Dupois, "and how
bitterly cold it is! Why, already the thermometer is ten degrees
below zero. I hate such deep snow. I must go out with the sledge the
first thing in the morning and open a road."
Of course this husband and wife conversed in French, which is here
translated.
"Hark!" said Mme. Dupois, suddenly raising her forefinger, "is not
that something like a soft knocking? Can anyone have fallen down in
this deep snow at our door?"
M. Dupois rose at once and pushed aside the crimson curtain from one
of the windows.
"Yes, yes," he exclaimed quickly, "you are right, my good wife; here
is a lad lying on the ground. Run and get Annette to heat blankets
and make the kitchen fire big. I will go round to the poor boy."
When M. Dupois did at last reach Joe Barnes, he had only strength to
murmur in his broken French, "Go and save the others under the old
wall--two children and dog"--before he fainted away.
But his broken words were enough; he had come to people who had the
kindest hearts in the world.
It seemed but a moment before he himself was reviving before the
blazing warmth of a great fire, while the good farmer with three of
his men was searching for the missing children.
They were not long in discovering them, with the dog himself, now
nearly frozen, stretched across Cecile's body.
Poor little starving lambs! they were taken into warmth and shelter,
though it was a long time before either Cecile or Maurice showed the
faintest signs of life.
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