“Faith! I augur no good for him,” said Madame Germeuil, who breathed more freely since the face had withdrawn from the gate. “That man looked as if he had evil intentions, did he not, Edouard?” “Oh! my dear mamma, I don’t go as far as you do! If we had seen the whole man, perhaps his face would have seemed less strange than it did above those old boards.” “My husband is right, mamma; I think that the way in which we look at things depends upon the situation in which they strike our eyes at first. A man clothed in rags often arouses our suspicions; if he should appear before us well-dressed, we should have no feeling of dread at his aspect. Darkness, silence, moonlight, and the shadows thrown upon objects, all these conditions change our way of seeing things and make our imagination work very rapidly.” “You may say whatever you please, my dear girl, but that face was not the face of a man looking into a garden from mere curiosity.” “That may be, but I should have liked to see this stranger’s figure.” “Parbleu!” said the concierge, “you wouldn’t have seen anything very fine, I assure you.” “Do you know that man?” asked Adeline quickly. “I don’t know him, but I have seen him once before this morning; he looks to me like a scamp who is prowling round about the village to commit some deviltry. But he better not come back here, or I will set my dog on him!” “And you don’t know what he wants in the village?” “Faith! I don’t care. So long as he don’t come to the house, that’s all I ask.” As they were in front of the house at that moment, and as the proprietor was waiting for them in his doorway, Adeline did not prolong her conversation with the concierge. “Well! what do you think of these gardens?” the old man asked Adeline. “Oh! they are very pretty, monsieur; and they will suit us, will they not, mamma?” “Yes, yes, perhaps they will suit us.” Since Mamma Germeuil had seen at the end of the garden that face which seemed to her of ill augury, she did not find so many attractions about the house, and seemed less delighted with its situation. But as her children were so intensely eager to purchase it, and as she realized how childish her own repugnance was, she did not oppose the conclusion of the bargain. The little man tried at first to impose upon the strangers; but when they proposed to pay cash, he consented to take off something from the price, and the bargain was concluded. In his delight, the proprietor invited the ladies to come in and rest, and even went so far as to offer them a glass of wine and water. But they had no desire to become better acquainted with the old miser; moreover, the ladies were hungry, and they had only time to go to the notary’s office before dinner.