Part 31 (2/2)
He drew out a parchment, which he placed on the table. Then, taking from his clothes-box the uniform of his lieutenancy in the Bodyguard--which he had been so expressly forbidden to wear--he dressed himself before the gla.s.s with the greatest care, and having finished, put on his sword, placed the parchment in his bosom, took up his hat, and went forth with his ordinary air of ease and command. Pa.s.sing along the street and across the Place d'Armes--at the insignificance of which, comparing it with that of Versailles, he laughed almost aloud--he entered the gate of the Castle.
The tow-headed Briton who was performing sentry duty at the gate, though he challenged him like an automaton, was astonished at the sight of a uniform, the like of which, in style, brilliancy, and ornaments, he had never before seen.
”Be blowed to me, Bill,” he soon afterwards remarked to a comrade of the guard-room, ”if I didn't take 'im fer ole General Montcalm come back from blazes; 'e looked so grand an' Frenchy-like, an' come on me so sudden.”
The Governor's _aide-de-camp_, de la Naudiere, a das.h.i.+ng Canadian officer, was almost as surprised at the sight of Lecour's uniform as the sentry, and receiving him with profound deference, read the pa.s.sport which the new arrival handed him. He was not aware how closely the eyes of Germain watched his face. At the name ”LeCour de Lincy, Esquire,” in the paper he gave a slight start, but by the time he came to the end his manner recovered itself, and he greeted him cordially.
”The French army, Monsieur, never lacks honour in the Province of Quebec. You bear a uniform and a rank which commend you to our best hospitalities. Will you permit me to share my good fortune in meeting you with our Governor, Lord Dorchester?”
”I have heard of Lord Dorchester,” replied Germain, ”how gallant a man he is, and how true a friend to our nation.”
”Nothing is truer, sir; every Canadian will tell you he is the soul of kindness and sympathy with us, and that he has quite withdrawn the sting of our being a conquered people. Here I am, a Catholic and a Canadian, yet as well pleased as if I were in the service of France. His friends.h.i.+p with our gentry is like the relation of a veritable father to his family.”
”Were not his services very great in the American Revolution? I have heard General Lafayette speak highly of his name.”
”Yes, Monsieur; his services preserved this Province from the enemy, and we have named him 'the Saviour of Canada.' Pardon me a moment to announce you.”
While waiting to be summoned to the Governor, Lecour glanced around. The part of the buildings in which he stood was the Old Chateau, a picturesque structure of the French times, dating from 1694, crowning its conspicuous position as a landmark by a mediaeval roof of steep pitch; while a gallery two hundred feet in length ran along the outside, supported by tall b.u.t.tresses, which, clinging to the cliff-side, gave it beneath the same elongated lines as the steep roof above. The result was exceedingly quaint and castellated. He remembered that he had often seen it thus from the river. His present point of view gave him, through the windows and over the gallery, another form of his view of the harbour and Point Levis, one of the most striking landscapes in the world.
Looking closer about the room, the low-raftered ceilings of an older time brought another thought to his mind.
”Is not this,” he exclaimed to himself, ”the very chamber where Count Frontenac, a hundred years ago, must have received the envoy of Admiral Phipps with request to surrender, and returned the reply, 'I will answer your master by the mouth of my cannon.'” He imagined he heard the gallant veteran say the words.
Turning to the windows towards the courtyard, he saw opposite the handsome new range of buildings lately erected, and nicknamed ”Castle Haldimand,” in which were the apartments of the Governor and his family, and which, on their further side, fronted on the Place d'Armes.
As a boy he had once looked into the courtyard, and contemplated its precincts with juvenile awe. Now, he was standing a guest of honour in the then inaccessible arcana. He was not given much time to continue his reflections. De la Naudiere came back, brought him across, and conducted him into the reception chamber of Governor Dorchester. His Excellency, who was a large, finely-made man of a ruddy and generous countenance, received him with that trained, lofty courtesy which marked the meeting of distinguished men of that time, and Lecour, as he reciprocated the salutation, saw that he had nothing to fear from him.
”I recognise your uniform, Chevalier,” said he, ”which revives to me some pleasant memories of Versailles.”
”Your Lords.h.i.+p is, then, acquainted with my Sovereign's Court? His Majesty knows how to appreciate a brave man.”
”He has too many in his service to do otherwise; but I have no pretensions on that score.”
”The world well knows, your Excellency, 'The Saviour of Canada,'” Lecour replied, ”and my country honours you as one of the worthiest of former foes.”
”Tut, tut, Monsieur le Chevalier--excuse the freedom of an old Englishman in turning the conversation. My lady will die of curiosity over the appearance of a Garde-du-Corps in this out-of-the-way quarter of the globe. How can I answer her as to the cause?”
”Private business with my family, my Lord, connected with an estate in our mother country.”
”Ah, your people are Canadians?”
”My father is generally known as the Merchant Lecour of St Elphege. His full name is LeCour de Lincy.”
”That is the name on your pa.s.sport,” interrupted de la Naudiere. ”I never knew he was a n.o.ble.”
”He has never boasted of it,” returned Lecour.
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