But here his thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Papineau, who insisted on inspecting his wound again and made a wry face when she looked at it. "I beg you pardon for to tell de truth, Monsieur Hugo," she said, "but I tink you one beeg fool man for come here to-day. I tink maybe you get bad seek wid dat h'arm. You stay 'ere to-day an' for de night. I make you a bed in dis room on de floor, by Jacques an' Baptiste an' Pierre. My man Philippe 'e come to-morrow, maybe to-night, an' I send heem to Carcajou so he telegraph to de _docteur_ for see you, eh?" "You're awfully good, Mrs. Papineau," answered the young man, with the obstinacy of his kind. "I'm perfectly sure I'll be all right to-morrow, or the next day at the most. And I'll come back and see how Miss Nelson is getting on. I think I'll move now so I'll say good-by. I'm a lot better now. I suppose it's on account of that stuff you made me drink; it was bad enough to be fine medicine. I hope the rest will do you some good also, Miss Nelson. You're looking a lot better than yesterday." Mrs. Papineau first thought of preventing his exit by main force but felt compelled to let him have his way. She lacked the courage of her convictions and allowed him to depart, with his dog running ahead with the toboggan. She peered at him through one of the small panes and saw that he was walking fairly easily. "Maybe heem be all right soon," she confided hopefully to Madge, while she mixed dough in a pan. "But heem one beeg fool man all de same." "I--I can hardly believe that," objected the girl. "Why do you think so?" "All mans is beeg fools ven dey is 'urted or seek, my dear. Dey don't know nodings 'ow to tak' care for heemselves. Dey don't never haf sense dat vay. Alvays tink dey so strong noding happen, ever. But just same Hugo Ennis one mighty fine man, I say dat sure. I rather de ole cow die as anyting 'appen to heem." Without interrupting her work, and later as she toiled, at her washtub, the good woman launched forth in lengthy praise of Hugo. From her conversation it appeared that he had helped one or two fellows with small sums of money and good advice. In the autumn he had fished out an Indian who had upset his boat while netting whitefish in rough weather, on the lake, and every one knew that Stefan's life had been saved by him. At any rate the Swede said so, for Hugo never liked much to speak of such things. And then he was a steady fellow, a hard worker, good at the traps and not afraid of work of any kind. And then he was friendly to everybody. Had Madge noticed how gentle he was with the little children? That was always a sign of a good man. "Yes, mees," she concluded. "Some time I tink heem de bes' man as ever lif. Heem Hugo not even 'urt one dog, or anyting."