r speak of a Canadian
but with derision? But I forgot. Madame is too recently from Paris
herself to take an interest in such matters; to her, doubtless, we
are all 'colonists,' and M. de Montcalm is Pope and King."

He stopped and faced me at his last words, and though not unprepared
for some outburst, I was appalled at the fierceness of his tone
and the bitterness he threw into his charge. Before I could reply,
he went on:

"My sister has handed me the orders which M. le Marquis de Montcalm
et de St. Veran, has been pleased to lay on my mother and myself
concerning you, but she tells me nothing of your friends in
Louisbourg. May I ask whom you would join there?"

"M. de Sarennes, your mother and sister have treated me with a
consideration beyond words. They have subjected me to no questionings,
to no inquiries, beyond what I have chosen to reveal myself, and
surely I can look for the same courtesy from you."

"O, madame, madame--I am no courtier from Versailles. Your M. de
Montcalm will probably tell you I am a mere 'coureur de bois,' and,
if that be the case, you must lay it to my condition if I ask again:
Who is it you go to meet in Louisbourg? Is it, by chance, Mme. de
St. Julhien?"

I remembered the Chevalier de St. Julhien was Hugh's colonel, and
eagerly caught at the opening, for I had begun to be seriously
frightened.

"Yes, monsieur, since you must know, it is Mme. de St. Julhien."

"Oh, ho! ho! Nom de Ciel! But that is a good one!" He roared like
a peasant, and I almost screamed in terror. "That is a good one!
I have been in and out of Louisbourg for the last ten years and
more, and I have yet to hear of a Mme. de St. Julhien. Come, come,
ma belle! I'll wager my head you are no more Mme. de St. Just, than
I am. You have been playing a pretty comedy to these simple
spectators, who were too scrupulous to venture a question. It took
the barbarous coureur de bois to see through the paint! There!
There! Don't look so frightened. I can guess, readily enough, what
brings a pretty woman to the walls of a garrison town."

Oh, the shame, the miserable shame and degradation which overwhelmed
me at the brutal insinuations of this well-born clown! And, to
crown it all, he stepped close beside me, and before I had a
suspicion of his intent, he threw his arms about my waist and kissed
me.

"You wretch! you cowardly hound!" I cried, beside myself at this
last insult. "How dare you treat me thus? I will appeal to