The Man Who Was Poe

The next morning, a confused and hungover Dupin regrets agreeing to help Edmund. He is ready to abandon Edmund but notices the note on the floor that reads: “MEDDLE AT YOUR PERIL!” (38). Edmund wakes and convinces Dupin to continue to help him. Dupin interrogates Edmund for details and learns that Edmund’s mother left London a year ago for America, trusting her sister to look after the children. After receiving a message from a stranger informing her that her sister was in Providence, Aunty came to America with the children to search for her. A few days ago, Aunty went to meet a man who said he could help her, but she seemed nervous about the meeting and never returned. Edmund also tells Dupin that he and Sis are twins run in the family.

Edmund explains that there are two keys to the room; Aunty took one with her and left the other with Edmund and Sis. They test locking the door from the outside, and after seeing how close the neighboring building is, Dupin deduces that the only way Sis could have left the room was through the window and into the opposite building. Edmund and Dupin hurry to the neighboring building to search the adjacent room.