"'P. S. Please write soon again.'"
Martine and Priscilla smiled at the quaint letter, with its curious mingling of pride and humility and its touch of French gallantry.
"Pierre seems quite sure of his own future,"—and Amy replaced the sheet in her pocket. "With his aim so firmly in view, it's quite probable that he'll attain his ambition."
"'Best duty,'" observed Priscilla, "isn't that a strange expression?"
"It certainly isn't French; he has picked it up from some of the 'cruel' English."
"He probably had an old-fashioned school-teacher at some time. I hope that we'll see both Pierre and Yvonne before we return home; but now we must keep our minds on Annapolis. I'm so afraid that you haven't got all you might of its history."
"Oh, my dear Amy, Priscilla is just brimful of the Loyalists and their sufferings; you ought to hear some of the stories that she has gathered up. Show her your note-book, Priscilla."
Priscilla reddened and shook her head, while Martine continued:
"And as for me, I'm so charged with historical associations that I feel as if I'd give them out in electric sparks if any one should rub me the right way. Of course I know that this is not the original French fort, but when one is dreaming, she needn't be so very particular about facts; so if I shut my eyes, here on this very spot," and Martine suited the action to the word, "I can see Poutrincourt and Lescarbot and all the others who were here that long winter when De Monts had gone back to France, leaving Pontgravé in charge. I just imagine that the old barracks over there is the great hall where they used to have their feasts, and I can see them all marching in with the fifteen gentlemen at the head who sat at Poutrincourt's table, the Grand Master strutting in front, with his staff of office in his hand and his napkin over his shoulder. L'Ordre de Bon Temps—that was a capital idea of Lescarbot's, to keep them all in good spirits and make each man think himself of supreme importance for a day."
"Tell me about it," said Priscilla. "If I ever knew, I believe I've forgotten what it was."