How much do we miss when we don't really look? Edgar Allan Poe explores that question in his short story, The Purloined Letter. As the story begins, two men are sitting in an apartment in Paris smoking their pipes and enjoying each other's company. They are not much for conversation; they go for an hour at a time without saying anything. One of the two men is the brilliant detective, Auguste Dupin, who had earlier solved the Rue Morgue murders. A police inspector drops by. Clearly agitated and anxious he confides in the two pipe smokers and seeks their help. A thief has stolen a letter from an aristocratic woman. The letter contains information that the woman must keep secret. If the thief were to expose the contents of the letter, the woman would be ruined. She knows who stole the letter …