Nil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio.Seneca. At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence; while each, to any casual observer, 
might have seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the chamber.