Since she had been at the mill, week had followed week, and she had seen no woman's face but that of the uncouth girl who waited upon her.

"Did ye ever see rain like that!" she said, putting up her hands.

"I thought the Lord was sending his clouds down upon us in a lump like." Then she told them that some of the men had declared that if it went on like that for two hours the Mary would rise and take the cottage away.

Giles, however, had declared that to be trash, as the cottage was twenty feet above the ordinary course of the river.
They were just rising to take their leave, when Giles Medlicot himself came in out of the mill.

He was a man of good presence, dark, and tall like Heathcote, but stoutly made, with a strongly marked face, given to frowning much when he was eager; bright-eyed, with a broad forehead--certainly a man to be observed as far as his appearance was concerned.