me that I shall see those loved faces no more.
It may be but the fantasy of a troubled and fevered brain; but in
dreams I have seen them, tears in their eyes, weeping for one
unworthy of such grief, who lies in a far-off grave beneath the
frowning battlements of yon great city. I wonder ofttimes whether
we are given to know something of that which is about to befall;
for in my heart a voice has spoken, and that voice has said that
Quebec shall be ours, but that these eyes shall never see what lies
within the ramparts, for they will be sealed in death before that
hour shall arrive."

Julian had no reply ready; he knew not what to say. It did indeed
seem little likely that that frail form could survive the perils
and hardships of this great siege, should it be prosecuted to the
end, and should some daring assault be successfully made against
the impregnable city.

From the day upon which Stark arrived in the camp at Montmorency with
the news from Ticonderoga Wolfe began to mend. It seemed as though
the certainty that the English arms were prevailing in the west,
though no help could be looked for this season from Amherst, combined
to put a sort of new vigour and resolution into the heart of the
dauntless young General. If anything were to be accomplished, he
must now do it by his own unaided efforts; and since August was
well nigh past, if he were to act at all it must be soon, or the
winter storms might come sweeping down, and render his position
untenable.

He had had plenty of time whilst lying helpless in bed to think out
various plans of attack upon the city. Each one seemed desperate
and hopeless, whether, as before, the assault were made by means of
boats along the Beauport shore, or by crossing the upper ford above
Montmorency and fetching a compass behind the French position, or
by storming the lower town, now almost in ruins, for it was
commanded by the batteries in the citadel and upper town. In fact,
the French position was so strong everywhere that it was difficult
to see how any enterprise could possibly prove successful.

In his hours of comparative ease Wolfe had thought out, and Julian
had written out at his dictation, a sketch of one or two
alternative plans for attack, which he sent in the form of a letter
to the Brigadiers commanding the various detachments of the army,
asking them to take counsel together over them, and to meet at the
farmhouse as soon as he was well enough to see them, and let