nough to remind him
about children when they come."

"Take you without dower! Zoe Bedard! you must be mad!" exclaimed the
dame, in great heat. "No girl in New France can marry without a dower,
if it be only a pot and a bedstead! You forget, too, that the dower is
given, not so much for you, as to keep up the credit of the family. As
well be married without a ring! Without a dower, indeed!"

"Or without a contract written by a notary, signed, sealed, and
delivered!" chimed in Master Pothier.

"Yes, Master Pothier, and I have promised Zoe a three-days wedding,
which will make her the envy of all the parish of Charlebourg. The
seigneur has consented to give her away in place of her poor defunct
father; and when he does that he is sure to stand godfather for all the
children, with a present for every one of them! I shall invite you too,
Master Pothier!"

Zoe affected not to hear her mother's remark, although she knew it all
by heart, for it had been dinned into her ears twenty times a day for
weeks, and sooth to say, she liked to hear it, and fully appreciated the
honors to come from the patronage of the seigneur.

Master Pothier pricked up his ears till they fairly raised his wig, at
the prospect of a three days wedding at the Crown of France. He began
an elaborate reply, when a horse's tramp broke in upon them and Colonel
Philibert wheeled up to the door of the hostelry.

Master Pothier, seeing an officer in the King's uniform, rose on the
instant and saluted him with a profound bow, while Dame Bedard and Zoe,
standing side by side, dropped their lowest courtesy to the handsome
gentleman, as, with woman's glance, they saw in a moment he was.

Philibert returned their salute courteously, as he halted his horse in
front of Dame Bedard. "Madame!" said he, "I thought I knew all roads
about Charlebourg, but I have either forgotten or they have changed the
road through the forest to Beaumanoir. It is surely altered from what it
was."

"Your Honor is right," answered Dame Bedard, "the Intendant has opened
a new road through the forest." Zoe took the opportunity, while the
officer looked at her mother, to examine his features, dress, and
equipments, from head to foot, and thought him the handsomest officer
she had ever seen.

"I thought it must be so," replied Philibert; "you are the landlady of
the Crown of France, I presume?" Dame Bedard carried it on her face as
plainly marked as the royal emblem on the sign over he