rtiniere and the good frigate Fleur-de-Lis!"

Another round followed.

"They talk about those Jansenist convulsionnaires at the tomb of Master
Paris, which are setting all France by the ears," exclaimed Monredin,
"but I say there is nothing so contagious as the drinking of a glass of
wine like that."

"And the glass gives us convulsions too, Monredin, if we try it too
often, and no miracle about it either," remarked Poulariez.

Monredin looked up, red and puffy, as if needing a bridle to check his
fast gait.

"But they say we are to have peace soon. Is that true, Des Meloises?"
asked Poulariez. "You ought to know what is under the cards before they
are played."

"No, I don't know; and I hope the report is not true. Who wants peace
yet? It would ruin the King's friends in the Colony." Des Meloises
looked as statesmanlike as he could when delivering this dictum.

"Ruin the King's friends! Who are they, Des Meloises?" asked Poulariez,
with a look of well-assumed surprise.

"Why, the associates of the Grand Company, to be sure! What other
friends has the King got in New France?"

"Really! I thought he had the Regiment of Bearn for a number of them--to
say nothing of the honest people of the Colony," replied Poulariez,
impatiently.

"The Honnetes Gens, you mean!" exclaimed Des Meloises. "Well, Poulariez,
all I have to say is that if this Colony is to be kept up for the sake
of a lot of shopkeepers, wood-choppers, cobblers, and farmers, the
sooner the King hands it over to the devil or the English the better!"

Poulariex looked indignant enough; but from the others a loud laugh
followed this sally.

The Chevalier des Meloises pulled out his watch. "I must be gone to
the Palace," said he. "I dare say Cadet, Varin, and Penisault will have
balanced the ledgers by this time, and the Intendant, who is the devil
for business on such occasions, will have settled the dividends for the
quarter--the only part of the business I care about."

"But don't you help them with the work a little?" asked Poulariez.

"Not I; I leave business to them that have a vocation for it. Besides,
I think Cadet, Vargin, and Penisault like to keep the inner ring of the
company to themselves." He turned to Emeric: "I hope there will be a
good dividend to-night, Emeric," said he. "I owe you some revenge at
piquet, do I not?"

"You capoted me last night at the Taverne de Menut, and I had three aces
and three kings."

"But I had a quatorze,