At last he came to a dead halt, and breathing hard, and with eyes aflame, ejaculated, "Thank you, a thousand, thousand time for showing me this precious letter." Then pressing it to his breast, he disappeared entirely from Vesper's range of vision.
After a time he came back. Some of his excitement had gone from his head through his heels, and he sank heavily on a block of wood.
"You do not know, you cannot tell," he said, "what this letter means to us."
"What does it mean?"
"It means—I do not know that I can say the word, but I will try—cor-rob-oration."
"Explain a little further, will you?"
"In the past all was for the English. Now records are being discovered, old documents are coming to light. The guilty colonial authorities suppressed them. Now these records declare for the Acadiens."
"So—this letter, being from one on the opposite side, is valuable."
"It is like a diamond unearthed," said Agapit, turning it over; "but,"—in sudden curiosity,—"this is a copy mutilated, for the name of the captain is not here. From whom did you have it, if I am permitted to ask?"
"From the great-grandson of the old fellow mentioned."