was born. She had been by the death-bed of
his mother, his father, his grandmother, and of an uncle who had died at
some German watering-place: wherever a Ladeau was in any need of
service, thither hasted Marie; and if the need were from illness, Marie
was all the happier; to lie like a hound on the floor all night, and
watch by a sick and suffering Ladeau, was to Marie joy. When the young
Antoine had set out for the wildernesses of North America, Marie had
prayed to be allowed to come with him; and when he refused she had wept
till she fell ill. At the last moment he relented, and bore the poor
creature on board ship, wondering within himself if he would be able to
keep her alive in the forests. But as soon as there was work to do for
him she revived; and all these years she had kept his house, and cared
for him as if he were her son. From the day of Hetty's first arrival,
old Marie had adopted her into her affections: no one, not born a
Ladeau, ever had won such liking from Marie. Much to Hetty's
embarrassment, whenever she met her, she insisted on kissing her hand,
after the fashion of the humble servitors of great houses in France.
Probably, in all these long years of solitary service with Father
Antoine, Marie had pined for the sight of some one of her own sex, to
whom she could give allegiance, for she was fond of telling long stories
about the beautiful ladies of the house of Ladeau; and how she had
attired them for balls, and had seen them ride away with cavaliers.
There was neither splendor nor beauty in Hetty to attract Marie's
fancy; but Marie had a religious side to her nature, almost as strong
as the worldly and passionate one. She saw in Hetty's labors an
exaltation of devotion which reminded her of noble ladies who had done
penances and taken pilgrimages in her own country. Father Antoine's
friendship for Hetty, so unlike any thing Marie had seen him feel
towards any woman he had met in these wilds, also stimulated her fancy.

"Ah! but it is good that he has at last a friend to whom he may speak as
a Ladeau should speak. May the saints keep her! she has the good heart
of one the Virgin loves," said Marie, and many a candle did she buy and
keep burning on the convent's shrines for Hetty's protection and
conversion.

One night Marie overheard Father Antoine say to Hetty, as he bade her
good-night at the garden gate:

"My daughter, you look better and younger every day."

"Do I?" replied Hetty, cheerful