The men idly watched his tall , erect figure as he went along the valley . `` Queer chap , Jeff , '' said Alec Churchill reflectively . `` Jeff 's all right , '' said Christopher in a patronizing way . `` There ai n't a better man or neighbour alive . I 've lived next farm to him for thirty years , so I ought to know . But he 's queer sartainly -- not like other people -- kind of unsociable . He do n't care for a thing ` cept dogs and reading and mooning round woods and fields . That ai n't natural , you know . But I must say he 's a good farmer . He 's got the best farm in Bayside , and that 's a real nice house he put up on it . Ai n't it an odd thing he never married ? Never seemed to have no notion of it . I ca n't recollect of Jeff Miller 's ever courting anybody . That 's another unnatural thing about him . '' `` I 've always thought that Jeff thought himself a cut or two above the rest of us , '' said Tom Scovel with a sneer . `` Maybe he thinks the Bayside girls ai n't good enough for him . '' `` There ai n't no such dirty pride about Jeff , '' pronounced Christopher conclusively . `` And the Millers are the best family hereabouts , leaving the kunnel 's out . And Jeff 's well off -- nobody knows how well , I reckon , but I can guess , being his land neighbour . Jeff ai n't no fool nor loafer , if he is a bit queer . ''
Meanwhile , the object of these remarks was striding homeward and thinking , not XXXXX the men behind him , but of Sara Stuart .
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