, and yet I was ever kind to him! My father, too, he listens
to the Church, and, though he likes not Monsieur Doltaire, he works for
him in a hundred ways without seeing it. I, alas! see it too well,
and my brother is as wax in monsieur's hands. Juste loves Lucie
Lotbiniere--that should make him kind. She, sweet friend, does not
desert me, but is kept from me. She says she will not yield to Juste's
suit until he yields to me. If--oh, if Madame Jamond had not gone to
Montreal!

... As I was writing the foregoing sentence, my father asked to see me,
and we have had a talk--ah, a most bitter talk!

"Alixe," said he, "this is our last evening together, and I would have
it peaceful."

"My father," said I, "it is not my will that this evening be our last;
and for peace, I long for it with all my heart."

He frowned, and answered, "You have brought me trouble and sorrow.
Mother of God! was it not possible for you to be as your sister
Georgette? I gave her less love, yet she honours me more."

"She honours you, my father, by a sweet, good life, and by marriage into
an honourable family, and at your word she gives her hand to Monsieur
Auguste de la Darante. She marries to your pleasure, therefore she
has peace and your love. I marry a man of my own choosing, a bitterly
wronged gentleman, and you treat me as some wicked thing. Is that like a
father who loves his child?"

"The wronged gentleman, as you call him, invaded that which is the pride
of every honest gentleman," he said.

"And what is that?" asked I quietly, though I felt the blood beating at
my temples.

"My family honour, the good name and virtue of my daughter."

I got to my feet, and looked my father in the eyes with an anger and a
coldness that hurts me now when I think of it, and I said, "I will not
let you speak so to me. Friendless though I be, you shall not. You have
the power to oppress me, but you shall not slander me to my face. Can
not you leave insults to my enemies?"

"I will never leave you to the insults of this mock marriage," answered
he, angrily also. "Two days hence I take command of five thousand
burghers, and your brother Juste serves with General Montcalm. There is
to be last fighting soon between us and the English. I do not doubt
of the result, but I may fall, and your brother also, and, should
the English win, I will not leave you to him you call your husband.
Therefore you shall be kept safe where no alien hands may reach you. The