the outlaw said to him:

"Father Corraine, I am hunted like a coyote for a crime I did not commit.
But if I am arrested they will no doubt charge me with other things--
ancient things. Well, I have said that I should never be sent to gaol,
and I never shall; but I do not wish to die at this moment, and I do not
wish to fight. What is there left?"

"How do you come here, Pierre?"

He lifted his eyes heavily to Mary Callen, and she told Father Corraine
what had been told her. When she had finished, Pierre added:

"I am no coward, as you will witness; but as I said, neither gaol nor
death do I wish. Well, if they should come here, and you said, Pierre is
not here, even though I was in the next room, they would believe you, and
they would not search. Well, I ask such sanctuary."

The priest recoiled and raised his hand in protest. Then, after a
moment, he said:

"How do you deserve this? Do you know what you ask?"

"Ah, oui, I know it is immense, and I deserve nothing: and in return I
can offer nothing, not even that I will repent. And I have done no good
in the world; but still perhaps I am worth the saving, as may be seen in
the end. As for you, well, you will do a little wrong so that the end
will be right. So?"

The priest's eyes looked out long and sadly at the man from under his