the pain of his face, and
the suffering which was visible in his attitude, all touched me. He sat
crouched down, shivering, shuddering, his teeth chattering, and
presented a deplorable picture of one who struggled vainly against an
overmastering pain.

My resolution was shaken by this. I rose to my feet.

"Mr. O'Halloran," said I, "pardon me. I see that I am subjecting you to
very great suffering. If you sit there any longer, exposed to this
damp, you'll never get over it. It would be but poor courtesy to
subject you to that any longer. And so I don't see what better I can do
than allow you to have your own way. I'll have to give up my scruples,
I suppose. I can't sit here any longer, and see you suffer. And so
--here goes!--I'm willing to fire as you wish."

At this O'Halloran rose to his feet with a cry of joy.

"The first shot!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," said I, "the first. I'll fire, if you insist on it."

"And that's just what I do," said he, shivering.

At this I took aim.

Bang! went the shot. I afterward found that it passed through his hat.

O'Halloran now raised his pistol, and levelled it at me. But the
pleasure of his triumph had excited him; and, besides, he was shivering
from head to foot, and his teeth were chattering. An accurate aim was
impossible. His hand could scarcely hold the pistol, and his benumbed
finger could scarcely pull the trigger. He fired, and the bullet passed
through the sleeve of my coat, and close to the doctor's head.

"Me boy," he cried, flinging down the pistol, "there's no ind to the
obleegeetions you put me under! I owe ye me loife a second toime. Ye've
seeved me from death by fraizing."

CHAPTER XXXII.

HOME AGAIN.--THE GROWLS OF A CONFIRMED GROWLER.--HOSPITALITY.--THE
WELL-KNOWN ROOM.--VISION OF A LADY.--ALONE WITH MARION.--INTERCHANGE OF
THOUGHT AND SENTIMENT.--TWO BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.--AN EVENING TO BE
REMEMBERED.--THE CONVIVIALITY OF O'HALLORAN.--THE HUMORS OF
O'HALLORAN, AND HIS BACCHIC JOY.

We all hurried away from the ground as rapidly as possible, and soon
reached the _Hotel de France_. It was small, stuffy, and rather close,
but, to people in our half-frozen condition, the big Canadian stove was
a blessing beyond words. O'Halloran seemed like an _habitue_ of the
place, judging by the way he button-holed the landlord, and by the
success with which he obtained "somethin' warrum" for the company. But
the _Hotel de France_ was not a place where one might