we got up amongst us, conspired to banish all gloomy
thoughts from my mind in a very short time. We--my friend Mac and
myself--soon became very intimate with two or three French families
who resided in the village, who were, though in an humble station,
kind and courteous, and who, moreover, danced, fiddled and played
whist.

[1] This gentleman's name was Cockburn;--he met his end a few
years afterwards in a very melancholy manner, while on his way
to Montreal (having retired from the service). He rolled over
the canoe on a dark night, and disappeared for ever!

There was another family of a different status from the others, that
of Capt. Ducharme, the king's interpreter, a kind-hearted, hospitable
man, who frequently invited us to his house, where we enjoyed the
charms of polished society and good cheer. The captain's residence was
in the Iroquois division of the village; this circumstance led us to
form another acquaintance that for some time afforded us some
amusement, _en passant_. We discovered that a very ugly old widow, who
resided in that quarter, had two very pretty young daughters, to whom
we discoursed in Gaelic; they answered in Iroquois; and in a short
time the best _understanding_ imaginable was established between us,
(Mac and myself, be it always understood.) No harm came of it, though;
I vow there did not; the priests, it seems, thought otherwise. Our
acquaintance with the girls having come to their knowledge, we were
one day honoured with a visit from the Iroquois padre; the severe
gravity of whose countenance convinced us at a glance of the nature of
his mission. I must do him the justice to say, however, that his
address to us was mild and admonitory, rather than severe or
reproachful. I resolved from that moment to speak no more Gaelic to
the Iroquois maidens; Mac continued his visits.

We always amused ourselves in the evenings with our French
_confreres_, (whom I have mentioned as "nondescripts," from the
circumstance of their being under no regular engagement with the
Company,) playing cards or fiddling and dancing. We were on one
occasion engaged in the latter amusement _en pleine midi_--our
_Deputy_ Bourgeois being one of the party, and all of us in the
highest possible glee, when lo! in the midst of our hilarity, the hall
door flew open and the _great man_ stood sternly before us. The
hand-writing on the wall could scarcely have produced a more startling
effect on the conv