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His refined features, his soft black beard and blue eyes, his graceful hand and gentle manners, seemed not to belong to an evil-hearted man. He sat in the sunlight at the door, wrapped about in moose and beaver skins. The world of plain and wood was glad. Not so Lepage. He sat and thought of what was to come. He had hoped at times that he would die, but twice Hume had said: "I demand your life.
Jeff was satisfied. At this point they parted, Jeff and Gaspe Toujours remaining, and Hume and his two followers going on towards Manitou Mountain. There seemed little probability that Clive Lepage would be found.
He had seen the party, however, a long distance back in the early morning. He must now ride away and meet Mrs. Lepage, he said. He was furnished with a fresh horse, and he left, bearing a message from Lepage. Hume decided to leave Fort Edmonton at once, and to take all the White Guard back with him; and gave orders to that effect.
But at this point he had broken off his discourse, and told an anecdote in his half-witty, half-wistful way about an article which he had written on Blake and which had somehow strayed into the hands of a man and his wife living in Normandy. This couple were at the time engaged in continuing the tradition of Bastien Lepage.
The thing cannot be mended. I bury it all, and so must you. You will begin the world again, and so shall I. Keep your wife's love. Henceforth you will deserve it." Lepage raised moist eyes to the other and said: "But you will take back the money I got for that?" There was a pause, then Hume replied: "Yes, upon such terms, times, and conditions as I shall hereafter fix.
I shall accompany you as far as Edmonton; you can then proceed by easy stages, in this pleasant weather. Are you ready to go?" "Quite ready," was the reply. On a beautiful May evening Lepage, Hume, and the White Guard were welcomed at Fort Edmonton by the officer in command of the Mounted Police. They were to enjoy the hospitality of the fort for a couple of days.
Then Jaspar Hume rose, broke the seal, unlocked the box and opened it; but he heard the sick man moan, and he closed it again and went over to the bed. The feeble voice said: "I must speak I cannot die so not so." Hume moistened the lips once, put a cold cloth on the fevered head, and then sat down by the fire again. Lepage slept at last.
You did an unmanly thing; you are suffering a manly remorse. Now let it end here but I swear it shall," he said in sharp tones, as the other shook his head negatively: "I would have let you die at Manitou Mountain, if I had thought you would dare to take away your wife's peace your children's respect." "I have no children; our baby died." Hume softened again. "Can you not see, Lepage?
In another half-hour the White Guard was at ease, and four of them were gathered about the great stove in the store, Cloud-in-the-Sky smoking placidly, and full of guttural emphasis; Late Carscallen moving his animal-like jaws with a sense of satisfaction; Gaspe Toujours talking in Chinook to the Indians, in patois to the French clerk, and in broken English to them all; and Jeff Hyde exclaiming on the wonders of the march, the finding of Lepage at Manitou Mountain, and of himself and Gaspe Toujours buried in the snow.
Hume's face in the light of this fire seemed calm and cold, yet behind it was an agony of memory the memory of the day when he discovered that Lepage was married to Rose, and that the trusted friend had grown famous and well-to-do on the offspring of his brain. His first thought had been one of fierce determination to expose this man who had falsified all trust.
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