the rooms of the thief, Minister D---, and how the letter was not found. It is made clear that the search has been most thorough, including searching the person of the thief at home and elsewhere. The letter still has not been found.
Dupin, of course, is French and not American, but Poe most certainly is and is the one who sees the power of intuition and imagination. He explains his method to his companion, the narrator of the story, by referring to a schoolboy who could guess the number of marbles based on his ability to measure the astuteness of his opponents in a schoolyard game. This sort of determination seems based on pure logic, but in fact it also involves the important step of measuring the intelligence level of opponents through careful observation, an art rather than a science. Dupin explains this procedure in terms of what the boy told him:
When I wish to find out how wise, or how stupid, or how good,
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