the eye, for a smuggler; by the bye, what is
the matter with your right knee? it certainly is not from attending
mass, from whence then does this slight protuberance proceed? perhaps
you have acquired the strange habit of falling on your right knee when
you shoot?"

"Reverend sir," exclaimed the huntsman, "you must be a bit of a wizard
yourself, for you have hit the mark. From my youth upwards I have never
been able to shoot but in a kneeling position; should a hare run by
under my nose, I cannot hit it standing, I must first throw myself
down; but I have always been much ridiculed by my companions for it."

"For the rest," resumed the priest, "you have mountain-legs, and you
must have been born in the Cevennes, or the Pyrenees, your eye too is
characteristic of the mountaineer who is far-sighted."

"Just so," said the huntsman, "I come from Lozere, the wildest part of
the mountains."

"Well, my young friend," said the connoisseur in legs, turning to the
young lad,--"You pretend to be a miller and want miller's legs, how
does that happen? observe, that from carrying sacks, the miller's back
is early bent and becomes broad and round, but the principal weight
presses upon the calves of the legs, the sinews of the hams become
disproportionately strong; but with you these are precisely the weakest
parts, the ancles too are not large enough: here, _summa summarum_
fails the miller's character, for my science cannot deceive."

"In this I cannot assist you, sir," said the young man petulantly, "for
I am what I am, and will remain so."

"For my part," quickly rejoined the critic, "I desire not to press too
closely on your miller's honour, you may probably be a spoilt,
effeminate mother's darling, who would not suffer you to be too heavily
laden, your hair and whole countenance have a mealy character, your
voice too sounds like the wheat-bell and the mill-hopper, but when I
look at your knees, they seem to me to be those of a baker, which are
turned in from shoving the bread into the oven and taking it out again;
during this process he is obliged to keep in a stooping position and
rests upon his knees; but I discover the strangest contradiction in
your thighs, for they are those of a horseman and of one who rides
much, your eye too betrays a martial spirit, it darts here and there
and is never quiet as a miller's ought to be, who is attentive to his
business; in short, you are to me in your legs and in your whole person