of spectators took it up, and added tremendous shouts of
approbation. Nor did the cry end with the parade. He heard it
everywhere; at mess-table it was the greeting as he entered, the
response to numerous toasts to his health, and the last sound he heard
as he sank to sleep at night.

The feelings of de Lery were very different. The shout was to him his
social doom. He stood his ground and executed his duty without an
external sign, but his heart withered when his comrades there and then
commenced to shun him and drive him into Coventry. No protestations, no
statements that he could make, would, he knew, have been of any avail;
so he spared himself the trouble. Withdrawing entirely into a proud
reserve, he was soon banished from the regiment and from society, and
driven to find a refuge over the ocean in Canada, where, hidden from the
eyes of European criticism, he entered upon a new career.

The Marquis de Lotbiniere heard of the loss of the documents first by a
letter from de Villerai. On the same day he received the following from
the Count de Vaudreuil--

"AT VERSAILLES, the 13th February, 1788.

"I should always be well disposed, sir, to oblige persons who, like
Monsieur de Lery, might have aroused my interest; but _it is
impossible for me to become the accuser of anybody whatsoever_.
_Such a maxim is absolutely opposed to all my principles_ and to
the invariable law which I have made for myself and from which I
cannot depart. It is the place of the Prince de Poix to examine the
candidates who present themselves for admission to the Bodyguard;
that duty is entirely foreign to me. Be convinced of all the regret
I feel in being unable, in this case, to do what would be agreeable
to you, and accept fresh assurances of the sincere attachment with
which I have the honour to be, sir,

"Your very humble and obedient servant,

"THE COUNT DE VAUDREUIL."

A worse blow followed, in a brief newspaper account conveying word of
the total defeat of the accusations.

Great movements, he heard, had been aroused among the highest circles of
Court, in Lecour's favour; the Prince de Poix had proved a broken reed,
while the Bodyguards of both companies had clamoured for their de Lincy.
The Marquis vented his rage upon de Villerai behind his back, but after
a few days concluded it advantageous to make no further references to
the son of the cantineer.

Ger