are mistaken; I know him well; he is both. As poet and
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