On this and the next two nights Quebec added to its beauty. All the
public buildings were outlined in electric light, so that it looked
more than ever a fairy city hanging in the air. The cruisers in the
stream were outlined, deck and spar and stack, in light, and _Renown_
had poised between her masts a bright set of the Prince of Wales's
feathers, the lights of the whole group of ships being mirrored in the
river. On Friday _Renown_ gave a display of fireworks and
searchlights, the beauty of which was doubled by the reflections in the
water.

III

Friday and Saturday (August 22 and 23) were strenuous days for the
Prince. He visited every notable spot in the brilliant and curious
town where one spoke first in French, and English only as an
afterthought; where even the blind beggar appeals to the charitable in
two languages; where the citizens ride in up-to-date motor-cars and the
visitors in the high-slung, swing-shaped horse calache; where the
traffic takes the French side of the road; where the shovel hats and
cassocks of priests are as commonplace as everyday; where the vivacity
of France is fused into the homely good-fellowship of the Colonial in a
manner quite irresistible.

He began Friday in a wonderful crimson room in the Provincial
Parliament building, where he received addresses in French, and
answered them in the same tongue.

It was a remarkable room, this glowing chamber set in the handsome
Parliament house that looks down over a sweep of grass, the hipped
roofs and the pinnacles of the town to the St. Lawrence. It was a
great room with a floor of crimson and walls of crimson and white.
Over the mellow oak that made a backing to the Prince's dais was a
striking picture of Champlain looking out from the deck of his tiny
sloop _The Gift of God_ to the shore upon which Quebec was to rise.

The people in that chamber were not less colourful than the room
itself. Bright dresses, the antique robes of Les Membres du Conseil
Executif, the violet and red of clerics, with the blue, red and khaki
of fighting men were on the floor and in the mellow oak gallery.

Two addresses were read to His Royal Highness, twice, first in French
and then in English, and each address in each language was prefaced by
his list of titles--a long list, sonorous enough in French, but with an
air of thirdly and lastly when oft repeated. One could imagine his
relief when the fourth Earl of Carrick had been negotiated, and