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themselves to the trouble of making her payment. Et hinc illæ iræ?
"
But what is the precise evidence of Madame Deluc? 'A gang of miscreants
made their appearance, behaved boisterously, ate and drank without
making payment, followed in the route of the young man and girl,
returned to the inn about dusk, and recrossed the river as if in great
haste.'
"
Now this 'great haste' very possibly seemed greater haste in the eyes
of Madame Deluc, since she dwelt lingeringly and lamentingly upon her
violated cakes and ale--cakes and ale for which she might still have
entertained a faint hope of compensation. Why, otherwise, since it was
about dusk, should she make a point of the haste? It is no cause for
wonder, surely, that even a gang of blackguards should make haste to
get home, when a wide river is to be crossed in small boats, when storm
impends, and when night approaches.
"I say approaches; for the night had not yet arrived. It was only about
dusk that the indecent haste of these 'miscreants' offended the sober
eyes of Madame Deluc. But we are told that it was upon this very evening
that Madame Deluc, as well as her eldest son, 'heard the screams of a
female in the vicinity of the inn.' And in what words does Madame Deluc
designate the period of the evening at which these screams were heard?
'
It was soon after dark,' she says. But 'soon after dark,' is, at least,
dark; and 'about dusk' is as certainly daylight. Thus it is abundantly
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