s. In that gay capital--whilst taking
advantage of libraries, and sitting at the feet of the Gamaliels
of the French Bar,--he associated with gamesters and courtezans,
and was at length left with resources barely sufficient to enable
him to return to Canada. Settling in Montreal, his extraordinary
acquaintance with both schools of law, his impassioned and versatile
eloquence, his ready repartee, his habitual, grim and grotesque
humour, his outrageous sallies of wit, his unmerciful logic, his
fierce invective, his irony, his sarcasm, and his deep, irresistible
scorn, all heightened by his singularly expressive personal presence,
and eyes kindling with lambent fire, made him a forensic antagonist
with whom few willingly chose to deal. He soon became the favorite
counsel for the defence. Extensive practice, and its concomitant,
a large income, were now his, and his betrothed, who, in giving
him her fortune, felt as though she had given him nothing till with
it she had given him herself, day by day looked for the nuptial
tie, and at length besought him to relieve her from what had become
a doubtful and even a dishonorable position. But such was no longer
in his thoughts. Instead of performing towards her his long plighted
vows, he sent her to a lonely dwelling on the then unpeopled Ottawa
to hide her shame. There she remained till the scandal of their
connection was forgotten, and he brought her, along with her female
child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to a new retreat, called
Stillyside, bought by him for that purpose, and situated behind
the bluff known as Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that
lifts its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to, the City
of Montreal. During these years of their separation, whilst laborious
in his profession, he continued to indulge his vein for pleasure;
not openly and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-secrecy
of his home; and with a still increasing income, his expenditure
from this ungracious cause also augmented. Moreover, in those days,
the province was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials,
and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers like himself;--men
of powerful parts and free lives, whom a community of race, religion,
language, and interest, united in a sort of Masonic association,
whereof his house became one of the centres of reunion. There,
aware of his gentle descent, and impressed with his transcendent
abilities; charmed wit