Premise: Then , all at once , down at the far end of the garden , I saw a woman walking .<br>I thought at first that it must be Mary Sloane ; but , as she crossed a moonlit path , I saw it was not our old servant 's stout , homely figure .<br>This woman was tall and erect .<br>Although no suspicion of the truth came to me , something about her reminded me of Hester .<br>Even so had Hester liked to wander about the garden in the twilight .<br>I had seen her thus a thousand times .<br>I wondered who the woman could be .<br>Some neighbor , of course .<br>But what a strange way for her to come !
Hypothesis:  had seen her thus less than a thousand times.