give him honour in every way that suggested itself. He
made a great display of his importance, and would boast
among his friends that he was as diplomatic and as able
as any statesman in Canada, and that even his enemies
admitted this. In his earlier days he sought, persistently,
the smiles of the fair girls of the plains, but somehow
or another he was never a very great favourite with the
olive-skinned beauties. Now, however, the case was
different with him. The Red River belles saw in him a
hero and a statesman of the highest order, the ruler of
a colony, and the defiant and triumphant enemy of the
whole Dominion of Canada. So the poor, shallow pets began
to ply their needles, and make for him presents of delicate
things. One sewed gorgeous beads upon his hunting coat,
and another set his jacket spangling with quills of the
porcupine. The good priests of Red River, and their pious
vicar, _pere_ Lestanc, whom Monseigneur had left in charge
of the Diocese while he was attending the Ecumenical
Council in Rome, came forward with their homage. These
worthy gentlemen had been in the habit of reading from
the Catechism ever since the time they were first able
to tell their beads, or to make mud pies, these words:
"He that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of
God; and they that (so) resist shall purchase to themselves
damnation." Here was a madly ambitious adventurer "resisting
the power," and, therefore, "resisting the ordinances of
God;" but these precious divines saw no harm whatever in
the act. Indeed, they were the most persistent abettors
in the uprising, counselling their flock to be zealous
and firm, and to follow the advice of their patriotic