Cristel did her duty to herself and to me; she passed over my little
explosion of nonsense without taking the smallest notice of it.
"Master Gerard," she began--and checked herself. "Please to excuse me,
sir; you have set my head running on old times. What I want to say is:
you were not so inquisitive when you were a young gentleman in short
jackets. Please behave as you used to behave then, and don't say anything
more about our lodger. I hate him because I hate him. There!"
Ignorant as I was of the natures of women, I understood her at last.
Cristel's opinion of the lodger was evidently the exact opposite of the
lodger's opinion of Cristel. When I add that this discovery did decidedly
operate as a relief to my mind, the impression produced on me by the
miller's daughter is stated without exaggeration and without reserve.
"Good-night," she repeated, "for the last time." I held out my hand. "Is
it quite right, sir," she modestly objected, "for such as me to shake
hands with such as you?"
She did it nevertheless; and dropping my hand, cast a farewell look at
the mysterious object of her interest--the new cottage. Her variable
humor changed on the instant. Apparently in a state of unendurable
irritation, she stamped on the ground. "Just what I didn't want to
happen!" she said to herself.
CHAPTER III
HE SHOWS HIMSELF
I too, looked at the cottage, and made a discovery that surprised me at
one of the upper windows.
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