"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe

What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, although puzzling questions, are not beyond all conjecture.

-Sir Thomas Browne, "Urn-Burial."

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The picture used is "The sailor's face flushed up; he started to his feet and grasped his cudgel" by Byam Shaw for "Selected Tales of Mystery" (London : Sidgwick & Jackson, 1909)

The game of draughts = checkers

Whist is a card game that was the precusor to present-day Bridge.

The French at the very end there: "de nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas."

My reading pace might be a slight bit faster than desirable, but even so it is a very long story.

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2147/2147-h/2147-h.htm#chap07