the landlord came to close the door Medallion said:

"The leper has a memory, my friends." Then he also walked out, and went
to his office depressed, for the face of the man haunted him.

Pomfrette reached his deserted, cheerless house. There was not a stick
of fire-wood in the shed, not a thing to eat or drink in cellar or
cupboard. The door of the shed at the back was open, and the dog-chains
lay covered with frost and half embedded in mud. With a shiver of misery
Pomfrette raised the brandy to his mouth, drank every drop, and threw the
bottle on the floor. Then he went to the front door, opened it, and
stepped outside. His foot slipped, and he tumbled head forward into the
snow. Once or twice he half raised himself, but fell back again, and
presently lay still. The frost caught his ears and iced them; it began
to creep over his cheeks; it made his fingers white, like a leper's.

He would soon have stiffened for ever had not Parpon the dwarf, passing
along the road, seen the open door and the sprawling body, and come and
drawn Pomfrette inside the house. He rubbed the face and hands and ears
of the unconscious man with snow till the whiteness disappeared, and,
taking off the boots, did the same with the toes; after which he drew the
body to a piece of rag carpet beside the stove, threw some blankets over
it, and, hurrying out, cut up some fence rails, and soon had a fire going
in the stove.

Then he trotted out of the house and away to the Little Chemist, who came
passively with him. All that day, and for many days, they fought to save
Pomfrette's life. The Cure came also; but Pomfrette was in fever and
delirium. Yet the good M. Fabre's presence, as it ever did, gave an air
of calm and comfort to the place. Parpon's hands alone cared for the