He slung the boat-rugs into a corner, blew out the lantern, and dropped a handful of snow on to the fire. "Cut," he continued. "You can go. Get out of this. Run and get your dinners." We went with him out of the hut into the square. "See here," he continued, "don't you go coming here. You don't know of this place--see? Don't you show your little tracks in this part of the wood; this is a private house, this is--trespassers will be prosecuted. Now run along and thank 'ee for your company." As Hugh began to squirm along the passage, I turned and shook hands with the man. I thought it would be the polite thing to do to say good-bye properly. "Will you tell me your name?" I asked. "Haven't got a name," he answered gruffly. "None of your business if I had." He saw that I was hurt by his rudeness, for his face changed: "I'll tell you," he added quickly; "but don't you say it about here. Gorsuch is my name--Marah Gorsuch." "Marah," I said. "What a funny name!" "Is it?" he said grimly: "It means bitter--bitter water, and I'm bitter on the tongue, as you may find. Now cut." "One thing more, Mr Gorsuch," I said, "be careful of your fires. They can smell them outside when the wind blows down from the wood." "Fires!" he exclaimed; "I don't light fires here except I've little bleating schoolboys to tea. Cut and get your porridge. Here," he called, as I went down on my hands and knees, "here's a keepsake for you." He tossed me a little ornament of twisted silver wire woven into the form of a double diamond knot, probably by the man himself. "Thank you, Mr Gorsuch," I said. "Oh, don't thank me," he answered rudely: "I'm tired of being thanked. Now cut." I wriggled through the clump after Hugh, then we ran home together through the wood, just as the dinner-bell was ringing for the second time. Mrs Cottier asked us if we had not heard her calling. "Yes, Mims," I said, "we did hear; but we were hidden in a secret house; we wondered if you would find us--we were close to you some of the time." My aunt said Something about "giving a lot of trouble" and "being very thoughtless for others"; but we had heard similar lectures many times before and did not mind them much. After dinner I took Mims aside and told her everything; she laughed a little, though I could see that she was uneasy about Hugh.