Yet ever amidst these distracting pleasures his heart reverted,
first, to the woody wilds of Ottawa, and afterwards, to the sylvan
shades of Stillyside, which latter he still took delight to visit
and adorn; cherishing its mistress, and watching over and nurturing
her child, the fruit of her fondness and of his falsehood;--but
commonly known and publicly acknowledged, only as her foster
daughter, and, in his own prouder circle, as his ward. For himself,
he never occupied other than a handsome suburban residence, situated
between the city and the foot of Mount Royal, and whose doors Mona
Macdonald seldom entered; and when she did so, it was to be scowled
upon by its menial mistress, a French Canadian, named Babet Blais,
who viewed the melancholy visitor with angry and jealous eyes. Into
this house many comely Abigails had come and gone; but Babet Blais
remained in spite of him, having, as she deemed, acquired a wife's
settlement and privileges, by virtue of the presence of a dwarfish,
swarthy creature, half oaf, half imp, their mutual offspring. This
strange being, as if in mockery, for he was ugly from the womb,
was named Narcisse, and flitted about the house rather than made
it his home; rarely entering it, except in his father's absence,
and then chiefly to obtain largess from his mother, who loved and
indulged him the more because others disliked or despised him.
Reckless, stupid, savage; ignoble and stubborn; with thick, black,
stubby hair, and dark, bushy, beetling brows; his protuberant eyes
filled with cunning, and burning with a lustre like live coals;
deep-chested, and with shoulders raised and rounded, giving him an
air of pugnacity; snarl written upon his countenance, and pride in
the pose of his pygmean figure; dull, dissolute, and disobedient,
he was, nevertheless, the idol of his mother. She, poor woman,
reverenced, almost worshipped, him, as being something superior to
her plebeian self, by reason of the father's part that was in him;
wondering how his sire should be so blind to his merits, and so
severe upon his alleged faults and foibles. She the rather encouraged
him in his irregularities since others rebuked them, and was the
more liberal towards him, because of his father's stint; deeming
his vices and extravagance to be not only excusable, but proper,
in one who had to uphold and play the part of a gentleman. His
father strove to instil into him some knowledge of law, but soon
relinquished the dist