"
"You will do wisely," observed the young man. "And now to business. What
reason have you to suppose that the persons for whom you watch are not
already beyond the village?" The seaman paused long before he answered,
and gazed earnestly at Edward, apparently endeavoring to ascertain from
his countenance the amount of his knowledge. This he probably overrated,
but, nevertheless, hazarded a falsehood.
"I doubt not they passed before midnight," he said. "I warrant you they
are many a league towards the sea-coast, ere this."
"You have kept watch, then, since midnight?" asked Edward.
"Ay, that have I! And a dark and rough one it was," answered the stranger.
"And you are certain that, if they passed at all, it must have been before
that hour?"
"I kept my walk across the road till the village was all astir," said the
seaman. "They could not have missed me. So, you see, your best way is to
give chase; for they have a long start of you, and you have no time to
lose."
"Your information is sufficient, my good friend," said Edward, with a
smile. "I have reason to know that they did not commence their flight
before midnight. You have made it evident that they have not passed since:
ergo, they have not passed at all,--an indisputable syllogism.
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