CHAPTER XXXIV
AT QUEBEC
Germain was now committed to the most desperate courses to maintain hisassumed character. He left France, and by way of London, took ship forhis colony. The Canada of 1788 was a quaint community shut away out ofthe great world. It consisted of a few widely separated hamlets, keepingin touch with each other by means of a long road on each shore of theSt. Lawrence, and having as chief cities the two tiny walled towns ofQuebec and Montreal. It possessed a population of perhaps a hundred andfifty thousand souls, all French except a couple of British regiments,and a handful of officials and tradesmen. Some bodies of refugeeLoyalists of the American Revolution had recently also come in. Thedriblet of population thus strung scantily along the banks of the vastriver seemed as nothing in the mighty forest by which it was surrounded.The country therefore had in great part the virgin look of the primevalsolitude.
After an eight weeks' stormy voyage in the London barque _Chatham_,Germain cast his eyes with relief on the tawny, lion-like rock ofQuebec, with the fortress above and the little town about its feet, andstraggling up its sides. The vessel at length drew up to moorings, theanchor dropped, and a boat came out for the passengers. He disembarkedwith his boxes, and inquired for a good lodging in the Upper Town. A_caleche_-driver undertook to find him one, and leaving the heavierluggage with a merchant near by, lashed his brisk little horse with theends of the reins, and inspired it into a cat-like climb by which Lecourwas whisked up the precipitous windy street called Mountain Hill, fromthe busy Lower to the aristocratic and military Upper Town.
After some searching they found a certain Madame Langlois, a widow wholived in a comfortable house on St. Louis Street, and could give thegentleman a front room on her first floor. There he could see theprincipal doings of the town, for it was not far from the Place d'Armesand the Castle. It suited him and he installed himself. As it was latein the afternoon, he occupied the time by unpacking his effects untilcalled to supper by Madame Langlois. At the meal, he noted that hislandlady--a thin, civil woman of thirty-eight or so, was simply dying ofdiscreet curiosity. He vouchsafed her only his name, and that he wasjust arrived from France. He, however, asked a number of questions aboutthe Castle, the Governor, his staff, and the prominent people of thetown, and inflamed her interest as much by his questions as by his dressand manners. Then retiring till dusk fell, he went out and wanderedabout the neighbourhood.
The rock of Quebec is like a lion couchant beside the St. Lawrence. Onthe head is the fortress, on the back the Upper Town, around the feetnestles the Lower Town, while the River St. Charles flows around thehinder parts.
The city was no vast place: its population was but some seven thousandsouls, with about two thousand of a garrison, and the occupied area inthe Upper Town covered a few streets only, the remainder consisting ofgrassy fields stretching to the fortification walls. The citadel,picturesquely crowning the summit of the rock, stood several hundredyards higher, at one side. The Castle of St. Louis, the main ornament ofthe place next to the cathedral, overlooked the cliff, resting on aseries of tall buttresses ribbing the side of the precipice.
At every point along the "lion's back," or upper edge of the cliff,where Germain was, a magnificent view greeted him. He stopped to enjoyit. The harbour lay glimmering far below in the moonbeams, across it theheights of Levis stretched along the weird landscape. The lightedwindows of the Lower Town, of which he could see little more than theshimmering dark roofs, shone up obliquely. All was domed over by adark-blue sky in which the harvest moon rode.
He walked back from the cliff along the Rue St. Louis to the city wall,and returned by the Rue Buade. In doing so he scanned the fortificationswith military interest, and returning, remarked the dark, low pile ofthe convent of the Jesuits, and also the cathedral and the seminaryadjoining. He remembered once hearing his father say this cathedral ofQuebec had been designed by one of the de Lerys. From the place in frontof it he could make out dimly, down the slope of Ste. Famille Streetclose by, the de Lery mansion itself.
"The father and mother will be there," he cogitated. "They will have hadletters about me from France by this time."
He turned again along Buade Street, and continued his stroll with anobject, for at the point where the sharp descent towards the Lower Townbegan he brought up before a stately house of stone, of an antiquearchitecture, on the face of which, over the door, somethingindistinctly glittered. It was the house of the Golden Dog; and as hesurveyed it and tried vainly to read the letters of the inscription,his shadowy visitor at Troyes once more arose vividly before hisimagination, and the terrible scene of Philibert's murder seemed to beenacted again upon the flight of steps before the door. Absorbed in thegruesome story with which he was so strangely connected, he returned tohis chamber, and retired.
Twice he heard the tramp of a change of guards passing along the street.Once a convent bell rang, perhaps for some midnight burial.
The next day at breakfast he learned from his hostess that the presenceof the strange gentleman lodging with her had been remarked by severalyoung women, and that it was already the gossip of the Upper Town. Inthe course of her stream of news she mentioned Monsieur de Lery. Thehand with which he was about to lift his cup to his lips stopped, and hecasually asked--
"Who is _he_?"
"The Honourable Monsieur de Lery," she exclaimed. "I thought he wasknown to all the world. He is the senior in the Governor's council, andhis lady is the best customer of my brother-in-law's shop. The oldChevalier de Lery never did a wrong to any one, and if he is a littlestiff, he still walks the straightest man in the town of Quebec."
Lecour withdrew to his chamber, and opened a miniature portmanteaucovered with purple leather and stamped in gold with the de Lincy arms.He drew out a parchment, which he placed on the table. Then, taking fromhis clothes-box the uniform of his lieutenancy in the Bodyguard--whichhe had been so expressly forbidden to wear--he dressed himself beforethe glass with the greatest care, and having finished, put on his sword,placed the parchment in his bosom, took up his hat, and went forth withhis ordinary air of ease and command. Passing along the street andacross the Place d'Armes--at the insignificance of which, comparing itwith that of Versailles, he laughed almost aloud--he entered the gate ofthe Castle.
The tow-headed Briton who was performing sentry duty at the gate, thoughhe challenged him like an automaton, was astonished at the sight of auniform, the like of which, in style, brilliancy, and ornaments, he hadnever before seen.
"Be blowed to me, Bill," he soon afterwards remarked to a comrade of theguard-room, "if I didn't take 'im fer ole General Montcalm come backfrom blazes; 'e looked so grand an' Frenchy-like, an' come on me sosudden."
The Governor's _aide-de-camp_, de la Naudiere, a dashing Canadianofficer, was almost as surprised at the sight of Lecour's uniform as thesentry, and receiving him with profound deference, read the passportwhich the new arrival handed him. He was not aware how closely the eyesof Germain watched his face. At the name "LeCour de Lincy, Esquire," inthe paper he gave a slight start, but by the time he came to the end hismanner recovered itself, and he greeted him cordially.
"The French army, Monsieur, never lacks honour in the Province ofQuebec. You bear a uniform and a rank which commend you to our besthospitalities. Will you permit me to share my good fortune in meetingyou with our Governor, Lord Dorchester?"
"I have heard of Lord Dorchester," replied Germain, "how gallant a manhe is, and how true a friend to our nation."
"Nothing is truer, sir; every Canadian will tell you he is the soul ofkindness and sympathy with us, and that he has quite withdrawn the stingof 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. Hisfriendship with our gentry is like the relation of a veritable fatherto his family."
"Were not his services very great in the American Revolution? I haveheard General Lafayette speak highly of his name."
"Yes, Monsieur; his services preserved thi
s Province from the enemy, andwe have named him 'the Saviour of Canada.' Pardon me a moment toannounce you."
While waiting to be summoned to the Governor, Lecour glanced around. Thepart of the buildings in which he stood was the Old Chateau, apicturesque structure of the French times, dating from 1694, crowningits conspicuous position as a landmark by a mediaeval roof of steeppitch; while a gallery two hundred feet in length ran along the outside,supported by tall buttresses, which, clinging to the cliff-side, gave itbeneath the same elongated lines as the steep roof above. The result wasexceedingly quaint and castellated. He remembered that he had often seenit thus from the river. His present point of view gave him, through thewindows and over the gallery, another form of his view of the harbourand Point Levis, one of the most striking landscapes in the world.Looking closer about the room, the low-raftered ceilings of an oldertime brought another thought to his mind.
"Is not this," he exclaimed to himself, "the very chamber where CountFrontenac, a hundred years ago, must have received the envoy of AdmiralPhipps with request to surrender, and returned the reply, 'I will answeryour master by the mouth of my cannon.'" He imagined he heard thegallant veteran say the words.
Turning to the windows towards the courtyard, he saw opposite thehandsome new range of buildings lately erected, and nicknamed "CastleHaldimand," 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 itsprecincts with juvenile awe. Now, he was standing a guest of honour inthe then inaccessible arcana. He was not given much time to continue hisreflections. De la Naudiere came back, brought him across, and conductedhim 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 meetingof distinguished men of that time, and Lecour, as he reciprocated thesalutation, saw that he had nothing to fear from him.
"I recognise your uniform, Chevalier," said he, "which revives to mesome pleasant memories of Versailles."
"Your Lordship is, then, acquainted with my Sovereign's Court? HisMajesty knows how to appreciate a brave man."
"He has too many in his service to do otherwise; but I have nopretensions on that score."
"The world well knows, your Excellency, 'The Saviour of Canada,'" Lecourreplied, "and my country honours you as one of the worthiest of formerfoes."
"Tut, tut, Monsieur le Chevalier--excuse the freedom of an oldEnglishman in turning the conversation. My lady will die of curiosityover the appearance of a Garde-du-Corps in this out-of-the-way quarterof the globe. How can I answer her as to the cause?"
"Private business with my family, my Lord, connected with an estate inour mother country."
"Ah, your people are Canadians?"
"My father is generally known as the Merchant Lecour of St Elphege. Hisfull name is LeCour de Lincy."
"That is the name on your passport," interrupted de la Naudiere. "Inever knew he was a noble."
"He has never boasted of it," returned Lecour.
"An honest old fellow," Dorchester commented. Then, remembering himself,added, "You will, of course, do us the honour while in Quebec of being aguest at the Castle?"
"Your Lordship's invitation is a command, but I am here for a few hoursonly."
"Let us enjoy these hours then; eh, la Naudiere? See that Mr. de Lincy'sluggage is brought to the Castle."
"We review the garrison, in a few minutes," continued Dorchester, "thenwe luncheon. After that we are to drive to the Montmorenci Falls."
A beautiful and haughty-looking woman of over forty years entered theroom. She stopped when she saw Lecour, but concealing her surprise athis uniform, stood graciously while her husband--for she was theGovernor's wife--turned and said--
"Lady Dorchester, allow me to present the Chevalier de Lincy, whom wehave just acquired as our guest, and whom you will recognise as aGarde-du-Corps of the King of France."
"The Milady Dorchester," as she was called among the people, was of thefamous line of the Howards, daughter of that Earl of Effingham whorefused in 1776 to draw his sword against the liberties of hisfellow-subjects in America.
At her table many a scathing dissertation on the nobodiness of nobodieshad been given the youthful gentry of the Province, a fact not unknownto Germain. De la Naudiere himself had experienced her sharpness when hewas first introduced at her table. On that occasion in carving a jointhe had the misfortune to spill some gravy on the cloth. "Young man,"cried Milady, "where were you brought up?" "At my father's table, wherethey change the cloth three times a day," he quickly retorted, andcaptured her favour.
A Garde-du-Corps, however, was sacred from reproach. To have with themfor the day an inner member of the Court of France, fresh fromdelightful Paris, and from still more delightful Versailles, was reallymore than an exiled lady of fashion in her position could just then havedreamt. How he acquitted himself in her coach at the review and duringthe beautiful afternoon drive to the Falls, how he kept the tablesmiling at dinner, and of their walk in the Castle garden, with its lowcannon-embrasured wall along the cuff, it would scarcely profit thereader to hear, except in one particular.
On the shady lawn at Montmorenci--a name which thrilled him with sweetassociations--he stood in the midst of the picnic party and sang themone 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 journeyup the river.
One result followed, of which he did not know. La Naudiere described hisvisit to the de Lerys in connection with the account received by themfrom Chalons. They again read over the paragraph and discussed it, andde la Naudiere pronounced decidedly that the man could not be thesame--the passport of the present individual did not bear the name ofRepentigny, and he was too perfect a gentleman.