“’Tis well Madame does not overhear that confession. An heiress, and beautiful! Piff! but she might find others to her liking rather than this Cassion.”
“It is small chance she has had to make choice, and 62 as to her being an heiress, where heard you such a rumor, Colonel Delguard?”
The officer straightened up.
“You forget, sir,” he said slowly, “that the papers passed through my hands after Captain la Chesnayne’s death. It was at your request they failed to reach the hands of Frontenac.”
La Barre gazed at him across the desk, his brows contracted into a frown.
“No, I had not forgotten,” and the words sounded harsh. “But they came to me properly sealed, and I supposed unopened. I think I have some reason to ask an explanation, Monsieur.”
“And one easily made. I saw only the letter, but that revealed enough to permit of my guessing the rest. It is true, is it not, that La Chesnayne left an estate of value?”
“He thought so, but, as you must be aware, it had been alienated by act of treason.”
“Ay! but Comte de Frontenac appealed the case to the King, who granted pardon, and restoration.”
“So, ’twas rumored, but unsupported by the records. So far as New France knows there was no reply from Versailles.”