“Tell us about your search,” I said.
“We worked slowly, and we searched everyone. Each night we searched a different room of the building. First, we looked closely at and in all of the furniture. We opened every drawer. We searched for secret drawers too. Then we looked all around the building.”
“Did you look through D-------‘s papers and in his books?” I asked.
“Of course. We carefully opened every package, and looked at all of his papers. We looked through every book, page by page.”
”Did you look under the floors?”
“Yes”
“Behind the walls?”
“We did.”
“Then,” I said, “the letter is not there, as you thought.”
“I am afraid that you are right,” said the Chief. “And now, Dupin, what can I do?”
“But I am sure the letter is not there.”
“That is all that I can tell you,” said Dupin. “Do you have a description of the letter?”
“Of course!”
