"He has prospered so well as to be reputed rich for a colony."
"And you live at St. Elphège? In my time it was only a carrying-place for canoes, to avoid the rapid."
"My father is the founder of the little place. He is known throughout our Province as 'The Merchant of St. Elphège.'"
"An honourable title, based on an honourable record no doubt. Would that we rightly respected trade in France. That is one of the nation's weaknesses. You have a mother and brothers?"
"A mother and two sisters—one married, the other at a convent in Quebec. My brother-in-law assists my father. We are very humble people."
"Why have you come to France?"
"Because I have admired it since a child, from my mother's stories at her knee."
"She came from France, then?"
"No, sir, but she was housekeeper in the house of Governor the Marquis de Beauharnois."
When he said this the youth blushed.