When he entered
the Notary's office, the Seigneur and M. Dauphin stood up to greet him.
They congratulated him on his recovery, while feeling also that the
change in his personal appearance somehow affected their relations.
A crowd gathered round the door of the shop. When Charley made his
offering, with a statement of his goods and income, the Seigneur and
Notary did not know what to do. They were disposed to decline it, for
since Monsieur was no Catholic, it was not his duty to help. At this
moment of delicate anxiety M. Loisel entered. With a swift bright flush
to his cheek he saw the difficulty, and at once accepted freely.

"God bless you," he said, as he took the money, and Charley left. "It
shall build the doorway of my church."

Later in the day the Cure sent for Charley. There were grave matters
to consider, and his counsel was greatly needed. They had all come to
depend on the soundness of his judgment. It had never gone astray in
Chaudiere, they said. They owed to him this extraordinary scheme, which
would be an example to all modern Christianity. They told him so. He
said nothing in reply.

In an hour he had planned for them a scheme for the consideration of
contractors; had drawn, with the help of M. Loisel, an architect's
rough plan of the new church, and, his old professional instincts keenly
alive, had lucidly suggested the terms and safeguards of the contracts.

Then came the question of the money contributed. The day before, M.
Dauphin and the Seigneur's steward had arrived in safety from Quebec
with twenty thousand dollars in bank-bills. These M. Rossignol had
exchanged for the notes of hand of such of the habitants as had not
ready cash to give. All of this twenty thousand dollars had been paid
over. They had now thirty thousand dollars in cash, besides three
thousand which the Cure had at his house, the proceeds of the Passion
Play. It was proposed to send this large sum to the bank in Quebec in
another two days, when the whole contributions should be complete.

As to the safety of the money, the timid M. Dauphin did not care to take
responsibility. Strangers were still arriving, ignorant of the fact that
the Passion Play had ceased, and some of them must be aware that this
large sum of money was in the parish--no doubt also knew that it was in
his house. It was therefore better, he urged, that M. Rossignol or the
Cure should take charge of it. M. Loisel urged that secrecy as to the
resting-pl