hour
of delay, I dislike this loafing about here now. I wish--by Heaven! I
were leaving Poussette's this minute for good and all."

His eye roved discontentedly over the forest and road, and then came
back wistfully to Pauline. It was evident that his affection was of a
sincere and unselfish order, and that with her to shield and serve and
with her lively handsome personality as his constant companion, he
might yet recover lost ground and be the man he might have been.

"I keep telling you that we have not so long to wait," she said
brightly, as she went indoors to get ready for the walk, and Crabbe,
turning his gaze in the direction of the bridge, became interested in
the aspect of the Fall, still thundering down in part over those mighty
ledges, except where the ice held and created slippery glaciers at
whose feet ran the cold brown river for a few hundred yards till it was
again met by fields of shining ice. Two objects caught his eye, one,
the golden cross on the church over at Montmagny, the only one of its
kind in the valley and much admired, the other, a curious spot of
reddish colour at the far end of the bridge. The cross he soon tired
of, but the bit of red aroused his curiosity; it seemed almost square,
like a large book or package, and was apparently propped up against the
stonework that supported the bridge. What it was, he did not trouble
to conjecture, and as Miss Clairville came out with several parcels
which he took from her, he forgot the circumstance as he turned and
walked a few steps with her. Thus, her quicker brain was not directed
to an explanation of the blot of red; had she seen it, and solved it,
which was highly probable, the events of the day might have been vastly
different.

"What are these things?" said Crabbe, fingering the parcels with a
fretful note in his voice.

"Just some little presents, little trifles for her, Angeel. Nothing I
cannot spare, Edmund. She belongs to me, after all. I shall never see
her again, and I must not do less for her than for Maisie and Jack.
You are coming with me? It is not worth while. I prefer to go alone,
_mon ami_."

"Why not? A walk with you may keep me out of mischief, although with
your theatrical friend mounting guard over Poussette I think I can
promise you abstinence for the next few days."

Miss Clairville stopped in her brisk walk and searched his worn face.
"You are not well," she said suddenly, "you are not looking well."