eant to keep in memory of his fellow-soldier--the
blood-stained strip of a flag in which, by Isidore's directions, they
had carried the hero to his grave.

After the lapse of another week Monsieur de Valricour was able to
resume his journey and reach Quebec, when he took Marguerite under his
guardianship, arranging that she should stay with Madame de Rocheval
until such time as he might be able to take her to France. He brought
with him Isidore's appointment as one of the aides-de-camp to General
Montcalm, who, already prepossessed in his favour by his coolness and
courage at Oswego, had been particularly pleased with the report he had
subsequently made on the line of country between Oswego and Lake
Champlain.

"How strange it is"--such was part of Isidore's musings as the next day
he passed out of the old Porte St. Louis on his road to Montcalm's
head-quarters up the country--"how strange it is that one should feel
such regret at parting from people like Madame Rocheval and that poor
girl, whom one never set eyes on till within a week or two! I daresay,
too, that I shall never see them again. It seems a pity to make
friends, if only to part with them so soon, and perhaps forget them
just as quickly, or at all events only to be forgotten by them."

[Illustration: Headpiece to Chapter VI]

CHAPTER VI.

A Canadian winter, with the thermometer frequently standing at forty,
and sometimes even fifty or sixty degrees below the freezing point of
Fahrenheit, with its rivers completely blocked by ice and its fields
covered by several feet of snow, puts a stop to most operations,
whether mercantile or military. The winter of 1756 consequently
afforded Isidore de Beaujardin, in his comfortable quarters at
Montreal, complete leisure to reflect upon the incidents that had
occurred during the last few months of his life, amongst which his
short visit to Quebec occupied a prominent place in his reveries and
meditations.

"A charming woman that Madame de Rocheval," so ran his thoughts at
times, "though a little too much of a matchmaker I should say, from
what I have heard of her latterly; but as my uncle says, she is not
very likely to succeed so far as poor Marguerite Lacroix is concerned.
Now-a-days men of any position won't marry a girl without a farthing,
especially if she is not good-looking, though I certainly cannot agree
with the baron or madame, who both seem to think her absolutely plain.
Women, howeve