occasion burst its bounds. Yet now he was surely in the best of
humors; and with the coming of our second bottle, after the remains of
the repast had been removed, he sang several love-songs in his native
tongue, the meaning of which I could only guess at.

"Saint Guise!" he exclaimed at last, flinging one booted foot over the
table corner. "You are a very sphinx of a fellow. You deny being
English, yet you have all the silence of that nation. I am hungry,
Monsieur, for the sweet sound of the French tongue."

"'T is a language of which I know little," I answered, striving to
speak pleasantly, although his manner was becoming less and less to my
liking. "I have met with your _coureurs de bois_ in plenty, and picked
up sufficient of their common phrases to enable me to converse on
ordinary themes with them; yet I confess I find it difficult to follow
your speech."

"_Canaille_," he returned, in tone of undisguised contempt, "Canadian
half-breeds, the very offscourings of our people. _Sacre_! but you
should know us at home, Monsieur,--we are the conquerors of the world!"

I wish I could picture to you how he said this. Simple as it now
reads, he made it vital with meaning. The insolent boast was uttered
with such a swagger that my face instantly flushed, and he noted it.

"Is it not true, Monsieur?" he asked quickly, his own blood heated by
the wine. "I tell you, the whole of Europe has trembled, and will
again, at the nod of our Napoleon. Why, even over here we had to come
with our legions to help you repel the redcoats. Saint Guise! but it
was the Frenchmen who made you a nation."

"Ay! but only that they might revenge themselves upon England," I
retorted blindly, "and the force sent merely hurried a result already
inevitable; yet we gave you a slight touch of our own quality in '98
that stung a bit, I warrant."

"Bah! a ship or two. 'Twas well for you that our army was so closely
engaged elsewhere, or the story would have a different ending."

We were both of us upon our feet by this time, glaring at each other
across the board, our faces hot with the ill-restrained passion of
youth. A word more from either would surely have precipitated matters;
but before it could be spoken the door leading into the hallway was
hurriedly flung aside, and, without apology for the intrusion, two men
strode forward into the glare of light.

"Serve supper here, Hawkins," commanded the first, his back still
turned to