"Did he inform you what had taken place?"
"He did."
"Why, then, did you not turn back to help me?"
"Because Motier informed me that you were dead."
"Very good. He believed so, I doubt not; but, at any rate, you might have turned back, if only to give Christian burial."
"I intended to do that at some future time," said Père Michel; "but at that time I felt my chief duty to be to the living. How could I have left the Countess Laborde? Motier would not have been a proper guardian to convey her to Louisbourg, and to take her back with me was impossible. I therefore decided to go on, as you said, and take her first to Louisbourg, and afterwards to return."
"You showed no haste about it," said Cazeneau.
"I had to wait here," said the priest.
"May I ask what could have been the urgent business which kept you from the sacred duty of the burial of the dead?"
"A ship is expected every day, and I waited to get the letters of my superiors, with reference to further movements on my mission."