Part 32 (1/2)

”An honest old fellow,” Dorchester commented. Then, remembering himself, added, ”You will, of course, do us the honour while in Quebec of being a guest at the Castle?”

”Your Lords.h.i.+p's invitation is a command, but I am here for a few hours only.”

”Let us enjoy these hours then; eh, la Naudiere? See that Mr. de Lincy's luggage is brought to the Castle.”

”We review the garrison, in a few minutes,” continued Dorchester, ”then we luncheon. After that we are to drive to the Montmorenci Falls.”

A beautiful and haughty-looking woman of over forty years entered the room. She stopped when she saw Lecour, but concealing her surprise at his uniform, stood graciously while her husband--for she was the Governor's wife--turned and said--

”Lady Dorchester, allow me to present the Chevalier de Lincy, whom we have just acquired as our guest, and whom you will recognise as a Garde-du-Corps of the King of France.”

”The Milady Dorchester,” as she was called among the people, was of the famous line of the Howards, daughter of that Earl of Effingham who refused in 1776 to draw his sword against the liberties of his fellow-subjects in America.

At her table many a scathing dissertation on the n.o.bodiness of n.o.bodies had been given the youthful gentry of the Province, a fact not unknown to Germain. De la Naudiere himself had experienced her sharpness when he was first introduced at her table. On that occasion in carving a joint he had the misfortune to spill some gravy on the cloth. ”Young man,”

cried Milady, ”where were you brought up?” ”At my father's table, where they change the cloth three times a day,” he quickly retorted, and captured her favour.

A Garde-du-Corps, however, was sacred from reproach. To have with them for the day an inner member of the Court of France, fresh from delightful Paris, and from still more delightful Versailles, was really more than an exiled lady of fas.h.i.+on in her position could just then have dreamt. How he acquitted himself in her coach at the review and during the beautiful afternoon drive to the Falls, how he kept the table smiling at dinner, and of their walk in the Castle garden, with its low cannon-embrasured wall along the cuff, it would scarcely profit the reader to hear, except in one particular.

On the shady lawn at Montmorenci--a name which thrilled him with sweet a.s.sociations--he stood in the midst of the picnic party and sang them one of the current songs of the Bodyguard:--

”Yes, I am a soldier--I, And for my country live-- For my Queen and for my King My life I'll freely give.

When the insolent demagogue Loud rants at this and that, Not less do I go singing round, 'Vive an aristocrat!'

Yes, &c.

To the Devil, Equality!

Your squalor I decline, With you I would no better be Nor sprung of older line.

Yes, &c.

March on, my comrades gay, Strike up the merry drums, And drink the Bourbons long, long life Whatever fortune comes.

Yes, &c.”

Next morning her Excellency rose early to see him start upon his journey up the river.

One result followed, of which he did not know. La Naudiere described his visit to the de Lerys in connection with the account received by them from Chalons. They again read over the paragraph and discussed it, and de la Naudiere p.r.o.nounced decidedly that the man could not be the same--the pa.s.sport of the present individual did not bear the name of Repentigny, and he was too perfect a gentleman.

CHAPTER x.x.xV

AT ST. ELPHeGE

All afternoon of the day of his arrival at St. Elphege, lofty clouds had been moving in threatening ma.s.ses across the sky. When the Lecours were rejoicing together at supper, a storm came on, producing a raw, wet evening, which was not unwelcome to the reunited family, for it kept them undisturbed.

Old Lecour, to denote his satisfaction at his son's return, brought forth his fiddle and played some of the merry airs of the Province, an action which touched Germain's heart.

”Is this the n.o.ble,” exclaimed he to himself, as he looked, with a heart full of affection, at the roughly-dressed, homely figure, ”whom I would produce to the Noailles, the Montmorencys and the Vaudreuils, as my father? Perhaps not; but I would offer him before sounder judges as their superior.” But notwithstanding his goodwill, there is a limit where content is impossible in such things.