I had just gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understood anything. Even then all I could make out was that someone called Milly had a very bad accident. I hadn't the slightest idea who she was but I obviously had to go.
It had been snowing heavily that day and I didn't know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Milly had died. "She meant more to me than anyone… even my own wife!" he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, a possible scandal. I was even more shocked when he told me he had put her in the barn. "I would not leave her out in the cold !" he said.
Milly had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground. "She was such a good cow! I wouldn't let anyone but a doctor touch her!" he said, and burst into tears again.
The underlined phrase "make out" in the first paragraph means ______.

A. expect
B. understand
C. see clearly
D. hear clearly