"Then they must have been either Cyrillic or Greek; but, tell me, are you quite sure you never saw those words before?"
"Oh! quite, they were so strange."
"You know, we happen sometimes to see things without noticing them, even strange things. Then these objects, of which we seem to have no knowledge, come back to us in our dreams, or when we gaze within a mirror; so it may be that you have seen that face and those words absently, with your eyes only, whilst your mind took no notice of them."
"I don't think so."
"You may think otherwise in a few days. But let's see; you know where the murder took place, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Well, the two men were, apparently, coming from Gravosa and going up to Ragusa. Now, the spot where the shorter one stopped must have been five, ten or fifteen minutes from the spot."
"I daresay a quarter of an hour. Sailors are not accustomed to run; besides, that man is not very young."
"How do you know he is a sailor?"
"By his dress; and a Greek sailor, besides. He wore a dark blue flannel shirt, a white belt or sash, and those rough, yellow home-spun trowsers which they alone wear."