"Still, I can't say anything definite. When one doesn't really know—But one thing is certain,—that the fellow is neither good-humored nor sociable. So far as that goes, he's a wretched neighbor. I say 'neighbor,' but he's quite a distance from here. Besides, he won't annoy you; you'll very seldom meet him, for as soon as he sees anybody coming he goes another way; he's a wolf, a bear, a veritable bear-cub, and an ill-licked one!"
While the doctor was speaking, the gardener pulled him gently by the coat-tail, whispering:
"What in the devil's the need of saying all that? you'll scare the ladies, and take away their desire to live in this house! What you're doing ain't very clever for a doctor!"
"Well, monsieur, where does this wolf, this bear live? you must tell us so that we may at least avoid walking in the direction of his den."
"The person to whom I refer by that designation, mesdames, lives on the estate yonder at the right, toward Noisy-le-Grand; quite a handsome house, with a tower."
"Then it's the man with the dog," said Agathe.
"Exactly, mademoiselle, it's the man with the dog. Do you know him already?"
"The gardener was just telling us about him when he left us to call you, monsieur, and the little that he had told us had aroused our curiosity keenly. It would be very kind of you, therefore, monsieur le docteur, to tell us everything that is known about this man; for, frankly, if he is really an ogre, we shall not be at all pleased to have him for a neighbor."
"Oho! an ogre!" cried Père Ledrux with a laugh; "that's a good one, and no mistake. An ogre! they eat children, ogres do! I never heard tell that Monsieur Paul or his dog had eaten a child, no matter how small."
"I never intended to imply that he was an ogre," rejoined the doctor. "God forbid that I should attribute such depraved tastes to the man! I simply form conjectures based on what I have heard. And what I have seen is not calculated to give me a very pleasant opinion of him."