fervent prayer for his safety. The noise grew greater, and
as she reached out of the window to demand of passers-by what was the
matter, a voice shouted up that the Bourgeois was dead; that he had been
killed by the Grand Company, and they were bringing him home.

The voice passed on, and no one but God heeded the long wail of grief
that rose from the good dame as she fell upon her knees in the doorway,
unable to proceed further. She preserved her consciousness, however.

The crowd now swarmed in the streets about the doors of the house.
Presently were heard the shuffling steps of a number of men in the great
hall, bearing the body of the Bourgeois into the large room where the
sunshine was playing so gloriously.

The crowd, impelled by a feeling of reverence, stood back; only a few
ventured to come into the house.

The rough habitans who brought him in laid him upon a couch and gazed
for some moments in silent awe upon the noble features, so pale and
placid, which now lay motionless before them.

Here was a man fit to rule an empire, and who did rule the half of
New France, who was no more now, save in the love and gratitude of the
people, than the poorest piece of human clay in the potter's field. The
great leveller had passed his rule over him as he passes it over every
one of us. The dead lion was less now than the living dog, and the
Golden Dog itself was henceforth only a memory, and an epitaph forever
of the tragedy of this eventful day.

"Oh, my master! my good, noble master!" exclaimed Dame Rochelle as
she roused herself up and rushed to the chamber of the dead. "Your
implacable enemies have killed you at last! I knew it! Oh, I knew that
your precious life would one day pay the penalty of your truth and
justice! And Pierre! Oh, where is he on this day of all days of grief
and sorrow?"

She wrung her hands at the thought of Pierre's absence to-day, and what
a welcome home awaited him.

The noise and tumult in the street continued to increase. The friends
of the Bourgeois poured into the house, among them the Governor and La
Corne St. Luc, who came with anxious looks and hasty steps to inquire
into the details of the murder.

The Governor, after a short consultation with La Corne St. Luc, who
happened to be at the Castle, fearing a riot and an attack upon the
magazines of the Grand Company, ordered the troops immediately under
arms and despatched strong detachments under the command of careful and
trus