On a dark, windy evening in Paris in the fall, my friend, C. Auguste Dupin, and I were sitting in Dupin’s library, smoking pipes. We sat in the dark for an hour, thinking silently.
I was thinking about our earlier conversation on the subject of the Rue Morgue murders. I was surprised when Monsieur G-----, the Chief of the Paris Police, suddenly walked into the room.
There were many things about Monsieur G----- that I disliked. But he was also amusing. It was a few years since our last meeting, so we welcomed him warmly. He wanted Dupin’s opinion about an important matter.
“Can we have some light?” asked the Chief.
“If we need to think seriously,” said Dupin, “it is better to think in the dark.”
“You have a lot of strange ideas, said the Chief. (Anything was “strange” if the Chief could not understand it.)
