ness;
but all the time I kept asking myself: "When will he speak? What
will he say?" So that it was a relief when, as we turned away from
the shore into the woods, he suddenly dropped his former tone, and
addressed me without pretence:

"Well, madame, are you as anxious as before to get to Louisbourg?"

"No; I have decided not to go. It is too late."

"Why too late? Are you fearful M. de Maxwell may have wearied
waiting for you?"

"Monsieur, your words are an insult! If this be all you have to
say to me, I beg you will let me return to the house."

"Not so fast, madame. I have a question or two yet which require
to be answered, unless you prefer I should put them before my mother
and sister. No? Then will you tell me who this boy Christophe really
is? From his first appearance below there I was much puzzled why
M. de Maxwell should have taken so unusual an interest in him. He
was as jealous of the boy's liking for me as a doting mother could
be, and was more distressed over his capture than many a father
would have been over the loss of his son."

"Monsieur," I answered, trying to conceal my alarm, "M. de Maxwell
lodged for some time in London in the house of this boy's mother,
my waiting-woman, Lucy Routh. Surely his meeting again with the
lad he knew as a child will explain his interest."

"Indeed? And may I ask when it was that he lodged with this convenient
waiting-woman?" he said, with a sneer that set my blood boiling.

"It was ten years ago, monsieur. Why do you ask me these questions?"

"Because I wish to try a small problem in calculation. I was rude
enough to hazard a guess at your age the first time we came to an
understanding. Perhaps it was ungallant, but still, it remains. I
said then, you were 'of a certain age,' but now, to be exact, we
will say you are twenty-seven, perhaps twenty-six. This boy in whom
such a paternal interest was displayed must be fifteen or sixteen.
No, that will not adjust itself. Forgive my thinking out loud."

"Monsieur, this is intolerable! What is it you wish to know?"

"Simply if M. de Maxwell was acquainted with this paragon of
waiting-women before he lodged with her ten years ago?"

"You coward! Why do you not put such a question to M. de Maxwell
himself?"

"It might prove embarrassing, madame. Almost as embarrassing as if
I had obeyed the orders of your friend M. le Marquis de Montcalm,
and brought you to M. le Chevalier de Maxwell, as you desired."

"I am c