to perform, and yet she has never made good her hold in the
south. Now the tide seems to have turned here in the north; and
though men speak brave words of defiance, their hearts are failing
them for fear. And have they not reason to fear--they who have done
so ignobly?"

"Do you remember what you told us when we met in the forest long
ago?" asked Fritz. "Do you remember the name you spoke--the name of
Pitt--and told us that when that man's hand was on the helm of
England's statecraft the turn of the tide would come? And so we
waited for news from home, and at last we heard the name of Pitt.
And, behold, since then the tide has turned indeed. Those words of
yours have upheld our hopes in many a dark hour. And now that the
fulfilment seems so near, shall we not feel grateful to those who
held out the torch of hope when all was darkness?"

Corinne smiled brightly, and held out her little hand again.

"We will be friends, come what will," she said; "for I love the
English as well as the French, and I have cause to know what
generous foes they can make!"

So Fritz became the guest of Madame Drucour in the narrow little
stone house; the Abbe likewise remained as an inmate whilst he
recruited the health that had been so sorely tried and shattered of
late. Fritz was in no haste to depart, if his hosts desired his
presence there. He would join the English fleet when it appeared;
but it mattered little to him how he passed the intervening time.
He could pass as well for a Frenchman as an Englishman, and did so
for the time he remained in the city; but he kept his eyes open,
and took careful note of what he saw, and, in truth, it seemed to
him that the English fleet had little or no chance of effecting any
landing in or near Quebec.

The fortifications of the town were immensely strong; so was its
position--so commandingly situated upon the little tongue of land.
There was a small camp upon the opposite point of land, which might
perhaps be strengthened with advantage; but the whole of the north
bank of the river was being fortified and intrenched, and was
manned by regulars and Canadian troops, all well armed and
munitioned. It was impossible to see how any attacking force could
obtain a foothold upon that strand; and if Fritz's hosts took care
to let him see all this, it seemed to him a proof that they well
understood the impregnable character of their position.

But it was no part of Fritz's plan to linger over long in