His thoughts had been busy with his chances all the time, his eyes with the woman's face; yet he bore away with him a curiously vivid picture of the room, of the bow-pot blooming in the farther dormer, of the brass skillet beside the green boughs which filled the hearth, of the spinning wheel in the middle of the floor, and the great Bible on the linen chest beside the bed, of the sloping roof, and a queer triangular cupboard which filled one corner.
At the time, as he followed the girl downstairs, he thought of none of these things.

He only asked himself what mystery lay in the bosom of this quiet house, and what he should say when he stood in the room below at bay before her.

Of one thing he was still sure--sure, ay and surer, since he had seen her with her mother, The sky might fall, fish fly, and sheep pursue The tawny monarch of the Libyan strand! but he lodged here.

The mention of his adversary of last night, which had not escaped his ear, had only hardened him in his resolution.

The room of Esau--or was it Louis' room--must be his! He must be Jacob the Supplanter.
She did not speak as she preceded him down the stairs, and before they emerged one after the other into the living-room, which was still unoccupied, he had formed his plan.