is to arrange for
your departure as speedily and comfortably as possible. I would
suggest----" but his words had the force of a command--"that Pierre
convey you to the nearest town from which, by stage or railway, you
can reach any further place you choose. If I were to offer advice, it
would be to go home. Make your peace there; and then, if you desire a
life in the woods, seek such with the consent and approval of those
to whom your duty is due."

Adrian said nothing at first; then remarked:

"Pierre need not go so far. Across the lake, to the mainland is
enough. I can travel on foot afterward, and I know more about the
forest now than when I lost myself and you, or Margot, found me. I owe
my life to you. I am sorry I have given you pain. Sorry for many
things."

"There are few who have not something to regret; for anything that has
happened here no apology is necessary. As for saving life, that was by
God's will. Now--to business. You will see that I have reckoned your
wages the same as Pierre's: thirty dollars a month and 'found,' as the
farmers say, though it has been much more difficult to find him than
you. You have been here nearly three months and eighty dollars is
yours."

"Eighty dollars! Whew! I mean, impossible. In the first place I
haven't earned it; in the second, I couldn't take it from--from
you--if I had. How could a man take money from one who had saved his
life?"

"Easily, I hope, if he has common sense. You exaggerate the service we
were able to do you, which we would have rendered to anybody. Your
earnings will start you straight again. Take them, and oblige me by
making no further objections."

Despite his protests, which were honest, Adrian could not but be
delighted at the thought of possessing so goodly a sum. It was the
first money he had ever earned, therefore better than any other ever
could be, and as he put it, in his own thoughts: "it changed him from
a beggar to a prince." Yet he made a final protest, asking:

"Have I really, really, and justly earned all this? Do you surely mean
it?"

"I am not in the habit of saying anything I do not mean. It is getting
late, and if you are to go to-night, it would be better to start
soon," answered Mr. Dutton, with a frown.

"Beg pardon. But I'm always saying what I should not, or putting the
right things backward. There are some affairs 'not mentioned in the
bond': my artist's outfit, these clothes, boots, and other matters. I
want to