Perhaps nothing loath he had sat down again, with his chair tilted
back a little till the back rested on the table. Madge was sitting
nearly in front of him, with her back slightly turned, and he could
see the tightly pinned mass of the hair he had seen flooding her
shoulders in his shack, and the comely curve of her neck as she leaned
forward, staring into the fire. For a time this drove away the pain
that was in his wounded arm and the hot, throbbing feeling of
discomfort that it gave him. What irked him was the realization of the
tragedy brought to this girl somehow and the understanding of all that
she must have suffered.

Hugo had not always lived in the wilderness. He also had been of the
town during a period of his life, until the longing had come for the
greater freedom of the open spaces, of the regions which in their
greatness bring forth the sturdier qualities of manhood.

He was thinking of the scorn that had been in her voice when she had
told him of the fierce impulse that had bidden her escape from the
bondage of carking poverty and care. It had only resulted in bringing
disappointment and the shame, the outraged womanhood that had burned
upon her cheeks. And this appealed to him with an irresistible force
since that effort on her part showed that she at least possessed
courage and the readiness to go far afield in search of an avenue of
escape. Weaker souls would long ago have given up the fight.

He had just tried to begin an explanation and find the truth out from
her, but she had shaken her head and said it was useless. She did not
understand; how could she? Yet he had been sorely disappointed. It had
scarcely been a rebuff on her part for she had spoken gently enough,
in that low despairing voice of hers. He must wait another and better
occasion and hope that he would be able to clear himself of
wrongdoing.

At this time a man's practical nature suggested to him the thought
that she must be very poor--that she had perhaps expended her last
resources in coming to Carcajou. If this was the case, what would it
avail for him to take her back to the railway? What would happen to
her then? He could not allow her to depart without finding out how
such matters stood, and he wondered in what manner he could make her
accept some money and how he could make amends to her for the injury
she had sustained at some unknown individual's hands. But the more he
puzzled his brain the less he could discover any