pillowed in the lap of one woman. Another woman stood aside,
trembling and wringing aged hands. The third knelt beside the supine
man, but rose quickly as Duchemin drew near, and came to meet him.

In this one he recognised her to whose salvation Chance had first led
him, and now found time to appreciate a face of pallid loveliness,
intelligent and composed, while she addressed him quietly and directly
to the point in a voice whose timbre was, he fancied, out of character
with the excellent accent of its French. An exquisite voice,
nevertheless. English, he guessed, or possibly American, but much at
home in France....

"Monsieur d'Aubrac has been wounded, a knife thrust. It will be
necessary to get him to a surgeon as quickly as possible. I fancy there
will be none nearer than Nant. Do you know the way?"

"One can doubtless find it," said Duchemin modestly. "But I myself am
not without knowledge of wounds. Perhaps..."

"If monsieur would be so good."

Duchemin knelt beside the man, who welcomed him with open eyes and a
wry smile that was almost as faint as his voice.

"It is nothing, monsieur--a clean cut in the arm, with some loss of
blood."

"But let me see."

The young girl in whose lap rested the head of Monsieur d'Aubrac sat
back and watched Duchemin with curious, grave eyes in which traces of
moisture glimmered.

"Had the animal at my mercy, I thought," d'Aubrac apologised, "when
suddenly he drew that knife, stuck me and broke away."

"I understand," Duchemin replied. "But don't talk. You'll want all your
strength, my friend."

With his pocket-knife he laid open the sodden sleeves of coat and
shirt, exposing an upper arm stained dark with blood that welled in
ugly jets from a cut both wide and deep.

"Artery severed," he announced, and straightened up and looked about,
at a loss. "My pack--?"

One's actions in moments of excitement are apt to be largely directed
by the subconscious, he knew; still he found it hard to believe that he
could unwittingly have unshipped and dropped his rucksack while making
ready to pursue the American uniform. Nevertheless, it seemed, that was
just what he had done.

The woman who had spoken to him found and fetched it from no great
distance; and its contents enabled Duchemin to improvise a tourniquet,
and when the flow of blood was checked, a bandage. During the operation
d'Aubrac unostentatiously fainted.

The young girl caught her breath, a fluttering hiss.

"