“You come from up river?”
“From St. Bernard island,” replied Jacques. “What news of the expedition?”
But Jouaneaux had widened his mouth receptively.
“You are then from the commandant Dollard’s seigniory?”
“The commandant is my seignior,” said Jacques.
Jouaneaux laid hold of his sleeve.
“Did Mademoiselle de Granville return to St. Bernard and take the little half-breed Sister with her?”
“Mademoiselle de Granville, my commandant’s sister, is at St. Bernard; yes,” replied Jacques, arrested and stupefied by such inquiries.
“Look you here, my good friend,” exclaimed Jouaneaux. “I speak for the nuns of St. Joseph of the Hôtel-Dieu, where your master put his sister for protection before he set out. Was not her fire built to suit her? We are poor, but our hospitality is free, and we love not to have it flung back in our faces. Still, I say nothing of mademoiselle. She hath her seigniory to look after, and she was not a novice.”
“My master left my lady at the governor’s house,” asserted Jacques.