Lynde always brings it for me when she 's home . '' She stood before him in the narrow doorway , blocking his exit , and looked at him with keen , deep-set dark eyes . In spite of her withered aspect and wrinkled face , she was not an uncomely old woman and there was about her a dignity of carriage and manner that pleased Alan . It did not occur to him to wonder why it should please him . If he had hunted that feeling down he might have been surprised to discover that it had its origin in a curious gratification over the thought that the woman who lived with Lynde had a certain refinement about her . He preferred her unsmiling dourness to vulgar garrulity . `` Are you the young minister up at Rexton ? '' she asked bluntly . `` Yes . '' `` I thought so . Lynde said she had seen you on the shore once . Well '' -- she cast an uncertain glance over her shoulder at the house -- `` I 'm much obliged to you . '' Alan had an idea that that was not what she had thought of saying , but as she had turned aside and was busying herself with the pails , there seemed nothing for him to do but to go . `` Wait a moment . '' She faced him again , and if Alan had been a vain man he might have thought that admiration looked from her piercing eyes . `` What do you think of us ? I suppose they 've told you tales of us up there ? '' -- with a scornful gesture of her hand in the direction of Rexton . `` Do you believe them ? '' `` I believe no ill of anyone until I have absolute proof of it , '' said Alan , smiling -- he was quite unconscious what a winning smile he had , which was the best of it -- `` and I never put faith in gossip .
Of course you are gossipped about -- you know XXXXX . ''
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