ours shall be safe whatever comes to pass in Quebec."

Corinne gazed about her in astonishment. Who was speaking to her?
The next house to theirs was deserted, because the roof had been
blown off, and a shell had fallen through, breaking almost every
floor. Yet the voice seemed to come from a window within that
house, and in the dim and uncertain moonlight she saw a head--two
heads--protruding from a first-floor window. Next minute she was
further astonished by the rapid descent of three figures, who
seemed to clamber like monkeys down the shattered wall; and behold
the three merry midshipmen were grouped around her, holding her
hands and seeking to cheer her.

"Peter--Paul--Arthur! How came you here? Surely Quebec is not taken
yet!"

"No, but so nearly taken that we thought to steal a march. We have
been working since evening in dragging up cannon upon the plain
yonder, where the army is intrenching itself; and when our task was
done, we felt a great wish to see what was passing in the city
where we had many friends, and which we knew so well. In the
confusion it was not difficult to get in under cover of the dusk;
but we found we could not get out again--at least not when we
tried. But we cared little for that. There are plenty of empty
houses to hide in, and we had bread in our pockets. We heard of you
and Madame Drucour, and have been watching and waiting in hopes of
seeing you. But, Corinne, are you weeping because the English are
about to take Quebec? We looked upon you as an ally and a
compatriot."

"I am weeping because our good General, the Marquis of Montcalm, is
just dead," answered Corinne, wiping her eyes. "He lies within
those walls, sleeping the last sleep. He will never see his wife
and his mother and his mill at Candiac again. And he has talked so
much to us of all those things, and of the children he loved so
well. Oh, war is a cruel thing! Pray Heaven it may come to a speedy
end!"

The sound of flying footsteps up the street caused the midshipmen
to look at one another, and meditate a return to their hiding
place; but Corinne said:

"That is Colin's step; he comes back with news."

And, in truth, the next moment Colin stood amongst them, so full of
excitement himself that the sudden appearance of the midshipmen,
whom he instantly recognized, did not at once strike him with
astonishment.

"I will never call myself a Frenchman again!" he panted, his eyes
gleaming with wrath. "What think you