g she could not take the journey with us; her brother knew
the woods as others knew the town; he could tell every track,
whether of bird or beast; he was so cunning that no storm surprised
him, and so tender he would care for us like children.

"No one is so good to women as Charles! He never gets out of patience
with me or maman. Let me tell you, you are a lucky girl,
'Mademoiselle' Marguerite, to have such a beau cavalier for your
escort. Really, I am jealous of your opportunity; my brother is
nearly as fine a man as I am, and I am sure any woman would be
proud of my attentions." Thus she ran on, while I listened, heart-sick
at the thought of being in the power of that brother, whom I knew
far, far better than she.

But my fortitude was not put to any test, for, on the very evening
of M. de Sarennes's return, Lucy fell ill of some violent fever,
and by the morning it was clear that our departure was an
impossibility.

"Never mind, madame," said M. de Sarennes, evidently not ill pleased;
"I can as well go to my post at Miramichi. I have business there
which will detain me about a month; no doubt by that time you will
be ready to start."

"Will you take a letter for Louisbourg?" I asked.

He laughed. "You are like all Paris-bred folk, madame! Miramichi
is a good hundred leagues from Louisbourg as the crow flies, and
more than twice that as a man can travel. No, no, madame! You must
keep your letter until you can deliver it in person."

He made a pretence of laughing heartily at my discomfiture, and
Angelique innocently joined in, thinking the jest to be my ignorance
of the country, while my heart was bursting with indignation that
he should thus make a mock of my helplessness, for he knew well
what it meant to me that Hugh should be ignorant of my whereabouts.

CHAPTER XVIII

I AM RESCUED FROM A GREAT DANGER

Lucy's illness proved so serious that all thought of Louisbourg
had to be abandoned during the long weeks she lay between life and
death. Now it was that I realised the full dreariness of winter.
The snow-covered fields and woods had a stillness and emptiness
that weighed upon me; my eyes grew weary of the dead whiteness;
and that the earth should again be green, and warm, and living,
seemed to call for something little short of a miracle. By the
water-side it was worse: the drift-ice was piled along the shore
in the wildest confusion, magnified and distorted by great banks
and fantastic wreaths