beginning of July great icebergs were still floating down the Gulf, huge,
white and glistening in the summer sun, as they floated on to their
destruction in the southern seas. However, the good ship "Vancouver"
passed safely through the perils of storms and icebergs, and after a
fairly prosperous passage of ten days arrived safely at Rimouski. There
she paused for a few hours to let off the mails and two passengers.

These two passengers had been the cause of a great deal of gossip and
attention on the voyage out, for they were both, in their different
spheres, celebrated personages, and known to fame on both sides of the
Atlantic. It seemed rather strange that they should land at a little
out-of-the-way place like Rimouski.

"Oh!" exclaimed one of the celebrities, a little lady clad in furs. "Oh,
Eugène, everything is just the same as it used to be in the old days, and
look over there on the pier is M. Bois-le-Duc."

Yes, there stood the tall, venerable priest, his hair now snowy white,
and his shoulders bent under the weight of years. But the good curé was
energetic as of old, and his eyes gleamed with excitement as the ship
approached. His hands were stretched out in welcome, and a smile of most
intense happiness lighted up his handsome features, and, as the
travellers stepped from the gangway to the pier, he went quickly forward
to greet them, exclaiming, in his bright cheery manner:--

"Eugène, Marie, my children, welcome home, a thousand times welcome.
Heaven has indeed been good to me. My heart's desire is now fulfilled."