The trouble
seems to be, doesn't it, merely that the men like her too much? She's
got a way with her, there's no question about that."
"Why in thunder do you want to blacken her character?"
"I wasn't blackenin' her character. I merely meant that she was a flirt,
and you know that as well as I do--better, I shouldn't wonder."
"It's the way she was brought up. Her mother was crazy for ten years
before she died, and she taught Molly all that foolishness about the
meanness of men."
"Oh, well, it's all right," said Archie carelessly, "only look out that
you don't go too near the fire and get scorched."
Whistling to the hounds that were nosing among some empty barrels in a
dark corner, he shouldered his gun more firmly and went off to his hunt.
After he had gone, the miller stood for a long while, watching the
meal pour from the valve. A bit of chaff had settled on his lashes,
but without moving his hand to brush it away, he shook his head once
or twice with the gesture of an animal that is stung by a wasp. "Why do
they keep at me about her?" he asked passionately. "Is it true that she
is only playing with me as she plays with the others?"--but the pain was
too keen, and turning away with a sigh, he rested his elbows on the
sill of the window and looked out at the moving wheel under the gauzy
shadows.
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