ry to push it away; it is still
there, fixed, immovable; and on its surface I see the pale, ghastly
features of those--"

He shuddered, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Chourineur, did I quite
do for that man last night?"

"No."

"So much the better," observed the robber. And then, after some minutes'
silence, he exclaimed, under a fresh impulse of ungovernable fury, "And
it is you I have to thank for all this! Rascal! scoundrel! I hate you!
But for you, I should have 'stiffened' my man and walked off with his
money. My very blindness I owe to you; my curses upon you for your
meddling interference! But through you I should have had my blessed eyes
to see my own way with. How do I know what devil's trick you are
planning at this moment?"

"Try to forget all that is past,--it can't be helped now; and do not put
yourself in such a terrible way,--it is really very bad for you. Come,
come along--now, no nonsense--will you? yes or no?--because I am
regularly done up, and must get a short snooze somewhere. I can tell you
I have had a bellyful of such doings, and to-morrow I shall get back to
my timber-pile, and earn an honest dinner before I eat it. I am only
waiting to take you wherever you decide upon going, and then on goes my
nightcap and I goes to sleep."

"But how can I tell you where to take me, when I do not know myself? My
lodging--No, no, that will not do; I should be obliged to tell--"

"Well, then, hark ye. Will you, for a day or two, make shift with my
crib? I may meet with some decent sort of people, who, not knowing who
you really are, would receive you as a boarder; and we might say you
were a confirmed invalid, and required great care and perfect
retirement. Now I think of it, there is a person of my acquaintance,
living at Port St. Nicolas, has a mother, a very worthy woman, but in
humble circumstances, residing at St. Mande: very likely she would be
glad to take charge of you. What do you say,--will you come or not?"

"One may trust you, Chourineur. I am not at all fearful of going, money
and all, to your place; happily you have kept yourself honest, amidst
all the evil example others have set you."

"Ay, and even bore the taunts and jests you used to heap upon me,
because I would not turn prig like yourself."

"Alas! who could foresee?"

"Now, you see, if I had listened to you, instead of trying to be of real
service to you, I should clean you out of all your cash."

"True, true. But you are