"But mine is not where I can take it at a month's notice. I have been building on my plantation, weeding out some incompetent and drunken tenants, and putting in others. Pontgrave is going. Du Pare is much at the new settlement at Beaupré. It would not be possible for me to go, but you might."
"Go alone?" in dismay.
"It would not be alone. Madame de Champlain would be glad of your company."
"A woman who has no other thought but continual prayers, and anxieties for the souls of the whole world."
"Another year——"
"I want to go now"—impatiently.
She was like a fretful child. He looked in vain now for the charms she had once possessed.
"I could not possibly. It would be at a great loss. And I am not enamored of the broils and disputes. How do I know but some charge may be trumped up against me? The fur company seize upon any pretext. And even a brief absence might ruin some of my best plans. Marguerite, I am more of a Canadian than a Frenchman. The Sieur has promised to interest some new emigrants. I see great possibilities ahead of us."
"So you have talked always. I am homesick for La Belle France. I want no more of Canada, of Quebec, that has grown hateful to me."
Her voice was high and tremulous, and there burned a red spot on each cheek.