A man who pays my father's rent." I was quite unprepared for such a reply as this: Cristel had surprised me.

To begin with, her father was "well-connected," as we say in England.
His younger brother had made a fortune in commerce, and had vainly offered him the means of retiring from the mill with a sufficient income.
Then again, Giles Toller was known to have saved money.

His domestic expenses made no heavy demand on his purse; his German wife (whose Christian name was now borne by his daughter) had died long since; his sons were no burden on him; they had never lived at the mill in my remembrance.

With all these reasons against his taking a stranger into his house, he had nevertheless, if my interpretation of Cristel's answer was the right one, let his spare rooms to a lodger.

"Mr.Toller can't possibly be in want of money," I said.
"The more money father has, the more he wants.