efficient way of
coming to her assistance. She had said that every bit of pride had
been torn from her, but he knew that this was not altogether true. The
flashing of her eyes and the indignation of her voice had contradicted
her words efficiently. She would probably resent his offer, refuse to
accept anything from him. Yet, if he managed to persuade her that he
was guiltless, it was possible....

But here his thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Papineau, who insisted
on inspecting his wound again and made a wry face when she looked at
it.

"I beg you pardon for to tell de truth, Monsieur Hugo," she said, "but
I tink you one beeg fool man for come here to-day. I tink maybe you
get bad seek wid dat h'arm. You stay 'ere to-day an' for de night. I
make you a bed in dis room on de floor, by Jacques an' Baptiste an'
Pierre. My man Philippe 'e come to-morrow, maybe to-night, an' I send
heem to Carcajou so he telegraph to de _docteur_ for see you, eh?"

"You're awfully good, Mrs. Papineau," answered the young man, with the
obstinacy of his kind. "I'm perfectly sure I'll be all right
to-morrow, or the next day at the most. And I'll come back and see how
Miss Nelson is getting on. I think I'll move now so I'll say good-by.
I'm a lot better now. I suppose it's on account of that stuff you made
me drink; it was bad enough to be fine medicine. I hope the rest will
do you some good also, Miss Nelson. You're looking a lot better than
yesterday."

Mrs. Papineau first thought of preventing his exit by main force but
felt compelled to let him have his way. She lacked the courage of her
convictions and allowed him to depart, with his dog running ahead with
the toboggan. She peered at him through one of the small panes and saw
that he was walking fairly easily.

"Maybe heem be all right soon," she confided hopefully to Madge, while
she mixed dough in a pan. "But heem one beeg fool man all de same."

"I--I can hardly believe that," objected the girl. "Why do you think
so?"

"All mans is beeg fools ven dey is 'urted or seek, my dear. Dey don't
know nodings 'ow to tak' care for heemselves. Dey don't never haf
sense dat vay. Alvays tink dey so strong noding happen, ever. But just
same Hugo Ennis one mighty fine man, I say dat sure. I rather de ole
cow die as anyting 'appen to heem."

Without interrupting her work, and later as she toiled, at her
washtub, the good woman launched forth in lengthy praise of Hugo. From
her conversation i