The Governor visited me. His attitude was marked by nothing so
much as a supercilious courtesy, a manner which said, You must
see I am not to be trifled with; and though I have you here in
my chateau, it is that I may make a fine scorching of you in the
end. He would make of me an example to amaze and instruct the
nations--when I was robust enough to die.

I might easily have flattered myself on being an object of
interest to the eyes of nations. I almost pitied him; for he
appeared so lost in self-admiration and the importance of his
office that he would never see disaster when it came.

"There is but one master here in Canada," he said, "and I am he.
If things go wrong it is because my orders are not obeyed. Your
people have taken Louisburg; had I been there, it should never have
been given up. Drucour was hasty--he listened to the women. I should
allow no woman to move me. I should be inflexible. They might send
two Amhersts and two Wolfes against me, I would hold my fortress."

"They will never send two, your Excellency," said I.

He did not see the irony, and he prattled on: "That Wolfe, they
tell me, is bandy-legged; is no better than a girl at sea, and
never well ashore. I am always in raw health--the strong mind in
the potent body. Had I been at Louisburg, I should have held it,
as I held Ticonderoga last July, and drove the English back with
monstrous slaughter."

Here was news. I had had no information in many months, and all