I asked if she belonged to the village.
The reply informed me that I had taken another of my servants for a stranger.

The stout nymph of the spring was my kitchen-maid; and she was fetching the water which we drank at the house; "and there's no water, sir, like _yours_ for all the country round." Furnished with these stores of information, I went my way, and the kitchen-maid went hers.

She spoke, of course, of having seen her new master, on returning to the servants' hall.

In this manner, as I afterwards heard, the discovery of me at the spring, and my departure by the path that led to the mill, reached Mrs.
Roylake's ears--the medium of information being the lady's own maid.

So far, Fordwitch Wood seemed to be a place to avoid, in the interests of my domestic tranquillity.
Arriving at the cottage, I found the Lodger standing by the open window at which I had first seen him.
But on this occasion, his personal appearance had undergone a singular process of transformation.