He did not question me, nor, indeed, would he allow me to speak, until he had provided a hot drink of some sweetened spirit, which brought back the glow to my blood, and then he set about preparing breakfast, keeping up an incessant chatter the while, until he had me laughing at his flow of talk.
“Aha! That is better!” he exclaimed, joyfully. “Now, madame, what are your orders?”
“Can you take me to Quebec?”
“I can—but—” and his face lengthened.
“But what?”
“Well, madame, to be truthful, I am expecting the first ships every day now; they are late as it is; and if I am off the ground, why, then the bread must drop into some one else's basket! That is all.”
“I can pay you well for what you may lose in this way.”
“It is not only the money, madame, 'l'argent est rond et çà roule,' but I have always brought up the first ship since I was twenty, and that was not last Sunday, as one may guess. Yet, if madame says so, I am at her orders.”
“I do not know what to say, Gabriel. I will not return to Beaulieu, and though I want to reach Quebec, I am unwilling you should miss your ship; but I certainly cannot remain on board here while you are with her.”