HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1940-03-28, Page 6PAGE SIX
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When liovsieur Doltaire entered
the salon, and, dropping lazily into a
chair beside Madame Duvarney and
ber daughter, drawled out. "England's
Braddock --fool and general—bas gone
to heaven, Captain Moray, and your
papers send you there also," I did not
shift a jot, but looked over at hint
gravely—for. God knows, 1 was start-
led—and I said.
"The General is dead?"
I did not dare to ask, Is he defeat-
ed? though from Doltaire's look I was
sure it was so; and a sickness crept
through me, for at the moment that
seemed the end of our cause. But. I
made as if I had not heard his words
about my papers.
"Dead as a last year's courtier,
shifted from the scene," he replied;
"and having little now to do, well go
play with the rat in our trap."
1 would not have dared look tow-
ard Alixe, standing beside her mother
then, for the song in my blood was
Pitched too high, were it not that a
little sound broke from her. At that I
glanced, and saw that her face was
still and quiet, but her eyes were
shining anxiously, and her whole
body seemed listening. I dared not
give my glance meaning, though I
wished to do so, She had served me
much, had been a good friend to me,
since I was brought a hostage to Que-
bec from Fort Necessity. There, at
that little post on the Ohio, France
threw down the gauntlet, which gave
us the great Seven Years' War. And
though it may be thought I speak
rashly, the lever to spring that trouble
had been within nay grasp. Had
France sat still while Austria and
Prussia quarrelled that long fighting
had never been. The game of war had
lain with the Grande Marquise—or
La Pompadour, as she was called—
and later it may be seen how I, un-
willingly. moved her to set it going.
Answering Monsieur Doltaire I said
stoutly, "I am sure our general made
a good Rgbt; he had gallant men."
"Truly gallant," he returned—"your
own Virginians among others" (I bow-
ed); "but he was a blunderer. as were
you also monsieur, or you had not
sent him plans of our forts and let-
ters of such candour. They have
gone to France, my captain."
Madame Duvarney seemed to stiff-
en in her chair. for what did this
mean but that I was a spy? and the
young lady behind them now put her
handkerchief to her mouth as if to
stop a ward. To make light of the
charges against myself was the only
thing, and yet I had little heart to do
so. There was that between Monsieur
Doltaire and myself --a matter I shall
come to by and by—which well
might make me apprehensive.
"My sketch and my gossip with my
friends," said I, "can have little in-
terest in France,"
"My faith. the Grande Marquise
will find a relish for them." he said
pointedly at me. HP. the natural son
of King Louis, has played the part be-
tween La Pompadour and myself in
the grave matter of which I spoke.
"She loves deciding knotty points of
morality," he added.
"She has had will and chance
enough." said I boldly, "but what
point of morality is here?"
"The most vital—to you," he re-
joined, nicking his handkerchief a
little, and drawling so that I could
have stopped his mouth with my
hand. "Shall a hostage on parole
make sketches of a fort and send
them to his friends who in turn pass
them on to a foolish general?"
"When one party to an Article of
War wilfully breaks his sworn prom-
ise, shall the other be held to his?" I
asked quietly.
I was glad that at this moment the
Seigneur Duvarney entered, for I
could feel the air now growing colder
about Madame his wife. He at least.
was a good friend; but as I glanced
at him 1 saw his face was troubled
and -his manner distant. He looked at
Monsieur Doltaire a moment steadily,
stooped to This wife's hand, and, as
she did so, whispered something in
his ear, to which he nodded assent, I
knew afterwards that she asked him
to keep me to dinner with them.
Presently turning to Monsieur Dol-
taire, he said inquiringly, "You have
a squad of men outside my house,
Doltaire?"
Doltaire nodded in a languid way.
and answered, "An escort—for. Cap-
tain Moray—to the citadel."
I tuiew now, as he had said, that I
was in the trap; that he had begun
the long sport which tante near giv.
ing me the white shroud of death, as
It turned white the hair upon any
head ere I was thirty-two. Do I not
know that the indignities, the mis-
e'ies I suffered, I owed mostly to
him, and that at the last he well-nigh
robbed England of her greatest pride.
the taking of New France?—For
chance sometimes lets humble men
like me balance the scales of fate;
and I was humble enough in rank, if
in spirit always something above my
place,
I was standing as be spoke these
words, and I turned to him and said,
"Monsieur, I am at your service."
"I have sometimes wished," he said
instantly, and with a courteous if
ironical gesture, 'that you were in
my service—that is, the King's."
I bowed as to a compliment, for I
would not see the insolence, and I re-
torted, "Would I could offer you a
company in my Virginia regiment!"
"Delightful! delightful." he rejoin-
ed. "I should make as good a Briton
as you a Frenchman, every whit."
I suppose he would have kept lead-
ing on to such silly play, had I not
turned to Madame Duvarney and
said, "I am most sorry that this mis-
hap falls here; but it is not of my do-
ing. and in colder comfort, Madame,
I shall recall the good hours spent in
your home."
I think I said it with a general
courtesy yet, feeling the eyes of the
young lady on me, perhaps a little
extra warmth came into my voice,
and worked upon Madame, or it may
be she was glad of my removal from
contact with her daughter; but kind•
nese showed in her face, and she re-
plied gently. "I am sure it is only for
a few days till we see you again:'
Yet 1 think in her heart site knew
my life was perilled: those were
rough and hasty times, when the axe
or the rope was the surest way to
deal with troubles. Three years be -
THE SEAFORTH NEWS
fore, at Fort 'Necessity, I had handed
my sword to my lieutenant, bidding
hint make healthy use of it, and, trav-
elling to Quebec on parole, had come
M and out of this house with great
freedom. Yet since Alixe had grown
towards womanhood there had been
marked change in Madame's man-
ner.
"The days, however few, will be too
long until I tax your courtesy again."
I said. "I bid you adieu, Madame."
":Nay. not so." spoke up my host;
"not one step: dinner is nearly serv-
ed, and you crust both dine with us,
Nay. lett I insist," he added, as be
saw cue shake my head. "Monsieur
Doltaire will giant you this courtesy,
and me the great kindness. Eli Dol-
taire?"
Doltaire rose, glancing from Mad
ame to her daughter. Madame was
smiling. as if begging his consent;
for profligate though the was, his posi-
tion, and, more than all, his personal
distinction. madehim a welcome
guest at most homes in Quebec. Alixe
met his look without a yes or no in
her eyes—so young, yet having such
control and wisdom, as I have had
reason beyond all me to know. Some-
thing, however, in the temper of the
scene had filled her with a kind of
glow, which added to her beauty and
gave her dignity. The spirit of her
look caught tihe admiration of this
expatriated courtier, and I knew that
a deeper cause than all our past con-
flicts—and they were great—would
now, or soon, set him fatally against
me.
"i shall be happy to wait Captain
Moray's pleasure," he said presently,
"and to serve my own by sitting at
Yam table. I was to have dined with
the Intendant this afternoon, but a
messenger shall tell hint duty stays
nie. . . . If you will excuse me!" he
added, going to the door to find a
man of his company, He looked back
for an instant, as if it struck him I
might escape, for he believed in no
man's truth; but he only said, "I may
fetch niy men to your kitchen, Du-
varney? 'Tis raw outside."
"Surely. I shall see they have some
comfort," was the reply.
Doltaire then left the room, and
Duvarney came to me. "This is a bad
business, Moray," he said sadly.
"There is some mistake, is there
not?"
I looked him fait' in the face.
"There is a mistake" I answered. "I
ani no spy, and 1 do not fear that 1
shall lose my life, my honour, or my
friends by offensive acts of mine."
"I believe you," he responded, "as
I have believed since you came, He lifted an eyebrow. "One must
though there has been gabble of your be in the fashion; besides, it does
need some skill to fight. The others
—to dance, drink, love: blind men's
games!" He smiled cynically into the
distance.
I have never known a man who in-
terested me so much—never one so
original, so varied, and so uncommon.
in his nature, I marvelled at the Pith
and depth of his observations; for
though I agreed not with him once in
ten times, I loved his great reflective
cleverness and his line penetration—
singular gifts in a man of action.
But action to him was a playtime, be
had that irresponsibility of the
Court from which be came, its scorn-
ful endurance of defeat or misery, its
flippant look upon the world, its
scoundrel view of women. Then he
and Duvarney talked, and 1 sat
thinking. Perhaps the passion of a
cause grows in you as you suffer for
it, and I had suffered, and suffered by
Patriotic ends; but that soon passed,
and then I wished her companionship
for true love of her. Also, I had been
back because when I first knew ,her
site seemed but a child. Yet how
quickly and how wisely dict she grow
out of her childhood! She had a play-
ful twit, and her talents were far be-
yond her year's. It amazed me often
to hear her sum up' a thing in some
pregnant sentence which, when you
came to think, was the olio word to be
said. She had such a deep look out of
her blue eyes that you were hardly
drawn from them to see the warm
sweet colour of her face, the fair
broad forehead, the brown hair, the
delicate richness of her lips, which
ever were full of humour and of seri-
ousness—both running together, as
'you may see a laughing brook steal
into the quiet of a river.
Duvarney and I were thus alone for
a moment, and he straightway drop-
ped a hand upon my shoulder. "Let
ale advise yon," he said, "be friendly
with Doltaire. He has great influence
at the Court and elsewhere. He can
make your bed hard or soft at the
citadeL"
I smiled at him, and replied, "1
shall sleep no less sound because of
Monsieur Doltaire."
"You are bitter in your trouble,"
said he.
I made baste to answer, "No, no,
my own troubles do not weigh ee
heavy—but our General's death!"
"You are a patriot, my friend," he
added warmly, "I could well have
been content with our success against
your English army without this deep
danger to your person."
I put out my hand to hint, but I
did not speak, for jest thea Doltaire
entered. He was smiling at something
in his thought.
"The fortunes are with the Intend-
ant always," said he. "When things
are at their worst, and the King's
storehouse, the dear La eeriponne, is
be ripped by our rebel peasants like
a sawdust doll, here comes this gay
news of our success on the Ohio; and
in that Braddock's death the whining
beggars will forget their empty
bellies, and bless where they meant
to curse. What fools, to be sure!
,They had better loot La Fripponne.
Lord, how we love fighting, we
Ft'ench! And 'tis so much easier to
dance, or drink, or love!" He strech-
ed out his shapely legs as he sat mus-
ing.
Duvarney shrugged a shoulder,
smiling. "But you, Doltaire-there's
no man out of France that fights
more:''
doings. I do not forget you bought
my life back from those wild Moh-
awks five years ago. You have my
hand in trouble or out of it."
Upon my soul, I could have fallen
on his neck, for the blow to our
cause and the shadow on my own
fate oppressed me for the moment!
At this point the ladies left the
room to stake some little toilette be-
fore dinner, and as they passed me
the sleeve of Alixe's dress touched
my arm. I caught her fingers for all
instant, and to this clay I can Peel
that warm, rich current of life cours-
ing front finger-tips to heart. She did
not look at me at all, but passed on
after her mother. Never till that mo-
ment had there been any open show
of heart between us. When. I first
came to Quebec (1 own it with
shame) I was inclined to use her
youthful friendship for private and
New Home for Banff School of Fine Arts
is
l esss aaw'`nw,w:
Mgr '......a s 7 •
i
The Banff School of Fine Arts
has a new home which is as
modern as the splendid work done
by the school. The new audito-
rium, which was officially opened
in January in the presence of
educationaland other Alberta
leaders, will be the scene of the
eighth annual session of the
school, from August 1st to 43,1st,
This $50,'000 building is made of
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theatre has a seating capacity of
700 and a modern stage fitted
with the finest lighting equipment
and there are dressing rooms,
music room, work rooms and
other meeting rooms for ramal
groups. The building is truly a
co-operative effort. The Parks
Department deeded two lots worth
$10,000 to the Banff School Board
and supplied plans and specifica-
tions free of charge; the Sir Ed-
ward Beatty donation of $2,500 to
the Department of Extension of
the University of Alberta made
possible the furnishing and equip-
ment of the stage and theatre. (0
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1940 '
a bitter inaction. Governor Dinwid-
die, Mr, Washington (alas that, as I
Write the fragment chapters of my
life, among the hills where Mont-
rose my ancestor fought, George leads
the colonists against the realm of
England!) nue the rest were suffer-
ing, but they were fighting too,
Brought to their knees they could
rise again to battle; and I thought
then, How more glorious to be with
my gentlemen in blue from Virginia,
holding bark death from the General,
anti at Met felling myself, than to
spend good years a hostage at.
Quebec•, knowing that Canada was
for our taklug, yet doing ucthing to
advance the (hour!
In the thick of these thoughts 1
was not conscious of what the two
were saying, but at last I caught
Madame Coui'na1's name; by which I
'guessed Monsieur Doltaire was talk-
ing of her amours, of which the
chief and final ivas with Bigot the
Intendant to whom the King had
given all civil government, all power
over commerce and finance in the
country. The rivalry between the
Governor and the Intendant was keen
and vital at this time, though it
changed later, as 1 will show. At her
name I looked up and caught Mon-
sieur Doltaire's eye.
He react my thoughts. "You have
had blithe hours here, monsi'our," he
said—"you know the way to probe us;
but of ail the ladies who could be
most useful to you, you left out the
greatest, There you erred. I say it as
a friend, not as an officer, there you
erred. From Madame Cournal to Big -
at, from Bigot to Vaudreuil the Gov-
ernor, from the Governor to France.
But now—
He paused, for Madame Duvarney
and her daughter had come, and we
all rose.
The ladies had heard enough to
know Doltaire's meaning. "But now—
Captain Moray dines with us," acid
Madame Duvarney quietly and mean -
"Yet I dine with Madame Courn-
al," rejoined Doltaire, smiling,
"One may use more option with
enemies and prisoners," she said
keenly, and the shot struck home. In
so small a place it was not easy to
draw the lines close and fine, and it
was in the power of the Intendant,
backed by his confederates, to ruin
almost any family in the province if
he chose; and that he chose at times
I knew well, as did my hostess. Yet
she was a woman of courage and no-
bility ,of thought, and I knew well
where her daughter got her good
flavor of mind.
I could see something devilish in
the smile at Doltaire's lips, but his
look was wandering between Alixe
and me, and he replied urbanely, "I
have ambition yet—to connive at cap-
tivity"; and then he gazed full and
nleaningly at her.
1 can see her now, her hand an the
high back of a great oak chap, the
lace of her white sleeve falling
away, and her soft arm showing, her
eyes on his without wavering, They
did not drop, not turn aside; they
held straight on, calm, strong—mid
understanding, By that look I saw she
read him; she, who had seen so little
of the world, felt what he was, and
met his invading interest firmly, yet
sadly; for I knew long after that a
smother was at her heart then, fore -
shadowings of dangers that wetild try
her as few women are tried. Thank
God that good women are born with
greater souls for trial than men; that
given once an anchor fol' their hearts
they hold until the cables break.
When we were about to enter the
dining -room, I saw, to MY joy, Mad-
ame incline towards Doltaire, and I
knew that Alixe was for myself= -
though her mother wished it little, I
ani sure. As she took my arm, her
finger-tips plunged softly into the
velvet of my sleeve, giving me a
thrill of courage. I felt my spirits
rise, and 1 set myself to carry things
off gaily, to have this last hour with
her clear of gloom, for it seemed easy
to think that we should meet no
MOM.
As we passed 'into the dining -room,
I said, as I had said the first time I
went to dinner In her father's house,
"Shall we be flippant, or grave?"
Young Sonny, poorly clad, had
been provided with a new pair of
boots by the kind family which had
received the little refugee.
His host gave him a little advice
on wear and tear.
"Trying climbiug the stairs two at
a time," he said. "Your new boots
)will last longer."
Sonny, anxious to please, ran up
the stairs three at a time.
"See what L mean?" asked the
delighted foster -father.
"Yes," replied little Sonny, "it
certainly saves shoe leather, but
look—"
And, turning.. round, he revealed a
long split in the seam' of his trousers.
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Dr, E. A. McMaster, M.B., Graduate
of University of Toronto.
J. D. Colquhoun, M.D., C.M., Grad-
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The Clinic is fully equipped with
complete and modern x-ray and other
up-to-date diagnostic and thereuptic
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Dr. Margaret Ii, Campbell, M.D.,
L,A,B.P., Specialist in Diseases in
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from 3 to 6 p.m.
Dr. F. 7, R. Forster, Specialist in
Diseases of the Ear, Eye, Nose and
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Tuesday in every month from 4 to
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Free well -baby clinic will be held
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JOHN A. GORWILL, B.A.,M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
In Dr. H. H. Ross' office. Phone 5 J
W. C. SPROAT, M.D., F.A,C.S.
Surgery
Phone 90-W. Office John St., Seaforth
DR. H. H. ROSS
Physician and Surgeon. Late el.'
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Special attention to diseases of the
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Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat
Graduate in Medicine, University
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Wednesday in each month from 2 to -
4 p.m. Also at Seaforth Clinic first
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St., Stratford. Telephone 267.
MARGARET K. CAMPBELL, M.D.
London, Ontario
Graduate Toronto University
Licentiate of American Board of Pedi-
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At Seaforth Clinic, last Thursday af-
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Arrangements can be made for Sale
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All kinds of Insurance risks effect-
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HEAD OFFICE—SEAFORTH, Ont.
OFFICERS
President, Wm. Knox, Londesboro;
Vice President, W. R. Archibald,
Seaforth; Secretary Treasurer, M. A.
Reid, Seaforth.
AGENTS
F. McKercher, R.R.1, Dublin; John
E. Pepper, R.R.1, Brucefield; E. R. G.
Jarmouth, Brodhagen; James Watt,
Blyth; C. F. Hewitt, Kincardine;
Wm, Yeo, Holmesville.
DIRECTORS
Alex Broadfoot, Seaforth; William
Knox, Londesboro; Chris Leonhardt,
Dublin; James Connolly, Goderich;
Thomas Moylan, Seaforth; W. IL
Archibald, Seaforth; Alex Mc)7wing,
Blyth; Frank McGregor, Clinton;
Hugh Alexander, Walton,
Parties desirous to effect insurance
or transact other business, will be
promptly attended to by applications
to any of the above named officers
addressed- to their respective post -
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