THE CASTLE OF ST. LOUIS.
The Count de la Galissoniere, with a number of officers of rank in full uniform, was slowly pacing up and down the long gallery that fronted the Castle of St. Louis, waiting for the Council of War to open; for although the hour had struck, the Intendant, and many other high officials of the Colony, had not yet arrived from Beaumanoir.
The Castle of St. Louis, a massive structure of stone, with square flanking towers, rose loftily from the brink of the precipice, overlooking the narrow, tortuous streets of the lower town. The steeple of the old Church of Notre Dame des Victoires, with its gilded vane, lay far beneath the feet of the observer as he leaned over the balustrade of iron that guarded the gallery of the Chateau.
A hum of voices and dense sounds rose up from the market of Notre Dame and from the quay where ships and bateaux were moored. The cries of sailors, carters, and habitans in thick medley floated up the steep cliffs, pleasant sounds to the ear of the worthy Governor, who liked the honest noises of industry and labor better than all the music of the Academy.
A few merchantmen which had run the blockade of the English cruisers lay at anchor in the stream, where the broad river swept majestically round the lofty cape. In the midst of them a newly- arrived King's ship, the Fleur-de-Lis, decorated with streamers, floated proudly, like a swan among a flock of teal.
Le Gardeur, as an officer of the garrison, went to report himself to the military commandant, while La Corne St. Luc and Colonel Philibert proceeded to the gallery, where a crowd of officers were now assembled, waiting for the Council.
The Governor at once called Philibert aside, and took his arm.
"Philibert," said he, "I trust you had no difficulty in finding the Intendant?"
"No difficulty whatever, your Excellency. I discovered the Intendant and his friends by ear long before I got sight of them."
An equivocal smile accompanied Philibert's words, which the Governor rightly interpreted.
"Ah! I understand, Philibert; they were carousing at that hour of daylight? Were they all--? Faugh! I shame to speak the word. Was the Intendant in a condition to comprehend my summons?" The Governor looked sad, rather than surprised or angry, for he had expected no less than Philibert had reported to him.
"I found him less intoxicated, I think, than many of his guests. He received your message with more politeness than I expected, and promised to be here punctually at the hour for opening the Council."
"Oh, Bigot never lacks politeness, drunk or sober: that strong intellect of his seems to defy the power of wine, as his heart is proof against moral feeling. You did not prolong your stay in Beaumanoir, I fancy?" remarked the Governor, dinting the point of his cane into the floor.
"I hastened out of it as I would out of hell itself! After ****** prize of my friend De Repentigny and bringing him off with me, as I mentioned to you, I got quickly out of the Chateau."
"You did rightly, Philibert: the Intendant is ruining half the young men of birth in the Colony."
"He shall not ruin Le Gardeur if I can save him," said Philibert, resolutely. "May I count upon your Excellency's cooperation?" added he.
"Assuredly, Philibert! Command me in anything you can devise to rescue that noble young fellow from the fatal companionship of Bigot. But I know not how long I shall be permitted to remain in New France: powerful intrigues are at work for my removal!" added the Governor. "I care not for the removal, so that it be not accompanied with insult."
"Ah! you have received news to-day by the frigate?" said Philibert, looking down at the King's ship at anchor in the stream.
"News? Yes; and such news, Philibert!" replied the Governor in at one of despondency. "It needs the wisdom of Solon to legislate for this land, and a Hercules to cleanse its Augean stables of official corruption. But my influence at Court is nil--you know that, Philibert!"
"But while you are Governor your advice ought to prevail with the King," replied Philibert.
"My advice prevail! Listen, Philibert: my letters to the King and the Minister of Marine and Colonies have been answered by whom, think you?"
"Nay, I cannot conceive who, out of the legal channel, would dare to reply to them."
"No! no man could guess that my official despatches have been answered by the Marquise de Pompadour! She replies to my despatches to my sovereign!"
"La Pompadour!" exclaimed Philibert in a burst of indignation.
"She, the King's mistress, reply to your despatches! Has France come to be governed by courtesans, like imperial Rome?"
"Yes! and you know the meaning of that insult, Philibert! They desire to force me to resign, and I shall resign as soon as I see my friends safe. I will serve the King in his fleet, but never more in a colony. This poor land is doomed to fall into the hands of its enemies unless we get a speedy peace. France will help us no more!"
"Don't say that, your Excellency! France will surely never be untrue to her children in the New World! But our resources are not yet all exhausted: we are not driven to the wall yet, your Excellency!"
"Almost, I assure you, Philibert! But we shall understand that better after the Council."
"What say the despatches touching the negotiations going on for peace?" asked Philibert, who knew how true were the Governor's vaticinations.
"They speak favorably of peace, and I think, correctly, Philibert; and you know the King's armies and the King's mistresses cannot all be maintained at the same time--women or war, one or other must give way, and one need not doubt which it will be, when the women rule Court and camp in France at the same time!"
"To think that a woman picked out of the gutters of Paris should rule France and answer your despatches!" said Philibert, angrily;
"it is enough to drive honorable Frenchmen mad. But what says the Marquise de Pompadour?"
"She is especially severe upon my opposing the fiscal measures and commercial policy, as she calls it, of her friend the Intendant!