“Not if the child wished it, and if, besides being rich, the man were honourable and of good family,” said the General.
“Leave that to me,” answered the lady. “You must let your ‘little nun,’ as you call her, take up her abode under my roof during your absence, General. It will be quite the right thing. This is a great barrack of a place, and there are three empty rooms just above my own apartments; now I think of it, they overlook the gardens of the Ursulines. She can contemplate at her leisure her future abode, in case my matrimonial scheme should fail, which I do not think probable; I am proverbially fortunate,” and she tossed her fair head and smiled with conscious power.
“I cannot sufficiently thank you for the interest you take in my daughter,” answered Montcalm. “I will consider the matter, and, if you will allow me, will bring you my answer to-morrow at this same hour; in any case, my daughter shall tender you her thanks in person.” He rose, and bowed low before the reigning beauty; she smiled graciously, and extended her hand, which, according to the custom of those days, he raised to his lips; then once more bowing, he withdrew to make room for others who were waiting to pay their homage, for Madame Péan held a mimic court, and it was rumoured, indeed, that with many in high places her word was law.
The General did not remain long in the salons, and as soon as he had disappeared there arose an excited murmur in the group surrounding Madame Péan. She rose. “You will never tell me again I am no diplomate, Monsieur,” she said, turning to the Marquis de Vaudreuil.
The Governor smiled. “Who is your last conquest, Madame?” he said. “Not Montcalm? He is as impregnable as Quebec itself!”
“We shall see,” said the lady. “There is a weak point in every fortress. Have you heard that he has been mad enough to bring a daughter out here, to make her a nun at the Ursulines opposite?”
“And you are bent upon frustrating such pious designs?” said the Intendant Bigot, who, notwithstanding his unprepossessing appearance, managed to ingratiate himself with all sorts and conditions of men; and by his lavish hospitality and readiness to oblige was able with impunity to plunder the populace and secure for himself and his friends immense fortunes. It is affirmed that one company, with which Major Péan, the husband of the fair lady we have just introduced to our readers, was associated, made in the course of one year a net profit of twelve millions. This was done, to a great extent, by monopolies. Bigot, himself a native of Bordeaux, traded under the name of Clavarie with the firm of Gradis & Son of that city. He was known to have made a colossal fortune, and lived with royal splendour, dispensing lavish hospitality at the king’s expense.
General Montcalm was too new a comer, and himself of a too spotless integrity, to even suspect such dealings; he had already been made aware that the Governor and native authorities of Canada viewed him with jealous suspicion, as a stranger and an intruder. They did not recognise the necessity of his presence amongst them. The Governor was especially irate at having to yield precedence to him in military matters; but the General was determined to do his utmost to conciliate all parties, and he was ably seconded by his first and second officers, the Chevaliers Levis and Bougainville.
In answer to Bigot’s half-mocking query, Madame Péan nodded her head, and the sparkling face laughed acquiescence.
“I should rather think so,” she said. “I mean to have and to hold her as a fair hostage. When the war is over, and the Marquis sails from our coast, we will let her go home, or to the convent, unless she become one of ourselves.”