bound household collected quickly
at the welcome thought of a message from the outside world. When the
door was opened Madge and the Morins were there to behold Courthope
carrying the plunder. He perceived at once that his guilt, if doubted
before, was now proved beyond all doubt. There was a distinct measure of
reserve in the satisfaction they expressed. Madge especially was very
grave, with a strong flavour of moral severity in her words and
demeanour.

Courthope explained to her that the other man was dying in the snow,
that if his life was to be saved no time must be lost. She repeated the
story in French to Morin, and thereupon arose high words from the
Frenchman. Madge looked doubtfully at Courthope, and then she
interpreted.

It seemed that the Frenchman's desire was to put him out again and lock
up the house, leaving the two accomplices to shift for themselves as
best they might. Courthope urged motives of humanity. He described the
man and his condition.

At length he prevailed. Madge insisted that if Morin did not go she
would. In a few moments both she and Morin were preparing to set out.

It seemed useless for Courthope to precede them; he went into the
dining-room, demanding food of Madam Morin.

He found that Eliz had been carried down and placed in her chair in the
midst of domestic activities.

As soon as she spied him, being in a nervous, hysterical state, she
opened her mouth and shrieked sharply; the shriek at this time had more
the tone of a child's anger than of a woman's fear. With a strong sense
of humour he sat down at the table, and she, realising that he was not
immediately dangerous, railed upon him.

'Viper in the bosom!' said Eliz.

Courthope, almost famished, ate fast.

'Daughter of the horse-leech crying "give," and sucking blood from the
hand it gives!' she continued.

'Sir Charles Grandison would never have kicked a man when he was down,'
he said. 'He would have tried to do good even to the viper he had
nourished.'

The memory of Sir Charles's well-known method even with the most
villainous, appeared to distract her attention for a moment.

'And then they all sent for him and confessed and made amends, just as I
have done,' Courthope went on; but the fact that a laugh was gleaming in
his eyes enraged the little cripple.

'How dare you talk to me, sitting there pretending to be a gentleman!'

'I would rather be allowed to make a better toilet if my reputation were
to re