cotillion that was proceeding. The feelings of the young seemed to issue
and mingle in sympathy, with a freedom naturally delightful to my
peculiar nature, and the triumphant strains of music excited my pulses.

Mde. De Rheims touched my arm and pointed individuals by name. "That
strong young man is a d'Irumberry--the pale one, a Le Ber--that young
girl's mother is a Guay de Boisbriant. Do not look at her partner, he is
some _canaille_."

There was, true enough, some difference. The descendants of gentry were
on the average marked with at least physical endowments quite distinctly
above the rest of the race. But there was a ridiculous side, for I
recognized some about whom my grandmother was used to make merry, such
as the youth who could "trace his ancestry five ways to Charles the
Fat," and the stout-built brothers in whose family there was a rule
"never to strike a man twice to knock him down.". My grandmother said
that "those who could _not_ knock him down kept the tradition by not
striking him once!"

Mde. De Rheims now introduced me to two people simultaneously--Sir
Georges Mondelet, Chief-Justice, and the ruddy lady, Mde. Fauteux of
Quebec. The Chief Justice was of that good old type, at sight of which
the word gentil-homme springs naturally to one's lips He was small in
figure, but his features were clearly cut, and the falling of the cheeks
and deepening of lines produced by approach of age, had but imparted to
them an increased, repose. His clear gaze and fine balance of expression
denoted that remarkable common sense and personal honor for which I
divined his judgments and conduct must be respected. His smile was
charming, and displayed a set of well-preserved teeth. The few words he
spoke to me were not remarkable. They were simple and kind like his