Atlas Nightshade

Day 131

“I repeat that it is no more than fact, that the larger portion

of all truth has sprung from the collateral; and it is but in

accordance with the spirit of the principle involved in this

fact, that I would divert inquiry, in the present case, from the

trodden and hitherto unfruitful ground of the event itself, to

the contemporary circumstances which surround it. While you

ascertain the validity of the affidavits, I will examine the

newspapers more generally than you have as yet done. So far, we

have only reconnoitred the field of investigation; but it will be

strange indeed if a comprehensive survey, such as I propose, of

the public prints, will not afford us some minute points which

shall establish a direction for inquiry.”

In pursuance of Dupin’s suggestion, I made scrupulous