fair surprised to see ye in sic' company."

"'Tis Eric and Father Holland and Laplante," I shouted, springing to my
feet and rushing to the doorway, but Frances put herself before me.

"Keep back," she whispered. "The priest and Mr. Hamilton have been here
before; but father would not let them in. The other man may be a De
Meuron. Be careful, Rufus! There's a price on your head."

"Ho--ho--my _Ursus Major_, prime guardian of _Ursa Major_, first of the
heavenly constellations in the north," insolently laughed Louis Laplante
through the dusk.

"Let me pass, Frances," I begged, thrusting her gently aside, but her
trembling hands still clung to my arm.

"Impertinent rascal," rasped the irate Scotchman. "I'd have ye
understand my name's Sutherland, not _Major Ursus_. I'll no bide wi'
y'r impudence! Leave this place----"

"The Bruin growls," interrupted Louis with a laugh, and I heard Mr.
Sutherland's gasp of amazed rage at the lengths of the Frenchman's
insolence.

"I must, dearest," I whispered, disengaging the slender hands from my
arm; and I flung out into the dusk.

In the gloom, my approach was unnoticed; and when I came upon the group,
Father Holland had laid his hand upon Mr. Sutherland's shoulder and in a
low, tense voice was uttering words, which--thank an all-bountiful
Providence!--have no sectarian limits.

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, 'I was a stranger and ye
took me not in: naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison and ye
visited me not. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one
of the least of these, ye did it not to me'----"

"Dinna con Holy Writ to me, Sir," interrupted Mr. Sutherland, throwing
the priest's hand off and jerking back.

Then Louis Laplante saw me. There was a long, low whistle.

"Ye daft gommerel," gasped Mr. Sutherland, facing me with unutterable
disgust. "Ye daft gommerel! A' my care and fret, waste--gane clean to
waste. I wash m' hands o' ye----"

But Louis had knocked the Scotchman aside and tumbled into my arms, half
laughing, half crying and altogether as hysterical as was his wont.

"I pay you back at las', my comrade! Ha--old solemncholy! You thought
the bird of passage, he come not back at all! But the birds return! So
does Louis! He decoy-duck the whole covey! You generous? No more not
generous than the son of a seigneur, mine enemy! You give life? He give
life! You give liberty! So does Louis! You help one able help himself?
Loui