ot charge him with participating in the riot, although the
mob were all his friends and partisans. Moreover," said Bigot, frankly,
for he felt he owed his safety to the interference of the Bourgeois, "it
would be unfair not to acknowledge that he did what he could to protect
us from the rabble. I charge Philibert with sowing the sedition that
caused the riot, not with rioting himself."

"But I accuse him of both, and of all the mob has done!" thundered
Varin, enraged to hear the Intendant speak with moderation and justice.
"The house of the Golden Dog is a den of traitors; it ought to be pulled
down, and its stones built into a monument of infamy over its owner,
hung like a dog in the market-place."

"Silence, Varin!" exclaimed the Governor sternly. "I will not hear the
Sieur Philibert spoken of in these injurious terms. The Intendant does
not charge him with this disturbance; neither shall you."

"Par Dieu! you shall not, Varin!" burst in La Corne St. Luc, roused to
unusual wrath by the opprobrium heaped upon his friend the Bourgeois;
"and you shall answer to me for that you have said!"

"La Corne! La Corne!" The Governor saw a challenge impending, and
interposed with vehemence. "This is a Council of War, and not a place
for recriminations. Sit down, dear old friend, and aid me to get on
with the business of the King and his Colony, which we are here met to
consider."

The appeal went to the heart of La Corne. He sat down. "You have spoken
generously, Chevalier Bigot, respecting the Bourgeois Philibert,"
continued the Governor. "I am pleased that you have done so. My
Aide-de-Camp, Colonel Philibert, who is just entering the Council, will
be glad to hear that your Excellency does justice to his father in this
matter."

"The blessing of St. Bennet's boots upon such justice," muttered Cadet
to himself. "I was a fool not to run my sword through Philibert when I
had the chance."

The Governor repeated to Colonel Philibert what had been said by Bigot.

Colonel Philibert bowed to the Intendant. "I am under obligation to
the Chevalier Bigot," said he, "but it astonishes me much that any one
should dare implicate my father in such a disturbance. Certainly the
Intendant does him but justice."

This remark was not pleasing to Bigot, who hated Colonel Philibert
equally with his father. "I merely said he had not participated in the
riot, Colonel Philibert, which was true. I did not excuse your father
for being at the hea