strangers; I scarcely know you; I--"

"We are no strangers," he broke in. "How can that be, when for years I
have thought of you--you of me? But I am content to wait, for my love
shall win you yet. You--"

She came to him and put her hands upon his arm. "You remember," she
said, with a touch of her old gaiety, and with an inimitable grace, "what
good friends we were that first day we met? Let us be the same now--for
this time at least. Will you not grant me this for to-day?"

"And to-morrow?" he asked, inwardly determining to stay in the port of
New York and to carry her off as his wife; but, unlike Bucklaw, with her
consent.

At that moment the governor returned, and Iberville's question was never
answered. Nor did he dine at Government House, for word came secretly
that English ships were coming from Boston to capture him. He had,
therefore, no other resource but to sail out and push on for Quebec.
He would not peril the lives of his men merely to follow his will with
Jessica.

What might have occurred had he stayed is not easy to say--fortunes
turn on strange trifles. The girl, under the influence of his masterful
spirit and the rare charm of his manner, might have--as many another has
--broken her troth. As it was, she wrote Iberville a letter and sent it
by a courier, who never delivered it. By the same fatality, of the
letters which he wrote her only one was received. This told her that
when he returned from a certain cruise he would visit her again, for he
was such an enemy to her country that he was keen to win what did it most