The Pulaskian., 1920-02-20
CHAPTER xl.
Dreams and nannar.

treatment of the wound. On tbo ond day Hilary was conscious m ssy- s fourth Rosny announced that ae crisis was past; upon the ninth the hs patient was sitting up in bed and x manding solid food. "
 Lafe was the happiest man in i, world when, at last admitted to t,s bedside, he asked and received abo. lution for his desertion.
 "Now I've got some good newsp bo said, when Hilary persisted in asl,ns about the work. We've got tha{ shipment off, and Dupont win bave both vessels back in a few days for the next. The mills working overs time and the gangs back on the iobp
 You paid them two dollars?s
 "Not cent more," said Lafe fri. umphantly. "They asked to go back to work, and you ought to see them workingI I guess they feel that they haven't given you a square deal and Mir. Rosny's been having few words with them, hear. Anyway, they know now it's Morris who tipped off the revenue people, in order to make trouble for you, and the result is this part of the country has grown too hot for him. So he's gone away. hear he had a quarrel with Brousseau over the share of their plunder, and they almost came to blows over it. We'll that's the first of the gang out. And MacPherson has turned out trump working overtime and making the hands work, and it begins to look to me as if we'll win out after all.''
 This was good news. It was now September, and in little more than month the snow should extend con- siderably their cutting area.
 So they discussed their plans, until Madeleine, coming in, drove Connel away. Hilary would not ask him about his assailants, and Lafe was glad to avoid the subject. It was Father Lucien who took it up later. when Hilary was convalescent.
 He hummed and hawed a good deal. anu uudIly llle tIuttA Sot1ue Out. IL would be easy enough to get the po- lice up from Quebec, but the quar- tette would have to be laid by the heels before the advent of winter made further action impossible for months. Of the four, Pierre had dis appeared. Leblanc was said to have gone into the woods for the winter to trap, having apparently abandoned his pretense of a sub-lease on the Ste. Marie limits. Simeon Duval was run ming his saloon wide open, and swear ing that, Hillary having assaulted him, he had struck with his knife in self defense, while in half-stunned con dition. Little Louis. his brother, scared out of his wits, had been to see the cure with a view to making his peace.
 Hilary had no desire to punish Louis any further, though he meant to deal with Pierre and Leblanc when the opportunity arose. He meant to rid the community of them ana Simeon; but he had strong mans reluctance to call upon the law to avenge physical assault. In the eno the cure went away with the under standing that Louis was forgiven, ana with no decision taken as to further action.
 "But what strength! What power monsieurl" he said admiringly, clench. ing his hand over the muscles or Hilary's arm. Do you know, mon sieur," he continued thoughtfully, T have often thought that priest ID such district as this needs the mus cularity almost as much as the good ness An, Monsieur Askew. ii | were your age, and of your strength, what would I not dol"
 To Hilary his convalescence was a foretaste of paradise. Edmond Roshy came in only for formal visits now twice or three times a day; but It WaS wonderful to see Madeleine, whom ne knew that he loved with all his heart, about his bedside all day long, anu then about his chair, waiting on nin' anticipating his wishes, until ne leit ashamed to be so helpless, her prlue gone, her scorn gone, her enmity as well. When Hilary learned or tne part that she had played in his rescue and thanked her gratefully, she couiu not meet his eyes.
 Then came the first day on Wnlcn he was permitted, to leave his room. Leaning on Madeleine's arm, he hao gone out to feel the wonder of the sunshine and the crisp autumn ar. The garden had originally been ialu out, more than a century before, Ill imitation of the formal gardens or France of the period, with terraces and statuary. Everything was III ruin; and yet Hilary had the sudden inexplicable sense of having come home.
 Mademoiselle Rosny," he said, we are going to be good friends in future, r,.