"And
Joe Clamart says she ran out, blushing like a red rose in August,
and that she said no word, but flew like a bird into the white-
birch ashore!"
"She was dismayed because I beat you, St. Pierre."
"Non, non--she was like a lark filled with joy."
Suddenly his eyes rested on the binoculars.
David nodded. "Yes, she saw it all through the glasses."
St. Pierre seated himself at the table and heaved out a groan as
he took one of the bandage strips between his fingers. "She saw my
disgrace. And she didn't wait to bandage ME up, did she?"
"Perhaps she thought Carmin Fanchet would do that, St. Pierre."
"And I am ashamed to go to Carmin--with this great lump over my
eye, m'sieu. And on top of that disgrace--you insist that I pay
the wager?"
"I do."
St. Pierre's face hardened.
"OUI, I am to pay. I am to tell you all I know about that BETE
NOIR--Black Roger Audemard. Is it not so?"
"That is the wager."
"But after I have told you--what then? Do you recall that I gave
you any other guarantee, M'sieu Carrigan? Did I say I would let
you go? Did I promise I would not kill you and sink your body to
the bottom of the river? If I did, I can not remember.
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