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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35985-8.txt b/35985-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e40dd17 --- /dev/null +++ b/35985-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10572 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Amy in Acadia, by Helen Leah Reed + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Amy in Acadia + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Katharine Pyle + +Release Date: April 28, 2011 [EBook #35985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + + Amy in Acadia + + + + + [Illustration: "From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small fan." + FRONTISPIECE. _See_ p. 25.] + + Amy in Acadia + + _A Story for Girls_ + + By + Helen Leah Reed + + Author of "The Brenda Books" "Miss Theodora" + "Irma and Nap" + + With Illustrations by Katharine Pyle + + Boston + Little, Brown, and Company + 1905 + + + + + _Copyright, 1905_, + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + _All rights reserved_ + + Published October, 1905 + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. + + + + + TO CONSTANCE + MY NIECE + WHO JOURNEYED WITH ME THROUGH ACADIA + + + + + Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I BANISHED 1 + + II LOST AND FOUND 14 + + III TOWARD METEGHAN 29 + + IV YVONNE 43 + + V NEW PEOPLE 57 + + VI PIERRE AND POINT À L'ÉGLISE 71 + + VII DIGBY DAYS 89 + + VIII TWO ADVENTURES 105 + + IX OLD PORT ROYAL 119 + + X EXPLORATIONS 134 + + XI A TEA PARTY 147 + + XII IN THE FOG 163 + + XIII LETTERS AND SOME COMMENTS 178 + + XIV AN EXCURSION 191 + + XV WITH PREJUDICE 204 + + XVI EVANGELINE'S COUNTRY 219 + + XVII SAFE AGAIN 236 + + XVIII THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG OF IT 249 + + XIX A DISCOVERY 263 + + XX FIRE AND FLAME 279 + + XXI OLD CHEBUCTO 299 + + XXII FINDING COUSINS 315 + + XXIII GOOD-BYE TO HALIFAX 329 + + + + + List of Illustrations + + + "From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small + fan" _Frontispiece_ + + "'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come to + see me'" _Page_ 71 + + "'Hello! hello!' she shouted" " 170 + + "'Why, what is the matter, child?' she asked + affectionately" " 246 + + "After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the + other one had thrown down the scissors" " 282 + + "Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane + after the fashion of a drum-major" " 320 + + + + + _Amy in Acadia_ + + + + + CHAPTER I + + BANISHED + + +"No, Fritz, I cannot--" + +"You _will_ not." + +"Well, then I _will_ not ask mother to invite you to go on with us." + +Amy spoke decidedly, but Fritz was not ready to give up. + +"Oh, Amy, do be reasonable! I cannot say anything more to your mother, +for you are in an obstinate mood, evidently determined to persuade +yourself that you do not wish us to travel with you." + +"That is true; I do not wish you to go on with us." + +"But you and I are _such_ friends." + +"So we are, and so we shall continue to be. Because we are such friends, +I am sure that you will forgive me for being so--" + +"So unreasonable." + +"No--reasonable. Now just look at the whole thing sensibly. Here we +are--mamma and I and two girls." + +"What do you call yourself? Aren't you a girl?" + +"Don't interrupt; perhaps I should have said two _school_girls. We have +come away partly for rest and change, partly for study. So it would only +upset all our plans to have you and your friend with us. You'd be +dreadfully in the way." + +"In the way! I like that. Why, you could rest, or study all day, for all +we'd care, and we'd afford you the change that you would certainly need +once in a while. Only--if you'll excuse my saying so--who ever heard of +any one's resting or studying on a pleasure-trip? Just look at the funny +side of it yourself, Amy--and smile--please." + +Whereupon, quite against her will, the smile that twitched Amy's lips +extended itself into a laugh, in which Fritz Tomkins joined heartily. + +"Ah, Amy, that laugh makes me think of old times. So now perhaps you'll +condescend to explain why two lonely youths may not visit the historic +Acadia in company with you and your mother, not to mention the other +members of your party." + +Amy made no answer, and Fritz continued: + +"Just think what we shall lose! It always benefits me to be with your +mother, and you are so full of information, Amy, and you so love to +impart what you know, that by the end of the journey I should be a +walking guidebook. To go with you would be better than attending a +summer school." + +"There, Fritz," interrupted Amy, with rising color, "you are getting +back at me for what I have said. But we really mean to make this an +improving trip." + +"So I should judge. Improving only to yourselves." + +"Well, then I'll explain, since you find it so hard to understand. You +surely know that mamma has been overworking, and yet she does not wish +to waste the whole summer. So, after resting a little, she expects to +find good sketching-material in Nova Scotia. Then I need more strength +before the beginning of my Senior year." + +"I'll be a Senior, too, in the autumn," murmured Fritz; but Amy, not +heeding the interruption, continued: + +"Then there's Priscilla; she has been rather low-spirited since her +father died. She is generally in Plymouth in the summer, and this will +be a change. Besides, she is to read a little English with me for her +Radcliffe examinations." + +"_Rest_--and _change_--and _study_, for three of you. Well, I do hope +that the other girl is to get some pleasure out of the trip. Didn't you +tell me that she comes from Chicago?" + +"Oh, Martine finds amusement in everything--even in study. She was at a +boarding-school last year on the Hudson, and she made life there so +entertaining for herself and her classmates that she had to leave. Her +parents then decided to have her visit relatives in Boston this spring. +Next year she's to go to Miss Crawdon's. She's especially in mother's +care, and I do hope she'll enjoy the summer, for she is worried about +her mother, who is ill at some baths in Germany." + +"Thus far, Amy, you haven't offered a single reason for your desire to +banish us from your side. Neither Taps nor I will stand in the way of +your mother's sketches, except to pose for her when she asks. We +certainly won't deprive the air of its invigorating qualities; and we +might even study--" + +"No, Fritz, you'd simply be in the way." + +"I won't admit that, Miss Amy Redmond, and if I should ask your mother, +she would probably say that you are quite wrong in your opinion. In +fact, that's why you won't let me talk with her. However, as you've +extorted a promise from me, Taps and I will go as far away from you as +we can--in Nova Scotia. We'll travel in the opposite direction from +Acadia, for Nova Scotia is large enough to contain us all without a +collision. But mark my words, many a time in the next few weeks you'll +sigh for a manly arm to pull you out of your difficulties. _Then_ you'll +remember me." + +"I'm not afraid. Acadia has no dangers. Even the Micmacs are tamed. The +French and Indian wars are over." + +"That reminds me,--please excuse me for interrupting,--you will find +Digby, where you are going to-morrow, very tame compared with Pubnico." + +"Pubnico?" + +"Yes, Pubnico, a wonderful French village, with Acadians and descendants +of the old noblesse, and with many interesting things that you'll miss +altogether in your misguided course. Then we shall go to the deserted +Loyalist town, Shelburne, which is full of history and haunted houses." + +"You seem to have digested a whole guidebook, Fritz. As Shelburne is on +the opposite side of the peninsula, I suppose that you really have not +intended to travel with us." + +"Oh, I had two strings to my bow, and when I heard of the French +villages, I decided that to visit them would be the next best thing to +do." Then, looking at his watch, "But now I really must say good-bye; +it's past my time for meeting Taps." + +"Good-bye, Fritz." Amy held out her hand amicably. "You are not angry, +are you?" + +"No, not angry, only--I may never forgive you. Certainly I shall not +forget." + +Before Amy could reply, Fritz had wheeled away, and, turning a corner, +was soon lost to sight. As Amy walked a few steps along the hotel +piazza, suddenly she met her mother face to face. + +"Where's Fritz?" asked Mrs. Redmond. "I expected to find him with you." + +"Oh, he's gone. It's settled that the boys are not to come with us." + +"But, my dear, I hope you have not sent him off. Sometimes you are too +abrupt." + +"Why, mother, I thought that you did not wish them to come with us." + +"I was certainly surprised to see Fritz on the boat last evening. But he +is like my own son, and if he has set his heart on going to Digby, we +must not keep him away." + +"Oh, he's going around on the other coast, he and his friend." + +"Did you meet his friend?" + +"No, I heard Fritz call him 'Taps'--a perfectly ridiculous name. Do you +know anything about him?" + +"Only what Fritz told me last evening--that he was a Freshman who had +taken a violent fancy to him. Fritz said that he had agreed to travel +with the boy this summer from a sense of duty." + +"A sense of duty!" + +"Yes; 'Taps,' as he calls him, has been trying to shake off some +undesirable friends. He gave up a trip to Europe that he might avoid +running across them, and Fritz, knowing the circumstances, thought that +he could do no less than agree to take some other trip with him. It was +only on the spur of the moment that they decided to come with us." + +"Fritz was terribly cut up to find that we did not care to have them." + +"Naturally--and indeed, Amy, if I had had a chance to talk frankly with +him, we could have had them with us part of the time. His friend was a +bright, honest-looking lad, hardly more than a schoolboy." + +"Oh, mamma, I thought him so dandified!--just the kind to be a nuisance +in a party that intends to rough it." + +"Do you realize, Amy, that you use much more slang than before you went +to college?" + +"That's another reason for not having Fritz with us; it is not _my_ +college, but _his_, that twists my vocabulary." + +"Possibly, but I only hope that he is not offended. Well! well! Why, +Priscilla, why, Martine, where have you been?" + +As she spoke two young girls came running up the steps, and one of them +with a bound flung herself upon Mrs. Redmond's neck. + +"Oh, isn't it a perfect morning, so cool and salt-smelling! and it's +almost as good as Europe to see a foreign flag floating from the +hotel--even if it is only English. And isn't Yarmouth a dear sleepy old +town, though it's said to be so American! Some one told me that it was +the only place in Nova Scotia where they hustled. My, but I wish they +could see Chicago! Then they'd know what 'hustle' means." + +"Yes, my dear," gasped Mrs. Redmond; "but would you move your arm--just +a little? You almost choke me." + +"Please excuse me, but I feel so excited that I must hug somebody, and +Priscilla and Amy never let me hug them." + +"Why, I'm sure--" began Amy. + +"Oh, no, you haven't said a word, that's quite true, and I've never even +tried to embrace you, yet I'm perfectly sure that you would hate it, and +so Mrs. Redmond--" + +"Is the victim," rejoined Amy. "Well, mamma _is_ amiable. Only, while we +are travelling, do be careful not to squeeze too tightly; it rumples her +stock. Mamma, you'll really have to put on a fresh one before we start +out." + +During this conversation Priscilla had been silent. She was shorter than +Martine, and fairer, and her expression was sad, or querulous,--at first +glance it was hard to say which. Yet her half-mourning costume--the +black skirt, and the black ribbon at her throat--suggested what was +really the case--that Priscilla had had some recent sorrow. + +"What have you been doing, Priscilla?" asked Mrs. Redmond, noticing the +young girl's silence. + +"Doing!" interrupted Martine, before Priscilla could speak. "Only think +how silly she's been. This beautiful morning--and in a new place--she +has spent writing letters. Isn't she a goose?" + +"Oh, Martine!" and Amy shook her head in reproof. + +Priscilla colored deeply as she turned apologetically to Mrs. Redmond. +"I promised mamma to write as soon as I could. She will get my letter +day after to-morrow." + +"You were very considerate to write promptly. Your mother will be +delighted to hear so soon. But where have _you_ been, Martine?" + +"Oh, rambling a little; I just couldn't stay in the house." + +"It's strange, Martine," added Amy, "but a while ago, when I took a +stroll down the road, I saw a boy and a girl wheeling down a side street +together who looked so like you." + +"Which, the boy or the girl?" + +Disregarding Martine's flippancy, Amy continued: "I realized that it +couldn't possibly be you, as you know no one in Yarmouth." + +"And didn't bring my wheel with me," added Martine. "So please, Miss Amy +Redmond, don't see double, or else before I know it you'll have all my +faults magnified to twice their size." + +While Martine was speaking, Priscilla looked at her closely. But +Martine, if she felt Priscilla's eye upon her, showed no embarrassment. +Instead, she burst into a peal of laughter that woke from his slumbers a +quiet old gentleman dozing over his newspaper in a piazza chair. + +Martine's laughter quickly degenerated into a giggle, and with only an +"Excuse me, I can't help it," she rushed into the house. + +"There, mother," said Amy, "I fear that Martine will be a greater care +to us than we expected. If she hadn't run off I was going to suggest +that we all go for a walk, to see what there really is to be seen in the +town. We'll have plenty of time before dinner." + +"I'll get my hat and bring Martine with me;" and Mrs. Redmond left +Priscilla and Amy by themselves. + +A little later the four travellers were walking up the broad street, +partially shaded with trees, through which they had many glimpses of the +blue harbor. + +"Isn't it strange," said Priscilla to Amy, "to think that this time +yesterday we were half-stifled with Boston heat! They said that it was +the hottest day of the season, and it is probably as hot there to-day; +and here we are--" + +"Ready to shiver," interposed Amy. "You should have brought a coat, +Priscilla, for I almost feel an east wind." + +"Oh, the air is soft. There's no danger of catching cold. Do you notice +all the flowers in these little gardens? It's a pleasant air, like the +Shoals, and those hawthorn hedges make me think of England,--at least, +what I've read of it, for I've never been there. We must ask Martine." + +"You are almost as eloquent as Martine herself." Amy turned toward +Priscilla with a smile. "You were so quiet at breakfast, and indeed all +the morning, until now, that I feared you were not enjoying the trip." + +"Well, to be honest, I felt homesick at first. You see, I have never +been away before without any of my family, and then I hadn't got the +motion of the boat out of my head. But now I feel perfectly well, and +perhaps--" but here Priscilla's voice was not quite steady--"perhaps I +shall not be homesick." + +Amy drew Priscilla's hand within her arm. + +"Of course not. Naturally, you will miss your mother and the children. +But you'll go back to them with such red cheeks, and so many interesting +things to tell, that you will be glad you had courage to come away. You +mustn't be homesick." + +"Oh, I won't be," said Priscilla,--"that is, if I can help it; but if I +didn't know you much better than Martine, I think that I'd have to go +home." + +Whereupon Amy, perceiving that Priscilla was not yet herself, strove to +divert her by telling her little incidents of early Nova Scotian +history. Her device was successful, and by the time they had overtaken +Mrs. Redmond and Martine, Priscilla was quite cheerful again. + +In their walk they had turned aside from the main street, and had +reached a point on the outskirts where elevated land gave them a good +view of the water. Mrs. Redmond and Martine had found a large flat rock, +on which they seated themselves, and Mrs. Redmond was already at work +with her sketchbook before her. + +"I'm glad that you've come, Amy,--I mean Miss Redmond," began Martine. +"I've been trying to tell your mother about some kind of a queer stone +that I heard some people talking about at the breakfast-table to-day, +but I haven't it quite clear in my mind, and so I'm waiting for you to +help me out." + +"Oh, the runic stone?" asked Amy. "There isn't so very much to tell +about it, except that it was found more than seventy years ago, and is +thought by some people to be a memorial of the Norsemen." + +"The Norsemen in Nova Scotia? But why didn't they discover the stone +before?" + +"It was found by a Dr. Fletcher in a cove on his own property. The +inscription was on the under side, and showed signs of great age. There, +I believe I have something about it here;" and pulling a small notebook +from her pocket, Amy refreshed her memory. + +"Yes, it weighed about four hundred and fifty pounds, and some +antiquarians have translated the inscription, 'Harki's son addressed the +men.' It seems that there was a man named Harki among those Norsemen who +sailed along the coast of America in 1007." + +"That is certainly worth knowing," said Mrs. Redmond, "and I hope that +we can see the stone before we go." + +"Well, it's only fair," continued Amy, "to tell you that some learned +people do not believe in the Norse theory." + +"Perhaps it's like the inscription on the Dighton rock," interposed +Priscilla, "that they now think was made by Indians." + +"Yes," added Amy, "but the strange thing is that a few years ago a +second stone was found about a mile away from the other, and the +inscription on it was almost the same." + +"Well," exclaimed Martine, "it doesn't matter whether the Norsemen +really were here or not, as long as we can imagine that they may have +been. I like the romantic part of history, if it gives you something +entertaining to think about. It's all the same whether or not it is +true." + +After which heretical sentiment, Priscilla, Plymouth-born Priscilla, +felt herself to be farther away than ever from Martine. + +When Priscilla nestled down beside Mrs. Redmond to watch the growth of +her sketch, Martine became impatient. + +"Let us go back. We've seen everything there is to see in this part of +the town, and perhaps I shall have time for a letter or two before +dinner." + +"I'll go with you," responded Amy. "I have some packing to do." + +"Packing?" + +"Oh, just to rearrange some of my things." + +"Very well," said Mrs. Redmond. "Priscilla and I will wait until this +sketch is finished, and then we'll return by the electric car." + +"Any one would know that you and your mother are from Boston," said +Martine, turning to Amy with a laugh. "I have heard my father say that +Bostonians are the only people in the world who take the trouble to say +'electric cars.'" + +"What do others say?" + +"Why, trolley, of course. They'd laugh at you if you said anything else +in Chicago." + +"You're pretty rapid in Chicago." + +"And you are rather--well, rather slow in Boston." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + LOST AND FOUND + + +Amy's face was flushed, her hat slightly askew, and she felt even more +uncomfortable than she looked. It was all on account of her lost keys. +For ten minutes or more she had been bending over boxes, and poking +among all kinds of things in the shed near the wharf, in the vain hope +that she might find what she had lost. When she had discovered that the +keys were missing, Priscilla volunteered to help her find them. + +As the discovery had been made at the very moment when the carriage was +at the door to take them for an afternoon drive, Amy insisted that the +others should go without her, since it was evidently her duty to search +for the missing. + +"Let me go with you," Priscilla had urged. "When we find the keys we can +go sightseeing by ourselves. It will be just as good fun as driving." +Thus Amy and Priscilla made their way by themselves to the wharf, while +Mrs. Redmond and Martine were driven in the direction of Milton. + +"It wouldn't be so bad if it were only my trunk key," Amy had lamented, +"but there's a key of my mother's on the chain, and several keys of +little boxes--one or two of which I have with me; the others are at +home. I am always losing keys." + +"You probably lost them after your trunk had been examined this morning. +What a fuss about nothing it was! Why, the inspector didn't even lift +the tray from my trunk. But we had all the trouble of unlocking and +opening our trunks, and in that way I suppose the keys were lost." + +Priscilla spoke with more energy than was usual with her. When they +reached the wharf, the dignified Custom-House official and the small +boys congregated there and in the neighborhood of the train knew nothing +about the keys. The inspector remembered seeing them. + +"I noticed your party particularly, and you were swinging your keys by a +long silver chain. Well, they may have slipped through a crack +somewhere, and so the best thing for you is to get a locksmith to fit a +key before you go any farther." + +Overhearing this advice, one or two of the boys lounging about offered +to guide the young ladies to a locksmith. Thus Amy and Priscilla, not in +the best of spirits, with hats askew and shirt-waists somewhat rumpled, +came face to face with Fritz Tomkins. + +"Oh, ho!" he cried mischievously, as the girls drew near. "What a +procession! All you need is a drum and a flag." + +Turning her head, Amy saw six little boys walking behind her in Indian +file. There wasn't much going on at the wharf, and evidently all had +thought that there would be some fun in conducting the American young +ladies to the locksmith's. + +Fritz himself, seated in the shade at a shop-door, looked aggravatingly +comfortable. + +"Why, Fritz!" exclaimed Amy, "I thought you were miles and miles +away,--at Pubnico." + +"Don't, don't show your disappointment too plainly. We thought that we'd +better not start before the train was ready. That will not be for an +hour yet. In the meantime, is there anything that I can do for you? You +look a little like a lady in distress." + +"Well, then, appearances are deceitful." Amy had recovered from her +astonishment at seeing Fritz. + +"I am sure that you are hunting for something." + +"Why are you so sure?" Amy was determined not to tell. + +"She _is_ looking for something, isn't she, Priscilla?" Fritz had seen +more or less of Priscilla in Boston the past winter, and naturally +called her by her first name. + +Priscilla shook her head,--not in dissent, but to show that she had no +intention of disclosing more than Amy herself chose to explain. + +"Very well," continued Fritz, "I am a mind reader. I can tell you all +about it. You are looking for a bunch of keys." + +"How did you know?" For once Amy was off guard. + +"Ah! Then it's true." + +"Very well, since you know so much, where are the keys?" + +Fritz, thrusting his hand in his pocket, drew out a long silver chain, +which he swung around his head in a circle before laying it in Amy's +hand. + +"There, little boys, you--" + +"Don't call them little boys, Amy; remember how I felt when I was ten." + +"Here, young men." As Fritz spoke the boys drew nearer, and Fritz, +drawing from his pocket a handful of silver, laid in each of six palms a +bright ten-cent coin with the Queen's head stamped upon it. + +"But we didn't do anything," one of the six managed to say. + +"No, but you _would_ have helped the young lady find a locksmith, and +besides, you brought her to the particular spot where I was sitting, and +so you found her keys for her." + +This logic was so correct that the six boys, feeling that they had +earned the money, rushed off with a shout of "Thank you," to find the +quickest way of spending it. + +"You might have brought the keys to the hotel," complained Amy. "Then I +needn't have had this dusty walk." + +"After the summary way in which you banished me this morning I certainly +could not put myself in your way again. But I knew that when you came to +dress for the afternoon you would miss your keys, and happen _my_ way. +Surely you can't object to my being here?" + +"Of course not. I am very much obliged to you." + +"Besides, I found the keys only this afternoon. They had slipped under a +board, and when I saw the end of the chain I recognized it at once. May +I walk with you part way up-town? I'm sorry that I can't go all the way. +But Taps and I have an errand to do, and it's now within an hour of +train time. Remember, you have banished us." + +As they walked, Fritz, abandoning frivolity, outlined his plans for the +next week. Priscilla listened with great interest. Nova Scotia was +indeed a new land to her, and as she had rather suddenly decided to +accompany Amy and her mother she had read nothing on the subject of the +province in which they were to spend a few weeks. + +Fritz had known little more than Priscilla until he had stumbled on some +one crossing on the boat the preceding night who had had much to say +about the old Fort La Tour and its neighborhood. + +"Fort La Tour!" Amy exclaimed. "I shouldn't care to discredit your +history, but I am sure that that was on the River St. John across the +Bay, in quite the opposite direction from where you are going." + +"There, there, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, you are just like other people. +Because you know _some_ Acadian history you think that you know it all. +There certainly was a Fort La Tour at St. John, but its remains, I hear, +are altogether invisible now; whereas the first Fort La Tour can still +be seen in outline, at least. There isn't any masonry, I believe, yet +you can trace the outline in the grass. You remember, Amy, it was once +called Fort Loméron." + +"I'm sorry, Fritz, but I don't remember. You must have taken a special +course in history lately." + +"Yes, this very morning. You see I had time to spare after you sent me +into exile, and Taps and I were to have our dinner at a private +boarding-house, where I thought we ought to stay, since you didn't care +to have us at the hotel. Well, to make a long story short, I found a set +of Parkman there, and it seemed wise to refresh my memory before going +down to Port La Tour." + +"Do tell us what you learned." Amy spoke eagerly. "I'll admit that I've +quite forgotten the first Fort La Tour." + +"I haven't much time now," said Fritz, "but I'll do what I can to make +my knowledge yours,--only you mustn't expect me to be perfectly +accurate. This, however, is the way I figure it out. After that old +rascal, Argall, attacked Port Royal, in 1613, Biencourt, or +Poutrincourt, as he was known after his father's death, wandered for +years in the woods with a few followers, sleeping in the open air, and +living on roots and nuts like an Indian. In some way or other he managed +to get men enough, and material enough, to build a small fort in the +Cape Sable region, that he called Fort Loméron,--a rocky and foggy +neighborhood. But there was fine fishing and hunting, and he felt that +the Fort was a warning to any enemies who might try to take away the +rest of what his father had left him. Well, among his followers was +young Charles de Saint Étienne de La Tour, who also had come out to +Acadia as a boy. When Biencourt died La Tour claimed that Acadia had +been left to him by his friend. He tried to get Louis XIII. to help him +against the English, and against Sir William Alexander in particular, to +whom James I. had granted Acadia. Now young Charles La Tour began to +have a hard time because his father Claude had married a Maid of Honor +to Queen Henrietta Maria, and had promised Charles I. that he would +drive out the French and establish the English in Nova Scotia. But when +Claude appeared with his two ships before his son's Fort, he could not +persuade him to turn color and become a Baronet of Nova Scotia. The +father made great promises in the name of King Charles if the son would +surrender, but the son withstood the father, and the latter lost English +support because he had not been able to keep his promise; and so he was +nothing but a refugee the rest of his life." + +"Served him right for deserting his country," murmured Priscilla. + +"Well, it's hard to understand just who did what in those days, and why. +Some say that Charles La Tour was no better than his father, and that +he, too, accepted from the English the title 'Baronet of Nova Scotia.' +On account of the conquest of Sir David Kirke, Nova Scotia was English +for a while, and then again it was under the control of the French after +Claude de Razilly brought out an expedition in 1632. Charles de Menou +d'Aunay, by the way, La Tour's great enemy, came with Razilly. But La +Tour made haste to put himself right with the King of France, and, after +a visit to Paris, came back to Nova Scotia 'Lieutenant-General for the +King at Fort Loméron and its dependencies, and Commander at Cape Sable +for the Colony of New France.' Doesn't that strike you as quite +tremendous, when you think of the rocks and the fogs and the seals, +together with the forests, that chiefly made up his domain?" + +"It's very interesting," said Priscilla. "What became of La Tour?" + +"It's a long story," responded Fritz. "I'm afraid I haven't time to tell +it now." + +"Oh, I know all about his quarrel with D'Aunay," interposed Amy. "It +will come in better when we are at Port Royal--or rather Annapolis. But +I had forgotten this Fort near Cape Sable." + +"You shouldn't have forgotten it." Fritz's tone deepened in reproach. +"For many of La Tour's descendants live near the Fort, and the place +itself is called Port La Tour. I am astonished that you should have left +it out of your plan of travel. You can't go there now, because that is +where Taps and I are bound, and it wouldn't do for us to get in your +way--I mean for you to get in our way. Beyond the tip end of Nova Scotia +there's Sable Island, that used to be haunted by pirates and privateers. +Some of them may be there still, and if Taps and I go there, and if +anything happens to us, you may be sorry that you drove us away. +Good-bye, Amy; even a Nova Scotia train won't wait for me;" and before +the astonished girls could say a word, Fritz, with a touch of his cap, +was walking rapidly away from them. + +"We haven't offended him?" asked Priscilla, timidly. + +"No, indeed. His plans were already made to go among the French +villages. In fact, I thought that he had gone this morning. He started +off soon after breakfast." + +Although Amy spoke thus decidedly, secretly she wished that she had been +less summary with Fritz. It was not strange, indeed, that her conscience +should prick her a little. When she and Fritz were not yet in their +teens they had become acquainted at Rockley, a summer resort on the +North Shore where Fritz spent the summers with his uncle. Rockley was +Amy's home all the year, and as not many boys or girls of her own age +lived near her, she greatly appreciated the companionship of Fritz. The +latter, for his part, knew that he was very fortunate in having the +friendship of Amy and her mother; for, like Amy, he had neither brothers +nor sisters, and although his father was living, his mother had died +when he was a baby. His father spent little time with him, as he was +fond of exploring new countries, and his travels often kept him away +from home two or three years at a time. + +Before entering college Fritz had lived with his father's elder +brother,--a serious, scholarly man. The uncle made little provision for +amusement in his nephew's life, until Mrs. Redmond had shown him that +all work and no play would do Fritz more harm than good. Amy and Fritz, +on the whole, had been very congenial friends, although the latter could +rarely resist an opportunity to tease Amy. Mrs. Redmond often had to act +as peacemaker, and Fritz always took her reproofs good-naturedly. No one +knew him so well as Mrs. Redmond did. There was no one to whose words he +paid quicker attention. He called her his "adopted mother," and +naturally it seemed strange to him that she should agree with Amy that +he and his friend would be in the way on the Nova Scotia tour. Beneath +the jesting tone that he had used with Amy lay something sharper, and +Amy, as he finally turned away, realized this. + +After the departure of Fritz the girls walked on in silence. Suddenly an +exclamation of Priscilla's brought them to a standstill. In the window +of a little shop were two cups and saucers of thickish china, decorated +in a high-colored rose pattern. The cups were of a quaint, flaring +shape, and Priscilla announced that she must have them. There were other +curiosities in the window,--a small cannon-ball, two reddish +short-stemmed pipes, and many things of Indian make. The shop-keeper +proved to be an elderly woman, with a pleasant, soft accent. The cups, +she explained, had belonged to an old couple who had lately died, +leaving no children. At the auction she had bought a few bits of china. + +"I know they are old,--more than a hundred years,--these two cups. I'm +sorry I haven't any more, but people from the States are always looking +for old things, and there's been a good many here this summer." + +Priscilla bought the cups, and Amy inquired about the cannon-ball. + +"It was dug up near Fort St. Louis, as some call it, or Fort La Tour, +and the pipes too. They say there's many a strange thing buried there +under the ground, if people only had the patience to dig." + +Amy decided that it was hardly wise to burden herself with the +cannon-ball, and she didn't care especially for the pipes. + +"There's something else here," said the woman, "if you won't be offended +at my showing it. Some Americans--" + +"How did you know that we were Americans?" interrupted Amy. + +"Oh, as soon as ever a Yankee--there, I beg your pardon--any one from +the States opens her mouth--" + +"She puts her foot in it," returned Amy, with a smile. + +"No, no, I wouldn't say a word against the accent, but I can always tell +it. I have a sister married in the States, and her children speak like +their father. When they come to visit me I tell them that they are +regular Yankees. Not that I have anything against that; I hope I'll live +to see Boston some time." + +"Have you never been there?" asked Priscilla, in surprise. + +"No, Miss; I know that it isn't so far away, but I was born in the Old +Country, and when I take a trip, that's where I'd rather go;" and the +little woman sighed. "But I'll show you the curiosity I spoke of." + +From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small fan, one or two of +whose sticks were broken, while the silk was faded and torn. + +"I bought that from an old lady who said that her grandmother fanned an +officer who was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, while he lay sick +in her house after the battle. Perhaps I oughtn't to speak of it," she +concluded apologetically. + +"Why not? The war's entirely over, and no one has any feeling about it +now." + +"I suppose not." But the woman's voice carried a question. + +"Why, to prove that I have no resentment I'll buy the fan,--even if it +did once soothe the brow of a hated Britisher." Amy smiled at Priscilla +as she spoke. + +The price named came so well within Amy's means that she half doubted +the authenticity of the relic. Of her doubts, however, she gave no hint +to the talkative little Englishwoman. Instead, by what she afterwards +called a genuine inspiration, she asked some question about the French +people at Pubnico. + +"Oh, they are good enough," said the woman, "and spend plenty of money +in Yarmouth; and there's many of the young people working here in our +shops and mills, although many French come from Meteghan and up that +way." + +"Meteghan?" queried Amy. + +"Yes, that's a pretty country up North on St Mary's Bay, and all French. +If you're going to Digby you'd better stop off." + +"But we were going straight through to Digby." + +"Yes, most people go straight through, and don't know what they miss. +You see, the natives up there are Acadians, and it's kind of foreign +like, for they mostly speak only French. My husband and I, we went up +there once and stayed at the hotel, for he had an order for some goods +that he had to see about himself." + +While Mrs. Lufkins was talking the practical Priscilla had taken out her +notebook, in which she wrote the name of the station and other things +that would help them. + +"Do you think that your mother would like to change her plans?" + +"Yes, indeed; she will think this just the thing. Probably there will be +good material for sketching,--scenery, and odd people, and all that kind +of thing. I am sure that she will like it." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Lufkins," said Amy, as they turned away from the +mistress of the little shop; and then in a particularly cheerful tone +she added to Priscilla, "I feel as if I had found a gold-mine. Fritz was +so very sure that he was to have a monopoly of the only French in Nova +Scotia, that it will be great fun to write him about our French people." + +"Then you think you will go there?" + +"Certainly; mother will enjoy it, and it will be great fun for the rest +of us. Wasn't Mrs. Lufkins entertaining? If she were Yarmouth-born, +perhaps she wouldn't speak of us as Yankees. You know the first +permanent settlement here was made about 1761, by Cape Codders. In fact, +the name's from Yarmouth on the Cape, not from the English Yarmouth +directly. I remember the names of two of the first settlers,--Sealed +Landers and Eleshama Eldredge. Don't they sound like real old Puritans?" + +"But how did they come to be English? Why didn't they stay on our side +in the Revolution?" Priscilla's tone contained a whole world of reproach +for Sealed and Eleshama. + +"Oh, that's a long story. I dare say they were on our side--in their +hearts; but they couldn't afford to give up all they had worked for, +after coming here as pioneers. Many of the Yarmouth people were thought +to be in sympathy with the American privateers that were always prowling +about the coast. But the English managed to hold Nova Scotia, and in the +War of 1812 the number of American vessels captured by Yarmouth was +greater than the number of Yarmouth vessels captured by the Americans." + +"When I left home," said Priscilla, "I did not know that there was so +much history down here. I thought that we were just coming for change of +air." + +"Oh, the place is alive with history; only you must let me know if I +bore you with too many stories." + +"You could never bore me." Priscilla laid her hand affectionately on +Amy's. She was an undemonstrative girl, though her likes and dislikes +were well known to herself. But for her fondness for Amy she would +hardly have made one of this summer party. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + TOWARD METEGHAN + + +Amy rested her hand on her bicycle, waiting to mount. + +"I did not think that it would be quite so lonely; but still, you're +sure it's perfectly safe?" + +"Oh, yes, Miss, and not a long way." There was a trace of accent in the +speech of the man who replied to Amy's question. He had just deposited a +pouch of mail in the vehicle in which sat Mrs. Redmond, Priscilla, and +Martine, and had turned to adjust the harness of his meek-looking horse. + +"You are not afraid, are you?" Priscilla's voice was anxious. "I wish +that I had brought my bicycle, and could ride with you." + +"You _do_ look like a maiden all forlorn,--spruce trees to right of you, +spruce trees to left of you. Excuse my smiling;" and Martine's smile +lengthened itself into a decided giggle. + +"Don't," whispered Priscilla. "The driver will think that you are +laughing at him." It always surprised her that Martine should show so +little respect for Amy, who was several years her senior. + +"Amy," interposed Mrs. Redmond, "do you object to our driving away and +leaving you? Doubtless if we tried, we could find some kind of a +conveyance to carry you and the bicycle." + +"Not till after dinner, Madame." Their driver turned toward Mrs. +Redmond, lifting his hat politely,--"Every horse is away now." + +"The only thing for Amy to do is to let you hold her on your lap, +Priscilla, while I take the bicycle on mine." At which absurd suggestion +even Priscilla was forced to laugh; for the vehicle sent down to +Meteghan station for her Majesty's mail was as narrow and shallow as any +carriage could well be that made even a pretence of holding four +persons. But with the deftness that comes with experience the driver had +managed to find room not only for his passengers, but for their suit +case and bags, for several packages that had come by train, and finally +for his great pouch of mail. + +"There must be a perfect cavern under the seat," whispered Martine to +Mrs. Redmond. "I am sure that we could put Amy there." + +But even as she spoke Amy had mounted, and was up the hill ahead before +the driver had taken his seat. Yet although Amy had taken the hill so +well, she was soon out of breath. The road was soft, and the hill +steeper than she had thought, and when a little chubby boy darted +directly toward her, she slipped from her wheel and bent down to talk to +the little fellow. + +To her surprise, at first he did not respond to her "What's your name?" +but hung his head shyly. Then it occurred to her that he did not +understand, and when she repeated her question in French his "Louis, +Mademoiselle," showed that her venture had been right. + +"Does every one here speak French, Monsieur?" she asked, as the carriage +approached. + +"Yes, all," responded the driver, stopping beside her for a moment. + +"And no English?" + +"Oh, many, though some have no English." + +Martine and Priscilla praised the bright eyes of little Louis. Mrs. +Redmond handed him an illustrated paper that she had brought from the +train, and the driver started up his horse. + +"You follow me," he called back to Amy. + +"Yes, yes," cried Amy, laughing, knowing that she could soon pass him; +but while she loitered to talk with the child, the carriage was soon so +far ahead that she could barely discern the fluttering of the long veil +that Martine held out to stream in the wind like a flag. + +After leaving little Louis, Amy pedalled along leisurely. At first she +passed only one or two houses, but each of them offered her something to +think of. In front of one, two or three barefooted children were playing +hop-scotch, with the limits marked out in lines drawn by a stick on the +dusty road. "I should think they'd stub their toes," she thought, as she +watched them, "but they're so well-dressed, except their feet, that I +suppose they prefer to go without shoes." + +In the doorway of a second cottage, set like the other, close to the +road, a mother was standing with a baby in her arms, and a tiny little +girl clinging to her skirts. These children, like all the others she had +seen, had the brightest of black eyes. Beside the door was a well, +boarded in, with a bucket beside it. + +The woman looked so friendly that Amy stopped for a drink of water, and, +making use of her best French, she spent a few minutes talking with the +woman. + +A fine team of oxen hauling an empty hay wagon, beside which walked a +strapping youth in blue jeans and a flapping straw hat, was the next +reminder to Amy that she was indeed in a foreign country. After she had +returned the cheerful _bonjour_ of two or three bareheaded women whom +she met trudging along toward a hayfield, Amy was recalled to herself. +Her mother and the others were out of sight. "The driver will think that +I am not even following;" and making good speed up a long, gradual hill, +she saw the carriage waiting for her some distance ahead. + +"This way, this way," shouted Martine. The driver waved his whip toward +the left, and when Amy caught up, they had changed their direction, and +she could feel the soft fresh breeze blowing in from St. Mary's Bay. + +"Did you ever see such a clear blue sky?" + +"Oh, yes, Martine,"--Amy was thinking of cloudless days on the North +Shore,--"but none bluer, perhaps." + +"But it seems so foreign," interposed Priscilla, in a tone that +expressed some disapproval of foreign things. "I'm not sure that I like +it." + +"It seems different from other places, though I can't tell why." + +"This child is part of the why. Just look at him." Martine pointed to a +little boy of about eight, dressed in black, with deep embroidered +ruffles of white falling about his wrists, and a broad ruffled collar on +his coat. He wore a hat that was something like a tam-o'-shanter, and +something like a mortar-board, and he carried a large slate under his +arm. + +"He's evidently on his way home from school. See the crowd of children +behind him." + +As the children drew nearer, some stood still, the better to see the +party of strangers. Thus the latter had a chance to note various +peculiarities of dress and general appearance. One or two little girls +wore sunbonnets, one or two wore hats, and several had on their heads +black _couvre-chefs_, that made them look like little old women. The +sturdy little boys in blouses were more like other boys, and they indeed +were too busy racing and tumbling over one another to pay attention to +the travellers. + +"Amy," exclaimed Martine, "you should have kept beside us all the way, +we have been hearing such wonderful stories. Down there by the bridge +there are several descendants of the Baron d'Entremont, and other people +whose ancestors came from France hundreds of years ago." + +"The Baron d'Entremont!" Amy felt a thrill of pleasure. Surely that was +one of the names that Fritz had mentioned in connection with Pubnico, +and if she too could come across some of his descendants, how delightful +this would be! + +The houses were now nearer together than they had been. At the right +there was a glimmer of blue water. On the bridge at the foot of the +decline Amy dismounted to watch the men loading with lumber a little +schooner at the wharf near-by. The carriage drew up before the tiny +post-office, where part of the mail was left. A gray-bearded man in the +door of a small shop caught Amy's eye. With his broad-brimmed hat, loose +trousers, and slippers,--yes, slippers,--he reminded her of pictures she +had seen of old Frenchmen. She longed to snap her kodak, to catch him +just as he stood there, leaning on his cane. But she did not dare, there +was something so very venerable and dignified in his appearance. + +Then her eye fell on the name d'Entremont over the shop. Martine and +Priscilla joined her. Martine was in great spirits. + +"Your mother is writing a post-card in the office. So, while we are +waiting, let us go in here and try the d'Entremont brand of ginger ale. +They're sure to have some, and one doesn't often have the chance to +patronize the descendant of a French nobleman." + +Within the dim little shop two or three men were lounging near the +counter, who probably said to themselves, "Oh, those foolish Americans!" + +But their manner showed no disrespect as they moved aside, and the +proprietor made one or two pleasant remarks as he served the trio. + +A few minutes later Amy was again on her bicycle, the others had taken +their places in the carriage, and the little village was behind them. +The large farms that they had seen near Meteghan station gave place to +small gardens. The houses were near together, and they were painted in +colors that drew many exclamations of approval from Martine. "This is +great! I never dreamed that I should see a lavender cottage with green +trimmings,--and what a shade of yellow for a house! Oh, Mrs. Redmond, I +hope that our water-colors will last the trip. I'm afraid that we'll use +them all up, painting the wonders of Meteghan. This is Meteghan, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, Mees," replied the driver. "It was all Meteghan, from the station, +only that was a different name for the other post-office. But there is +our church; this is the true village." + +"Star of the Sea" was an imposing building, but the journey since +leaving Yarmouth had been long, and they were too eager now to reach +their destination to give the church more than a passing glance. + +Amy's quick eye had noted the swinging sign of the little inn not so +very far beyond the church, and, hastening ahead, she was the first to +be welcomed by Madame, wife of their driver, who was also proprietor of +the small hotel. + +Welcomed with ceremonious politeness, they were soon made to feel +perfectly at home. When the question was pressed, they all admitted that +they were very hungry. In the pleasant rooms to which they were shown, +they had barely time to make themselves ready when a loud bell called +them to dinner. As the four entered the dining-room, they saw that there +were several other guests at the long table. One, a stout man with a +fondness for jokes, proved to be the agent for a millinery house in +Halifax. There were one or two others who said so little that even Amy +could not tell whether they were French or English; two middle-aged +ladies near Mrs. Redmond quickly let her know that they were teachers +from Connecticut, now for the first time making a tour of the provinces. +They had sailed from New York to Halifax for the sake of the sea voyage, +and had come down slowly through Windsor, Grand Pré, and Annapolis, and +were enthusiastic about all these places. + +"But if you can," one of them concluded, "you must have a few days at +Little Brook,--Petit Ruisseau, as some call it. It's the centre of +everything interesting in Clare; it's really where the first Acadians +landed after the expulsion, and only a short distance from Point à +l'Église." + +Amy listened eagerly. Here evidently was some one who could tell her +much that she wished to hear about this new country, and later, when +they were all outside on the little piazza at the front, she learned +what she wished to know. On consulting her mother, they decided that +after a day at Meteghan they would go on to Little Brook, and spend at +least two or three days there--if possible at the Hotel Paris, which the +teachers recommended. + +Missing Priscilla and Martine, Amy found them in the little +sitting-room. + +"Tell me," whispered Martine, "aren't you disappointed?" + +"Disappointed with what?" + +"Why, in this house--this room especially; it's so--so unforeign." + +Amy glanced around her,--at the bright-flowered carpet; the +marble-topped table, on which was displayed a bouquet of wax-flowers +under a glass globe; on the two machine-made oak rockers; and then on +the pictures. + +"Where do you suppose they found that picture of the Queen with such +very pink cheeks, and a mouth as small as a pin, and those wax-figure +princelings--and those saints? Do you suppose Madame and her children +know the names of them all?" + +At that moment Madame herself entered the door. + +"You like pretty things. Ah, you must see my rugs, if you would care +to." + +"Yes, indeed," Amy replied politely. + +"Then come with me. They are in my room,--the best,--and the American +ladies always admire them." + +So the two girls followed their landlady upstairs, where she proudly +displayed rug after rug of wonderful design and still more wonderful +color. Martine dared not say what she thought,--that it seemed a pity +that so much time had been put into things that could only dazzle rather +than please the average beholder. Amy conscientiously praised those that +could be properly praised,--for here and there was a rug of really +artistic design,--and Priscilla gave an exclamation of delight as she +noticed on the bed a really exquisite spread. + +"You like that?" asked Madame. "It is good work, all by hand; only two +or tree women can now make them. My old aunt who made that is dead, +but--" + +"It is like the finest Marseilles, only I never saw so beautiful a +pattern. I did not know people could make such things by hand." + +"On a loom, surely yes; there are only one or two in Meteghan, but you +can see one work, if you wish, at Alexandre Babet's." + +"There, that will be something to see! Is it far?" cried Martine. + +"Oh, no. You can find it quickly." + +"After we are rested," responded Amy. "The sun is still hot. Your rugs +and the spread are beautiful." + +As the girls sat down on the piazza, Priscilla turned to Amy. "You did +not think those rugs really beautiful?" + +Amy did not resent this slight touch of reproach, even though Priscilla +was so much her junior. + +"Yes, and no. Some of them were beautiful even from my point of view. +They all were from that of their owner, and since she desired to please +us by showing them, it seemed only fair to reward her with a word of +praise." + +"But if every one praises her she will go on using those terrible +aniline colors. They made my head ache just to look at them." + +"Oh, Priscilla, you are so precise I'll call you 'Prim' as well as +'Prissie.'" + +"_No_ one else calls me 'Prissie,' Martine." + +"No one else dares tease you. Probably your little brothers and sisters +are frightened to death of you, and then, because you are the oldest, +you have always been made to think that you are absolutely perfect." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"There, there, I know just how it is. It's so in our family; I have an +elder brother, and he has always been held up as a model, although, +between you and me, he's far from perfect. It just keeps me busy, +showing him his faults. So, Miss Prissie, if you are too old-maidish +I'll have to show you yours." + +Priscilla was helpless under Martine's rapid fire of words. In her +moments of reflection it surprised her that a girl whom six months +before she had not even heard of, should now venture to say things to +her that no one in her own family would dare to say. + +A little later, Amy and Priscilla and Martine set out to see the loom +that made the fine quilts. Priscilla had desired to postpone the visit +until next morning. "It would be better to rest now." + +"I'm tired resting," protested Martine. "Unless we move on, I will go +indoors, and play doleful things on the melodeon. You don't know what I +am when I'm melancholy." + +Unmoved by Martine, when Amy showed that it was better not to spend the +whole afternoon listlessly, Priscilla objected no longer. + +The Babet house was a ten minutes' walk up the street. After mistaking +one or two houses for the one they were seeking, their third trial +brought a tall, long-bearded man to the door who answered to the name of +Alexandre Babet. + +"We hear that some one here--your wife, perhaps,--makes those beautiful +quilts." + +"Oh, yes," responded Alexandre, in fair English. "They are good quilts, +and we have a loom." + +Martine pinched Priscilla's arm. "I'm disappointed; I thought that he'd +speak French." + +"Come in, come in;" and Alexandre showed them into the neatest of +sitting-rooms,--neat, but painfully bare. It was brightened, to be sure, +by one or two gay pictures of saints in brilliant-colored garments, and +by two or three geraniums in flower on the window. But the wooden floor +was unpainted, and on it was only one rug, and there was little +furniture besides the high dresser and a long table. + +Alexandre went off to summon his wife, and soon she came in from the +kitchen, accompanied by another, whom Alexandre introduced as his +sister. The girls soon became embarrassed under the piercing gaze of +their black eyes. The women wore dark calico gowns with little shawls +over their shoulders, and their _couvre-chefs_ were bound closely to +their heads. Neither of them understood English, nor spoke it. But +Alexandre proved as talkative as any two women. Moreover, he +occasionally translated his own words into French, and in the same way +made the women understand what the young American girls said--to the +great amusement of Amy and Martine. Priscilla sat solemnly through the +conversation, as if she found something pathetic in the aspect of the +women. + +During a moment of silence, when the room seemed rather close and +uncomfortable,--for the windows were shut, and the blinds were +drawn,--there came a gentle tapping on the door. Madame Babet sprang to +her feet. + +"No, no, sit still; she can come in." Then turning to the others, +Alexandre added, "It is Yvonne, our little one. Come in, Yvonne," he +called in a louder tone; "here are Americans." + +Upon this the door was pushed open, and a little girl wearing a pink +gingham gown and a white sunbonnet, entered slowly, holding one hand +outstretched, as if not quite sure of herself. Then, walking directly +toward Madame Babet, she slipped to the floor beside her, and laid her +head on her lap. + +The girls looked from her to Alexandre to read an explanation in his +face, and he, understanding, raised his hand to his eyes. + +"Blind!" exclaimed Martine, involuntarily. "Poor little thing!" + +"She understands English," said the man, warningly; "she does not wish +pity." + +"I see much," said Yvonne, proudly, "when the light does not glare. I +see the American ladies. This one is pretty;" and rising, she made her +way carefully to Martine, and laid her hand confidingly in hers. + +Martine's color deepened; she felt a great tenderness toward the girl, +and she raised the little hand to her lips. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + YVONNE + + +"She is adopted," said Alexandre, "but we know no difference. She calls +us her parents. Her mother and father are dead, and she makes her home +with us since she was a baby. When I get my gold out she shall sing, oh, +so beautifully." + +"Your gold out?" queried Amy. + +"Ah, yes! Back here on my farm, which looks all rocks, there is much +gold underneath. I know not how to get it out, but some day I shall find +a miner who knows. See!" + +From a drawer in the dresser he brought out two pieces of quartz, which +he asked the girls to look at carefully. "It is gold underneath, sans +doute, and, Mees, if you know a miner in Boston to study this, he could +have some of my gold when it is dug out, but as for me I know not how to +get it out, and poor Yvonne cannot have her music." + +Gradually the girls gathered that Yvonne had a voice "sweeter than an +angel's," and that Alexandre had set his heart on giving her a musical +education. His plans soared far beyond the Western continent. He would +send her to Paris, to Italy, and she should astonish the world. The most +of this conversation or monologue took place in the little field back of +the house that Alexandre dignified as "my farm." The soil was poor and +rocky, and evidently he had hard work to raise the few patches of +vegetables needed for his family. There was a tiny orchard,--it had not +been an Acadian farm without that. The trees were knotty and scrubby, +and Amy was not surprised that the prospect of a gold-mine offered even +more than the usual attractions to the visionary Alexandre. But Amy, +though she knew nothing of mineralogy, thought it most unlikely that a +gold-mine lay hidden beneath the stony surface in which Alexandre had +dug a deep, deep hole with a vague idea that it was a shaft. Indeed, Amy +felt quite sure that even a mineralogist--for such was the meaning of +his "miner"--would give him little encouragement. Yet as she looked at +the slender figure of Yvonne walking ahead with Martine, she felt deep +sympathy with his ambition. + +Evidently Yvonne, in spite of her infirmity, was the pride of the little +household. Her print gown of a delicate pink cambric was spotlessly +neat, and her white sunbonnet had been laundered with the greatest care. +Though much shorter and slighter than Martine, the latter was surprised +to find that the little Acadienne was hardly a year younger, and that it +was true, as Alexandre said, that she ought soon to have the chance to +study--if--and here was the question--if her voice was what he pictured +it. + +"Miss Amy," murmured Priscilla, half impatiently, "I thought that we +came to see the loom." + +"Indeed we did, but these people have been so interesting that we have +spent too much time out here." Then turning toward their host, who had +fallen back, she asked him to show them the loom. + +"Ah, yes, with the greatest pleasure,--the loom, and the beautiful +quilts that my wife makes, and the lace of Yvonne. The mine did almost +make me forget, but we shall go in quick." + +When they were again in the house he led them up a steep flight of +stairs to an unfinished room, with great rafters overhead and two small +windows admitting little light. + +There at the loom sat his silent wife, and beside her stood the equally +silent sister. So it fell on Alexandre to explain the workings of the +great wooden frame. While he was talking, however, the attention of all +the girls flagged a little. Amy had never been interested in machinery, +and made no pretence of understanding it. Priscilla was impressed by the +quaintness of the scene, but she was weary from her two or three days of +travelling, and her mind wandered while the voluble Frenchman was +talking; and Martine, fully occupied with Yvonne, paid little heed to +any one else. Nevertheless they were all sufficiently impressed with the +skill with which the rather dull-looking wife of Alexandre managed warp +and woof, and produced, even as they were looking at her, a fragment of +pattern. + +While Alexandre was in the midst of one of his speeches Priscilla +whispered to Amy, and Amy, as if at her suggestion, turned to Alexandre. + +"We cannot stay much longer," she said politely, "and we are delighted +to have seen this loom, so that we can understand how these quilts are +made. It's really quite wonderful, your wife is so clever;" and she +paused for a moment to watch the busy fingers now flying in and out +among the threads. "But we came particularly to see some of the quilts." + +"Oh, yes, Mees, certainly, we will show you quick;" then with an eye to +business,--"perhaps you will want to buy." + +"Yes," said Amy, "perhaps we may. Come, Priscilla; come, Martine." + +The two women followed the girls downstairs, and when they were again in +the little front room, from a wooden chest in the corner they brought +out a large quilt of much more beautiful design than any they had seen. + +"I must have that," cried Martine in delight; "it is just what I want." + +Then, when a second was shown, she was equally enthusiastic, and then a +third was laid on top of the pile. + +"The money from the quilts is saved for Yvonne," Alexandre whispered to +Amy, and the latter did not protest when four of the quilts were laid +aside for Martine. Amy also chose one for herself, but Priscilla, +although she praised them, expressed no inclination to buy. Only when +some narrow hand-made lace was brought out from the chest did she become +enthusiastic, or as nearly enthusiastic as was possible for Priscilla, +and Yvonne blushed under her praise. + +"It is an old art," the little blind girl explained; "it was my +grandmother taught me, and her grandmother taught her, and so on back to +the days of old France." + +"But how can she do it? She is blind!" exclaimed Amy. + +"Oh, not all blind, and not always! She can see a little, though +everything is dim, and the lace it is knitted,--not pillow lace, like +some,--and she can make her fingers go, oh, so quickly! Ah, she has much +talent, the little Yvonne, and you must hear her sing." + +So Yvonne sang to them standing there in the middle of the room, without +notes and unaccompanied, and the plaintiveness of the tone and the +richness of the voice drew tears from the eyes of the three American +girls, while father and mother and aunt were lost in admiration as they +gazed at the slender figure in the pale pink gown. + +Hardly had she finished when Martine, jumping up, impulsively threw her +arms about Yvonne's neck. + +"You must go back with me to the hotel. You must sing to me again. There +is a melodeon in the parlor, and I will accompany you. Please, Mr. +Babet, can she go back with us?" + +"It is an honor for Yvonne," he replied politely; "I will ask her +mother." + +"Oh, let me; I will make her say 'Yes'"; and in a few words of rapid +French Martine asked that Yvonne might go to the hotel as her guest, to +stay to tea. The mother at once assented, and both of the silent women +were in a flutter of excitement as they accompanied Yvonne to her +bedroom to make some additions to her dress. + +"Ah," said Alexandre, "she has never been inside the hotel; it will seem +very grand to her." + +Then Yvonne, kissing them all,--the mother, the aunt, and finally the +tall father,--turned her back to the cottage, and with beaming face +leaned on Martine's arm as Amy led the way. + +A little distance down the road they saw a man standing by a gate. + +"Good-day, little one," he called; "where are you going?" + +"To the hotel, Uncle Placide." + +"How happens it?" + +"These American ladies have asked me. I am to have tea." + +"Ah, well, she is a dear little one, and you are good to her." + +The whole party had now halted in front of the gate, and these words +seemed to be particularly addressed to Amy; for, standing directly in +front of her, Placide lifted his hat. "Won't you enter?" he asked +pleasantly. + +"But, uncle," remonstrated Yvonne, "we have no time; we go to the +hotel." + +"Oh, but there is much time; I have been in the States, and I like to +talk to the strangers, so enter my garden at least, ladies, to taste of +my cherries." + +There was nothing to do but enter the garden. At the mention of cherries +Yvonne indeed had seemed more willing to halt on her way to the hotel, +and the others, as Placide thrust upon them liberal handfuls of his +great crimson cherries, did not regret the delay. + +"You are from Boston," he said, after Amy had mentioned her home. "Ah, I +worked in Boston, that is, in Lowell, which was the same, and then I +came home when I had saved enough to buy a house. It is not so gay here +as in Lowell, but it is happier, and I can make a pleasanter living. I +never did like the mill, but the pay was good." + +"What do you do now, Mr. Placide?" asked Amy. + +"Oh, I fish. The sea is good to us Acadians; it is better than the +factory. One gets health here as well as fish, and fish enough to keep +the house fed. So, with my potatoes and my cherries, I am rich." Then, +with an afterthought,--"But I hope sometime that little Yvonne can go to +Boston, where there is much music. She could study and be great singer, +for the voice it needs teaching. I know that, because I have been in the +States where people study so much." + +The girls found it hard to leave Placide, for he was even more fluent +than Alexandre, and his years in the States had given him a certain +amount of information about things American, and he was evidently fond +of displaying what he knew. But at last they managed to say good-bye, +and continued their way down the road. + +"I am tired," sighed Priscilla, as the four stood at the door of the +little hotel. + +"Then let us sit here on the piazza. Would this suit you, Yvonne?" + +Yvonne turned toward Amy with a smile. "I like whatever the other ladies +like; it is all good for me." + +"Oh, yes," added Martine, "it will be great fun to sit here and watch +the passers-by. Things are rushing this afternoon; two persons are +entering that shop across the way, and I can count three ox-carts and +two buggies in sight. Where do you suppose the buggies are going?" + +"Perhaps half a mile up the road; perhaps to Yarmouth. You know there is +a continuous street along St. Mary's Bay, about forty miles from +Yarmouth to Weymouth." + +"One street forty miles long!" Amy's statement roused Priscilla from her +lethargy. + +"The young lady says true," interposed Madame, their landlady, who had +stepped out on the piazza. "Forty miles, and all Acadians! Is it not +marvellous that they have grown to be so much, when the English treated +them so cruelly, long, long ago?" + +"Ah, yes, Evangeline," responded Martine, politely. + +"Evangeline never came back," said the literal Priscilla. + +"That is true," assented the landlady. "But there is more than +Evangeline to tell about. Little Yvonne here knows many tales." + +Yvonne sighed softly. "Ah, yes, very many. But Evangeline lived not in +Meteghan. Her country was Grand Pré, far north. You will go there, +without doubt?" + +"Yes, Yvonne, we shall spend a week there." + +"There are not so many stories about Meteghan, for no one lived here +until after the exile." + +"I remember one," interposed Amy; "the story of Aubrey, who was lost in +the woods. At least, some writers say that he was lost in the Meteghan +woods, others that it all happened near Digby." + +"Tell us the story, Amy, and we can decide for ourselves where it was." + +"How like Martine!" thought Priscilla, "as if a girl could decide where +to place an historic event!" + +"After all," continued Amy, "it's only a little story, but it tells of +something that happened on that first expedition to St. Mary's Bay, when +De Monts brought his vessels here in 1604, and Champlain named this +stretch of water, as he named so many other places. One member of the +expedition was Aubrey, a priest, with an intelligent love of nature. A +small party went off from the vessel to look for ore along the shores of +St. Mary's Bay. The priest was one of the number, but when the boat was +ready to return he could not be found. He had left his sword in the +woods, and had gone back to look for it. For four days the others +searched for him without success, and suspicion fell on one or two +Huguenots in the party, in whose company he was last seen. With one of +them he had had some rather violent discussions on religious matters. To +the credit of all, however, no harm was done to the Huguenots in spite +of the suspicion. After sailing without Aubrey, the party went farther +north, and it was nearly three weeks before they returned to the +neighborhood where he had disappeared." + +"Did they find him?" asked Martine, somewhat impatiently. Amy was to +learn that Martine's temperament led her always to desire the climax +almost before she had heard the story itself. + +"Yes, they found him; for when they were some distance from shore they +saw something that looked like a flag waving. A boat was sent out, and +to the delight of those who went in it, they saw that the flag was a +handkerchief tied to a hat on a stick, that the missing Aubrey was +holding to attract their attention. Looking for his sword, the good +priest had missed his way, and for seventeen days he had wandered in the +woods, living on berries and roots." + +"How delighted he must have been to see his friends!" + +"Not more delighted than they to see him; for had he not been found, the +consequences for the suspected Huguenots might have been serious." + +"It is Yvonne's turn to tell us a story," said Martine, "but we all need +to rest before tea, and I want to tell your mother about the quilts. If +she disapproves of my buying so many--" + +"I suppose that you will send them back;" Amy's tone contradicted her +words. + +"Oh, no; I will not send them back. But I do wonder what I shall do with +them." + +Yvonne and Martine went indoors, and Amy and Priscilla soon followed. +Amy prepared her mother for Yvonne by telling her all that they had +learned about the little girl. + +"I won't discourage Martine's altruism," said Mrs. Redmond. "Her +impulsiveness in the past has sometimes led her into trouble, but +Martine herself will be benefited by having this warm interest in +another. As to the quilts, though we cannot carry them about with us, +they can be easily expressed home, and the duty will not be large." + +After tea the whole party sat in the little parlor, to listen to Yvonne. +Her first two or three songs were without accompaniment. They were +plaintive songs with French words, and unfamiliar to the Americans who +were listening. But a chance question revealed the fact that Yvonne was +also familiar with much music that Amy knew well. Thereupon Martine +suggested that if Amy would improvise some accompaniments Yvonne might +be heard to even better advantage. So Amy, seated there at the melodeon, +played, and Yvonne continued to sing, and some of the music was rendered +with a dramatic power that surprised all who listened. + +"Ah, she will be great some day," said the landlady, listening +enraptured to the bird-like tones. "How it had pleased her poor mother +to know that she was to be a singer!" + +While Yvonne sang, various plans were rushing through Martine's busy +brain. "Yvonne shall have a parlor organ, Yvonne shall have teachers, +Yvonne shall have her eyes examined by a good oculist. Evidently she is +not blind,--not really blind." + +While she was thinking and planning, her eyes never left the face of the +little French girl, held there by the wonderfully happy expression which +lit it. Yvonne's wide, brown eyes, her half-parted lips, the little +brown tendrils curling around her forehead, all combined to make a +picture that impressed itself strongly on all in the room. Moreover, the +gentle and unassuming manner of the young singer, as she received the +praise showered on her, completely won the hearts of all. Or perhaps it +would be more nearly true to say that if Priscilla's heart was not +completely won, she at least had begun to see some reason in Martine's +infatuation. + +"Is it not wonderful?" asked Martine of Mrs. Redmond. + +"She certainly sings remarkably well--for a little girl." + +Martine looked up quickly at Mrs. Redmond. Was the latter able to find +some flaw in what she herself considered altogether perfect? She had no +time just then to question her, for Yvonne herself might overhear the +reply, and besides, the young girl was about to sing again, and Martine +could not spare a note. + +When at last the tall figure of Alexandre Babet appeared in the doorway, +they knew that the music must end, and with a protracted farewell from +Martine, Yvonne and her adopted father started for home before nine +o'clock. + +"Yvonne did not seem as much overcome by the grandeur of the hotel as +Alexandre prophesied," remarked Amy, as the girls went upstairs. + +"Yvonne would never be overpowered by anything," responded Martine; "I +don't believe she'd be surprised by the Auditorium." + +Whereat both Amy and Priscilla laughed loudly. "To compare small things +with great," said Priscilla, "of course she wouldn't be impressed by +this hotel. Why, it's smaller than a summer boarding-house." + +"I wonder what Alexandre meant?" mused Martine. + +"Oh, it was only his way of trying to make you think that you were doing +Yvonne a great favor by asking her here," responded Amy. + +"Yes, the French way of pretending that things are what they are not," +added Priscilla, as if the word "French" comprised the very essence of +deceit. + +"Take care," retorted Martine. "I never dared tell you before, but I had +a French great-great-grandmother." + +Although Priscilla made no reply to this, her inward comment was, "That +accounts for many things that have made me wonder." + +At breakfast the next morning, before Martine had come down to the +table, Amy asked her mother what she really thought of Yvonne's singing. + +"I do not profess to be a judge of that kind of thing, but the child +seems to have a fine natural voice, as well as a musical nature. Yet, +like all other singers, she must have her tones properly placed, and she +is still too young to profit by expensive musical instruction. It is my +own opinion that it would be better for her to sing little for the next +few years. Some of the things that she sang last evening were beyond +her, and there is danger of her forcing her voice, and so injuring it." + +"Have you said this to Martine?" + +"No, for Martine is the type of girl who profits most by finding out +things for herself. She will learn gradually that everything cannot be +done at once for Yvonne." + + + + + CHAPTER V + + NEW PEOPLE + + +"I don't like to." + +"Why not?" + +"It seems strange. They may not care to have us visit them." + +"We can only try. If they turn us away why, that is the worst we need +expect." So, drawing Priscilla's arm within hers, Amy led her up the +narrow flagged walk toward the Convent School. + +A sister wearing a glazed bonnet with a long veil was trimming +rosebushes in the garden bed close to the house. + +"Yes, surely, we are glad to have visitors. The school itself is closed +now, for the girls have their holidays, but you can see all there is. +Excuse me for a moment and I will be with you." + +In a short time she had joined them in the little hallway to which they +had been admitted by another sister. + +"Would the ladies care to see the chapel?" + +"Ladies" had a pleasant sound to Priscilla, and she put aside her +prejudice against entering churches not of her own faith. + +The chapel was simply a large room suitably fitted with altar and seats. +It had no color, but everything was daintily white, with here and there +a touch of gold. + +The neat dormitory, the pleasant schoolroom, and the spotless +cleanliness of the whole house appealed to Priscilla, and to her +surprise she found herself asking the sister questions about her work. + +"We are Sisters of Charity, and our headquarters are in Halifax," the +good sister said gently. "The school is but a little part of our work. +We go in and out among the sick and the troubled. The Acadians are good +to their own, and no one need suffer here; but some will make mistakes, +and some suffer through the fault of others, and often the priest and +the sisters alone can set things right." + +Soon they had seen all that there was to see, and when the sister, +looking at the clock, regretted that she must leave them to visit a sick +woman, both girls asked if they might not walk with her. + +"With pleasure," she replied. "Indeed, I would take you to the house +where I am going, were it not that this woman is too sick to see +visitors." + +"We should like to see another Acadian house," said Amy; "we have +visited only that of Alexandre Babet, and that was so plain." + +"Ah, you have been at Alexandre Babet's. Then you have seen the little +Yvonne. Is she not charming?" + +"Yes, charming and talented. We have heard her sing." + +"Yvonne sings sweetly. We have taught her some music here, but nature +has done the most for her, and she is so patient about her eyes." + +"Do you think that she will be blind?" asked Amy, anxiously. + +"Oh, no, not wholly blind, though it is largely a question of doctors. +This came to her through an illness a few years ago. She did not have +the right care. They did not understand. But there is always hope, and I +think that she is no worse this year or two." + +"We have a friend who has taken a great fancy to Yvonne. She preferred +to go up to Alexandre Babet's this morning rather than to come +sightseeing with us." + +"Yvonne wins the heart of all so quickly, and her good father and +mother, though adopted, would do everything for her if they could. Poor +Alexandre looks for a gold-mine." + +"Yes, we know," and Amy smiled; "but I am glad to know that there is +hope for Yvonne's eyes." + +"Ah, yes, there is hope. Poor child! She has had a strange history." + +At that moment two small girls crossed their path. They looked like +little old women, with their shawls and _couvre-chefs_. The sister laid +her hand on the shoulder of one of them. + +"Where are you going?" + +The girls hung their heads shamefaced, and would not meet the sister's +gaze. + +"Ah, you know; go home and get your hats." + +The children ran off without looking back, and the sister turned with a +smile to Amy and Priscilla. + +"You see they are foolish. When they are at school I tell them they must +wear hats every day; but in holidays they will put on _couvre-chefs_. It +is an old fashion that I think not good. When they are married--ah! it +is too bad--at once they put on the _couvre-chef_, the very girls that I +took such trouble with. It takes long to get the Acadians away from the +old fashions. But they are good people." + +"We should like to see more of them," said Amy. "We should like to see +another Acadian house. That of Alexandre Babet did not seem typical." + +"Then I should be glad to take you to see one. Why, here we are, just +opposite the house of Madame Doucet, who speaks some English, and with +her daughter you would see two excellent Acadians. Would you care to +call there? I will introduce you, though I must go on farther." + +Priscilla looked up in protest, but when Amy expressed pleasure at the +prospect of making the visit, she said nothing in opposition. The +sister, saying a word or two more in praise of Madame Doucet, and +leading them across the street, knocked briskly on the door of a small +pink cottage. + +This was one of the brightest of the brightly painted dwellings that Amy +had noticed when on her wheel the day before,--a pink with pale-green +trimmings. When the sister had introduced them to the heavy-browed young +woman who came to the door, she left them, to go farther on her errand +of mercy. + +The young woman, after welcoming the girls heartily, led them to the +kitchen in the rear, into which the bright morning sunshine was pouring, +while a tiny canary in its cage sang cheerfully. + +In the rocking-chair near a window sat an elderly woman, whom the +daughter introduced as her mother. She was stouter and stronger looking +than Madame Babet, and although she could hardly be called of ruddy +complexion, she was far less sallow. Her face showed signs of age, but +her hair had hardly begun to turn gray, and she welcomed the two girls +so cordially that they were at once at their ease. + +Amy, while the daughter exchanged a few words with her mother, glanced +around the room. Its floor was partially covered with a square of +oilcloth, and the most conspicuous article of furniture was the large, +highly polished range, on which were several bright pans and kettles of +tin. There were religious pictures on the wall, and one or two +rocking-chairs. Evidently it was sitting-room as well as kitchen. A set +of shelves in the corner laden with dishes attracted Amy's attention. +Madame Doucet, observing Amy's interest, for she had stepped toward the +shelves, said to her kindly,-- + +"Ah, go close, eef you please; you may touch them." + +Amy gave an exclamation of delight as she took down a pitcher of copper +lustre shining like burnished gold. + +"How beautiful! I wish I had one like it." + +"Ah, that is not to sell; it is family what you call it?" + +"Heirloom," suggested Priscilla. + +"But yes, that is so, for my grandmère had it long ago. She was daughter +to an exile." + +Amy handled the pitcher carefully as she set it back on the shelf. Few +of the other dishes were china, though one delicate cup and saucer Amy +pronounced older even than the pitcher. + +When Priscilla complimented the two women on their English, they beamed +with pride, and explained that they had made a great effort to learn it +while living in Yarmouth, where the older woman's husband had worked in +a mill. + +"But we see not many English, so we have not much chance to practise. +That how the sister send you here." + +"As a language-lesson," murmured Amy; and even Priscilla smiled in spite +of herself. + +The younger woman was talkative. She took them into her neat bedroom, +with its floor in two colors,--a yellow geometrical design painted on a +brown ground,--and showed them with especial pride her dressing-table, +the frame of which she had fashioned with her own hands and draped with +white muslin. From the window she pointed out her little garden, with +its vegetable patch and tiny strawberry-bed, which she worked herself. + +"I sell some every year," she said. "That helps keep house. We don't +need much, we Acadians; we very lazy." + +"You don't seem lazy to me," remarked Amy; "certainly you are +hard-working." + +"P'raps lazy is not the word--no, it is content. We Acadians are too +content with what we have. We want not too much, and so we make not +money as the Americans." + +With some difficulty Amy brought to a close the visit to the cheerful +mother and daughter. She on her part, and they on theirs, had so many +questions to ask and to answer. + +On their way back to the hotel they stopped for a moment at the +graveyard in front of the great brick church. + +"Let us not go in," urged Priscilla. + +"It may not be open," returned Amy, "though this Stella Maris interests +me because our landlady told me that the whole parish helped build it. +All saved and saved, and gave what they could, and the men, when they +came home tired from fishing, would go some distance where the bricks +were and haul them to the building. But if you don't care to go into the +church, do spend a few minutes in the churchyard,--I have a weakness for +studying old gravestones;" and as she spoke Amy's mind went back to a +day long ago when she and Brenda and Nora and Julia had poked among the +stones in that old burying-ground overlooking Marblehead Harbor. This +thought reminded her of Fritz, who had teased her that day in his boyish +way, and strangely enough these memories took such possession of her +that she could not put her mind on this little churchyard of the +Acadians. + +Moreover there was less of interest here than she had expected. +Inscriptions were few, and these were modern and practical. There was +something pathetic in the general tangle of grass and shrubbery, and in +the plain little wooden crosses that marked the majority of the graves. + +As they approached the hotel a shout greeted them,--"Amy, Amy, Prissie, +Prissie! Where have you been?" + +"How silly Martine is!" Priscilla had barely time to say, when Martine +herself rushed out of a little building near the house. + +"Oh, do come in, Yvonne is with me; I've been buying her a hat." + +"A hat!" + +"Yes, do come and see. There's a man here from Halifax,--a drummer, I +suppose,--and he has the loveliest fall styles. I would get one for +myself if I knew how to carry it." + +"An autumn hat in July! Will you make poor Yvonne wear it now?" + +When they entered the room where the millinery was displayed, they saw +Yvonne standing in rapt admiration before the long double row of hats +that the milliner's man had taken out of his boxes. In her hand she held +a large shaggy felt, trimmed with rosettes of velvet. The little girl +was fingering it lovingly. + +"I have never had a hat," she explained, "only hoods and sunbonnets, but +my new friend, she desires that I have one for the winter, and it will +indeed be a pleasure. I could never wear a _couvre-chef_ like an old +woman. I do not see these plain, but they feel so soft." + +"Put it on, Yvonne, you look so sweet." + +So Yvonne put it on, and after trying one or two others, Martine still +preferred the first one. Accordingly it was packed in a large box, and +Martine carried it to the hotel, where Yvonne was to stay until Mrs. +Redmond and her party should start for Little Brook. + +The afternoon was warm. Mrs. Redmond went down to the edge of the Bay to +finish a sketch that she had begun in the morning. Amy and Priscilla sat +on the piazza, lazily watching the passers-by, and commiserating the men +mowing grass in the meadow across the road that lay between them and the +sea. + +Martine roamed about the house with Yvonne clinging closely to her, and +at last sat down for an hour in the parlor, to hear Yvonne sing some of +her plaintive songs. + +After their early tea Alexandre came to claim Yvonne, and the two girls +fell on each other's necks in a farewell embrace. Though they were less +demonstrative in their expression, Amy and Mrs. Redmond, and Priscilla +too, felt some emotion at parting with their new friend. + +"It isn't a real good-bye," whispered Martine to Yvonne; "I know that +Mrs. Redmond will help me carry out those plans I spoke of. So _au +revoir_." + +From Meteghan to Little Brook they were to drive eight miles,--at least, +all but Amy were to drive, while she, as before, was to wheel beside the +carriage. + +"You will stay in Little Brook a week," said the two Connecticut +teachers, bidding them good-bye. "Don't forget the Hotel Paris. It's +smaller than this," they added, smiling, "but you will find it +entertaining in every way." + +"We can't stay a week," Mrs. Redmond had replied; "already we need our +trunks." + +"And our letters," added Priscilla. + +"Yes, they are waiting for us in Digby. You see this side trip to Clare +was as unexpected as it has been pleasant." + +But the farewells were at last all said, and with only one backward +glance at the landlady and her children, the teachers, and the +commercial traveller, the four turned their faces toward Petit Ruisseau, + + ... "'when brightly the sunset + Lighted the village street.'" + +sang Amy as they rode along. "Don't you remember that in 'Evangeline,' +Priscilla?" she asked, for she was riding close to the carriage. + +"It sounds familiar. We must find time to read Longfellow while we are +at Little Brook." + +"Yes, indeed; but now--" + +Amy did not finish the sentence, for the driver started up his horse, +and to show that she did not intend to be outridden she increased her +own speed, and soon was out of hearing of the others. It was a beautiful +evening. The gaily painted houses of Meteghan, and even those that were +dazzling white, all suggested the toy dwellings of the Christmas shops. +Amy greatly enjoyed the scene as she pedalled along. A girl standing in +one doorway, knitting busily, called out a cheerful salutation, which +Amy returned. + +At one corner was a little shop, where a few men in blue jeans had +gathered to talk after their day's work. Soon Meteghan was far behind, +and Amy had passed the great white church of Saulnierville. As she was +still some distance ahead of the carriage, she dismounted to speak to a +group of children playing some kind of a dancing game, to which they +sang an accompaniment. Making an effort to understand the words that +they sang to the merry air, she discovered that their French was unlike +hers. + +A little farther on she noticed a boy walking along with the help of a +crutch. Her first glance made her think of Fritz, whom a slight accident +had once obliged to limp about in this same way. Something in the boy's +face when she looked at him a second time rather startled her. He +certainly resembled Fritz. + +"I wonder if he is really lame, or if this crutch means only that he has +had some slight accident." This was her thought. + +Dismounting, she turned back to the little boy. + +"How far is it to Little Brook?" + +"Oh, not very far on a wheel." + +"A mile?" again ventured Amy. + +"About a mile--perhaps." + +Amy looked back. The carriage was so far behind that it was hardly worth +while for her to hurry on toward the Hotel Paris. Moreover, if she knew +just where the house was, she would not care to reach it ahead of her +mother and the others; so she walked along with the boy. + +Although less talkative than some of the older Acadians whom she had +met, he was not at all shy, this little Pierre, who, after telling her +his name, confidently asked her hers. + +"You speak good English," Amy said in compliment. + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, we are taught English in school; we must learn it, +we Acadians. One often meets the English." The last was said with a +condescending air, amusing enough in one who was born a subject of the +Queen of England. "But you," continued Pierre, "are not English. You are +American,--is it not so?" + +"Yes, Americans from the United States." + +"Ah! they are strange, the Americans; you are going, perhaps, to the +Hotel Paris?" + +"Yes, but how did you know?" + +"Because it is the only place where Americans stay. So late, you would +be going somewhere. It is a good house, but Madame who keeps it has had +a death there to-day." + +This piece of news disturbed Amy. + +"A death! I must tell my mother. She is behind, in the carriage." + +"You need not wait for it. It will soon overtake you if you walk with +me," said Pierre, sadly, glancing down at his crutch. + +When, however, the carriage did overtake the two, they were not far from +the Hotel Paris. Mrs. Redmond heard what Pierre had to say about the +death of the landlady's sister, and when she learned that it was the +result of an accident received some years before, she felt less concern +than at first about approaching the house. + +"It is unlikely, however, that Madame will wish us to stay there." + +"Oh, she is not so," interposed Pierre; "she will always take money when +it comes to her." + +"But I do not like to stay where there is a death," interrupted Martine. + +Priscilla made no comment. But Mrs. Redmond was undisturbed. It was now +almost dark, and to return to Meteghan would mean a tiresome and +probably cold ride. Pierre asserted that there was no other house where +they could stay in Little Brook, and it was doubtful if there was any +room at Church Point. + +"We must at least see Madame Bourque at the hotel. A message was sent +her last night, asking her to reserve rooms for us, and perhaps she can +help us out of our difficulty," said Mrs. Redmond. + +To the great surprise of all, the Hotel Paris, when they reached it, +proved to be but a small dwelling-house, larger than its neighbors, but +even smaller than the inn at Meteghan, for which "hotel" seemed a +misnomer. As the four sat in the little parlor, Madame Bourque, a +dignified and even elegant appearing woman, in her black gown and black +_couvre-chef_, tried to make them feel comfortable. + +"Ah, but the death, it makes no difference," she said, after assuring +Mrs. Redmond that the rooms were in readiness. "It is my sister who has +been long sick, and was glad to go. Indeed I am sorry that you heard of +it, for the funeral will be before you wake in the morning, and had I +thought it would disturb Madame, why, we might indeed have had it +to-day." + +"Business before pleasure," whispered Martine to Amy, who was trying +valiantly to keep from smiling,--a difficult task, indeed, for any of +the four. + +As they seemed to have no choice in the matter, the girls agreed with +Mrs. Redmond that they could hardly do better than take possession of +the large, pleasant rooms that Madame Bourque showed them. + +In the early morning, a gray morning, before the others were awake, Amy +looked from the window. A sad little procession was setting out from the +door. The plain deal coffin was in an open wagon. Behind it were a dozen +shabby carriages, with mourners, men and women. They were to drive to +the churchyard at Point à l'Église, three miles away. She did not waken +the others, but she watched the little procession until it was out of +sight. + + [Illustration: "'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come + to see me.'"] + + + + + + Chapter VI + + PIERRE AND POINT À L'ÉGLISE + + +"Ah, why should she wish to see you, the American young lady? You have +much conceit, Pierre." + +The words were French, the voice was Madame Bourque's, and Amy, quickly +translating what she overheard, perceived that Madame Bourque was +throwing obstacles in the way of the little boy's seeing her. + +"Madame Bourque," she cried, stepping out into the hall, "I asked him to +come to see me. It is as he says." + +"Oh, then excuse me, Mademoiselle. I did not understand. I did not know +that you had seen Pierre." + +"Ah, yes, he helped me find my way last evening. He may come in, may he +not?" + +"Ah, surely, since you wish it. Pierre talks much, and I have known +those whom he tired. But enter, Pierre, since you have been invited." + +Then Pierre followed Amy into the little sitting-room, where Priscilla +and Martine were already seated near an open fire; for the gray and damp +early morning had introduced a foggy day, and at present sightseeing was +out of the question. Priscilla had been writing letters, Amy had been +reading a history of the Acadians, and Martine, before Pierre's arrival, +had been looking through "Evangeline." + +"Pierre," Amy asked, not knowing just what to say to the old-fashioned +boy, "do you care for 'Evangeline'?" + +"Surely, yes," he replied, his face lighting up. "Your Longfellow has +sympathy for the Acadians. A lady who stayed here last summer lent me +his poems, but best I understand the 'Evangeline.' + + "'Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. + Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the + wayside, + Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her + tresses!'" + +Pierre recited with much expression. + +"Ah," he continued, "I can say much of that beautiful poem, and indeed +it makes me weep to think how they were treated, those poor Acadians, my +ancestors. The English were most cruel." + +"Amy," half-whispered Martine, "my history is a little rusty, so please +tell me if the Acadians were driven out from Little Brook." + +"No, my dear, Little Brook was founded by some who made their way back +from exile. Pierre," she added in a louder tone, "you are so interested +in your people, can you tell us about those who founded Little Brook?" + +"Yes, Pierre can tell you all the story," interposed Madame Bourque, who +had entered the room to put wood on the fire. "He knows it all from his +grandmother, and he remembers." + +Pierre, thus commended, flushed even more deeply than he had when Amy +made her request; but he remained silent until she spoke again. + +"Perhaps it is not everything that you would wish to hear," he said, +"that I shall tell; but my grandmother told me that it was all forest in +Clare when the Acadians were driven from their homes by the cruel +English. There were no farms here then, and so Petit Ruisseau has no sad +memories of poor people driven from their homes. But you know that +Acadians from Annapolis and Grand Pré and other places farther north +were carried off to the English settlements that are now the States, and +were treated like beggars; for they had no money, and spoke but a +strange tongue. Fathers were separated from children, and brothers and +sisters were not often in the same ship. But all were strong in their +hearts, and determined to come back to their beautiful Acadia. Some +began to come back before the Peace, and walked all the way--hundreds +and hundreds of miles--from Boston and New York, until they reached the +coast of the Bay. When the war was over, and there was a great Peace, +many, many more came, and walked all the way around from New Brunswick +to Nova Scotia to find their homes again." + +"But I thought that all their houses were burned and that they had no +homes to return to." + +"That is true; but some knew not this, and even those who had seen the +fires from the ships did not believe that everything of theirs was +destroyed. So they were very sad when they could find no signs of their +old homes, and saw that everything belonged to the English settlers. It +was a great crime, sending them away, oh, so many; I am proud my +great-great-grandparents were exiles and my great-grandmother was born +in Salem; so perhaps I am half Yankee; that's why I speak some English." + +At that moment Madame Bourque took part in the conversation. "Ah, it is +terrible to think of their sufferings, people of such worth,--it is the +crime of history. Just think of Belliveau; you tell about him, Pierre." + +"Oh, he was very brave, and the first exile to land in Clare. He and his +wife came across the bay in a little boat, bringing their baby too, and +they landed safely on the shore that you can see from the window. They +had a terrible passage--and to think to-day that some people fear to +cross the bay to St. John, even in a steamboat! At first they did have +nothing, but they cut wood, and soon other Acadians joined them who had +walked all the way around on land." + +"Pierre," interposed Amy, "you describe things very well; what do you +intend to be when you grow up?" + +A shadow crossed Pierre's face. "I should like to be a sailor, and then +a great captain, but I am not strong enough, and I shall never grow big; +so I think I may be a teacher, and that is why I take trouble to speak +and write English." + +"You should be here," interrupted Madame Bourque, whose mind still dwelt +on the Acadians, "on the fifteenth of August; that is the day of the +return from exile that all the people in Clare celebrate." + +"We shall hardly be in this part of the country then, Madame Bourque," +responded Amy, "but we shall try to know all we can about the early +Acadians before we leave Little Brook. But, Pierre," added Amy, "you +haven't told us all that you know, have you? Haven't you some stories +that your mother or grandmother has told you?" + +"One about the cane I like much." + +"Then tell it to us." + +"Well, there was one of our family, a great-grand-uncle, I think, who +lived down near Cape Sable before the exile; one time he was very kind +to a shipwrecked captain and took him into his house and gave him +clothes and food; then when my relative was driven from home they took +him to Boston, and he had to wander about, begging his bread, for he +could not speak English. And then he and his three sons with him were +put in jail; then the captain whom he had been kind to heard that these +Frenchmen were in jail, and, remembering the kindness he had had, went +to visit the prisoners. How surprised he was to find his old +acquaintance who had helped him after the shipwreck! My relative was +glad to see him too. Then the captain went to the governor and told him +about the kind Frenchman who was in jail, and the governor said to bring +him before him and perhaps he would pardon him. As my relative had no +clothes fit to wear before the governor, the captain bought him a +beautiful suit and a cane with a large head. Then the governor, when he +saw my grandfather, pardoned him and his three sons, and they stayed in +Boston several years, until the Peace, when they all came back to Nova +Scotia. I know this story is true, because I have seen the cane, which +one of my cousins owns in Pubnico." + +"Do you think that is true?" whispered Priscilla to Martine. + +"Oh, true enough; it certainly is not very exciting. It has been handed +down so long that the point is evidently lost." + +Pierre, once started, continued to tell many stories of the hardships +borne by the early Acadians, beside which the tale of Evangeline seemed +almost cheerful. + +"Now, Priscilla," said Martine, when Pierre paused, "you must admit that +the English don't show themselves in a very good light compared with the +Acadians. Did you ever hear of such cruelty?" + +"There must have been some cause for it," rejoined Priscilla, stoutly; +"we have heard only one side thus far. Perhaps the Acadians themselves +were a little in the wrong." + +"They certainly were not perfect," interposed Amy, taking part in the +discussion, "as you will admit when you have read their history more +carefully. We have not time to go into things more fully now, and I have +thought that Grand Pré would be the best place for our study of the +causes leading to the exile. It's putting the cart before the horse to +talk too much of the effects before we know the causes." + +Had Pierre exactly understood Amy he might have entered into a +discussion with her, but for the moment he had run to the front door to +admit Madame Bourque's little daughters, whom he had seen entering the +yard. When he was again in the room Madame Bourque once more joined the +group. + +"How does it happen, Madame Bourque," asked Martine, mischievously, +"that your hotel is the Hotel Paris? You should have named it 'Acadia' +or 'Evangeline,' or something like that." + +"Ah," responded Madame Bourque, "it is that my husband is a Frenchman, +from Paris, and I like my children not to forget that. Some day, when +they grow up, they shall go to Paris." + +"Have Acadians any real love for France?" asked Amy. "It is certainly a +long, long time since their ancestors left it." + +"Yes, indeed," replied Madame Bourque, "just as the Englishman always +loves England, or the Irishman Ireland; they are still strangers in a +strange land, though they must call the English Queen their queen," she +concluded sentimentally. "Some Acadians go back to France to study, and +some French boys come out to the college at Church Point, and one of +them--ah, it is so romantic!--married an Acadienne a few years ago." + +"Oh, tell us about it," exclaimed Martine; "I love anything romantic." + +"Well, then," said Madame Bourque, "there was such a pretty girl at +Church Point in the convent, and this youth was sent by his parents to +study at the College of St. Anne. He fell in love with the pretty girl +and would marry her, and oh, his father and mother they felt so bad, for +they thought Acadians were something like Indians; and so they hurried +out to Nova Scotia, and when they saw the girl they fell in love with +her too, and knew she was no savage, and say their son can marry her. +But the girl would not leave her people, and as the son would not give +up the girl, the parents decided to come to Acadia to live, for he was +an only son and they were rich. So they have bought much land up beyond +Weymouth, and they call it New France. They have a great mill where they +cut timber, and a railroad of their own twenty miles long, by which they +send it to the sea, and good houses and electric lights--all on account +of a pretty Acadienne." + +"That's just the kind of story I like," cried Martine. "I suppose +history is just as true, but someway I have more interest in things that +are happening to-day." + +Madame Bourque now left the room to make arrangements for the early +dinner. She had foretold that the fog would lift before noon, and +accordingly Priscilla, looking out the window, was not surprised to +catch a fleeting glimpse of the sun through an opening in the veil of +mist. + +"We'll take your word that the sun will shine," exclaimed Amy, "and I'll +run upstairs and ask mamma if she will drive this afternoon. I imagine +that the most there is to be seen is at Church Point, and the sooner we +go there the better." + +Madame Bourque, when asked, promised to have two carriages ready early +in the afternoon, for Amy had not only invited Pierre to dinner, but +intended to take him to drive with her. + +"Mamma," said Amy, as she gave her mother an account of the morning, +"you will find Madame Bourque very amusing. She evidently believes the +Acadians to be the salt of the earth; but though I sympathize with their +sufferings, I do not believe they were quite the superior beings that +she paints them." + +"It might be unkind," replied Mrs. Redmond, "to suggest that this is +part of her stock in trade; the more remarkable she can represent the +old Acadians to have been, the more interested will her guests be in the +places associated with them. They were a good, honest people." + +"But they were peasants, were they not, mamma? You would think to hear +her talk that they were very near nobility." + +"Oh, among the Acadians of to-day are doubtless many descendants of men +of good family in France. Indeed, some of them can claim for ancestors +Charles de la Tour and Baron D'Entremont; but the peasant blood is in +the ascendant, and the strain of nobility must be very slight." + +At the dinner-table Pierre won Mrs. Redmond's heart by the gentleness of +his manner, and she told Martine that Amy's protégé would be a close +rival of hers. + +"No, indeed," replied Martine; "no one can rival Yvonne. Just think of +her voice and her little curls and her pink cheeks." + +"I'll admit that Pierre lacks these characteristics, though all in all +they would hardly enhance his value. From what Amy says, however, I +should judge that Pierre, even if he has neither curls nor pink cheeks, +has a voice that is very effective when he uses it in telling stories." + +Fearing that Pierre might overhear these personalities, Mrs. Redmond +changed the conversation. "Amy," she said in a somewhat louder voice, +"where do you suppose Fritz is now?" + +"Oh, if Pubnico is as fascinatingly French as he expected it to be, he +is probably there still. I doubt if he will be better entertained than +we have been." + +"I almost wish he were with us," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "for he is +always a fund of entertainment in himself; I have thought of him many +times this dull morning, and I hope that we shall find a letter from him +awaiting us at Digby." + +If Amy agreed with her mother, she did not so express herself at this +moment; yet if the truth were known, it must be said that more than once +since their parting at Yarmouth she had regretted that she had not at +least given Fritz a chance to join their party. + +When the carriages came to the door in the afternoon Amy recognized them +as having formed part of the funeral procession; they were shabby, with +hard seats, and the horses, as well as the vehicles, looked as if they +had seen better days. It was arranged that Amy and Pierre should go in +the small carriage, as Madame Bourque's husband assured them that the +horse was perfectly safe for a lady to drive. "Ah, he could not run +away!" + +"I should think not," said Amy. "If he manages to carry us even the +three miles to Church Point I shall be surprised; he seems so dispirited +that I imagine the funeral has made more impression on him than on +Madame Bourque herself." + +Mrs. Redmond, Priscilla, and Martine were in the second carriage, and +Madame Bourque was the driver. + +Amy noticed in gardens and windows fewer hollyhocks, oleanders, and +other bright flowers than she had seen at Meteghan. The houses, too, +were painted in less bright colors, and the village street had a less +stirring appearance. + +Pierre was a good cicerone; he pointed out near the edge of the sea the +spot where the first of the returning exiles had landed. He also showed +Amy a little one-story house on a slight elevation, said to be the +oldest in the town, and to date but little later than the landing. + +"It is hard," he said in his precise way, "to imagine that it was all +forest here in those first years, since now there is hardly a tree in +sight except the fruit trees in the orchards. The first comers had large +grants of land from the government; thus the English tried to make up +for the wrong they had done." + +"But the farms are very small now," ventured Amy. "The yards are so +close together." + +"Ah, yes, that is it; each father had many children and divided his land +among his sons, and as every one wanted his house to be on the village +street, they have kept it up, cutting it up into long narrow strips, some +of them running back one or two miles; and away at the end of the strips +there are still forests that are worth money." + +Some time before they reached Church Point, the lighthouse and the +college buildings were seen in imposing outline in the distance. + +Their horse justified Amy's forebodings, and when they overtook Madame +Bourque and her party the latter were standing near a monument before +the large building that Pierre had said was the College of St. Anne. +Amy, though undisturbed by Martine's gibes at the slowness of her steed, +was glad enough to get out of the carriage. Both horses were left in +charge of a boy whom Madame Bourque knew, while the sight-seers started +to walk to the shrines of the Acadians--for by this term did Madame +Bourque describe the burying-ground and site of the early houses. + +"It is not a long walk," the voluble Frenchwoman had explained, "unless +you go out to the lighthouse, for which we have not time to-day." + +Priscilla lingered behind the others to copy the inscription on the +monument. It was in honor of the Abbé Sigogne, to whom the Acadians of +Clare owe more than to any other one person. + +Priscilla, reading the inscription, wondered why she had never before +heard of this man, who evidently had been so much to his own people. +Acadia is not far from Massachusetts, and yet already she realized that +this was a corner of the world of which she knew far too little. Amy, +however, could tell her what she wished to know, and she hurried on to +join the others, who were now far ahead. + +"Amy," she cried, overtaking her friend, "tell me something about the +Abbé Sigogne; I am ashamed to say that I never heard of him before." + +Pierre glanced at the American girl with an expression of absolute +amazement at her ignorance. + +"There is so much to tell," said Amy, "that it would be too long a story +for the time that we have now; yet as we walk along I can give you a +little idea of his work. He was a French priest of good family, who +barely escaped losing his head during the French Revolution. After +fleeing from France he lived a few years in England. When he heard that +the poor Acadians of Clare were without a clergyman, he decided to go to +them, and from that time he made their lot his. This was in 1799, about +thirty years after their return from exile, and though they had cleared +the forest and built houses, they had made little progress in other +ways; they were without schools and almost without religion, but the +good Abbé built them a church, established schools, and made frequent +visits to all the little settlements along St. Mary's Bay, often +travelling along the coast in a small, open boat. He taught them many +things besides religion. He made them firm in their allegiance to Great +Britain, and when he died, in 1844, he was bitterly mourned by all who +knew him, whether English or French." + +When Amy and Priscilla and Pierre caught up with the others, they were +in a large field, looking at a spot of ground on which Madame Bourque +said had stood the very first house at Point à l'Église, built after the +exile. Near by was a little old graveyard, where the first generation of +returning exiles had been buried. Only a few graves were marked, and +these with rough stones without inscriptions. A rude arch of whalebone +formed the entrance to this little enclosure. It was not very far from +the point of land on which stood the lighthouse, near which, along the +edge of the sea, a file of black-coated priests was walking. Though they +were indistinctly seen in the distance, their large caps and flapping +surtouts gave them a picturesque appearance. + +A strange structure like a shrine of open slats decorated with spruce +boughs attracted Martine's attention, and she insisted on making a +sketch of it. + +"It is a repository," explained Pierre, politely, "where the priest +stands, as a station for the procession, on festival days." + +When they returned to the College of St. Anne, Madame Bourque grew more +and more eloquent. + +"Is it not wonderful," she said, "that all this great building is +restored since the fire of two years ago? You will come inside, ladies, +and see how pleasant the rooms are." + +"I will stay outside," replied Priscilla, "and watch the horses," she +concluded rather lamely. + +"Nonsense," began Amy, but looking at Priscilla, she saw that the young +girl was in earnest, and so insisted no further. + +"Amy," whispered Priscilla, as her friend drew near her, "I was sorry +afterwards that I went into the convent yesterday, and so I would much +rather not go into a priest's house." + +"I had no idea that you would be so narrow," rejoined Amy. + +"I don't mean to be narrow," responded Priscilla, "but I really don't +feel like going inside." + +So Priscilla sat down on the grass near the monument and all the others +went inside the main building of the College of St. Anne. Not very long +afterwards Mrs. Redmond came out again, with her sketch-book in her +hand. "I thought it a good time now to make a sketch of the church. I +have seen many other schools like this one, for, after all, it's only a +boys' boarding-school. The girls enjoy practising their French with the +Eudist Father, who is taking them about, and it will probably be some +time before they are ready to leave. I think you make a mistake, +Priscilla, in not joining them." + +"It isn't a very old building," said Priscilla, implying that this was +sufficient reason for her staying away from the party. + +"It is certainly not very old," rejoined Mrs. Redmond; "the college has +been established less than ten years. It is a great thing to have +founded it here in the midst of the Acadians, and it has made the boys +of Clare much more ambitious." + +"What good is a college education to them?" asked Priscilla; "fishing +and farming seem to be their chief occupations." + +"This is really only a preparatory school," replied Mrs. Redmond, "and +the boys who are going into the Church or into the professions enter +other colleges in Canada or in France. The Father told us with pride of +the high standing of some of the graduates in their work in other +colleges." + +"If I do not care for the college," said Priscilla, "I love this church +of Abbé Sigogne's; it makes me think of a New England meeting-house, +with its white walls and steeple." + +Mrs. Redmond's sketch was hardly finished when the others came out from +the college. Madame Bourque was in her most talkative mood, as she led +them across the road into the white church. This time Priscilla went +with them and looked with some interest at the paintings on the wall, +and the sacred emblems, and the tablet inscribed to the memory of Abbé +Sigogne. + +Martine, it must be admitted, found something amusing even in this +church, for inside the gallery where the choir boys sat were many +pictures of little boats, and even of full-rigged ships scratched in +deeply with a penknife, presumably by the fingers of mischievous young +singers. + +Pierre, who happened to be with Martine when she made this discovery, +did not laugh with her, but shaking his head solemnly, said, "Ah, those +pictures show what really fills the heart of the Acadian boy." + +Madame Bourque was disappointed that her party of Americans did not care +to visit the girls' school near by, but the hour was late, and the +tired-looking horses were not likely to make speed on the way home. + +"We have really seen so much," said Mrs. Redmond, "that we shall need to +think it all over before seeing more, and you have been so good a guide +that in our one visit to Church Point we have learned as much as most +persons do in two." + +"We have learned a great deal," murmured Priscilla to Amy, "but I always +feel that Madame Bourque paints the Acadians as much more remarkable +than they are. But I should like to have seen Father Sigogne baptizing +Indian pappooses; they say that he used to wipe their faces with his +gown to find a spot where he could kiss them." + +"Yes, and Madame Bourque says that there are people still living who can +remember great crowds of Indians filing through the woods to Church +Point that they might receive Abbé Sigogne's blessing on St Anne's Day." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + DIGBY DAYS + + +On the way back to Little Brook Amy had a good chance to talk with +little Pierre about his hopes and ambitions. She found that he was +extremely fond of reading, and it was almost impossible for him to get +books such as a boy loves to read. About half a mile from Madame +Bourque's, Pierre pointed out a small cottage which he said was his +home. + +"My mother will be there now," he said, "and I hope you will come in +with me to see her. She does not speak so very good English," he added +apologetically, "but she can understand it." + +Though Madame Robichaud greeted Amy warmly and thanked her for her +kindness to Pierre, there was something pathetic in her manner and +appearance. She was a tall, thin woman, with a delicate, pale face that +was made all the paler by her plain black gown and the _couvre-chef_ +that covered her hair. Her husband, Pierre explained, was lost at sea +when Pierre was five years old, and since that time she had supported +them both wholly by her own labor. + +Madame Robichaud showed Amy with great pride some drawings nailed to the +wall that Pierre himself had made,--simple drawings of ships and houses +that showed draughtsmanship rather than imagination. These suggested to +Amy that Pierre had a talent that might be cultivated to greater +advantage than his ambition for school-teaching. + +She and Pierre parted reluctantly, and Madame Robichaud promised that +the little boy should be at the hotel in the morning before Amy left +Little Brook. + +All the travellers slept soundly that night despite the huge +feather-beds that Madame Bourque had provided, as she thought, for their +comfort. + +In the morning they wrote their names in her visitors' book, on whose +pages were inscribed the names of a number of Americans, some of them +fairly well known, who at one time or another had been guests at the +Hotel Paris. Pierre arrived very soon after breakfast with a great bunch +of hollyhocks or _passe-rose_ for Amy. He had evidently taken a great +fancy to his new friend. + +"She is more beautiful even than my school-teacher," he had said to +Madame Bourque; a compliment which the latter repeated as of especial +value, because hitherto Pierre had considered his teacher the model of +womanly perfection. + +"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, before the carriage arrived, "have you +written to Yvonne?" + +"Oh, no; I meant to, but now I'll wait till we reach Digby." + +"I fear that Yvonne will be disappointed. She probably expected a letter +to-day." + +"I know it; I am ashamed of myself." + +Martine's tone was penitent, but no one who knew Martine ever expected +her to do promptly what she had promised. It was always a little easier +to put off things to another day. Priscilla looked at her scornfully, as +if to say "How fickle!" + +When at last they were ready to start, all felt sad at parting with +Madame Bourque and her family, for in two days they had come to seem +almost like old friends. The two little Bourque girls, as the carriage +drove off, looked with astonishment at the dollar bill that Mrs. Redmond +had put in the hands of the elder to divide with her younger sister. + +Pierre walked on a little way with Amy before she mounted her wheel, and +on saying good-bye at last he knew that the American lady would really +send him the books that she had promised. + +Their train to Digby was not the famous "Flying Bluenose," but a local +that made no pretence of hurrying; it instead gave them ample +opportunity to study the scenery from the windows. + +When at last they reached Digby, they were warm and dust-covered, and +glad enough, too, when they found carriages waiting for them at the +station. + +"It's nothing but a summer resort, this Digby that we have heard so much +about," complained Martine, as they drove along the main street. "Just +look at those boys in golf suits, and that crowd carrying shawls and +wraps as if bound for a sailboat. Why, the town doesn't even look +English. It makes me think of Blue Harbor in Maine, where we spent one +summer." + +"I noticed a great deal of Philadelphia accent while we were waiting for +our trunks at the station." + +"Oh, don't mention it," replied Martine; "Philadelphians flock +everywhere, and they are so cliquey that they just spoil a place for me, +though I'll admit that they know a good thing when they see it." + +"Be careful, Martine," cautioned Amy; "no more slang than you can help +on this trip." + +"'On this trip!' If that isn't slang I'd like to know what is." + +"No matter now; here's the hotel; mail first and rooms afterwards." + +In an instant Amy had hurried to the hotel office, returning to the +others with a bundle of letters, which she gave to Priscilla to +distribute while she went ahead with her mother to look at the rooms +they had engaged. The hotel was like most small summer hotels, and in +spite of their pleasant remembrance of Clare, Mrs. Redmond and the girls +had to admit that it was more comfortable than the little French houses. + +"'Pubnico!' why, of course;" here Amy stopped as she held the letter in +her hand, turning it over once or twice as people will before opening a +letter. + +"Of course; don't hesitate to tell us that it's from Fritz. It would be +very strange indeed if he had not written," cried Martine, +mischievously. + +"'Pubnico,'" said Priscilla, as if the word had just penetrated her +brain; "why, there were two letters with that postmark, were there not?" + +"Oh, no, only one," replied Amy, promptly, "and, as Martine surmises, it +was from Fritz." + +But while Amy was speaking Priscilla looked sharply at Martine, and +Martine, as if uncomfortable under her gaze, suddenly left the room. + +After dinner, as they all sat on the piazza, "Amy," said Mrs. Redmond, +"you haven't told us yet how Fritz is enjoying his journey." + +"Oh, he thinks he has found the only French in Nova Scotia. He describes +their dress and their houses and their great fat oxen, and speaks of the +misfortunes of the exiled Acadians as if he were an original discoverer. +How foolish he will feel when he finds that what he has seen is old news +to us, for his description reads just like a description of Clare." + +"Only I'll warrant that he didn't find any Madame Bourque," and +Priscilla smiled. + +"No, nor an Yvonne," added Martine. + +"Not to speak of Pierre," concluded Amy. + +"My letter from home," said Priscilla, "mentions that this was the +hottest week of the season. Just think, only yesterday we were half +frozen driving home in the fog from Church Point." + +After breakfast, on their second morning at Digby, Mrs. Redmond and the +girls walked the whole length of the tree-lined main street. As Martine +had surmised, they had indeed arrived at a regulation summer resort. The +holiday spirit prevailed on all sides; every one was going somewhere, or +had just been somewhere, on pleasure bent. + +In spite of her professed prejudice against Philadelphians, Martine +almost fell into the arms of a former schoolmate from the Quaker City, +who rushed out to greet her from the garden of a small hotel near the +top of the hill. + +"Isn't the view fine, and the air just perfect? I'm so glad you're here; +there's something to do every hour of the day, and we shall be so glad +to have you join us, you and your friends." And she glanced dubiously at +Priscilla's mourning dress and serious face. + +"Thank you, but I can't make plans just now. There are four in our +party; the other two have walked ahead. We arrived only on Saturday, and +yesterday was so rainy that we stayed indoors until evening, when we all +went to church. Until we really have our bearings I don't think that I +can make any plans. But you must come to see us. There, I haven't +introduced you to Priscilla; you must excuse me. Priscilla, the Rose of +Plymouth, let me introduce you to Peggy Pratt from the quiet city of +Philadelphia." + +"You are the same old Martine," cried Peggy, as they turned away, while +Priscilla, reddening, added as the two walked on, "Oh, Martine, how +silly you can be!" + +Amy was delighted with everything that they saw in the course of that +morning walk, from the beautiful view of the Basin, surrounded by hills +that looked mountains, to the little fish-houses, the quintessence of +neatness, in front of which quantities of cod were drying. As to the +Basin, when she said she felt as though she had seen it before, Mrs. +Redmond reminded her that it resembled closely the harbor of Santiago, +with which she was familiar through pictures. + +"Ah, yes," rejoined Amy, "and that little opening into the Bay of Fundy +that they call 'The Gut' is like the passage where Hobson tried to sink +the Merrimac." + +"It isn't such a very little passage; somebody told me that it is nearly +a mile wide; it was there that the ships of De Monts entered the Basin +in 1604, when they discovered Acadia," Mrs. Redmond added. + +"Sixteen hundred and four!" cried Martine. "Oh, dear, we're going +backwards in our history. It was seventeen hundred and something when +the Acadians were expelled, and I shall never be able to remember +earlier dates." + +"At present we may put dates aside. For a day or two we can merely enjoy +ourselves." + +"I hope we are coming to some English history," said Priscilla; "I am +tired of the French. I always supposed Nova Scotia was a British +province, but this whole week we have heard very little about the +English." + +"I tell you what we'll do, Priscilla," cried Amy; "while mamma and +Martine sit here to make a sketch of something or other, you and I can +set out in search of some English history. Undoubtedly there's an +historic house or two to discover. That's the kind of thing I never let +escape me." + +At first it seemed as if Amy's search would be unsuccessful. One person +after another whom she asked said that there were no historic houses in +Digby. + +"There's an old shop over across the way," one added, "the frame of +which, they say, was brought out from England; I'll point it out to you, +though it doesn't look very old." + +This last statement was true enough, for the old house had been +reshingled and reclapboarded and repainted, so that it retained hardly a +vestige of antiquity in its appearance. To compensate Amy for her +disappointment, the obliging native made a suggestion that in the end +proved valuable. + +"What you ought to do is to see Mrs. Sally Tatem; her house isn't much +to look at, but it's old enough, and she knows more about the history of +Digby than any one else here." + +"Where does she live?" + +"Oh, just a little way up that street and round the next corner and up +the hill and you will see a little cottage at the end of the lane; just +knock at the door, and if she's at home she'll be very obliging." + +So Amy and Priscilla went "up the street and round the next corner and +up the hill," and at "the end of the lane" they saw a small white +cottage almost covered with vines. Amy's knock brought to the door a +little old lady with silvery hair and a tiny ruffled cap, wearing a gray +gown and, most important of all, a pleasant smile. The hesitation that +Amy had felt in explaining the object of their visit disappeared under +the old lady's greeting. + +"Dear child, come right in; I'll tell you all the Digby history I know; +but it isn't so very much." + +As Amy sat down in the little sitting-room, she could not help looking +about, and she was quick to recognize that the two chairs were +Chippendale. + +"They were brought by my grandfather," said Mrs. Tatem, noting the +direction of Amy's glance. "He was a captain in the Queen's Rangers; you +know many Americans were on the King's side in the Revolution." + +A look of surprise crossed Priscilla's face, but she did not venture to +raise a question. + +"Yes," responded Amy, "I know about the Loyalists." + +"Well, my grandfather was a farmer in Westchester County, rich and +prosperous, but he would not take arms against the King. A friend and +neighbor of his was tarred and feathered, and he was in some danger +himself. So he went into the war, and when it was over he couldn't stay +in New York. With other Loyalists he came down here. Of course it was +very hard for him to have all his property taken away, but his wife was +brave and she was willing to suffer." + +"Who sent them away?" asked Priscilla, eagerly. + +"Why, the Yankees,--the Americans, I mean," said Mrs. Tatem. + +"The Patriots," whispered Priscilla. + +"Yes, yes," interposed Amy. + +"But," continued Priscilla, "I didn't know that there were two sides to +the story." And as she said this the old lady smiled. + +"We have no bitterness now. I ought not to have said 'Yankees.' I have +many friends in the States, but it was hard for my mother and aunts to +have to grow up in the wilderness. I used to hear my aunt talk. She was +an older daughter." + +"But how did they live here in those days?" + +"Oh, the King gave a large grant of land and provisions for three years +and some building material. Many who came to settle would not stay, and +it was harder for those who did remain. There was no church even, for a +long time, until good Mr. Viets came; he did everything for the white +settlers, and even held a school for the Blacks." + +"The Blacks?" + +"Oh, yes; you see many people brought their slaves with them." + +"Southerners?" + +"No, New Yorkers. Many Northern people had slaves in those days. I know +that my grandfather had two, but when he died he left them their freedom +in his will. Out at the Joggins' there are still living many descendants +of these slaves, and of the Black Pioneers, a regiment of Blacks that +fought on the English side in the war." + +"What you've told us is almost as romantic as the French Revolution," +said Priscilla. + +"Maybe so," replied the old lady, hesitatingly, "though things probably +did not seem romantic to the first settlers here; but perhaps it's just +as well that our lot was cast in this healthy climate. I hear there's a +great deal of sickness in New York, and it's a great big city where +people care only for money. I'm sorry our young people go off so much to +the States; they could all make a comfortable living if they would only +stay at home." + +Amy could not refrain from admiring the china and all the daintiness of +the little house, plain and unpretending though it was. But the most +interesting thing of all was the old lady with her charming manner and +fund of history. + +"I've heard my mother say," she remarked before they went, "that the +first name of Digby was Conway, and it was only after Admiral Digby had +been here that it was named in his honor." + +"Why didn't the French settle Digby?" asked Priscilla; "they seem to be +everywhere else in Nova Scotia." + +"Probably because there are no marshes; they were attracted by the dyke +lands at Annapolis and Grand Pré." + +The girls bade good-bye to Mrs. Tatem with real regret. Before she +returned to the hotel Amy wandered by herself in a little old churchyard +where lay many of the first settlers, and as she looked at the +weather-beaten stones she saw that many of those who lay buried there +were natives of New York or its neighborhood; closing her eyes for a +moment to shut out the present, she pictured to herself what life in the +wilderness must have been to these refugees who had suffered everything +in a losing cause. + +That afternoon Martine's friend, Peggy, from Philadelphia, invited them +all to join a sailing party; though at first disinclined to go, Amy at +last accepted the invitation. It was a delightful afternoon, with wind +and sea in their favor, and the charm of the surrounding scenery was +increased by a delicate mist that hovered over the North Mountain, as a +reminder of the Bay of Fundy outside. + +For some reason this sail around Digby reminded Amy of some of her +excursions in Marblehead Harbor, especially of a certain day on the +"Balloon," and this in spite of the fact that the "Mary Jane" in no way +compared in equipment with Philip's yacht. No picture of Marblehead +could of course be complete unless Fritz were in it, and almost to her +annoyance Amy now found Fritz occupying a large corner of her mind. +Nevertheless, she was interested in all that was going on around her, +and once or twice lent a hand to the skipper, when a sudden change of +wind occasioned a quick shifting of the sails. Then the Bluenose skipper +complimented the Yankee girl on her skill in handling the ropes, and +Martine and Priscilla and Peggy expressed their astonishment that she +should know so much about a boat. + +For almost the first time since their departure from Boston Priscilla +was now in good spirits; she had overcome her original homesickness, and +her letters from Plymouth had been so cheerful that she was almost ready +to find enjoyment in the new scenes and faces. Between her and Martine +there was less intimacy than between her and Amy. Mrs. Redmond was sorry +to see that, for some reason, Priscilla lacked confidence in Martine. +This was to be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that the two girls +were so unlike in temperament and education. Though reserved in speech, +Priscilla was uncompromisingly accurate in statement; Martine, on the +other hand, while apparently unreserved, occasionally lacked frankness. +No one could accuse her of being untruthful, and yet her exaggerations +and her occasional concealments were a constant annoyance to the literal +Priscilla. + +On the second day of their stay at Digby, Martine had written a long +letter to Yvonne, and at the same time had sent her a roll of new music, +which she had happened to find in a Digby shop. + +"If I knew just how long we should be here, I really think I would send +for Yvonne to spend a week with us." + +"We shall not be here a week," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "and I am afraid +that Yvonne would rather handicap us if we tried to have her travel +farther." + +On their last morning at Digby, Amy and Martine had a parting walk +around the wharf. The wharf had been a source of much amusement to +Martine, and she had sketched it at high tide when it looked just like +any other wharf, and at low tide when it rose high above the water, its +sides covered with seaweed and barnacles. Indeed the vagaries of the Bay +of Fundy tides were an endless amusement to the party, exposing, as they +did, long, long stretches of reddish mud, and apparently casting up all +kinds of craft high and dry on the land. + +"Now, around by the fish-houses," cried Martine; "how I shall miss the +cod which we meet here at every turn! Fish flakes, in my mind, will +always be the emblem of Digby. Priscilla says that she has seen more on +Cape Cod, but I can hardly believe her. It's strange that no one has +given us a Digby chicken since we came here. Any one would suppose that +the Digby chicken is the only fish that grows here; yet really and truly +we haven't seen one, have we, since our arrival? For it's the cod that's +everywhere, and it's funny to think that they send so much codfish to +the West Indies. People there must be thirsty enough without having cod +sent to tantalize them." + +On their way back to the hotel they did an errand in a corner shop. The +clerk addressed them in rather broken English, and in answer to Amy's +question said that he was a descendant of an Acadian exile. He told them +one or two anecdotes, and when he had to turn to other customers Amy +waited until they were served, hoping to hear more from him. + +"That negro," he explained, as a tall Black went out of the shop, "is a +descendant of one of the slaves of the Revolution." + +"Was that other man a negro, too, who went out with him?" + +"Oh, no, he's an Indian from the Bear River Reservation. If you go that +way, you must be sure to visit it." + +"I hope that we are going there, for I hear that Bear River is a +beautiful place. Though I am not particularly anxious to see the Micmac +on his native heath, it certainly is interesting to have met +representatives of the four race elements in this little shop," said +Amy, as they turned away. + +"Four race elements?" asked Martine, not quite understanding her. + +"Yes, of Nova Scotia Loyalists, Acadians, Indians, and negroes. To be +sure Pre-Loyalists would be more representative than negroes--but the +former did not settle Digby." + +"Let's go up on Cannon Hill for a last look. Your mother just loves it. +We have made some fine sketches of those crooked apple-trees and that +old house." + +"And the cannon? They are certainly unlike any others you will come +across." + +"I have photographed the cannon," replied Martine, with dignity, "and if +I had time, I might sketch them." + +"I love it here," cried Martine, as they stood on the hill. "One gets +such a splendid view of the entrance to the Basin,--I can't bring myself +to say Gut. When I stand here, I just close my eyes, and then fancy how +these steep shores must have looked to the Frenchmen, Champlain and the +others, who came sailing in through the passage that June morning so +long ago. Then when I open my eyes I can actually see them out +there--and if I were a poet, like you, Amy, I would write something +worth while." + +"I a poet! what nonsense! What put that into your head?" + +"As if I didn't know all about you, Miss Amy Redmond," and Martine +quoted a line or two of verse that brought the color to Amy's cheeks. + +"That isn't poetry," she said with a smile. "But you are in a mood that +shows me we ought to go home." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + TWO ADVENTURES + + +"Oh dear," sighed Priscilla three hours later, as she strapped her +valise, "I believe I'd rather stay in one place all summer than move so +often. I shall miss the pier and the barnacles. When we came in from the +boat at low tide the other day, it seemed like one of the caverns of +fairyland--so dark and mysterious." + +"Yes, and you'll miss the codfish, too. Amy and I have been going +through the missing agony this morning. But I have a fish story that +will please you, Puritan Prissie. Though curing codfish is a leading +occupation here six days of the week, on Sunday that man is fined who +even sticks a pitchfork into a helpless cod--except,--and here I am +afraid that this covers a quantity,--that if there has been a week of +wet weather, if Sunday is sunny, then the gentle codfish may be turned +over. This is merely a humane provision for the comfort of the cod, who +otherwise would become unduly weary lying so long on one side." + +"We shall become unduly weary waiting for you," cried Amy, who had +entered the room during the latter part of Martine's speech. "I hope +that you are both ready, for it is almost train time." + +"All aboard then," cried Martine. "If my hat is on straight, nothing +need delay us. Let me help you with your valise, Priscilla. My luggage +has gone on." + +When they reached the station Mrs. Redmond and her party found that +after all they had some time to spare. At five minutes past the hour +they took their seats. "Standard time, Halifax time, hotel time, local +time," hummed Martine. "I wonder which we're starting by." + +Presently the conductor walked along the station platform to the little +waiting-room, and from the open window they heard him speak to some one +inside. + +"Have you made up your minds yet, ladies, about going?" he asked in a +polite tone. + +"Oh, gracious, yes," exclaimed a shrill voice. "We were waiting for the +bell;" and two elderly women hurried toward the train with their +knitting in their hands. Amy had noticed them busily knitting there, in +a corner, when she passed. It seemed, by the conductor's subsequent +explanation, that knowing they were uncertain whether to go by that +train or the next, he had patiently waited for them to decide. + +Bear River was one of the places where Mrs. Redmond had planned to stay. +After a short railroad journey that included a passage over some +wonderful bridges, beyond which was a great extent of water, and after a +drive of five or six miles, they found themselves gazing down at +picturesque Bear River. The beautiful town sloped to a broad stream, its +white houses and spires half hidden by trees. + +"It reminds me of Switzerland," cried Martine. + +"It's a dream," exclaimed Priscilla. + +"I don't believe Fritz has seen anything more beautiful," added Amy. + +"It deserves a more beautiful name," said Mrs. Redmond. + +"But, really, mamma, it's named for Imbert, the explorer, and the name +doesn't seem so bad when we think of that." + +Their day in Bear River proved to be a gala day of the town. They had +arrived at the height of the Cherry Carnival, and games and boat-races +and other festivities had been arranged as part of the celebration. The +girls were up very early that first morning, and soon after breakfast +Martine was out with her camera, taking snapshots in every direction. A +fat old squaw in a red jersey pretended to be afraid of the kodak, and +turned her head; but there was a grin on her face as she looked around, +which Martine quickly caught. Another squaw, also fat, with a little +pappoose in her arms and another clinging to her skirts, begged Martine +to take her. + +"Where you live?" asked Martine, as if talking to a child. + +"Up there," pointing vaguely in the distance. + +"Where?" + +"Reservation; you come see." + +Martine was interested. + +"Is it far?" + +"Oh, no." + +"What's your name?" asked Martine. + +"Marie Brown. You find my house." + +Though the name didn't seem to fit the Indian, Martine was glad that it +was one that she could remember; for all in a moment she had made up her +mind to visit the Reservation. + +During the morning, while she watched the sports and chatted with the +bystanders and ate dozens and dozens of the famous Bear River cherries, +Martine said nothing to the others of her intention of visiting the +Reservation. It would be easy enough to borrow Amy's bicycle and say +that she did not care to drive with the others. + +Everything happened as she planned. + +"Bear River is so hilly," said Mrs. Redmond, "that you will hardly wheel +very far. But yet it's a quiet little place, and there is no risk in +your doing some sight-seeing by yourself." + +Martine soon found herself on a road leading toward the Micmac +Reservation; she had asked her way once or twice, and felt lonely as +houses and shops were left behind; but though she was going in the +direction of the Reservation, she saw nothing to remind her of Indians. + +"Where are the wigwams? Surely with so many Indians around there must be +wigwams somewhere." + +Martine looked about anxiously at trees, bushes, and at one or two small +wooden houses. She had been riding for half an hour, and she felt that +she had not taken the wrong way. There was nothing to do but to inquire +at one of the little houses. As she approached it, she realized that it +was an Indian dwelling; three pappooses were playing in front of it, and +a tall, thin squaw, in a purple calico gown, came out to the door as she +entered the gate. + +"Marie Brown," said the woman; "oh, that far away. Too far for you; you +better go home; it's late." + +Martine knew that this was intended as advice, not as discourtesy, but +Martine was not fond of advice, and she decided that if she could not +see Marie Brown she would visit the chapel, of which she had heard some +one speak at dinner that day. + +When she asked the way, the woman drew her one side to an open space +behind the house, where, on a hill that did not look too remote, she saw +a small, square building with a cross on top for a steeple; so after a +little conversation with the squaw about her people and their way of +living, Martine pushed on toward the hill. She soon found that she must +leave her bicycle behind, as there was no good road and the path was +steep, and finding a spot that was screened by bushes, she left her +wheel there; so on she went on foot until she had come to the enclosure, +in the centre of which stood the Micmac Chapel. + +Seen at close range, it looked like a toy church, built plainly of wood, +absolutely simple and bare on the outside. Martine raised herself on a +ledge of wood so that she could look in through the windows. There was +something almost pathetic in the tawdry attempts at decoration--the +little altar draped with old lace curtains and gold lace and some faded +flowers. On top there was a silver cross within a white canopy, and a +small altar with a canopy in the corner. Walking around the graveyard, +Martine noticed that there were French names on almost all the stones. + +Suddenly she was disturbed by the barking of a dog, and, following the +direction of the sound, she saw a house on a hill high above the chapel. +The dog was running up and down in front of the house, and barking +loudly, as if he detected the presence of a stranger near the church. +Martine remembered that the Indian woman in the cabin below had spoken +of the chief's house near the church, but this did not reassure her. +Perhaps the chief, himself, would object to the presence of a young +American girl, and she began to wonder how she should make her peace +with him if he should interfere; she was less afraid of the possible +chief, however, than of the very real dog, whose barking still +continued. To leave the enclosure by the way she had come would bring +her out in full view of the creature. To avoid this, therefore, with +some difficulty she climbed a fence at the other side, believing that +she was going straight in the direction of the bicycle. But alas for her +miscalculations! She was in a tangled thicket of shrubbery; she tore her +dress and scratched her ankles, and she could not get back to the +bicycle nor even find the cabin from which she had been directed to the +chapel. + +When at last she reached the broad road, she sat down disconsolately by +the side of a fence. + +"Why was I so foolish as to borrow Amy's bicycle?" Had it been her own +wheel, so reckless was Martine's disposition, she would have left it +behind without a qualm. Yet though it was quite possible for her to buy +a new one for Amy, it did not seem quite right to return to the hotel +without it. While she was pondering, without seeing any way out of the +difficulty, she heard a shrill voice crying,-- + +"Hi, lady, hi!" + +Turning about, she saw the tall, thin Indian woman in the purple gown +walking down the hill and guiding the bicycle beside her. + +"Why, how did you know I was here?" asked Martine, after she had thanked +her profusely. + +"Oh, I could see the way you start from the chapel, and I thought you +not find your wheel, so I thought I bring him." + +Martine, thanking the woman warmly, gave her all the silver that she +happened to have in her purse,--not a very large sum from her point of +view, but magnificent from that of the Indian. + +The squaw then walked with her down the hill and into the village, +saying that young ladies should not go so far alone. As they walked, +Martine asked several questions about Indian life, and was told that, in +the summer, many were away selling baskets or fishing; they would be +coming back soon, she said, and even as she spoke Martine looked toward +the river on which two canoes were gliding, each containing two or three +Indians and their numerous belongings. + +"They are coming back for St. Anne's Day," said the woman; "great time +then at the chapel." + +They had not gone very far together when, turning a corner, the two came +suddenly on Priscilla and Amy. + +"Oh, Martine," cried the latter, "where have you been? We have had our +tea, and mother is so worried about you." + +"I hope it was a good tea and that you saved me some," rejoined Martine; +"for now that you mention it, though I hadn't thought of it before, I +realize that I'm half starved." + +"But where have you been?" + +"Oh, I've been a kind of babe in the woods, only there weren't any +berries for me to feed on, and all that I have to show for my adventure +are these tears in my gown." + +"Good-bye, ladies," said the Indian woman, while Martine was talking, +"and I thank you much," she concluded, holding out her hand to Martine. + +In a moment she had disappeared. + +"Is that another protégée?" asked Priscilla, a little sharply. + +Martine did not answer. She had already plunged into a lively account of +her afternoon, omitting nothing, not even her own carelessness in +relation to the bicycle. + +At the hotel Mrs. Redmond spoke to Martine more seriously about the +danger in expeditions by herself. "I had no idea that you thought of +doing anything beyond wheeling around the town," she said; "and if you +had met any real mishap, it would have been very hard for Amy and me, in +whose care your father and mother put you." + +So Martine promised that in the future she would be less thoughtless. +"Although to be honest," she added, "my thoughts are so apt to come +afterwards that it is almost dangerous to promise anything." + +That evening, in the little hotel parlor, when Martine narrated her +adventure, an old gentleman who was a permanent boarder there told her +many anecdotes of the Micmacs. + +"In the early days, as you know, they were very friendly to the French. +They were early baptized and became Roman Catholics, and as they began +to be civilized, they liked to be known by French names, and many +married with the French. The Canadian Government is very good to them, +and provides for them on reservations or encourages them to own land for +themselves. The children all go to school, some in reservation schools, +and some attend the ordinary day schools with white children. While some +of them still prefer to live by hunting, fishing, and Indian +handicrafts, others work in mills and on railroads; and, on the whole, +they compare well with the lower class of white citizens, for they _are_ +citizens with certain voting rights." + +"I thought they'd be more picturesque and like real savages," said +Martine. "I was so disappointed. There's something attractive in the +name 'Micmac,' and I supposed that at least they'd live in wigwams." + +"Considering the way in which you rushed in among them," interposed Mrs. +Redmond, "I should think you would be glad that you met only tame +Indians to-day." + +"Very tame," rejoined Martine. "Only a tall, thin Indian woman in a +purple calico gown." + +"There are certainly not many of the original red men left in Nova +Scotia," said Mr. Dolph, the gentleman who had been talking to them. +"There are some collections of their legends that are interesting to +read, and the names of many Nova Scotia places are of Indian origin." + +"Oh, yes," said Amy; "I came across some lines to-day that I copied," +and she began to recite: + + "'The memory of the Red Man, + How can it pass away? + While their names of music linger, + On each mount and stream and bay? + While Musquodoboit's waters + Roll sparkling to the main, + While falls the laughing sunbeam + On Chegoggin's fields of grain?'" + +The next morning, when they were ready to leave Bear River, Amy decided +to wheel rather than drive to the station. It was hardly five miles, +over a main road, and she felt that she needed exercise. + +"Keep us in sight, Amy." + +"Oh, yes, if I don't pass you," she replied. + +But Amy at first lagged behind,--there were so many lovely points of +view, and she stopped several times to enjoy them to the utmost. What a +curious effect, to look down on the river, or rather to look down from a +hill, and see a ship apparently moored among trees! Of course the +explanation was that the beautiful Bear River lay in a narrow valley, +surrounded by hills that descended sharply to its very margin, with +trees so close together on its banks as to produce the strange effect +that Amy had noted. + +The carriage was out of sight when Amy finally pushed on. Shortly she +realized that pedalling required great effort. At first she ascribed her +difficulty to the hills, but a slight grating of the wheel made her look +at her tires, and, to her dismay, she found a small puncture. What +should she do? She glanced at her watch, and was surprised to see how +much time she had lost. One or two wagons had already passed her on +their way to the train, and she regretted that she had not called for +help. It might have been ignominious--it certainly would have been more +discreet--to make her appearance at the station carried in a wagon +rather than to lose her train altogether, as now appeared probable. She +stopped a boy whom she met walking toward her. + +"How far is it to the station?" she asked. + +"Only a little way," he replied, after the fashion of boys, and she +pushed on hopefully. She heard wheels in the distance, and made up her +mind to humiliate herself to the extent of asking the new-comer to +assist her; but when the vehicle came in sight it proved to be a narrow, +one-seated buggy, and its three passengers seemed more than enough for +it. A little farther on she heard an ominous whistle. The train was +nearing the station. She felt indignant. + +"Why should this particular train be on time on this particular day? +Nova Scotia trains are not noted for hurrying." + +Now she was walking and dragging her bicycle along. She met a number of +persons who evidently had left the train at the Bear River station and +were walking up to their homes. Then she heard the engine whistle again +as the signal for starting on, and she knew that it was useless to go +down to the station itself. She stood still for a moment, half +paralyzed. Of course there was no special danger; her mother and the +others might go on to Annapolis without her, and she could return to +Bear River for the night; but it was all very mortifying. Then a sudden +thought came to her; in fact, it had occurred to her when she first +discovered the punctured wheel. + +"If Fritz were with me, he would have found some way of mending the +puncture; in fact, one man is almost necessary on an excursion." That +was what Fritz himself had said to her. + +She recalled his very words, and the remark with which he had +ended,--"Then you'll remember me." + +But there was no time for reflection now. The train was coming slowly +along the bridges; Amy could see the smoke from the engine. Between her +and the track lay an open space--a slight decline from the point where +she stood on the road--covered with long grass and bushes. A quick +impulse urged her on; at the worst she could only fail; Nova Scotia +conductors were very obliging, and there was more than half a chance +that she might succeed. She lifted her bicycle across her arm, managed +to climb over the low fence, and was pushing her way down the hill as +the train drew near. A man, probably the conductor, was standing on the +platform of a car; she waved her hand violently. The train seemed to +move more slowly; a man thrust his head out of the engine cab; he, too, +had seen her. She was now not far from the track; the train stood still; +the conductor leaped down from his post, plunged into the shrubbery, +relieved her of her wheel, and she followed him without a word; then one +or two passengers pulled her on board the train, the signal was given, +and the engine started on. + +"Lucky it wasn't a flying express," said one of the passengers. + +"I guess they wouldn't do that in the States," said another. + +Red-faced and crestfallen, Amy found herself a moment later in the bosom +of her family. + +"A punctured tire," she began. + +"Yes, yes; don't try to talk." + +Amy sat still. + +Martine fanned her. + +Priscilla brought her a glass of water. + +Her mother asked for no explanation. + +The passengers stared at her; the majority as if amused, though. One or +two talked as if they thought their rights had been infringed. + +"We were sorry," Mrs. Redmond said later, "to go without you, but it was +better for you to be left than for the rest of us to lose the train; we +knew you could go back to Bear River, and we could have telegraphed you +what to do; we knew you would be equal to the occasion." + +"So I was." + +"Well, we hardly expected you to stop a train." + +"Oh, the train stopped me." + +"'All's well that ends well'" + +Later in the day Martine came over to sit beside Amy. + +"I'm afraid, Amy, that I may have punctured your tire yesterday; the +road to the chapel was so very stony." + +"Tires are bound to be punctured," replied Amy, "and if this hadn't +happened when it did, I shouldn't have had the fun of stopping a train." + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + OLD PORT ROYAL + + +At Annapolis, the old Port Royal, Amy and her party were to stay longer +than at any other place. They had engaged rooms at a pleasant house +where there were no other boarders, and when they had unpacked their +trunks, began to feel as if they were really away for the summer. + +"We have a fine view of the river," said Mrs. Redmond to Martine the +morning after their arrival, as they looked from the windows of her +room, which was at the rear of the house. + +"River!" sniffed Martine; "I see nothing but red mud and green marshes; +I wonder where the water is." + +"You won't ask that question at high tide; you'll find water enough to +float a small vessel," she replied, "and if you look a little beyond our +immediate neighborhood, you can see the whole Basin, and far, far away +there in the distance, I suppose, that land is Digby. I am going out to +sketch immediately after breakfast; I've seen several photographs of the +old fort, and I have special reasons for wishing to make a sketch of it; +and you, Martine, will get plenty of inspiration for your water-colors." + +Amy was in her element at Annapolis. She had already given some time to +the history of the old town, and anticipated great pleasure in retracing +the steps of the brave Frenchmen who had made it famous. + +"More French history!" Priscilla exclaimed, when Amy began to talk about +De Monts and Poutrincourt; "when shall we hear about the English?" and +Priscilla, with a wry face, continued, "I'm so tired of the French." + +"All in good time," responded Amy; "but now we must take things in due +order and not skip about as we did. Let us go with the others into the +port to-day, and while they are sketching I'll talk a little about its +history." + +So it was that, while Mrs. Redmond and Martine were making sketches of +the sally-port and old officers' quarters, Amy, seated near them, played +the part of historian and guide. + +"This fort, you know, is from Vauban's plans, with four bastions and +connecting curtains." + +"Do you suppose there's a moat?" interrupted Priscilla; "it looks as if +there should be one here." + +"There used to be a wet ditch in the eighteenth century, and I suppose +that was much the same thing, though it's dry now." + +"Oh, I can tell you something more entertaining than that," interposed +Martine. "They used to have logs on the top of the parapet ready to roll +down on the heads of assailants. But tell me, Amy, I've forgotten; did +Champlain build this fort?" + +"My dear Martine, where is your history? Vauban and Champlain; oh, no. +Champlain's fort is six miles down the river, opposite Goat Island." + +"Then who first built this fort?" + +"Probably D'Aunay first planned it, and it was improved by Brouillan and +Subercase. You must remember that it has suffered twenty attacks and ten +regular sieges. There's little good in talking about it until you know +the history of the times better." + +"Oh, dear," murmured Martine, "of course I knew this was to be an +improving trip, and yet I do think it's hard to have to learn history in +the summer." + +"I'm afraid there's no escape for it," said Amy; "the fog is rolling in, +and this afternoon I will tell you once for all certain things that will +give you great interest in Annapolis during your stay here." + +So, undisturbed by further historical information during the morning, +Martine, under Mrs. Redmond's direction, completed her sketch of the +officers' quarters within the fort,--a quaint old building, with its +thirty-six chimneys and thirty-six fireplaces, every one of which had +probably been needed in the long and cold winters of old Acadia. + +As Amy had prophesied, the afternoon was foggy, and she felt little +compunction in insisting that Martine as well as Priscilla should join +her before her open fire while she talked to them of Port Royal history. + +"Although some French," she said, "may have visited Acadia as early as +1504, our starting point is 1604, when De Monts, who was a nobleman of +the Court of Henry Fourth, and Champlain, and Poutrincourt, and +Pontgravé came out on a voyage of exploration. Poutrincourt seems to +have been the one most anxious to make a permanent settlement here. +Champlain was the geographer and map-maker of the expedition, and was +also on the search for ores. The grant of the land known as Acadia had +been given by Henry Fourth to De Monts. He, as well as Pontgravé had +been on a previous expedition to the New World. At first they were +delighted with Acadia. They saw fine opportunities for fur-trading as +well as for a permanent settlement. But after visiting the shores of the +Annapolis Basin, they made a mistake by going farther south to the St. +Croix River, and they spent their first winter on an island some +distance from its mouth. This proved a bad thing, for the climate was +severe and many of the colonists died; so when the weather permitted +they went back to the neighborhood of Port Royal and set up their houses +and built a small fort on Goat Island. + +"They found the Indians everywhere very friendly, especially the old +chief, Membertou, who was said to be nearly one hundred years old. + +"When their buildings were finished, De Monts sailed back for France, +knowing that he could be spared until after the harvests were gathered. +Pontgravé was left in charge of the colony in his absence, assisted by +Champlain and Champdore. When the spring of 1606 came and De Monts had +not returned, the colonists were alarmed. They needed the supplies that +he had promised to bring them, and they were afraid that something had +happened to him. So, late in July, Pontgravé started off to see if he +could not find some fishing-vessel to take them all back to France. + +"In the meantime, De Monts in France had had trouble in getting people +to interest themselves in the Port Royal Colony. But Poutrincourt, who +had returned with him, proved his best friend, and helped in fitting out +a vessel called the 'Jonas,' and promised to return to Acadia with De +Monts, and take his family with him, to establish a permanent colony. + +"With them came Lescarbot, an advocate of Paris, who afterwards wrote a +full account of his residence in Acadia, from which we learn many +interesting details that, but for him, we would not know. Pontgravé fell +in with a shallop from De Monts' vessel and all returned to Port Royal. +De Monts wasn't perfectly satisfied with Port Royal for a permanent +settlement, and he persuaded Poutrincourt to make a journey farther +south to find a better place; but this expedition ended badly, and +Poutrincourt returned, convinced that he could be better off at Port +Royal than anywhere else in the New World. + +"Unluckily, the merchants in France who had supplied money for this +trading colony sent word that they had decided to give it up. Without +money with which to trade, the colony could not prosper, and so the +majority of the colonists decided to go back to France. Poutrincourt, +however, was determined to come back, and he took home with him +specimens of grain grown in Acadia, and various animal, vegetable, and +mineral products, to show the King what could be raised in Acadia. The +King encouraged him to go back, and ratified the grant of land that De +Monts had given him. + +"So Poutrincourt returned to Acadia, and it is greatly to the credit of +the Indians he had left in charge that all the buildings were unharmed. +A new crop of grain, planted by the Indians, was growing finely, and +Membertou and savages welcomed him very cordially. + +"The King had given him a grant of money to be used for the Church and +he brought with him a Jesuit priest, who baptized the savages by +wholesale. + +"In the summer of 1610, Poutrincourt sent his son, Biencourt, back to +France to report the conversion of the savages and the general +prosperity of the colony. Things in France were not going to be very +favorable now for Poutrincourt. When Biencourt arrived in Paris, it was +not long after the assassination of Henry Fourth. The Jesuits were now +anxious to get control of Acadia, and, to make a long story short, +Madame De Guercheville obtained a grant from the King of the very land +that De Monts had granted to Poutrincourt; Biencourt had to take certain +Jesuits back with him to Acadia; and there was much dissension in the +little colony. But what really proved its downfall was an attack made in +1613 by the Virginian Argall, who killed and captured many of the +inhabitants and burnt all the buildings to the ground. Poutrincourt made +no effort to re-establish Port Royal, but Biencourt, his son, remained +in the woods, living, with a few companions, the life of an Indian." + +"Oh, yes, it was he, was it not," said Priscilla, "who was the friend of +Charles La Tour down at Fort St. Louis?" + +"The very man," replied Amy. "I often think that if Biencourt had left a +record of his wanderings we should have something very interesting. He +and his father made a good fight for New France, but circumstances were +too strong for them." + +"Thank you," said Priscilla. "I understand better than I did before how +the French happened to settle Port Royal." + +"Why," asked Martine, "did that Virginian--Argall, I think you called +him--wish to interfere with the French? Jamestown had been settled only +six years when he came up here and attacked Port Royal, and there wasn't +any Plymouth, then, Priscilla." + +"He had no real right to interfere, but the English, even then, claimed +the whole coast of North America, basing their claims on the discoveries +of the Cabots; Argall himself, however, is considered little more than a +pirate, and no Englishman justifies his destruction of the prosperous +and peaceful colony at Port Royal. + +"The next settlement here was under the auspices of Sir William +Alexander, a friend of James the First. You remember that he made La +Tour a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He had great plans, and his colony was +near Goat Island. I am told that some people here in Annapolis still +speak about the Scotch fort, some trace of which is yet to be seen. + +"War between France and England finally put an end to Sir William +Alexander's colony, and it was Charles La Tour who did more than any one +else to make Acadia of some importance to France. He claimed that +Biencourt, Poutrincourt's son, when he died in 1623, had left all his +claims to Acadia to him, including the position of Governor." + +"Amy," said Martine, yawning slightly, "this is all very interesting, +but unless I have time to digest it I shall forget it entirely. Let us +put history aside until another day and see if we cannot find something +more amusing." + +"I'm going downstairs for a moment," said Priscilla; "I have an idea the +mail has come." + +In a moment she returned with a handful of letters. + +"Boston, Plymouth, two from Shelburne--where's that? I suppose that I +may look at the postmarks?" + +"Give, give," cried Martine, and Priscilla put a couple in her hand. + +"Only one for me," said Amy, "and it's from Fritz; he's at Shelburne. +Did you have one too, mamma?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Redmond, who had just entered the room. + +"Oh, I thought there were two Shelburne postmarks." + +Priscilla noticed Martine's heightened color, and an idea that had come +to her at Yarmouth now returned. As it was a matter in which she had no +real right to meddle, she said nothing. + +"What does Fritz say?" asked Mrs. Redmond, turning to Amy. + +"That he's having the time of his life, that he and Taps have found the +best fishing in the world, and like Nova Scotia so much that they may +bring a party of their own here next summer. What he writes about the +French of Pubnico sounds exactly like Meteghan and Church Point, so I'll +skip all that; Shelburne seems more romantic, and I almost wish it had +lain in our path. He says it has one of the finest harbors he ever saw, +but I will read you a little in his own words. + +"'Shelburne, my dear Amy, is like the ghost of a city, to one who has +imagination. It was planned to be the chief city of Nova Scotia, and +there is something rather tragic in looking at the broad streets that +were meant for a larger city. Hardly one of the fine old houses remains. +They say that twelve thousand Loyalists came here just after the +Revolution, and most of them were rich and influential. The frames of +large houses were brought and set up here; people tried to live as they +would in a great city, with servants and every luxury. With such a great +harbor they expected to have a great seaport; but the trouble was, there +was nothing in the country back of them. There was no farming land, and +no farmers to supply produce for the ships in the harbor to carry away +in exchange for other goods. After a while people found they had used up +the money they had brought with them from New York and other places. +Then those who could left Shelburne. Some went away leaving their houses +fully furnished, and they never came back. They went to Halifax, to +Annapolis, or even back to New York and Boston after the bitter feeling +over the war had gone down. + +"'If you were here, Amy, you'd find plenty of material for poems in +Shelburne, especially on moonlight nights like last night, when Taps and +I wandered up and down the broad streets, trying to imagine what +Shelburne must have been in the days of its greatness. I hope that you +and the others are enjoying yourselves as much as you expected to, +without me or any other masculine disturber of the peace. I haven't a +doubt that your mother thinks we've been pretty badly treated. She +always was an unusually sensible woman, and we'd have been useful to +carry your bags, if nothing more; however, mark my words, before your +journey is over you will sigh for me more than once, and the day will +come when you'll really need me.'" + +"He thinks enough of himself, doesn't he?" said Martine. + +"Oh, he's not really conceited," replied Amy, "and I dare say that he +would liven us up a little; but on the whole things are best as they +are." + +"Aren't you quieter than usual, Martine?" asked Amy that evening. + +"Well, I had a letter from papa to-day," she said, "and he says that +mamma is really very ill, and that they may have to stay abroad all +summer. I have just written him about Yvonne; but of course it will be +some time before I can get an answer." + +"What do you want him to do?" asked Amy,--"to let you adopt her? She's +almost as tall as you are." + +"Well, I'm not sure what I want, but I know that if Yvonne should have +her voice cultivated she'd be a great prima donna, and what a feather in +my cap to have been her discoverer!" + +"I fear that your father would need more than your opinion to enable him +to decide a matter like that. In fact, only an expert musician could +make a safe prophecy about Yvonne." + +"Well, at least, I hope that he will consent to letting her go to Boston +to study next winter. We could find a doctor to help her eyesight." + +"Why not ask your father to invest in Alexander's gold mine?" asked Amy, +with a smile; "then he could do everything for Yvonne himself." + +"That isn't the point. I've really taken a great fancy to Yvonne, and I +want to have her near me. Have you written to Pierre yet?" + +"Oh, yes; I went out this morning and bought him a copy of Longfellow. +He had never owned one himself, and was anxious to have it. I have asked +him to write us so that we shall get the letter at Grand Pré." + +"It's time Priscilla had a protégée," said Martine, "though she doesn't +seem the kind of person to adopt anything very warmly except her own +opinions." + +This was a rather sharp remark for Martine to make, and it convinced Amy +of something that she had tried to doubt--that the two girls were really +rather far apart, "and both such charming girls," she said to herself. + +Martine's letters with the Pubnico and Shelburne postmarks had given +Priscilla considerable concern. Though not a meddler, she yet saw +Martine's lack of frankness about those letters. Priscilla knew that +neither was in the handwriting of Fritz Tomkins, and she was sure that +they were written by the Freshman with him whom she knew only by the +name of "Taps." She was now quite convinced, also, that it really was +Martine whom Amy had seen wheeling through the streets of Yarmouth with +this same youth. That it was no concern of hers she realized perfectly; +and yet, she wondered if it might not be her duty to tell Mrs. Redmond +what she knew. Priscilla was over-conscientious; she was always more +ready to disclose her own faults than to conceal them,--to disclose, at +least, faults that she herself recognized. She did not altogether +realize that a certain form of censoriousness was growing upon her; that +she was too much inclined to measure all people by her own standard. + +Thus many little things that Martine did quite innocently and naturally +seemed to Priscilla bits of affectation. Martine's hand was ever in her +pocket. When it was a question of buying books or fruit or some other +little thing for the traveller, Martine always managed to pay for it, +and Priscilla thought that her readiness to do this came from a desire +to display the size of her allowance. Priscilla herself, on the other +hand, had to be careful about little expenses, and while their present +trip called for no great expenditure, she hated to be obliged so often +to thank Martine for small luxuries. Then, too, Martine had an +extravagant way of talking that disturbed the serious Priscilla. She +could not say that she had ever found Martine in a real untruth. Still, +Martine's way was not her way, and instead of drawing nearer together as +the journey progressed, the two girls were farther apart. + +Martine, on her part, thought Priscilla rather old-fashioned, but +accounted for the seriousness of her dress and her manner by the fact +that she was still in mourning for her father, who had died of fever +contracted in Cuba at the beginning of the late war. + +Perhaps it was because she realized that her prejudices were a little +unreasonable, that Priscilla hesitated about speaking to Amy or Mrs. +Redmond regarding the suspicious postmarks. + +The long "historical disquisition," as Martine called it, that Amy had +given them on their first day at Annapolis, was not immediately followed +by another. Their mornings were spent in sketching in the neighborhood, +and their afternoons in driving. One day they crossed the Grandville +Ferry and went down to the old fort near Goat Island. But though they +all professed to see slight traces of the earthworks, it required +imagination rather than eyesight to discern even a slight trace of +Poutrincourt's fort. + +"It's one of the ironies of history," said Amy, "that tradition should +speak of this as a Scotch fort, for the Scotch were here so short a time +before the French were again in power." + +"What became of the Scotch?" asked Priscilla. + +"It is supposed that most of them went back home, and that the few who +stayed intermarried with the conquering French. Sir William Alexander +and his Baronets of Nova Scotia made little impression on Acadia." + +"Amy," said Martine, "of all the people you've told us about the most +interesting to me is young Biencourt, wandering about in the woods and +living like an Indian; I even dreamt about him the other night. How did +he happen to escape when Argall destroyed the fort?" + +"Oh, he and some of his companions were up there where Annapolis now is, +working in their grain fields; you know they had a mill up there, and +rich fields of grain. The fort itself was not in a good location,--at +least for farming. It is said that Argall and the other Virginians were +not aware of the existence of the mill and the fields, and when they had +destroyed the fort, thought that there was nothing left for the French." + +"You may be pretty sure," said Martine, "they wouldn't have let anything +escape if they'd known; the English are always greedy." + +"They are not a bit worse than the French," retorted Priscilla. "Just +think how cruel the French were during the Reign of Terror." + +"Oh, that's an entirely different kind of thing; the French are never +half as anxious to grab other people's land as the English are." + +"There, there," interposed Amy, "I'll have to be a Board of +International Arbitration; in other words, let us have peace. There's +one thing," she continued, "I feel as if young Biencourt kept alive the +love of the French for Port Royal. Charles La Tour was himself only a +boy like Biencourt when he first came to the New World. The King had +certainly given Poutrincourt rights in Acadia, and he had passed them on +to his son. Poutrincourt was killed at the Siege of Marye in 1610, +scarcely three years before Argall's destruction of Port Royal." + + + + + CHAPTER X + + EXPLORATIONS + + +"How very gay your attire, Martine! Do you think of paying afternoon +visits?" + +"No, my dear Amy, I do not, because I know no one to visit; but I'm +tired of cloth skirts and a shirt-waist, and I thought I would like to +see how it would feel to wear something decent." + +Martine's gown was a pale blue voile, made up over a bright blue lining, +with a delicate white insertion on the waist; her hat, a blue chip, +trimmed with white flowers, and she carried a parasol to match. + +"Is your gown quite suitable for a walk on a dusty road?" + +"Perhaps it isn't," responded Martine, "but sometimes one must live up +to her feelings, and this is how I feel to-day,--like wearing my very +best; besides, this is nothing remarkable, this dress, but it happens to +be the best I have with me." + +"Very well," and Amy sighed; "it's no use to argue with you, and as soon +as Priscilla comes downstairs we'll set off." + +When Priscilla appeared, she, like Amy, had a short cloth skirt and +shirt-waist, but she made no comment on the elegance of Martine's +appearance. + +There was one thing rather incongruous in Martine's aspect,--she carried +a small shovel, which looked as if it had never been used; such, indeed, +was the case, and as she brandished it she said cheerfully, "I hope we +shall go somewhere where we can dig. I hear there's any amount of hidden +treasure around Annapolis, and I am anxious to get some of it for +myself." + +The girls walked a good while before they saw anything likely to reward +an amateur antiquarian. Then, in a field quite outside the town, +Martine's sharp eyes saw something that interested her. In a moment she +was over the fence, with the others following. + +"There," she said excitedly, "you see these very old, gnarled +apple-trees and this clump of willows; I'm perfectly sure that this used +to be an Acadian farm." + +"That's a safe guess," rejoined Amy, "for all the land about here was +once in the hands of the Acadians." + +"Yes, but I think from this little mound and that hollow beside it that +there was a house on this very spot. I noticed what Dr. Gray said when +he was talking to your mother last evening, and that was what decided me +to do some digging for myself." + +"In a blue voile dress," responded Amy, in a tone of disapproval. "Ah, +Martine, you are so absurd!" + +Even while Amy was speaking Martine had begun to dig,--aimlessly, of +course, although in a few minutes she had made a fairly large hole. When +her shovel struck something hard she was delighted, but, digging deeper, +she brought up only a piece of broken brick. Undiscouraged, she dug one +side of the first hole, and presently she held out to Amy what at first +puzzled them both. It looked like a mere bit of rusty iron, but later +they decided that it was probably part of an old lock. + +"Which I shall label 'Exhibit No. 1' in my museum of curiosities," said +Martine. + +"Let me see what I can do," cried Amy; "you must be tired." + +So Martine surrendered her shovel, and in a quarter of an hour Amy +brought up an old bottle, not at all remarkable in shape, but very +valuable from Martine's point of view, because it was undoubtedly an +Acadian trophy. + +Priscilla contented herself with some slips from an ancient willow-tree. + +"It is not the best time of year for making cuttings," she said, "but +these French willows cling to life as closely as the proverbial cat. I +heard of a man who had a walking-stick cut from a willow-tree. It looked +as hard and dry as a bone, but one day he happened to stick it in the +ground near a spring and forgot all about it. Some time afterwards, when +he passed, the walking-stick was sending out little shoots, and in time +it became a full-fledged willow-tree." + +"That's a very good story," commented Martine, "and as we know you never +tell anything but the exact truth, Priscilla, neither Amy nor I would +think of doubting it." + +As the trio were walking back toward town they met Mrs. Redmond, +driving. + +"Come," she cried, "which two of you will drive with me? You slipped off +this afternoon without my realizing that you were going away, and now I +want company." + +"I would rather stroll along," replied Amy, "but I am sure that Martine +and Priscilla would enjoy the drive. Martine is turning antiquarian, and +if your driver can take you to some old grave or Indian mound, she will +be delighted to use her shovel." + +"I don't know what I can promise in the way of graves and mounds, but if +Martine comes with me I can offer her a lovely view." + +"If you please, Mrs. Redmond," said Priscilla, "I would rather walk back +home than drive." + +Although Amy tried to make her change her mind, Priscilla was firm, and +the discussion ended by Amy's getting into the carriage with Martine and +Mrs. Redmond. + +As she walked along the main street, where the houses were still rather +far apart, Priscilla noticed a little graveyard in a corner of a garden. +As the gate was open, she felt at liberty to walk inside. The stones at +which she glanced were of marble, and the inscriptions were well cut. +The names on two or three of them were French, and the men who bore them +had evidently been officers in the English army. This interested her, +and when she saw a girl of about her own age standing at the door of a +cottage near by, she felt emboldened to speak to her. + +"They were not really French," said the girl, in answer to her question, +"but of Huguenot family, who fought for the King in the Revolution. I've +heard my mother say that one of them was a cousin of her grandmother's, +and they all came here together at the close of the war." + +Priscilla was delighted. Here, perhaps, was a person who would tell her +something about the Loyalists of the Revolution. + +"Were your people Loyalists?" she asked. + +"Why, of course," was the reply, as if anything else were unsupposable. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" responded Priscilla. "I've been waiting to hear more +about the Loyalists." + +"You are an American?" questioned the girl. "Americans are not apt to +care about Loyalists; they seem to think only about the Acadians; but my +ancestors were all Loyalists, and if you will just come into the house +my mother would love to talk to you." + +So Priscilla followed her new acquaintance indoors. Outside, the house +looked small, but within she found many rooms opening one into another, +none of them very large, and all of them with low ceilings. + +"My mother's great-grandfather built this house when he first came from +New York. He was an officer in the Loyal American Regiment. There is his +commission; we framed it to hang on the wall." + +"By His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., General and +Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the Colonies lying +on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West Florida inclusive, etc., +etc., etc. + +"By Virtue of the Power and Authority in Me vested, I DO hereby +constitute and appoint You to be Captain of a Company in the Loyal +American Regiment commanded by Colonel Beverly Robinson." + +Priscilla read the whole commission in which the duties of the newly +made captain were defined, to the very end where the signature of Sir +Henry Clinton still stood out clearly. + +While the new acquaintance went to call her mother, Priscilla looked +around the pleasant sitting-room. There was a high, old-fashioned +bookcase filled with books, many of them in dingy calf bindings. The +young girl returned while she was looking at them, expressing her regret +that her mother was not at home. + +"My grandfather brought many of these books from New York," she said; +"he was a nephew of the rector of Trinity Church, and was himself a +graduate of King's College, New York." + +"I don't see how they had the courage to give up everything and come +down here so far away. Even if they did not like the new government, I +should think they would rather have stayed where most of their friends +and relatives were." + +"Oh, it wasn't always a matter of choice," rejoined Eunice, for this, +Priscilla discovered, was her new friend's name; "some had to come, +because they had been too active in the King's cause and the other side +would not forgive them. Even after the Peace many were in danger of +imprisonment; and then a great many had had all their property +confiscated, and thought it would be easier to start over again down +here than to live in poverty among their old friends and neighbors." + +Priscilla looked in amazement at Eunice. She expressed herself so much +more carefully than most girls of her age. + +"Martine would call her quaint," thought Priscilla, looking at her, "and +if she knows as much about other things as she does about history, she +must be a wonder." + +"I wish my mother were here," said Eunice, politely. "She gets quite +worked up when she talks about the Loyalists." + +"I should think she would," responded Priscilla. "They certainly had a +hard time." + +"She thinks that we have been cut off from things that really are our +own, and now, when we have so little money that I can't even afford to +go away to college, she feels more and more indignant at the injustice +of it all." + +Priscilla did not know exactly what to say. In her mind there was a +struggle between her feeling of patriotism and her sense of justice. As +Eunice had put it, it did not seem fair that the Loyalists should have +lost everything, simply because they had had the courage to hold out for +the King. But a phrase came into her mind that she had often heard, and +for the moment it seemed the only sentiment that she could express. + +"After all," she said gently, "I suppose it was the 'fortune of war' +that your people suffered so much." + +"Oh, yes," responded Eunice, "that is what I often say to my mother; and +then I tell her too, that in one hundred and twenty-five years the +family probably would have lost all the property they had before the +Revolution." + +Finding that the subject was getting a little beyond her, Priscilla +ventured a more general remark. + +"There must be many interesting historical incidents connected with +Annapolis; I mean, incidents that are not French," she concluded +hastily. "I am just a little tired, myself, of the Acadians." + +"I don't know of many very entertaining things," responded Eunice, "but +I remember one story that might amuse you. During the Revolution, the +people of Annapolis were awfully afraid of attacks from Privateers. You +see, after the Acadians were driven out a large colony from New England +came down here. They received grants of land from the government, and +were very prosperous when the war began. Many were on the side of the +Yankees, but in the end England was able to hold Nova Scotia. However, +the small privateering vessels were constantly coming into Nova Scotia +ports, and even Annapolis wasn't perfectly safe. One night two rebel +schooners came up to the mouth of the river; they had about eighty men, +and landed them safely, because the sentry at the fort was asleep. They +entered the houses and stirred people up immensely; they seemed more +bent on making mischief than in doing any real violence. There were not +many citizens here in the town then, but one of them, looking from the +window when he heard a noise in the street, saw two of the rebels +disputing over something they had stolen; when they saw him at the +window, they dashed into his house, and a minute or two afterwards +another Annapolis man, only half dressed, rushed excitedly into the room +to tell his friend that the Yankees were plundering the town; this was +unnecessary information, because, as I have said, two rebels were +already in the house. He discovered them with their bayonets pointed at +him just as he had finished telling his story, and he was so surprised +that he fell backward over a cradle, with his feet in the air. His +comical appearance made the rebels laugh so, that he afterwards said +that this saved his life, for before they had recovered he had jumped to +his feet and run away. But later he and all the other able-bodied +citizens were shut up in the fort, while the men from the schooners went +through the houses and carried away everything movable. They allowed the +ladies to keep their shoes, though they first removed the silver +buckles. The schooners disappeared in the morning, when the report was +spread around that the militia of the county were gathering and coming +to Annapolis. That, I believe, was the only attack on Annapolis during +the Revolution. It happened two or three years before the arrival of the +refugees, and the accounts of it that have been handed down always +represented it as a very comical affair." + +"Did you say 'Yankees'?" asked Priscilla. "Did you mean--" + +"Oh, I meant schooners from New England; I've heard they were from Cape +Cod," replied Eunice. + +"It was pretty small business," said Priscilla, almost apologetically. +"I don't believe that the men on the schooners were either soldiers or +sailors. I am sure that Washington wouldn't have approved if he had +known." + +"You don't think that all on your side were good, do you," asked Eunice, +"and that all on ours were bad?" + +Priscilla hardly knew what to reply. She was getting again into deep +water, for she saw that although the war was long over, Eunice was still +a strong partisan. So, as a kind of peace-offering, she asked Eunice if +she would not walk back home with her. + +"I should like to have you meet my friends whom I am travelling with," +she said. "We are going to stay in Annapolis a week or more. Mrs. +Redmond is making some beautiful sketches, and her daughter Amy is just +dear; she is older than Martine and I, but she never makes us feel the +difference in our ages, and she knows more than almost anybody I ever +saw." + +"I should love to walk back with you," said Eunice, "though I cannot +stay very long. What is Martine like?" she asked abruptly. + +"Oh, Martine,--well, Martine is different. She always sees the funny +side of things, and she doesn't care what anything costs if she happens +to want it. She's perfectly devoted to the French, and I'm so terribly +tired of her Acadians that I want to find out what the English did in +Annapolis." + +"I will be glad to do what I can to help you," responded Eunice, "only +you mustn't be too touchy about things; for you see we're still all +English down here." + +As Priscilla walked back to the boarding-house she congratulated herself +on her new friend; for although she had known Eunice so short a time, +she already regarded her as much more than an ordinary acquaintance. + +"I can always tell," she said to herself, "whether any one is going to +wear well. Mother says that that is the only test for real friends, and +I can see that Eunice and I are likely to be more than acquaintances. I +feel as if I had known her a long time. Now it wasn't so with Martine, +and even though we have been together so much this summer, some way I +don't feel perfectly comfortable with her. I'd like to be fair, but +still--" + +Yes, Priscilla meant to be fair, but still--what was the trouble? It is +to be feared that she had not yet learned the real meaning of tolerance. +Martine's point of view was often so unlike hers that Priscilla did not +make enough effort to put herself in her friend's place. While believing +herself just, she certainly permitted herself to be biassed little in +her judgments. Nor did she realize that Martine herself often spoke in +an exaggerated tone, chiefly for the purpose of seeing to what extent +she could impose on Priscilla; for Martine, discovering Priscilla's +attitude toward her, liked to say things to surprise her,--"Puritan +Prissie," as she called her at these times. + +It would not be quite true, perhaps, to say that Priscilla distrusted +Martine's interest in Yvonne, although she had a strong conviction that +it was merely impulse that had led her to promise so much. + +"For the day that we spent at Meteghan, Yvonne was like a new plaything +to her. Had Martine been with Yvonne a week, it would have been the +same; she would have lavished things on her, and would have been ready +to promise her anything. But 'out of sight, out of mind;' I believe that +that is always the way with her. I am not even sure that she is as fond +of Mrs. Redmond and Amy as she seems to be." + +Poor Priscilla! she was really borrowing trouble needlessly, and yet in +more senses than one it was real trouble to her, because she was never +sure just how she ought to respond to the more flippant remarks made by +Martine. They were often so witty that she could not help laughing, even +when she felt the greatest need of preserving her own dignity. + +Another grievance was Martine's way of addressing Amy. Priscilla herself +had begun by trying to say "Miss Redmond;" occasionally she slipped into +"Amy," but more usually "Miss Amy" was her form of address. Martine had +laughed loudly at this, and one day she said, "It is what I call too +servile. Amy is not greatly our superior, but still I'd rather call her +Miss Redmond. I notice that Fritz Tomkins in some of his letters says +'Miss Amy Redmond.' I wonder if that would do for us?" + +"Oh, Amy--that is, Miss Redmond--explained that it was just his way of +making fun of her when he says 'Miss Amy Redmond.'" + +"Probably, but when I can't think of anything else I will say that, +though generally Amy is good enough for me, and here she is, looking as +sweet as a rose." Whereupon, without the slightest regard for the +dignity with which Priscilla would have liked to hedge Amy, Martine had +thrown herself upon the older girl's neck, to the destruction of +something less ideal than her dignity; to wit, the freshness of her +muslin stock. + +Thinking of this scene, Priscilla sighed. "Eunice would never do or say +anything silly." This goes to show that she did indeed regard Eunice as +a kindred spirit. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + A TEA PARTY + + +"Prissie, Prissie," said Martine, in a teasing tone, "you are altogether +too enthusiastic; I don't believe in these perfect people, and your +little Tory must be rather a prig, from what you say." + +When Martine called her "Prissie," Priscilla knew that she meant +mischief, and though in her inmost heart she admitted that Martine's +teasing carried no real sting, she never stood this teasing with very +good grace. + +"She isn't a Tory," she replied rather sharply; "there are no Tories in +these days, and Eunice Airton is not a prig." + +But Martine only laughed; perhaps she retained too firmly in her mind +the remembrance of Priscilla's indifference to Yvonne and was now trying +to pay her back. Priscilla had just given an enthusiastic account of her +new acquaintance, and Mrs. Redmond and Amy had listened with great +attention. Mrs. Redmond, indeed, was pleased that Priscilla had found +something really to interest her. Although away from home not quite two +weeks, Priscilla had begun to show the good effects of the trip in round +and rosier cheeks, and in a slightly more animated manner. Yet it had +seemed to Mrs. Redmond that she was not quite as pleased with things in +general as the other two girls. She was sorry too to note the growing +antagonism between Martine and Priscilla, though its cause was hard to +discover. At first Martine's teasing had proceeded from the merest love +of fun, and she thought that Priscilla took it all too seriously. Amy +had already cautioned her that she could soon disarm Martine, by +receiving everything she said as if said in pure fun. But Priscilla was +sensitive, and she was just conscious enough of certain little foibles +of her own to realize that sometimes Martine was laughing at her. + +"Even if Eunice were a Tory, I shouldn't care," she continued. "I never +heard any one talk as well as she does." + +"Ah, that's just it, my dear Miss Prissie Prunes," retorted Martine; +"I'll warrant that she's just as prim and precise as--" + +Martine did not finish the sentence, but Priscilla realized well that +she meant to say "as prim and precise as you are." + +The day after this conversation Mrs. Airton called on Mrs. Redmond and +the girls. Martine was not at home, but the others were pleased with the +delicate little woman, in rather faded black, who was particularly +cordial and anxious to have them see Annapolis at its best. + +As she talked, it was easy to understand how Eunice came by her precise +manner and language, for there was a certain bookishness in her choice +of words, and correctness of expression, that, although not really +subject to criticism, might become tiresome. Mrs. Airton had heard more +or less about Mrs. Redmond and her party from Dr. Gray, to whose family +Mrs. Redmond had brought an introduction. + +"Now I hope," she said, toward the end of her visit, "that you will give +us the pleasure of spending to-morrow afternoon with us and staying to +tea. I suppose 'tea' has gone out of fashion in the States, but it's +just the height of the strawberry season now, and perhaps you'll accept +high tea in place of a late dinner." + +"We shall be delighted to accept your invitation," Mrs. Redmond replied, +"and as for tea, why, we never have late dinner at home in summer. We +shall enjoy your hospitality." + +Now it happened, unfortunately, that on the morning of Wednesday, the +day for which Mrs. Airton had invited them, Martine and Priscilla had +their first falling out. Like most fallings out, it began in a very +trivial way. Among Martine's belongings was an elaborate toilet set of +silver-mounted brushes and boxes; she had had the good sense not to +carry them in her travelling bag, but at Annapolis, where they were to +stay longer than at some places, she had unpacked them all from her +trunk, and they were spread out in elaborate array on her bureau. Amy +had planned an excursion for the morning to Granville across the +Granville Ferry to a certain picturesque spot on the other side. When +she and Priscilla were ready to start, they knocked at Martine's door, +thinking that she too would be ready. To their surprise, they found her +in a loose dressing-sack, busily engaged in polishing her silver. + +"There, I forgot all about going with you," cried Martine; "the damp air +has blackened my brushes so that I just thought the best thing was to +sit down and polish them." + +"Oh, dear," rejoined Priscilla, "we are late as it is; for if we miss +this ferry-boat, we'll have to wait so long for another that we won't +have any time on the other side." + +"I can't help it," retorted Martine; "you can go without me if you like, +though I'll drop what I'm doing and hurry to get dressed; but if you do +not want to wait, it's all the same to me." + +"Of course we'll wait," said Amy, gently. "I particularly wish you to be +with us, Martine, and though it will shorten our time a little, we must +make the best of it now." + +Priscilla looked at her watch. "We ought to take this next ferry-boat, +and if we wait for Martine we shall lose it. Cleaning silver seems such +a waste of time when we're travelling." + +Priscilla's manner rather than her actual words irritated Martine. + +"I am the best judge of what wastes my own time," she said with unwonted +sharpness, "and as a matter of fact, I'd rather stay here than go with +you." + +Amy, looking at her earnestly, realized that this was not the time for +further argument. + +"Very well," she rejoined. "Priscilla, let us go on. Martine is +certainly the best judge of what she ought to do." + +"I know I shouldn't have criticised Martine," apologized Priscilla, as +they walked along; "but it seems so silly to me that she should carry a +valuable set of silver like that on a trip of this kind. I spoke before +I thought." + +"Martine has always been greatly indulged," said Amy. "At least, I've +been told that she sets no value on money, and so what would seem a +little extravagant to us does not seem so to her." + +"Well, good taste is good taste," rejoined Priscilla, "and if I had ten +times as much money as I have, I'd never carry jewelry about with me +travelling, nor expensive toilet-sets." + +Amy did not reply to this. Her own view was much the same as that of +Priscilla, but she realized that it was not for her to criticise either +girl. + +The trip to Granville proved less satisfactory than she had hoped. The +town itself, though small, was attractively situated, and she identified +one or two historical spots that she had hoped to see; but she missed +the particular road for which she was looking, and on account of their +engagement at Mrs. Airton's, she had to hurry back to Annapolis without +accomplishing what she had set out to do. The mid-day sun was very hot, +and she and Priscilla reached the house dusty and tired, to find Martine +looking tantalizingly cool and comfortable, seated on a rustic bench +under a tree in the orchard, busily working at a water-color sketch. + +After their early dinner, Mrs. Redmond took Amy aside and said rather +anxiously: + +"I wish you could persuade Martine to go with us this afternoon." + +"Go with us?" returned Amy. "Why, of course. Mrs. Airton expects her." + +"I don't quite understand it, but she says that she does not care to go, +and in fact she has engaged a horse for a ride." + +"On horseback! Who is going with her?" + +"No one. She says that it's perfectly safe for her to go alone, and +though I tried to dissuade her, I can see that she is determined to have +her own way." + +"I suppose that's what they mean by Martine's being difficult to manage. +Thus far I had thought her remarkably amiable." + +"There's one thing about it," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "it may be better +to let her have her way this time than to have her take it without our +permission. I have learned that the horse she is to have is perfectly +safe,--so safe in fact, that I fear she'll find it rather a bore,--and +she says that she'll only go over the road where we drove the other +afternoon, every step of which she knows; but I must say that I regret +her discourtesy to Mrs. Airton, for her refusal of her invitation must +seem very strange. Why do you suppose she is unwilling to go?" + +"I'm afraid it's because she and Priscilla had a little disagreement +this morning. It was so slight that I wouldn't have attached any +importance to it, but apparently Martine has taken it more to heart." + +When Priscilla learned of Martine's change of plan, she made no comment, +believing in her inmost heart that Martine had taken this way to show +her real distaste to those whom she called Priscilla's "Tory friends." +When Mrs. Redmond and the other girls reached Mrs. Airton's early in the +afternoon, they found their friend Mrs. Gray there, and one or two young +girls of the neighborhood. For a while they sat in the low-studded +sitting-room where Priscilla had looked at the commission signed by Sir +Henry Clinton. Their conversation did not concern itself entirely with +the past, but there were many questions about the present, of Nova +Scotia in general and Annapolis in particular, that the Americans were +anxious to ask and the others glad to answer. + +Later, however, they got back to the subject in which Priscilla was +especially interested,--the Loyalist refugees and the hard times they +experienced. Eunice had shown her, among other things, her +great-great-grandfather's silver breastplate, with his monogram and a +crown finely engraved upon it, and one or two of his letters, the paper +yellow with age and the ink faded. + +"Since you are interested in such things," said Mrs. Airton, "perhaps +you would like to see some other letters. You might show her, Eunice, +that one that we have that is a copy of the one that my great-grand-aunt +Hester wrote to Sir Guy Carlton, when she was trying to arrange to leave +New York. You know, my dear," she continued in explanation, "in those +days people almost always made copies of their letters, and we have a +good many that are really very interesting. I believe this letter +contained a request from Hester and her sister, Anne, whose husbands had +both been killed toward the close of the war." + +So Amy, taking up the paper, read without difficulty the clear, round +handwriting: + + "'The Memorial of Hester Danforth, widow of Benjamin + Danforth, late captain of the Prince of Wales' American + Regiment and Anne Dutton, widow of Josiah Dutton, Lt. in + said Regt. + Humbly sheweth + That your Memorialist, Hester Danforth + has two sons, one fourteen and the other twelve years old, + and Anne Dutton three children, oldest son fourteen, + youngest son seven and her daughter ten years old--That as + they purpose to go to Nova Scotia with their children-- + + They wish to go on the ship with Dr. Peter Brown, who is + about going with a company of refugees to St. Johns River. + + That they may be indulged with drawing the land's Government + may allow them in that quarter and with the company that + goes under the direction of Dr. Brown or such other company + of refugees as may appear to your Memorialists more + eligible. + + That they may be indulged with the liberty of taking with + each of them a man and woman servant and allowances of + provisions, clothing, etc. as to your Excellency may seem + meet. + + That, should your Excellency graciously order six months + advance upon their pensions to be paid previous to their + sailing, it will be very thankfully received as indeed their + circumstances are such as they cannot go with reasonable + Comfort and Decency without it. + + As your Memorialists sufferings have been very long and + great--They humbly ask as many Favours and Indulgences as to + your Excellency shall appear anyways reasonable and fit, and + as in duty bound they will ever pray etc. + + HESTER DANFORTH + ANNE DUTTON + + NEW YORK, _June 2, 1783_.'" + +"I always think that an interesting letter," said Mrs. Airton, "because +both of those ladies who signed it were brought up in the greatest +luxury; their father had one of the large estates on the Hudson and +their mother was of English birth and an heiress; but the family saved +not a single shred of their fortune and it is rather touching to read +behind the lines of this letter and to see that both these young women, +for they were under thirty-five, had for some time been suffering for +the necessities of life." + +"'The fortune of war,'" commented Priscilla, in the very words that she +had used on her first visit to Eunice. + +"I hope," added Amy, "that they found life comfortable after they came +here." + +"Ah," said Mrs. Airton, shaking her head, "at first life here could +hardly be called comfortable. Imagine twenty-five hundred people crowded +into this little town, which had not rooms for one tenth the number. +Often a whole family had to content itself with one room, and delicately +reared women and children had to spend at least a part of that first +winter in tents. Several hundred, it is said, were herded together in +the church. Of course, after a few months they began to distribute +themselves through the country. Sometimes they had great trouble in +taking possession of the land granted them, because it was already in +the possession of the New Englanders who had settled on the farms of the +Acadians twenty years before. Usually these pre-Loyalist settlers had a +rightful title to the land they claimed; then the refugees had to apply +for other lands. Many of these refugees were professional men or +merchants from New York City, and they found it hard in middle life to +become farmers; but, as you say, my dear, it was the fortune of war, and +in time they adapted themselves to the new conditions. In the course of +a few years some went back to New York, others sailed over to St. John, +where, from the beginning, city life prevailed, and those who stayed +here in Nova Scotia seemed to be contented with their lot; although I +for one feel very bitter when I think of all that my family in its +various branches lost. I feel it the more because I'm able to do so +little for my children, and they are reaching an age when a little money +would mean so much." + +"Ah, yes, mamma," interposed Eunice, "but if the money had stayed in the +family after the Revolution it might all have been lost before this, and +besides, Balfour and I do not care half as much for wealth as--" and +here she stopped, for at this point Mrs. Gray interrupted her. + +"Indeed, I think it a greater privilege to have grown up in Annapolis +than to have lived in the finest city of the United States. Why, I can +assure you, Mrs. Redmond," turning to the latter, "that few places of +its size have had so many distinguished residents. When the fort was +garrisoned, it was quite like an English town, and I've heard my +grandmother speak of the parties that were given here when she was +young; not to mention the Duke of Kent, who was here before her day, +there have been such men in the garrison as Sir Colin Campbell, +afterwards Lord Clyde, while Sir Fenwick Williams, the defender of Kars, +was a native of the town, and surely no literary man in America has a +wider reputation than Judge Haliburton, whose house was just down there +beyond the hotel. I often think of the lines by Oliver Goldsmith, who +lived here,--a grand-nephew, my dear," laying her hand on Amy's, "of the +great English poet, who himself wrote 'The Rising Village,' describing +Annapolis." + +"Oh, can't you recite a part of it?" asked Amy. She had already +discovered a vein of sentimentality in Mrs. Gray, and she was right in +judging that the request would please her. + +"I'm sorry to say," replied Mrs. Gray, "that my memory is not what it +used to be, and the only lines I recall do not touch on the social so +much as the natural charms of Annapolis." + +"Oh, but please do say them." This time it was Priscilla, and Mrs. Gray +began:-- + + "'Here the broad marsh extends its open plain, + Until its limits touch the distant main; + There verdant meads along the uplands spring, + And grateful odours to the breezes fling. + Here crops of grain in rich luxuriance rise, + And wave their golden riches to the skies; + There smiling orchards interrupt the scene, + Or gardens, bounded by some hedge of green; + The farmer's cottage bosomed 'mong the trees, + Whose spreading branches shelter from the breeze; + The winding stream that turns the busy mill, + Whose clacking echoes o'er the distant hill; + The neat, white church, beside whose walls are spread, + The grass-clad hillocks of the sacred dead.'" + +"It sounds like 'The Deserted Village,'" said Priscilla, politely; "that +was one of the poems that we studied at school last year; you recite +this beautifully." + +"Ah, well, I'm aware that the first Oliver Goldsmith's poem is greater +poetry, but here in Annapolis people were very fond of Oliver the +younger, and if ever you've time to read the whole poem, you will find +that he thoroughly appreciated Acadia." + +But all the hours of that pleasant afternoon were not spent in +historical conversation. Priscilla and Eunice, arm in arm, wandered out +in the pleasant orchard, and, swinging together in the hammock, talked +about all kinds of things, more frivolous than serious, such as girls +care to talk about. In appearance the two girls were not unlike, though +Eunice was a little the taller, despite the fact that she was a few +months younger; her eyes were the same gray-blue and her hair the same +pale brown as Priscilla's; not quite fair enough to be called golden, +and hardly dark enough to be called brown. + +"It is strange," Amy had said to her mother, after Eunice had first +called on them, "that Eunice Airton reminds me of some one I have known; +I cannot say just who, but it is one of those resemblances that worry +one; you feel as if you must decide whom it is she resembles, yet try as +I can I cannot think." + +While the girls were in the orchard, Eunice pointed out to Priscilla the +various additions that had been made to the house. Little ells and rooms +had been added, some of them only one story high, and the original +house, built by her Loyalist ancestor, was the very smallest part of the +present dwelling. + +"I thought it strange," said Priscilla, "when you said that this house +was built just after the Revolution, that it should have been so large, +but now I understand." + +"Oh, there's been an ell added for nearly every generation. To tell you +the truth," she concluded, "although my mother speaks so despondingly +now, the family have seen better days, even in Annapolis. My grandfather +Balfour was a very successful lawyer, and in spite of the +Revolution"--here she smiled--"we might have been rich to-day if he had +not sunk his money in unlucky speculation." + +"Balfour?" queried Priscilla. "Where have I heard that name?" + +"Oh, the name itself is not so very uncommon. There must be many of the +name somewhere, although our family was the only one down here." + +A little later the girls were looking over some of the old books on the +bookshelves; they were chiefly history and poetry. There was Robertson's +"Charles Fifth," a fine set of Pope's Complete Works, and Dodsley's +"Miscellany," with the gilding on its calf binding not yet quite worn +off. Priscilla looked at these books with less interest than Amy showed +for them; she was not as ardent a lover of things ancient, although her +respect for Eunice increased when the young girl told her that she had +read nearly every book in the house. + +"We have long winter evenings," she said, "and fewer amusements, I +suppose, than you have in the cities; and really I would rather read +than do anything else." + +"But these books are so very old-fashioned, and Pope's poetry, don't you +find it pretty dull? I didn't care so very much for 'The Rape of the +Lock,' though some people call it amusing." + +"I prefer Tennyson," replied Eunice, in a judicial tone, "but I feel +there are certain things one must read some time, and mother says that I +might as well read them now, while I have the books. Some time," and +here she sighed, "we may have to break up our home, and that might mean +packing away all our books; so it's well to 'make hay while the sun +shines,'" she concluded with a bright smile that was in marked contrast +with the sigh of a moment before. + +In the meantime Amy, in looking over some of the books, gave an +exclamation of surprise; she had opened a large Bible, on the fly-leaf +of which was written "Audrey Balfour, Her book." + +"There is something very familiar in that name," she cried, "Audrey +Balfour, and yet for the moment I can't recall any one to whom it +belongs." + +"It's a family name," said Eunice, "and I've always wished that it had +been given to me, for there has always been an Audrey in the family for +each generation until now." + +At last supper was announced, and if any of the party had lacked +appetite, the sight of the long table, with its delicate china and +old-fashioned silver and glass, would have been an inspiration. The +silver spoons, to be sure, were very, very thin, and the cups and +saucers were not without cracks, and here and there showed other +imperfections; but these things only emphasized the fact that silver and +china were really old; and the large silver dish, heaped with great +strawberries, was of a style that Mrs. Redmond said would make it almost +worth its weight in gold to a collector. + +"I am so sorry," said Mrs. Airton, politely, "that Miss Martine is not +with you. I have seen her passing two or three times, and she is a +particularly attractive girl." + +"She is indeed very attractive," responded Mrs. Redmond, "and on this +account we regret her occasional wilfulness; she had planned a ride to +the Bay Shore and we could not induce her to give it up. But she wished +me to thank you for her invitation, and she said that if she possibly +could, she would be here in time for tea; but it seems now as if she has +been unable to carry out this part of her plan." + +"Oh, if she really goes to the shore," interposed Mrs. Gray, "I am sure +she will hardly be back in Annapolis before dark. It's a long ride, and +I only hope she doesn't find the road too hard." + +"Martine is a good horsewoman; her father told us that we might trust +her on any horse, and had I not known this, I should have hesitated to +let her go." + +"She did not go alone, I hope," said Mrs. Airton, anxiously. + +"Oh, no; she consented rather reluctantly to an escort, and from the +stable they sent a Mr. Frazer, an elderly man, who promised to look +after her." + +"Mr. Frazer!" Eunice laughed as she uttered the name. "Well, if he's on +his own horse and if Miss Martine keeps beside him, she'll certainly +have a slow, safe ride." + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + IN THE FOG + + +In the meantime, where was Martine? When Mr. Frazer and his staid sorrel +steed appeared in front of the hotel, Martine had smiled inwardly. + +"His horse certainly looks safe, and the man himself,--well, he may be a +good guide, as they say, and perhaps he can tell me about everything we +see in passing; but if he proves a bore, as I am perfectly sure he will, +I'll contrive some way to rid myself of his company." + +It was a perfect afternoon for a ride, mild and windless, with just +enough sun to relieve the landscape of the monotony by creating artistic +effects of light and shade. Martine was in great spirits, for, like most +persons from the inland cities, she loved the sea even more deeply than +those who dwell beside it. + +"The Annapolis basin is tame," she had said the day before. "I am tired +of the still, blue water and the red mud and the marshes and the +meadows, and I long for a breath of the real ocean." + +"We're some distance still from the ocean," Amy had rejoined. "The +nearest to it is the Bay of Fundy." + +"Well, from all I've heard, the Bay of Fundy is fiercer than the ocean +itself, and I must see it; for I've been tracing our route on the map, +and it seems to me that we've left out the Bay of Fundy altogether; we +are curving away from it all the time." + +"Perhaps we can have a picnic on the Bay Shore before we leave." + +"Oh, no, my dear Miss Amy Redmond; we won't have many days, and 'a bird +in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Just as soon as I can manage it, +I'm going to the Bay Shore myself." + +So Martine had "managed it" by giving up the afternoon at Mrs. Airton's, +and now, as she rode along toward the North Mountain, she had a certain +feeling of triumph. + +At first she and her guide kept very close together. He felt it +incumbent on him to give her as much information as he could about the +country and its history. Even when his tale concerned the Loyalists, +Martine did not assume the air of indifference that was always hers when +Priscilla touched on the same subject. + +"It's a pity," said Mr. Frazer, "that there is nothing to be seen now of +all the wonders that old General Ruggles did in his time. He had one of +the largest grants of land hereabouts, away up over the top of a +mountain, and though he was past seventy when the war ended, he set to +work clearing forests and laying out his grounds like a young man. He +imported all kinds of trees from Massachusetts, and his place was a +model for the whole county. He found a deep gulch on his land that was +sheltered from the winds and yet sunny, and there he planted some rare +trees,--black walnut and peach and other things that generally grow only +in the far south." + +"Was he an English general?" asked Martine, listlessly. + +"Oh, I've heard," replied Mr. Frazer, "that though he was bred a lawyer +in Massachusetts, he became a colonel in the wars that the Americans +fought against the French, and was high in command at Ticonderoga and +Crown Point; it was in that war that he got his title of Brigadier +General, and so he might be called an American officer." + +"Then what was he doing down here in Nova Scotia?" + +"Oh, when the Revolutionary troubles began he wasn't in favor of +breaking off from the mother country; he was a Chief Justice of Common +Pleas, and he wrote and spoke against separation. So at last he and his +family had to give up everything and take refuge with the British in +Boston. He doesn't seem to have been a fighter against his countrymen, +but he preferred exile to sacrificing his principles. I've always been +interested in the old general," added Mr. Frazer, apologetically, +"though I don't just know why, for he was dead long before my father +even was born. But I've read a lot about him, and people here still tell +many stories of him, and altogether he seems something like those heroes +we hear of, working so energetically to keep his spirits up." + +"Yes," said Martine, "I agree with you that it does seem rather heroic, +only it's a pity that he was on the wrong side." Then, lest Mr. Frazer +should be inclined to argue with her, she quickly changed the subject. + +"This road over the mountain is pleasanter than I thought it would be; I +mean, everything looks so cultivated and prosperous." + +"Oh, there isn't a better section anywhere than this," he replied. "The +orchards and farms all pay well; why, there's a place up beyond," he +continued, "that they call Paradise; and if it wasn't for winter, which +I suppose they don't have in heaven, I should say that the name just +fitted." + +Mr. Frazer was so pleased with his own wit that he chuckled softly, and +so far forgot himself as to urge his horse forward. + +"Let's stop here," cried Martine, "for a moment; I never saw so many +beehives." + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Frazer, timidly, "as it's hardly safe; +sometimes, when they're swarming, they are apt to sting if you go too +near them." + +But Martine was already off her horse and over the low fence, and Mr. +Frazer could only follow her example. The farm was situated at the +junction of two roads. Martine had taken the precaution to tether her +horse to a hitching-post, but Mr. Frazer, trusting too implicitly to the +sedateness of his steed, had left it unfettered to nibble the grass by +the roadside. The hives that had attracted Martine's attention proved as +harmless as she had prophesied, so she wandered on toward an +old-fashioned garden, blazing with mid-summer blossoms. Now Jill, the +sorrel that Mr. Frazer had ridden so proudly, proved less reliable than +might have been expected from the character of its owner; for, in the +course of its nibbling, it wandered down the road, passing back of the +farm, and Mr. Frazer was so intent upon telling Martine all that he knew +about bees and flowers that he quite forgot to keep his eye on his +horse. Thus it happened that the animal found itself near some hives +whose occupants were changing habitations. Then, at the very moment when +Mr. Frazer bethought him of Jill, to his horror and great surprise he +saw her starting on a run down this back road. He did not wait to +explain matters to Martine; he knew by the cloud of bees in the distance +that the horse had undoubtedly been stung. "Wait until I come back," he +shouted, as he started in pursuit of his horse. + +Martine smiled as he leaped over a fence, his coat tails flying in the +air. + +"Unseemly haste," she murmured, "for so dignified a person. I wonder how +long he can keep it up." + +For five or ten minutes Martine continued to wait in the old-fashioned +garden; then she looked at her watch. It was later than she supposed; +the sun was less bright, and a slight chill in the air warned her of +approaching fog. + +"I didn't promise to wait," she said to herself, "and after all the +bother of arranging it I can't be cheated out of my sight of the Bay. +It's a straight road and perfectly safe, and my horse hasn't shown a +sign of a trick; so in five minutes, if my guide hasn't returned, I +shall go on alone." + +At the end of five minutes Mr. Frazer had not appeared, and Martine, +remounting her horse, resumed her way toward the Bay Shore. She set off +at a speed that would have quite shaken the breath out of Mr. Frazer, +and she was really surprised to discover how much life her animal had. +Thus it happened that in spite of the delay she really had a glimpse of +the Bay of Fundy before the fog had hidden it. It is true that already +there was a thin veil of mist floating about her and permitting her to +see rather dimly the rocky shore, and the scattered hamlet that lay at +her feet. + +Martine felt most uncomfortable. Her situation was certainly lonely, and +she would gladly have borne the rather tiresome conversation of her late +guide for the sake of his protection. But though she waited as long as +she dared, he did not appear; nor did she meet him as she turned about +toward Annapolis. + +Toward Annapolis--but where was Annapolis? For all at once she seemed to +be riding through a cloud, and she recalled a day when she and a party +of friends had thought themselves lost on one of the highest of the +White Mountains, pushing their way vaguely through the cloud that +enshrouded them. Of one thing, however, she now felt sure. When she +reached the crossroads and the farm where the beehives were, she would +have no difficulty in continuing her way. + +But, alas for all calculations! how it happened she never knew, but soon +she realized that she was on a road quite different from the one by +which she had travelled to the shore. In the fog she had turned +somewhere, and the new road was lonely in the extreme. There were no +houses near; at least, she judged there were not, for the road itself +was rough, more like a forest road, and both sides seemed to be lined +with trees. For a short time she went on cautiously; then a line of +verse came into her mind that she had heard Amy quote only the day +before,-- + + "'When once a man hath misséd the right way, + The farther he doth go, the farther doth he stray.'" + +So she brought herself to a full stop and, slipping from her horse, +stood beside him, gently stroking his side. + +"Good old fellow," she said gently, "if I'd leave you to yourself, I +dare say you'd carry me home safely. Perhaps in a few minutes we can +turn round and make a fresh start; but now I want to think." + +So she stood for five minutes or more, and among the many thoughts that +flew across her brain was one that, if shaped into words, would have +been: "I wish that I had gone with the others to Mrs. Airton's." But she +could not remain inactive. + +"Whatever happens, I won't be lost on the mountain," cried Martine, +emphatically. "It's always better to go on than to stand still, and +especially as the fog is so thick that I'm likely to be drenched to the +skin if I stay here much longer." + +At this moment the surrounding stillness was broken by a sound; she +listened intently, and in a very short time realized that what she heard +was really the noise of approaching wheels. She drew her horse close to +the side of the road; a vehicle of some kind was near her. + +"Hello, hello," she shouted, picturing herself at the moment as a +stranded mariner on a shipwrecked vessel. The vehicle was close upon +her; the driver drew up his horse; Martine approached him. + +"What on earth--" he began. + +"Yes, on earth," responded Martine. "I shouldn't like to be at sea, lost +in the fog." + +"So you're lost, are you?" replied the driver of the wagon, in a brisk, +cheerful voice. "Well, there's one thing, you needn't stay lost." + +Martine looked at the speaker, who had now jumped down from his seat and +was standing beside her. He was a tall youth, with reddish brown hair +and a frank, pleasant face, and she judged that he was two or three +years her senior. + +"It's fortunate," he said, "that we happened to have an order for some +groceries up beyond at the Jones farm. I don't come this way once a +month, and there is very little passing any day; so if you had waited +for some one to rescue you, you would have had to wait a long time." + +Martine was not sure that she liked the word "rescue." All her life she +had prided herself on her independence, and it irritated her to realize +that she had put herself in a position that obliged her to depend on a +stranger. + + [Illustration: "'Hello! hello!' she shouted."] + +"Perhaps I shouldn't have said 'lost,'" she responded; "I've only just +missed my way a little, and if the fog should lift I could easily find +my way back to my friends." + +"If the fog should lift!" The boy laughed heartily. "Are you acquainted +with the habits of fogs? Or perhaps it behaves differently in the +States; but in this part of the world, when it sets in late in the +afternoon, it generally stays all night. But come," he continued more +gently, "you'll catch cold if you stay here much longer. I'm on my way +to Annapolis myself, and I'll very gladly take you there. Come," he +continued, holding out his hand; "you'd better get into the wagon here, +and I have a rope by which we can lead the horse behind." + +"Oh, no," said Martine; "I can ride just as well. I don't mind the fog, +if you will let me follow your wagon." + +"Nonsense!" protested the boy; "you can't go fast enough to keep warm, +and your horse might make a misstep; and besides," he concluded, "I have +a sister about your age and I know what's best for girls. Come, jump +in." + +To her own great surprise Martine found herself obeying the strange +youth; perhaps, after all, she felt that there would be more comfort for +her in his covered wagon than in picking her way through the fog, over +the rough road. When she was seated, he handed her a carriage robe which +he bade her wrap around her; then he tied his rope to the horse's +bridle, saying as he did so: + +"I know this animal well, and he'll follow us like a tame cat." + +Then he took his seat beside Martine and they drove along slowly. After +a turn or two they came to the place that Martine called "the beehive +farm." Already she had related the story of Mr. Frazer's adventure, and +her acquaintance had laughed heartily at her account of the good man's +flight after the recreant Jill. + +"I didn't suppose even a swarm of bees could put any speed into Jill, +but Frazer himself is so conscientious that I wonder that he isn't +sitting here on the fence waiting for your return." + +As they talked Martine wondered and wondered who her rescuer could be. +Both his language and his subjects of conversation were not what she +would have expected from a grocer's boy, for that was what he called +himself once or twice, and in the back of the wagon there was a large +kerosene can, with one or two empty boxes, as well as some packages that +certainly looked like groceries. But she did not waste much time in +speculating, because she found so many things to ask that she had never +thought to ask any one else before. + +"Didn't realize that the first mill on the Continent was built at +Annapolis?"--said her companion, "and you from Chicago, where people are +supposed to think and dream about flour and grain? I am surprised. And +you didn't know that Membertou, that old Indian, is reckoned the first +convert made in America? Dear me, where have you been brought up?" + +"Oh, I'm learning," responded Martine. "I'd never heard about the +Acadians until we came down here. But now I think they're just great; +don't you?" + +"I should hardly call them great," returned the other, with a smile, +"although there's any amount of interesting history connected with them; +but I've always taken more interest myself in the early days of Port +Royal than in the exile of the Acadians. I wish they'd change the name +of Goat Island back to Biencourtville, for that's what it's called on +Lescarbot's map." + +"Oh," replied Martine, not knowing what else to say. + +She knew nothing about Lescarbot and less about his map, but she didn't +wish to display her ignorance. + +"I remember Biencourt," she added meekly; "he had a very hard time, +hadn't he?" + +The face of the other brightened. + +"Oh, I'm glad you remember him; he's my idea of a hero. I believe if he +had lived Port Royal would have fared much better. Charles La Tour was +not at all the same kind of man. But Madame La Tour, ah, she was the +right sort! Perhaps you know her story." + +"No," replied Martine, meekly, "I do not, but probably Amy does." + +"Who is this paragon, this 'Amy'? You've spoken of her several times; +she seems to know everything." + +"I really think she does," replied Martine--"know almost everything. But +I wish you could tell me about Madame La Tour." + +"There won't be time now, but I could lend you a book, if you stay here +longer. She doesn't exactly belong to Annapolis; it was the fort at the +mouth of the St. John that she defended. But here we are fairly in the +town, and you can consider yourself saved," he concluded with a smile. + +"Why, there's Mrs. Airton's house!" exclaimed Martine in surprise; "I +didn't know you were coming this way." + +The boy looked at her curiously. + +"Do you know Mrs. Airton?" + +"Well, not exactly, for I was out when she called, but she was kind +enough to ask me to tea to-day, only I thought I'd like to ride instead. +I thought that perhaps I'd be back in time for tea." + +"You were right in that," rejoined her companion, pulling up his horse. +"I'm sure they're not through tea yet; I can leave you and take your +horse on to the stable. Here, jump out." + +But Martine hesitated, and for the moment she was annoyed at her +rescuer. If Priscilla or Amy should look from a window, how mortifying +it would be to be seen driving in a grocer's cart with a riderless steed +tagging on behind. + +"No, thank you," she said; "I would rather go on to my boarding-house; +please drive on." + +She never knew whether her new acquaintance would have heeded her +request or not, for hardly had she spoken when from a side door Eunice +Airton and Priscilla rushed toward the wagon. + +"Where's Martine?" cried Priscilla, excitedly; "we recognized the +horse." + +"Oh, Balfour," began Eunice, "what--" + +Without further ado Martine jumped down from the seat. The girls had +approached the wagon from the rear, and at first had not seen her. Her +sudden appearance surprised them. By this time Amy had reached the +group. + +"What happened?" and she looked on Martine for an explanation. + +"Nothing, nothing," replied Martine, "only I was caught in the fog." + +Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm. + +"Your clothes are damp; you may take cold." + +"Come into the house," added Eunice; "we are not yet through tea." + +Martine saw that protest could not avail. As a matter of fact, she was +not only cold but hungry, and the prospect of something to eat was one +that she could not resist. + +"You said that you might come to tea," remarked Amy, "and so Mrs. Airton +will not be altogether surprised." + +Had any one but Amy said this, Martine would have suspected her of +sarcasm; but even if Amy would inwardly smile at her ignominious return, +Martine could bear ridicule from her better than from any one else. + +When Martine had replaced her waist with a drier one belonging to +Eunice, Eunice led her to the dining-room, where the others had resumed +their seats. Mrs. Redmond and Mrs. Airton made little comment on her +misadventure, and never did hot biscuit, and strawberries, and +chocolate, and cookies seem more appetizing to Martine than they did on +this occasion. Later, when Amy and Priscilla were helping Eunice clear +the table, Mrs. Airton sat down beside Martine. + +"I am glad it was Balfour who found you," she said, "though I am sorry +that he could not come in to tea with you. It is his night at the store, +and he usually waits for his tea until late in the evening." + +"Balfour?" asked Martine; "who is Balfour? Of course I know he drove me +home, but who is he?" + +"Balfour," replied Mrs. Airton, "why, Balfour is my son and Eunice's +brother." + +"Ah," cried Martine, "I did not realize that; now I understand." + +But what she understood she did not then explain. + +Not long after tea Mr. Frazer rushed excitedly into Mrs. Airton's +sitting-room. + +"I'm so glad the young lady's safe," he cried, "though indeed I thought +she'd wait for me; but the sorrel led me a long chase, and when I got +back to the farm she wasn't there. But I never thought of her going to +the Bay Shore with the fog rolling in so thick, and when I found she +wasn't at the house, I went back again to the farm, thinking she'd taken +a wrong turn somewhere. At last I met some one who had seen her driving +with Balfour; then I knew she was safe. So I must apologize again for +the behavior of my sorrel, though it was all the fault of the bees." + +Martine forgave the sorrel as readily as she forgave Mr. Frazer, for her +adventure had ended so pleasantly that there was no occasion for blaming +any one. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + LETTERS AND SOME COMMENTS + + +"Do you realize that we have only a day or two longer in Annapolis?" +asked Amy, one soft afternoon in July, as she sat with Martine and +Priscilla within the walls of the old fort. + +Mrs. Redmond, seated some distance from them, was sketching a bit of +far-off shore that came within her range of view. Martine had her hands +folded idly in her lap, though the sketching-block and materials that +lay beside her showed that at least she had made some pretence of work +that day. + +"Yes, I realize it all too well," she responded. "I wish we could stay +here all summer." + +"It has been so much pleasanter since we knew the Airtons that we shall +find it very hard to go," added Priscilla. + +"Of course we might stay here the rest of the summer," replied Amy, +"only, since we had a definite route planned out it would be a pity not +to follow it." + +"The other places may be very stupid," murmured Martine. + +"Not Grand Pré," rejoined Priscilla. "You'll probably enjoy that far +better than Annapolis; you seem to forget that it is full of memories of +the expelled Acadians." + +"Oh, yes, the Acadians; but do you know they don't seem half so +important to me as they did when we were in Clare. I've really grown +tremendously interested in those first Frenchmen, who had such an +unlucky time here at Port Royal. Annapolis has memories enough for me." + +"What a fickle creature you are, Martine! Surely you haven't forgotten +Yvonne." + +"No, no," and Martine sprang to her feet. "I'm only waiting for a letter +from my father and then you shall know what is going to happen to +Yvonne. Why, I've written her three times since I left Meteghan; I +thought you knew that, Amy." + +"Yes, but don't excite yourself unduly, child; only, when you expressed +your indifference to Acadians I wondered whom you included. Nothing +would make me forget little Pierre. Here's a letter that I received from +him to-day." + +Amy drew from her pocket a half-sheet of paper and read its contents to +her friends:-- + + "'MY DEAR MADEMOISELLE, AMY REDMOND,--It gives me great + pleasure to think that you and your beautiful mother and the + charming young ladies like so well our historic Annapolis. I + once it visited with my uncle, to view the fort that was + built in the days of the greatness of Acadia; it was sad to + me to know that now it belongs to the cruel English, who + drove my ancestors from their happy homes. When I am a + learned man, I shall teach history in a great school, and I + will write books to make all know the truth; but now I am + only a little boy, and I thank you for your letter and the + book you sent me that will ever keep your lovely face fresh + in my mind. So with her best duty from my mother, I + subscribe myself, + + "'Your humble friend, + "'PIERRE ROBICHAUD. + + "'P. S. Please write soon again.'" + +Martine and Priscilla smiled at the quaint letter, with its curious +mingling of pride and humility and its touch of French gallantry. + +"Pierre seems quite sure of his own future,"--and Amy replaced the sheet +in her pocket. "With his aim so firmly in view, it's quite probable that +he'll attain his ambition." + +"'Best duty,'" observed Priscilla, "isn't that a strange expression?" + +"It certainly isn't French; he has picked it up from some of the 'cruel' +English." + +"He probably had an old-fashioned school-teacher at some time. I hope +that we'll see both Pierre and Yvonne before we return home; but now we +must keep our minds on Annapolis. I'm so afraid that you haven't got all +you might of its history." + +"Oh, my dear Amy, Priscilla is just brimful of the Loyalists and their +sufferings; you ought to hear some of the stories that she has gathered +up. Show her your note-book, Priscilla." + +Priscilla reddened and shook her head, while Martine continued: + +"And as for me, I'm so charged with historical associations that I feel +as if I'd give them out in electric sparks if any one should rub me the +right way. Of course I know that this is not the original French fort, +but when one is dreaming, she needn't be so very particular about facts; +so if I shut my eyes, here on this very spot," and Martine suited the +action to the word, "I can see Poutrincourt and Lescarbot and all the +others who were here that long winter when De Monts had gone back to +France, leaving Pontgravé in charge. I just imagine that the old +barracks over there is the great hall where they used to have their +feasts, and I can see them all marching in with the fifteen gentlemen at +the head who sat at Poutrincourt's table, the Grand Master strutting in +front, with his staff of office in his hand and his napkin over his +shoulder. L'Ordre de Bon Temps--that was a capital idea of Lescarbot's, +to keep them all in good spirits and make each man think himself of +supreme importance for a day." + +"Tell me about it," said Priscilla. "If I ever knew, I believe I've +forgotten what it was." + +"That's it, my dear; you have been so very full of the much less +important English history of Annapolis that you've overlooked the more +romantic French." Then pointing toward the Basin, Martine chanted: + + "'Sing on, wild sea, your sad refrain, + For all the gallant sons of France + Whose songs and sufferings enhance + The romance of the western main.'" + +"Well, if this is a wild sea I wonder what you'd call the Bay of Fundy," +said Amy, laughing. + +"Oh, dear! You are so very practical; but I can't argue with you now, +for I must make Priscilla understand just what 'The Order of the Good +Time' was. During the long winter Lescarbot suggested that each of the +fifteen gentlemen of greatest importance in the settlement should be +appointed caterer for a day at a time; so they took turns, and each one +tried to outdo the others in providing as many delicacies as possible. +The steward of the day was called the Grand Master, and fish and game +were so abundant here that often the table was supplied with food that +the King of France might have envied. In order to keep up their dignity, +they all observed a very formal ceremony, entering the hall at each meal +just as I told you a little while ago. At the close of the day, after +grace, the Grand Master removed his collar and placed it on the neck of +the one who was to do duty the next day, while they drank each other's +health in wine and recited appropriate verses. No wonder the Indians +thought it great sport to watch the white men dine, for they crowded the +hall at every meal, and Membertou, their Chief, was often at the +Governor's table." + +"I hope the other Indians had something to eat." + +"Oh, yes indeed; they were always well fed by the French, and well +treated; so that from the very beginning the French and Indians were on +the very friendliest terms." + +"You must have done a deal of reading, Martine, you know your subject so +well," said Amy, quizzically. + +"Oh, I haven't read so much," she began. + +"No, it's all Balfour Airton," interposed Priscilla. "He talks like a +book, and he's discovered that he can make Martine listen to him." + +"Any one would like to listen to him," rejoined Martine, "and I'm glad +to say that though he is of English descent, he doesn't consider the +English absolutely perfect." + +"There, there," said Amy, throwing oil on the waters, "our acquaintance +with the Airtons has certainly added to the pleasure of us all. Balfour +seems a plucky fellow, for it can't be particularly pleasant to him to +serve as a grocer's clerk in the summer holidays." + +"But he needs the money." + +"Oh, yes, Martine; but I know boys who would remain idle rather than do +work that they thought a little beneath them." + +"To tell you the truth," added Priscilla, "I'm afraid that the Airtons +have very little money indeed. Eunice says that there's a mortgage on +their house, and that they may have to give it up before long. Balfour +has offered to stay out of college and look for work in Halifax, but his +mother will not listen to this; she wishes him to be a lawyer like his +grandfather." + +"He has a scholarship at college, and he earns more or less money all +the year, so that really his education costs his family nothing." + +"I fear our conversation is too personal," interrupted Amy, "though it +has certainly been a pleasure to meet two people so free from +self-consciousness as Eunice and Balfour. That reminds me," concluded +Amy, "that I had a letter to-day from my friend Brenda, Mrs. Weston. She +is surprised that we find so much to interest us in Nova Scotia. She +made a trip this way one summer with her parents, but they travelled +rather hurriedly through the province and made their longest stay at +Halifax." + +"Oh, Halifax," interrupted Martine. "Nothing but English; only fancy," +with a true English accent, and she raised her hand toward her eye as if +holding a monocle. "If there's anything in the world I dislike, it's the +real English. Excuse me, Priscilla; I did not mean to hurt your +feelings." + +"My feelings? Why, I'm no more English than you are, Martine. You won't +deny that you have some English blood in your veins?" + +"Unluckily, I can't deny it; but I'm glad that they named me Martine; +that at least is un-English." + +"It certainly is a queer name." + +"Not queer at all, Priscilla. My grandfather was Martin, and Martine is +the French feminine for it. If I'd been a boy, I would have been named +Martin. Unluckily I wasn't, and so Martine was the best that could be +done. My elder brother had been named for my father; Lucian, you know, +is his name. I never heard any one else call 'Martine' a queer name;" +and the Chicago girl turned away petulantly. + +Noting again the signs of a coming storm, already too frequent on this +trip, Amy hastened to change the subject. + +"I don't know why I should have so many letters in my pocket to-day, but +since I brought my mail with me, let me read you a little from Brenda's +letter; you know her, Priscilla?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"Oh, Brenda,--Mrs. Weston," cried Martine, eagerly, all trace of +annoyance disappearing from her face and voice. "I've never talked with +her, but I've seen her several times; I think she's just fine. She isn't +a bit prim and stiff like most Bostonians. Why, she has as much style as +a Chicago girl." + +"My dear," interposed Amy, "remember that Priscilla and I are from the +neighborhood of Boston." + +"Oh, yes, but you don't set up for style--there, I don't mean that, of +course; I only mean--" + +But Martine was getting herself into deep water, and her floundering +amused Amy, although she maintained a grave face, as she said: + +"Style is not confined to dress; other things are considered just as +important by the true critic. However, I'm glad that you admire Brenda, +for you'll be the more interested in her letter. + + "'Your account of what you have seen in Nova Scotia is + perfectly fascinating. But you haven't told me how you like + those funny little brown fish that they call Digby chickens, + that have a flavor made up of smoked ham and salt cod; you + can fancy how surprised I was when I ordered them, for I + thought they'd be real chickens. We didn't see any French in + Nova Scotia; I can't imagine where you found them. Are they + the real thing? or do they speak with a Stratford atte Bow + accent? + + "'How different this summer is from last, when we were all + so worried about Arthur and the Spanish War,--at least, I + was. It is just a year since I was so very ill, and now I am + perfectly happy. I feel quite ridiculous when they ask me to + chaperone parties of girls who are older than I until I + remember that I am really an old married woman and quite + settled. + + "'It is all I can do to prevent Arthur's going to the + Philippines; he really has the war fever, and I wonder what + will come of it all. Next month he is to make an address at + some reunion of Spanish War Veterans; doesn't it seem absurd + to call him a veteran? Tim McSorley is at Manila. Maggie is + down here at Rockley with us this summer, and you haven't an + idea how useful she is. My mother says that the way she does + things is recommendation enough for the Mansion School, and + that if Julia needed to earn money she would make a small + fortune training girls. + + "'I had a letter yesterday from Happy Hill,--you know that's + the name of the farm where she has the girls this summer. + They are nearly all new girls, who do not interest me as + much as the others who were there my year. Norah is with + Julia this summer; but there, I'm telling you things that + are no news to you, and in fact I have very little news of + any kind to write; but I hope you'll give my love to your + mother and Priscilla, and Miss Stratford and I only hope + that you are as strict with them as you can be some times, + when you want people to get all the information they can out + of a trip. + + "'Oh, that reminds me. I hear that Fritz Tomkins is in Nova + Scotia; you do not mention him in your letter, but you must + be delighted to have him with you. Of course four women can + get along perfectly well, but if anything should happen, it + is so much better to have a man in your party; and Fritz is + so like a brother that I'm sure you can make him very + useful. With love to all, + + "'Sincerely, + "'BRENDA WESTON.'" + +Amy had read the whole letter aloud without realizing how personal it +was, for her original intention had been only to read that part relating +to Nova Scotia. + +"That sounds just like Brenda," she said to the girls, "and I'm glad +that she's so happy, for last summer was a miserable one for her." + +"It was for all of us," murmured Priscilla. + +And then Amy suddenly realized that the Spanish War was a subject too +sore for her to touch on in Priscilla's presence. + +"Come," she said, "one last look at old Port Royal. We shall have +several farewell calls to pay to-day and to-morrow, and we may not have +time to return to the Fort." + +"Amy," said Martine, "I know I'm very stupid, but I'd really like to +know where Port Royal ends and Fort Anne begins. Some one told me that +this is really Fort Anne, but you always speak of it as Port Royal; so +just to gratify my curiosity I'm willing to listen to a little more +history." + +"Then I'll give you as much, or rather as little, as I can to make you +understand some of the happenings at this Fort in the early days. I am +sorry that I cannot go at all into details about the many sieges and +expeditions against the Fort in the seventeenth century. The quarrels of +D'Aunay and Charles de La Tour form a most exciting series of episodes, +and you must read them at length in Parkman or some other history. +Although theirs was not warfare between French and English, La Tour was +a Huguenot, and in a general way the English were on his side. In fact, +he once came down to Boston and interested Winthrop and others in his +cause. In the end I suppose La Tour may be considered to have been the +conqueror; at least, he survived D'Aunay, and later married for his +second wife D'Aunay's widow. Port Royal was captured by Cromwell's fleet +in 1654, and a few years later, in the reign of Charles II, was given +back to France. In 1690, when England and France were again at war, De +Menneval, the governor of the Fort, had to surrender to Sir William +Phipps, and the account of this expedition you will surely read +sometime, for Phipps was a New Englander and his career most +interesting." + +"The New Englanders seem to have had a special spite against Acadia," +said Martine; "so it isn't strange, Priscilla, that you have inherited +part of it." + +"Oh, no, I haven't; only if I must choose I naturally prefer what is +English to what is French." + +"After all that Phipps thought he had accomplished," continued Amy, +"Acadia was again handed back to France; but I will pass over other +attacks to remind you of what you have doubtless read many times in your +school histories, that, when the Treaty of Utrecht settled the wars +between Queen Anne and Louis XIV, Acadia was given to the English. Since +that time the fort has been Fort Anne and the town Annapolis." + +"It's no wonder," said Martine, "that the Acadians hardly knew whom to +obey, when they'd been handed over from one side to another so often." + +"This does account for much of the misunderstanding that finally led to +their deportation. They trusted too implicitly in the French King, and +for a long time vainly hoped that he would conquer the English and make +them again his subjects." + +Hardly had Amy finished when a boyish voice was heard crying, +"Good-morning, good-morning. Is it really true that you're starting +North to-day?" + +"No, not to-day; we have still a day or two left before we set out for +Grand Pré; we are going over to see your mother this afternoon." + +"I'm glad of that," responded Balfour, "for I'm to have a day off, or +rather an afternoon, and I wanted to be sure of your plans." + +Balfour did not explain that he had asked for this special holiday in +order to have some time with his new friends. + +"You won't spend the whole afternoon with my mother," he began +awkwardly,--"at least, not all of you,--and so I thought that perhaps +some of you would go for a drive with me." + +"I am going to stay with Eunice," said Priscilla; "it will be our last +day together." + +Martine said nothing. + +Then Balfour turned to Amy: + +"Would not you and Miss Martine drive with me? I can take you to one or +two out-of-the-way places that you probably haven't visited." + +"Surely," responded Amy, "that will be delightful. I can go, and with +pleasure. As for Martine, she must speak for herself." + +Amy had no doubt as to Martine's desire, so that it was hardly necessary +for her to await a reply. + +"Why, of course," replied Martine; "there's nothing I'd like so well." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + AN EXCURSION + + +Balfour, when the three started on their afternoon expedition, was in a +particularly happy frame of mind. + +"There's one advantage in working all summer--a half holiday seems ten +times more valuable now than usually. Not that I'm working hard this +summer, only my days are not my own, and I can seldom make plans; +besides, I do begrudge the time that I have to take from study." + +"Then you will probably think to-day wasted." + +"No, indeed; besides, we are going to study nature, and--" + +"A little French history," interposed Martine. "Did you not say that you +would take us to an old battleground?" + +"Yes, I hope to, for my steed is not like Jill. We can depend on getting +somewhere with Lion, whereas Jill--" + +"Mr. Frazer would say that she went fast enough the day he rode her in +my company." + +"It's a great thing for a horse to know when to stop, as well as when to +go on. Whoa, Lion! There, we can leave him standing while we go up that +little hill. It's said to be the site of an ancient French church. It +may interest you." + +Amy and Martine loudly praised the beauty of the scenery as they stood +on the elevated land above the narrow, winding river. + +"They say that a church stood here in the earliest French days, with a +set of silver bells that rang out most musically over the water. Then, +when the church fell to pieces, the bells sank into the earth, and are +hidden somewhere underground,--and any one who likes may dig for them." + +Martine began to prod in the earth with her parasol. + +"Come, my dear, we won't have time to-day, and you need a crowbar rather +than that tiny stick. If you found them they would be rather too clumsy +to carry home;" and Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm. + +"I'd rather look for Apostle spoons," replied Martine. "I heard of a +woman who dug up two in her garden, and when she saw how dirty they +were, threw them into a kettle of lye that she happened to have boiling +for soap, or something of that kind. She almost lost her head when the +ugly lead things came out looking like gold, for they were silver washed +with gilt. If she found such things, why not I, for it's a true story, +isn't it?" turning to Balfour. + +"Oh, yes, fairly true, and there's always a chance of finding something +by digging long enough. But I would never waste my time digging, except +with hoe and spade, for fruit and vegetables. There's good money," he +concluded, "in strawberries here in Nova Scotia. In Annapolis I know a +man who has several acres, and in good seasons he gets two thousand +boxes a day." + +"Strawberries! Aren't apples the prize crop here?" + +"Yes, and more certain than anything else. A man can get $300 an acre +from a good orchard. If money were the only thing I'd rather be a farmer +than a lawyer down here." + +"That's better than some gold mines," said Amy, as they turned and +walked down the hill to the carriage. + +"When I was a small shaver," continued Balfour, "and had plenty of time +to spare, I used to walk there along the top of the dykes of Annapolis. +From the base of seven or eight feet it narrows to hardly a foot at the +top, and I can tell you that it was ticklish work keeping a footing." + +"Why didn't I know of that before?" cried Martine. "I certainly should +have tried it. I love to walk on railroad tracks, and dyke-walking must +be almost the same." + +"You can't try anything of that kind while you are in my care," +interposed Amy. "The river is probably deeper than it looks, and if you +should go too near the edge--" + +"Oh, I can swim, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, though, to put your careful +soul at ease, I'll promise not to go near the water. All the same, I +wish that I were an Indian, at this very moment gliding down from Minas +to Digby. Didn't you tell me that this was one of their favorite +routes?" and she turned to Balfour for a reply. + +"Why, yes," he replied, "from any point outside Minas they used to glide +over to French Cross, then by a portage of four miles to Aylesford, and +they would be borne on by the current down the Annapolis River, +sometimes as far even as Digby." + +"French Cross?" asked Amy. "What have I heard of French Cross?" + +"Perhaps of the awful winter there that some of the Acadians passed +through, just after the deportation." + +"Tell me about it," cried Martine, eagerly. "I never heard of it." + +"Well, after the Acadians had been put aboard the ships at Grand Pré, +some friendly Micmacs hurried down secretly to warn the French at the +eastern end of Annapolis. When they heard the news, about sixty Acadians +decided on flight, and with a Micmac guide began to make their way +north. They hoped to reach a point on the shore where the English would +not see them, from which they could cross over to New Brunswick, and +then get the protection of the French at Quebec. But when they reached +Aylesford they did not dare try to cross. Their food was poor, sickness +broke out among them, many died, and were buried in the soft Aylesford +sand. The others went on to French Cross, but still did not dare cross +the Bay. During the bitter cold of December, while they were suffering +everything, they saw the last of the transports pass down the Bay, +carrying their countrymen to the southern colonies. Many died during the +winter, and when spring came the friendly Indians made birch-bark canoes +for the remainder, who then crossed in safety to the New Brunswick +shore." + +"Man's inhumanity to man," sighed Amy, sentimentally. + +"What wretches the English were!" exclaimed Martine, more energetically. + +"Remember, please, that I am English;" and Balfour raised his hand in +remonstrance. "Besides, the persecutors of the Acadians were not +English, but your fellow New Englanders, who took the whole matter on +themselves, without asking leave of any one else." + +"But I am no New Englander," objected Martine. + +"Oh, it's all the same. Some of your ancestors were from New England +undoubtedly, unless you are different from most Chicagoans. But if you +repudiate New England, you cannot object to my arousing your sympathies +for some of those exiled Loyalists who suffered quite as much as the +over-pitied Acadians." + +"It's a shame Priscilla is not here," murmured Martine. + +Now Balfour was not likely to speak idly, and in a moment he had begun +his recital. + +"The old lady who told this story to my mother was visiting Annapolis +from Fredericton, and her mother, the daughter of an officer in a New +Jersey regiment, experienced all the hardships that she described. The +vessels with these New Jersey officers and soldiers and their families +went up the St. John River in early October, and landed at a place +called St. Ann's, that later became Fredericton, the capital of the +Province. It was a wet, cold season, and the people had no shelter but +tents, that they tried to cover with spruce boughs. Their floor was the +ground, and when snow fell in early November the old lady's mother said +that her family tried to shut it out by putting their one rug against +the opening. Often a part of the family had to sit up all night to keep +the others from freezing. When everything else failed they would heat +boards at the fire, and hold them over the children to give them needed +warmth." + +"A likely story!" and Martine smiled. + +"Indeed, it is perfectly true," rejoined Balfour, gravely. "Many men and +women died of exposure and lack of food that terrible winter. Their +graves were dug with pickaxe and shovel, in the hard ground not far from +the tents. Like the Acadians at French Cross, they had no clergyman to +pay the last rites. They had been used to comfortable and pleasant +homes, and many of them had had wealth; so it was doubly hard to have to +live in Indian fashion on fish, and moose, and berries. In the spring +they made maple sugar, and killed pigeons. There was great rejoicing +when the first vessels came with corn and rye. They were in constant +fear of the Indians, and it was long before they could live even half +decently." + +"I have always sympathized with the Loyalists," said Amy, quietly. + +"Oh, well, it's all over now," returned Balfour, bitterly. "But it must +have been hard for many of them to remember that their houses and lands, +and even their personal property, had been passed over to people who to +them seemed to have no shadow of right to it." + +"Do you care now?" asked Martine, gently. + +"Oh, no;" but Balfour's tone belied his words. "My family did not suffer +so much as some, though we had to start here in Annapolis with little +besides the land that the King granted." + +"Back to the soil is a good thing sometimes." + +"Oh, yes, and Nova Scotia was very hospitable to the poor Loyalists; but +still--to tell the truth, sometimes I wish that I had grown up on the +other side of the line. There seems to be more chance in many ways;" and +Balfour sighed. + +Amy looked at Balfour in surprise. He was evidently considerably her +junior, yet he talked like one much older. + +"I should like to see him and Fritz together," she thought. "I believe +that Fritz would appear five years younger, for he always persists in +talking like an overgrown boy." + +"There," concluded Balfour, "I have said too much. On the whole, I am +contented, and the Province offers more than many corners of the world +to an ambitious young man, so enough said. Now, just see, I was so +absorbed in harrowing your feelings over the Loyalists that I have taken +a wrong turn, and we are now so far from the battleground that we'll +have to give it up this afternoon." + +"'All roads are alike to me,'" hummed Amy, while Martine added, "But the +scenery here is lovely. Just see how the North Mountain stands out, with +that little fringe of mist hanging about the top, and I've never seen so +many fine orchards. Oh, I wouldn't have missed this particular drive for +anything;" and her flushed cheeks and beaming eyes showed that she had +meant what she said. + +"The drive has been full of pictures, too," added Martine. "I've seen a +great many things even that you have not spoken of, and whenever I look +over there toward the woods I fancy I see an Indian creeping along; not +an unfriendly savage, but one with a smile on his face, hoping perhaps +to be asked by Lescarbot to stay to dinner at the Fort." + +"Yes," rejoined Balfour, "one of those jolly fellows who objected to the +wording of the Lord's Prayer in asking for bread, saying that bread +alone wouldn't do for him, as he needed moose, and fish besides." + +"Yes, and some of the French dishes that they favored him with +occasionally." + +"Well, I have heard many things that make me believe that the Indians of +Acadia were jokers. Some of the stories would shock you, I am afraid;" +and Balfour hesitated. + +"Oh, we are not so easily shocked. Tell us, do." + +"Very likely you've heard this particular thing. But it is said that one +of the men in that first expedition of the French undertook to make a +dictionary, and when he tried to get some of the natives to give him the +Micmac for various sacred names, the Indian gave him words that were +just the contrary,--almost profane, in fact,--so that the Frenchman made +himself very ridiculous when he tried to make use of his new +vocabulary." + +"Which shows," said Martine, "that the Micmac Indian was not such a +serious and solemn creature as those that used to appear in our school +histories bewailing the advance of the white man. I always thought I'd +like to meet one of them." + +"Why, Martine?" + +"Yes, just for the pleasure of sticking a pin in him. He would never +have had spirit enough to turn his tomahawk against me. But these +Micmacs knew how to enjoy life. The dictionary maker was probably a +prim, conceited fellow, who deserved to be laughed at. Of course, in a +general way," she concluded hastily, "I am always on the side of the +French, and I love to remember that the old Fort once belonged to them." + + "'When from Port Royal's rude-built walls + Gleamed o'er the hills afar, + The golden lilies on the shield + Of Henry of Navarre. + + "'A gay and gallant company, + Those voyagers of old, + Whose life in the Acadian Fort + Lescarbot's verse has told,'" + +recited Balfour, as they turned into St. George's Street, "and here we +are in sight of Fort Anne, and it pleases my soul that the flag floating +above is the flag of Great Britain." + +"We won't quarrel about that now," said Martine, "for you have given us +the very pleasantest afternoon we've had." + +"Yes," added Amy, "it has certainly been delightful, and so it is all +the harder to remember that this is probably our last excursion around +Annapolis,--at least, for the present." + +"You are very good to appreciate our old town so, and I hope that you +will find Wolfville almost as attractive. I am sorry enough, however, +that you are going away. We shall miss you all;" and though emphasizing +"all," Balfour looked directly at Martine as he spoke. "My sister has +grown so fond of Miss Priscilla that she has forgotten her inborn hatred +for New Englanders, and I hope you'll understand that we all appreciate +your interest in Acadian history. I only trust I haven't bored you and +Miss Martine by my facts and reminiscences. I fear that I've been almost +garrulous." + +"Oh, no, indeed, far from that;" and Martine's emphasis showed how +deeply she meant what she said. + +At this moment they had reached their own door and the last good-byes +had to be said. + +"I cannot come again this evening," Balfour explained, "but I'll see you +for a moment at the train." + +Then, thrusting his hand into his pocket, with an exclamation he drew +out a small object that he held toward Martine. "I had almost forgotten, +but if you would take this," he cried, "for your collection, I would be +so pleased. It's in a better condition than most things they dig up;" +and as Martine took it, she saw that it was a small trowel, remarkably +bright, yet of a curious shape. + +"Another Acadian relic. How kind you are!" + +"This fork is for you, Miss Redmond. Even if you have not a collection, +it will interest you. The trowel," Balfour continued, "was almost as +bright as this when it was dug up, it had been buried so deep, and the +fork is of an odd shape. Of course they haven't any great value," he +concluded, "only they are genuine relics, as I know, for I dug them up +myself. I might have brought you a gridiron with a long handle and four +feet, but you would have found some difficulty in carrying it about, and +the little spade can be carried in your travelling-bag for use in +mending a broken dyke, or shaping bricks, if you happen to wish to mend +or build on the way. That at least was its original use, and the +fork--well, you can find many uses for it;" and he turned from Martine +to Amy. + +Both girls found it hard to bid good-bye to Balfour. In spite of the +shortness of their acquaintance he was already an old friend, one whose +friendship they particularly valued. + +"How sensible he is," sighed Martine, as they went indoors, "and to +think that he's only a year older than Taps!" + +"A year older than--who?" asked Amy, thinking that she must have +misunderstood. "What did you say?" + +"Oh, nothing--really nothing," replied Martine, hastily, with a +heightened color. "I was only thinking that Balfour Airton seems so very +much older than most boys of his age, and he knows so much more than +most students." Martine's words were hurried and nervous, and Amy +decided that she was more disturbed than she had expected her to be at +parting with her Annapolis friends. + +But if Amy only suspected Martine's feelings, she had no difficulty in +deciding how Priscilla felt. She and Eunice had formed a most romantic +attachment for each other, and made no effort to hide the tears that +fell freely as they bade good-bye at the station. At the final parting +each threw her arms around the other's neck, and the bystanders tried +not to laugh when Eunice in her emotion knocked off Priscilla's hat and +entangled the cord of her eyeglasses in Priscilla's belt. But the +bystanders, if amused, were sympathetic, consisting as they did chiefly +of Dr. and Mrs. Gray, Balfour, and Mrs. Airton, and one or two other +friends whom the travellers had met during their weeks in Annapolis. + +"Your tears, my dear Eunice," said Dr. Gray, "exactly express the +feelings of all the rest of us; and while we wish you, Mrs. Redmond, a +safe journey, it is perhaps not too selfish to hope that you and the +young ladies may look back to Annapolis as the brightest spot on the map +of your travels." + +"Indeed, we shall," said Mrs. Redmond, cordially, "and--" + +"All aboard!" called the conductor; "Good-bye," shouted Balfour; "Write +soon," sighed Eunice. + +"Come back next summer," cried Dr. Gray. + +"Perhaps sooner," responded Amy, and with a puff and a shriek the +"Flying Bluenose" glided off toward the real land of Evangeline. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + WITH PREJUDICE + + +"Priscilla," said Amy, as they finished breakfast on their first morning +at Wolfville, "you are no longer homesick." + +"Did I say I was homesick?" + +"Perhaps not in words, though you have looked it a great many times. But +I noticed a change during our last week in Annapolis; you have seemed +perfectly cheerful ever since." + +"Oh, I'm sorry," responded the over-conscientious Priscilla, "if I +seemed less than cheerful before; it was really very wrong in me, for +you and your mother have been so kind, and Martine is so very--" here +she hesitated for a moment--"so very lively." + +Amy smiled at Priscilla's earnestness. + +"To most persons you would have seemed perfectly cheerful, but little +things have shown me that your heart was not wholly with us." + +"That was only because I had never before been altogether away from my +family. But if there has been any change lately, it has been on account +of Eunice. She seems to me the most sensible person I have ever known, +and I hope that she can carry out her plan of going to college. If papa +had lived I could have done something for her, but now I can't make any +promises for the future, because mamma says that we shall have to be +very careful about spending for a few years." + +"I'm glad, however," responded Amy, "that you have this interest in +Eunice, even if you cannot do all that you would like to do for her; it +is rather curious that each of us should have found a protégé in the +course of our travels; Yvonne, Pierre, and Eunice, each one so unlike +the others, and yet all of them rather interesting." + +"Martine, of course, can accomplish the most," and Priscilla sighed. "I +imagine that her father and mother never say 'no' to her." + +"Money isn't everything," replied Amy, "and you and I can do more or +less for Eunice and Pierre in spite of the fact that time and thought +are the most we can give. I have often noticed that the person who has a +real interest in the welfare of some one else can really accomplish +things in better ways than by spending money." + +"Balfour wouldn't let any one spend much money on Eunice; he is so very +independent, and wishes always to stand on his own feet. I never saw any +one just like him." + +"I agree with you, Priscilla, and I feel that we owe much to him for all +he did for us in Annapolis; besides, he has given mother one or two +letters to people in Wolfville, so that I fancy we shall be somewhat +indebted to him here." + +A few moments later Amy, in her little bedroom, reread a letter received +from Fritz that morning. Its tone was so cheerful that it ought to have +had an exhilarating effect on her; on the contrary, she was now less +happy than before she received it. Fritz and his friend had already +reached Chester on the east coast, and he wrote most enthusiastically of +the charms of this little watering-place. Not one word of regret did he +utter now over his separation from Mrs. Redmond's party. His time was +apparently fully occupied with boating and driving excursions and other +pleasures of the conventional summer resort. One sentence only, at the +end, suggested that he had not forgotten what he had previously said to +Amy. + +"I am surprised that you have travelled so comfortably, with not a +single accident to interfere with your pleasure; but if anything +disagreeable should happen, then perhaps you will wish that you had some +stronger person to help you out of your difficulty." + +With a sigh Amy laid the letter in her bureau drawer, and as she did so +her eye fell on an envelope addressed to Martine. Evidently she had +picked it up with her own letters when she had brought them upstairs. +The envelope was empty and hardly worth returning, but as she took it to +drop into the waste basket, she looked, as one will, at the postmark. To +her surprise, it was the same, "Chester," as on her own letter from +Fritz. Then her mind flew back to the morning at Yarmouth, when she +thought she had seen Martine wheeling down the side street with an +unknown youth. The inference was now plain--in some way Martine had made +the acquaintance of Fritz's friend, and was keeping up a correspondence +with him. There was nothing very wrong in this in itself, except that it +implied on Martine's part a certain amount of deception. "Taps," as +Fritz called him, might have been a perfectly desirable friend for all +the girls, and Fritz himself might have introduced him to Martine. She +had had no opportunity to meet him on the boat. Yet even had he been an +old friend of hers, there seemed to be no reason why she should not +speak frankly about him. The discovery of this envelope reconciled Amy +completely to Fritz's banishment. It was just as well that he and his +friend had been sent off by themselves. + +As to Martine, Amy decided that at present it was hardly well to speak +to her of the letter, or even mention it to Mrs. Redmond. But for the +rest of the day she was less cordial than usual toward Martine, and the +young girl felt the change. + +When Amy returned to the piazza, where she had left the others, she +found only her mother and Martine. In a moment Priscilla joined them, +looking bright and happy, and with unusual color in her fair cheeks. + +"I've been down the street," she said, "and the town is so attractive +that you must all come with me on an exploring tour; I can't tell why, +but I feel more at home here than in most places. Wolfville seems less +English than Annapolis; in fact, it is more like one of our own New +England towns." + +"That, I dare say," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "is partly because it is a +college town, but more likely because it was settled by Americans. I +have an idea that hardly a Loyalist came here after the Revolution." + +"Settled by Americans?" cried Martine. "Wasn't this all French country +through here?" + +"Yes--once--my dear. You remember, however, that after the French were +deported, their lands were granted to colonists from New England. Those +who came to this part of Nova Scotia were chiefly from Connecticut, and +Wolfville is named for a well-known family of these colonists, named De +Wolfe." + +"Then this isn't Grand Pré?" + +"Oh, no; there is still a Grand Pré two or three miles to the west, with +relics and memories without end, of Evangeline and Basil." + +"Let us go there, then, as soon as we can," cried Martine. + +"Not yet, my dear. We would better first see something nearer at hand; +Mr. Knight, Balfour's friend, has offered to drive us to Grand Pré this +afternoon, and if this suits you all, I will send him a reply at once." + +The three girls, agreeing that they should enjoy the afternoon drive, +fell in with Mrs. Redmond's suggestion for a morning walk. + +"I have been advised," said Mrs. Redmond, "to take a road behind the +college, leading to the top of the ridge, where we can get a fine view +of the Gaspereau Valley." + +Though it was a steep hill, the view from the summit repaid them by its +surpassing beauty. The deep valley, bordered with trees of varying +shades of green, the blue river flowing between, and toward its mouths +winding in and out among the marshes, formed a scene long to be +remembered. + +"If we could see to the very mouth," said Mrs. Redmond, "and bring our +imagination into full play, we could picture the poor Acadians gathered +in forlorn groups waiting to be dragged away to the English transports. +Their pleasant homes were found all along the sides of this valley, as +well as at Grand Pré. Undoubtedly it is Longfellow's poem that has given +the latter place its greater prominence." + +Some distance along the ridge the four Americans continued to walk, +until they reached a point from which they had a wider view; then for +the first time their eyes fell on the clear waters of Minas Basin. On +its farther shore rose a high, red bluff. + +"Bluff," at least, was what Martine called it, but Priscilla, repeating +her words, exclaimed: + +"No, no, it's a mountain; it must be." + +Mrs. Redmond smiled at the emphasis that each girl threw into her words. + +"My dear children," she exclaimed, "I should think that you'd at once +know Blomidon; surely you must often have seen it pictured. Blomidon, +you remember, was the home of Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs, and +Minas Basin was his beaver pond. Poets and painters have been inspired +by Blomidon, and I imagine, Martine, that you and I will even make some +attempt to reproduce its beauty." + +"Ah," sighed Martine, "but we could never give the effect of that light +and shade on the side of the mountain, for it really is a mountain, as +Priscilla says; and there's something quite wonderful in that deep red +that stands out so between the sky and the water." + +"From Grand Pré we'll have an even better view, I'm told, of Blomidon. +You are so fond of jewels, Martine, that you'll be tempted to cross the +Basin to hunt for amethysts." + +"That reminds me," said Amy, "of something I read the other day; when De +Monts visited the Basin, he called Blomidon, 'Cap d'Or.' Among the +amethysts that he found on an island near by was one of extraordinary +size, which he took back to France and presented to the King and Queen, +who had it set among the crown jewels." + +"We cannot linger here much longer," said Mrs. Redmond; "if we take this +lower road, it will probably bring us into the business section, and +then we can walk back home, along the main street." + +When they had done their errands and were perhaps half-way home, Mrs. +Redmond, who was ahead, looked back for a moment. + +"Here, Amy, is something especially for you." + +Amy hurried on and found herself at the entrance of a little graveyard. + +"Oh, mamma, you are laughing at me." + +There was a suspicious smile on Mrs. Redmond's lips as she said: + +"Every one, my dear child, knows your _penchant_ for old graveyards, and +this one is so bright and cheerful that you might have missed it had I +not called your attention to it." + +Following Mrs. Redmond and Amy, the others entered the enclosure. It +was, as Mrs. Redmond had said, "bright and cheerful," with neatly kept +walks, and a little fountain playing in the centre. Evidently it was no +longer a place of burial. Many of the stones were more than a hundred +years old, and marked the resting-place of the first Connecticut +settlers. + +"How far away they were," said Amy, "from their real home. After all, in +spite of the rich dyke-lands given them here, I wonder if many of them +did not regret the homes they had left." + +"That reminds me," said Priscilla, "of some lines I copied from a poem +the other day; Eunice had the book," and she turned over the leaves of +her note-book. + +"Read them, please," said Mrs. Redmond. So Priscilla began rather +timidly, "The poem is 'The Resettlement of Acadia,' but I copied only +parts of it," and then she read with expression: + + "'But the simple Norman peasant-folk shall till the land no more, + For the vessels from Connecticut have anchored by the shore, + And many a sturdy Puritan, his mind with Scripture stored, + Rejoices he has found at last "the garden of the Lord." + + * * * * * + + They come as Puritans, but who shall say their hearts are blind + To the subtle charms of nature, and the love of humankind? + + * * * * * + + And tears fall fast from many an eye, long time unused to weep, + For o'er the fields lay whitening the bones of cow and sheep.'" + +"I know that you'll think me frightfully stupid," was Martine's comment, +as Priscilla finished reading. "That is delightful poetry, but it isn't +clear in my mind who the Connecticut Puritans were. Were they exiles, +too, like the Acadians and the Loyalists?" + +"Only by their own will. But you are not stupid in failing to understand +about the resettling of Acadia. Many Nova Scotians know very little +about it. After the French had been deported in 1755, this fertile +Province would have been of little service to England without +inhabitants. The simplest way to repeople the land was to attract +colonists from the older colonies. So Governor Lawrence sent a +proclamation to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, stating +the terms on which the Government would grant land to settlers. As a +result three separate groups of settlers were formed. The Massachusetts +families came to Annapolis; the Rhode Islanders to the country North of +Grand Pré, where there is now a Newport; and the Connecticut settlers, +as Priscilla has just read, to Grand Pré. These people were of the +highest character. Many of them had considerable property of their own, +and they came down here in the spirit that took so many sturdy New +Englanders West a generation or two ago." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond; I am glad to know that they didn't drive the +French out." + +"Oh, no, many of them had undoubtedly seen the fertility of Nova Scotia +during the long French and Indian Wars, in which they had fought; the +richness of the country was pretty well understood. But they themselves +had nothing to do with deporting the Acadians. Dr. Gray explained all +this at Annapolis. But come, girls! You can copy these inscriptions some +other day, Priscilla. We must rest a little now, if we expect to enjoy +the afternoon." + +When Mr. Knight called for them that afternoon the girls were surprised +at his appearance. Mrs. Redmond had forgotten to say that he was an +extremely young man, whose youth seemed all the greater because he tried +to assume the manners and aspect of a much older person. He had been +graduated from Acadia College a few years before, the youngest of his +class by more than a year. He was now a teacher in the neighboring +school that fitted boys for Acadia, and on this account perhaps felt the +need of maintaining a dignity of demeanor that should make them forget +his youth. + +His friendship for Balfour and his sincere admiration of the whole +Airton family ought to have saved him from Martine's ridicule. But from +the moment that her eye took in the details of his costume,--his +high-standing collar, his round-headed walking-stick, his monocle, and +his hair neatly parted in the middle (though this was hardly a detail of +costume), she was convulsed with laughter. The carriage that Mr. Knight +had brought was two-seated, but each seat was wide enough for three, and +the pair of horses looked capable of travelling many miles without +fatigue. + +Martine and Priscilla begged for the front seat with the driver, and Mr. +Knight, accordingly, sat on the back seat with Amy and Mrs. Redmond. + +The party was soon outside the more closely built streets, on a broad +road that for the time offered little outlook. Mr. Knight, with the +evident intention of doing his full duty by Balfour's friend kept up a +monologue whose steady current afforded great amusement to Martine. + +"Talk of babbling brooks," she murmured; "did you ever hear anything +like it?" and she gave Priscilla's arm a gentle pinch that made her +squirm. + +"He's taking any amount of trouble to make history clear," rejoined +Priscilla, who, as usual, was not ready to accept Martine's point of +view. + +"Yes, but he's beginning at the wrong end. We know all about Champlain, +and De Monts, and the Scotch Fort, and all that; what we want is how the +Acadians were treated at Grand Pré, and where--" + +"Oh, he'll get there." + +"Yes, if we give him time. But I am going to make him change the +subject." So, leaning back, Martine turned to Mr. Knight, "You are a +great friend of Mr. Airton's, I believe." + +"Oh, yes, indeed; that is--but of course you know--well, Mr. Airton +is--ah, not exactly a contemporary of mine--that is, he is--I am older." + +Mr. Knight, as he spoke, grew rather red in the face. There seemed to be +no excuse for his embarrassment, except the one that Mrs. Redmond gave +later, that he regarded Martine's question and her way of putting it +much in the light of a question from an _enfant terrible_. + +Realizing, however, that he had not said just the right thing, the poor +young man next began to stammer in his effort to explain himself. + +"Balfour certainly is a great friend of mine, and one of the finest boys +I know." + +This ought to have been sufficient to please even the critical Martine, +and had Mr. Knight not used the word "boy" she might have been quite +content. As it was, this word happened to irritate her, and she +responded in a tone that disturbed Amy: + +"Oh, did you say that Mr. Airton is younger than you? Isn't he +considerably taller?" + +If Mr. Knight's face had been red before, it now became almost a deep, +deep crimson. Amy, rejoicing that her mother's seat was so far from +Martine's that she had not heard this remark, resolved at the earliest +opportunity to have a word alone with Martine. + +The opportunity, however, did not come for some time, and meanwhile Mr. +Knight talked enthusiastically of the apple crops of Cornwallis, and of +the fortune that any man might gather who would deal intelligently with +the Gravenstein. + +"The Cornwallis Valley," he said, "is one of the finest farming regions +in the world. You will see what I mean when you go to the Look-off, as +you will while you are here. But now--" + +"Oh, is this an old French church?" asked Martine, excitedly, as they +approached an ancient wooden structure half hidden by Lombardy poplars. + +If Mr. Knight heard her, he did not reply, but he jumped to the ground, +even before the driver had fairly pulled up his horses, and then, when +the carriage came to a full stop, offered to assist Mrs. Redmond to the +ground. + +"This," he began, "is sometimes incorrectly called an Acadian church." + +"Does he mean to snub me?" whispered Martine to Priscilla. + +"Yet it is merely an old Scotch church," continued Mr. Knight, "built +about a hundred years ago. A service is held here two or three times a +year, but the building receives no great care, and, as you can see, even +some of its windows have been broken by mischievous boys." + +"Such as Balfour Airton?" suggested Martine. But Mr. Knight took no +notice of her flippant criticism of his previous remark about Balfour. + +"It is like a New England meeting-house," said Amy, with a tinge of +disappointment, as they looked inside the old building, noting its high +pews, and sounding-board, and unadorned walls. Then, as she saw Martine +standing apart from the others, she remembered the words that she had +meant to say to her. So, drawing near, she took the young girl's hand in +hers. Martine looked up at her with a smile. + +"I know that you have a scolding tucked away somewhere, but I just won't +let you give it to me. It won't do me the least little bit of good, and +you wouldn't waste even a scolding, would you?" + +"Oh, Martine, you are incorrigible; you surely realize that you need at +least a reproof. Mother would give it to you if she had heard." + +"Mrs. Redmond is too sensible to overhear disagreeable things." + +"Very well, Martine; but tell me honestly, wouldn't you prefer to sit +with mamma? She always has a soothing effect on you." + +"That would bring me beside Mr. Knight. No, thanks. Surely, Amy, you +realize how ridiculous he is, talking in that patronizing way of +Balfour, who is a whole head taller than he." + +"You forget, my dear child, that if he were not a great friend of +Balfour's we should not have had the pleasure of his escort this +afternoon. He is certainly most kind in taking all this trouble." + +"I'll admit that he is very kind, though I dare say that we could have +found our way around without him. But he is ridiculous, isn't he, with +his walking-stick, and his English accent in an out-of-the-way place +like this?" + +"As Wolfville has always been his home, Mr. Knight probably feels that +he has the right to a walking-stick or an English accent. If he had a +French accent you would perhaps make greater allowances for him. But for +the sake of peace, if you don't object, I'll have Priscilla change +places with you. If you overhear anything you dislike, you may vent your +anger on me. I do not wish Priscilla to be a victim." + +"A victim! She doesn't realize that she is a victim now. Just look at +her. She is hanging on every word that Mr. Knight utters--and it's all +on account of his English accent." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + EVANGELINE'S COUNTRY + + +"I will admit that what he is saying is perfectly true." + +"And absolutely necessary, Martine, to our understanding properly this +land of Evangeline." + +"But he needn't talk so conceitedly, as if he were the only one in the +world who knows that there was no real Basil, nor Gabriel, and that +Evangeline herself was somebody else. Why, even in Chicago, where we are +farther away from Acadia than you are in Massachusetts, we know that. +But just listen,"--and as Martine and Amy stood there in silence a few +feet from the willows, they heard Mr. Knight's rather shrill voice +saying: + +"I am aware that you Americans have mapped out almost every inch of +Grand Pré, and that you can point out the site of Basil's smithy, and +Gabriel's house, and the old church, although as a matter of fact only +the last is at all certain. It is quite natural that you should accept +your Longfellow as real history, but--" + +Here Martine could restrain herself no longer. Stepping forward she +faced Mr. Knight, who stopped talking in his surprise at her sudden +appearance from the background; and in a clear voice she began to +recite: + + "'with a summons sonorous + Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat. + Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in the churchyard, + Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the headstones + Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the forest. + Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among them + Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant clangor + Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and casement.' + +Isn't that history," she asked gravely, "as well as Longfellow?" + +"Why, yes, in a general way," responded Mr. Knight, with an amused +smile. "As to details, why, I am not quite so sure, though I can assure +you I have no intention of questioning Mr. Longfellow's accuracy. Far +from it. His picture of the deportation is wonderfully complete." + +"Yet you were criticising him." + +"Oh, no, only the tendency of some tourists to connect everything in the +neighborhood of Grand Pré with something mentioned by Longfellow." + +"But if it makes the place more interesting," began Martine. + +"Oh, certainly, that is one of the uses of poetry, and really, Miss +Stratford, I intended no criticism of 'Evangeline,' only--" and again +that smile of amusement--"you will pardon me when I say that these are +not Evangeline's willows, as some call them, except in the poetic +sense." + +"They are very picturesque," said Amy, in an effort to turn the +conversation. "Until I came to Nova Scotia I had never thought of +willows as so strong and sturdy. In fact, I had in mind only the weeping +variety." + +The line of willows, a dozen or so beside the rail fence, with two or +three cows grazing in their shade, formed a picture so tempting that +Priscilla turned her camera upon it, and with a wave of her hand pointed +to something beyond. In a minute or two Mrs. Redmond and Amy were beside +her, with Mr. Knight and Martine but a step behind. + +"Shall you object if we call this Evangeline's well?" asked Martine, +with a touch of scorn in her voice. + +"Ah, call it what you please, Miss Stratford. It is certainly an old +French well. Evangeline may have drunk from it." + +"Is it quite safe to drink from an old well?" + +"Oh, mamma, you are not usually so anxious." + +"I can assure you, Mrs. Redmond, that this is pure water. The wall was +built a few years ago, and you will find the water deliciously cold. +This well, by the way, is probably near the site of the priest's house;" +and involuntarily he glanced toward Martine. + +"Oh," she rejoined, as if in answer to his glance, "I thought that there +was no priest--except in the poem." + +"Ah, surely there had been a priest, though not Father Felician; and +indeed at the time of the deportation the priest was away from Grand +Pré, a prisoner at Halifax, and so he could not exhort the people. But +these are mere matters of detail. Undoubtedly we are now standing very +near the site of the church." + +"I wonder if the bells are hidden in the earth like those we heard of at +Annapolis," and Amy turned to Martine with a smile, hoping to divert her +from quizzing Mr. Knight. + +"Ah, the bells!" exclaimed the offending young man. "There is a +story--if you should care for it." + +"By all means," replied Mrs. Redmond; and under the embarrassing gaze of +four pairs of eyes Mr. Knight told his tale. + +"It isn't a remarkable story in any way, only they say that when the +Acadians saw that they were prisoners, some of them managed to take down +the bell and wall it up in one of the vaults under the church, while the +church treasure was put in the other. Years afterwards, in the days of +the English settlers, a strange vessel was seen in the Basin one night. +People who passed this way thought they heard queer noises during the +night, and in the morning the ground near the site of the old church was +disturbed. Some people said that in the night they had heard a bell +ringing. That night there came a terrible storm, and soon bits of +wreckage drifted in that must have come from the strange vessel. In this +way every one believed that the theft had been avenged--if the strangers +stole the bell and the treasure. It is only fair to say," continued Mr. +Knight, "that some believe that the bell was taken by returning Acadians +who wished to set it up in an Acadian chapel on the Gaspé coast. At any +rate, there are people still living who have heard their parents say +that at certain times they can hear the distant ringing of this Grand +Pré bell." + +"How weird!" cried Martine. "Are there any more stories like that? I +love them." + +"Oh, there are some others connected with buried treasures, but an evil +fate was usually supposed to attend those who grew suddenly rich by +unearthing Acadian treasure; and there are tales of ghostly fires on St. +John's eve; and other stories used to trouble me very much when I was +small and had to pass lonely places in the night." + +"Oho," thought Martine, though she said nothing, "then it is as I +thought; he is easily scared." + +"At the time of the deportation," said Mr. Knight, as they took their +places again in the carriage, "the water came much nearer the village. +Since the days of the Acadians thousands of acres of dyke-lands have +been reclaimed. When the Connecticut settlers came they found many dykes +broken, through which the sea was rolling in, and they might have had a +hard time repairing them if they had not found a few Acadians still left +in the country, who had managed to escape the English and were lurking +in the neighborhood of their old homes." + +"That reminds me," said Priscilla; "who were the Acadians, that is, +where did they come from in the first place? I have never thought of +this before." + +"Why, Priscilla, they were--" then Amy stopped, not feeling quite sure +of her ground. + +"Oh, they were French, from--" and Martine could get no farther. + +"Of course they were French, but why did they know so much about dykes +and such things?" + +When no one else seemed inclined to answer the question, Mr. Knight +undertook to reply. + +"The Acadians of Grand Pré, like the Acadians of Annapolis, were nearly +all descended from a group of peasants from Rochelle, Pictou, and +Saintonge, who came out with D'Aunay and Razilly about 1630. They came +from a region of marshes, and they brought with them the art of building +dykes. The _aboiteaux_ that they built were marvels, and before you go +we must try to show you one of the dykes at low tide, when all the +wonderful method of building will be displayed. Pierre Terriau, by the +way, was the name of the first Acadian to settle in the Grand Pré +region. He came to the shores of the Habitant in 1671. Others soon +joined him. The people at Minas were so shut off from Port Royal that +they grew very independent. Indeed, this desire to escape the close +observation of those at the Fort was what sent Acadians from Port Royal +to this new region. In time there were three parishes in Minas,--St. +Joseph, St. Charles, and Grand Pré,--and the people were like one great +family, constantly inter-marrying, and always ready to help one another. + + "'Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows; + But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners; + There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance,' + +as your Longfellow says;" and Martine, had she been inclined, might have +taken this as an apology for the disrespect she had imagined cast on her +poet a little earlier. + +But there was no time now to discuss either Longfellow or the Acadians. +Before the party stretched the broad dyke-lands, where already many +farmers were cutting hay, while here and there were mammoth haystacks. + +Priscilla snapped her camera at a hay wagon with a larger load than any +she had ever seen, drawn by two of the heaviest, sleekest oxen; Amy made +a few notes in her diary; Mrs. Redmond sighed for her palette and +sketch-book; and Martine exclaimed loudly on the richness of color, the +vivid green of the marshes, the unclouded blue of the sky, and the +richer blue of the water, with a glimpse here and there of reddish +shores, and above all Blomidon, the magnificent, showing up in the +distance, like a veritable giant. + +"Have you seen all that you care to see at Grand Pré?" asked Mr. Knight, +politely, with a "Here, driver, draw up for a last look at Blomidon +before we turn toward Avonport." + +"How dark it looks now!" exclaimed Amy, pointing to the promontory. + +"That is because the sun no longer shines on it," replied Mr. Knight +"Listen to one of our poets: + + "'This is that black bastion, based in surge, + Pregnant with agate and with amethyst, + Whose foot the tides of storied Minas scourge, + Whose top austere withdraws into its mist. + + * * * * * + + "'Yonder, across these reeling fields of foam, + Came the sad threat of the avenging ships. + What profit now to know if just the doom, + Though harsh. The streaming eyes, the praying lips, + The shadow of inextinguishable pain, + The poet's deathless music, these remain.'" + +"Have we seen all that we can see?" interrupted Martine, untouched by +the poetical tribute to her Acadians. She was determined to show no +appreciation of anything said by Mr. Knight. + +"Have we seen all that we can see?" repeated Martine, adding with some +sharpness, "I thought that there would be much more." + +"Well, I am sure--" and Mr. Knight hesitated, "I am sorry--but there +isn't so very much--you know all the Acadian houses were burnt, and it's +just a modern village--the old Covenanter Church is perhaps the oldest +thing--and you've seen the old well and the willows and the things that +we point out to Americans." + +"There it is!" thought Martine, "that same patronizing tone when he +speaks of Americans." + +"Oh, there is one thing," continued the unhappy young man, conscious +now, as at all times, of Martine's disapproval, "I should have shown you +the little ridge near the station where Colonel Noble and one of his +soldiers were buried, after that terrible fight in 1747. You remember +the French had only seven killed to the one hundred English who were +slaughtered." + +"That was a cowardly attack," said Amy, warmly. + +"But it was the real French, and not the Acadians, who were +responsible," interposed Martine. + +"Yet the Acadians helped--at least as guides." + +"This pleasant country has certainly witnessed a great deal of tragedy." +Mrs. Redmond's voice was that of the peacemaker. + +"Yet through it all Blomidon has remained there calm and placid." Up to +this time Priscilla had had little to say. + +"But Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs," responded Mrs. Redmond,--"you +remember that after the white men came to Minas, displeased with their +teachings, he fled away, and has never been seen since. + + "'You can see yourself Five Islands Glooscap flung at him that day, + When from Blomidon to Sharp he tore the Beaver's dam away. + Cleared the channel, and the waters thundered out into the Bay. + Here he left us--see the orchards, red and gold in every tree! + All the land from Gaspereau to Portapique and Cheverie, + All the garden lands of Minas and a passage out to sea.'" + +"Why, mamma, I never heard you quote poetry--at such length." + +"Perhaps you thought that I couldn't, but this is a Canadian poet, and +later you must read more of the myths grouped around Glooscap." + +"Oh, I know that Blomidon was his home, and Minas his beaver-pond, and +Spencer Island used to be his kettle that he tipped upside down when he +deserted Acadia, and two rocks there in the Bay were once his dogs that +he turned to stone at the same time. He never was cruel, never grew old, +and was never to die, and so I suppose that the Indians are looking +constantly for him to come back and restore their own to them." + +"As to that," said the serious Mr. Knight, "the Indians in Nova Scotia +are much better off than in the days of Glooscap. They may sit side by +side with white children in almost all the schools of the country. Many +of them live on land of their own, and raise live stock--though +unluckily they prefer ponies to heifers, and in every way the government +is fitting them for the full responsibilities of citizenship." + +"Oh, dear," sighed Martine, laying her hand on Amy's and leaning forward +so that those on the back seat might not hear. "What a regular +schoolmaster he is! He is more improving even than you, Miss Amy +Redmond. But listen--how much more appreciative is our dear Priscilla." + +In spite of herself Amy could but smile as Priscilla's gentle voice came +to her. "Thank you, Mr. Knight; the present condition of the Indians +interests me very much, and I have made a note of what you have said to +report at one of our Indian Aid Association meetings when I return +home," whereat the driver of their vehicle laughed, chuckled, and shook +his head. + +"I'd like to show her some specimen Micmacs," he said to Martine, "that +come round here oftener than once in a while, and have some distance to +travel before they are fully fitted for the responsibilities of +citizenship." + +"Now, ladies, a last look at Blomidon," cried Mr. Knight, as the +carriage took a sharp turn, and then, after one long, backward look, +they pressed on and drove westward toward Avonport. + +"Dear Prissie," said Martine, when at last they stood on the broad +beach, "you have been a very good girl to-day." Priscilla, reddening at +her words, made no reply. + +"Yes, you have been very good," continued Martine, "and when Mr. Knight +recalls this afternoon he will remember with pleasure the close +attention that you have given to his every word." + +"Oh, Martine, how absurd you are; I never heard you talk so pompously +before." + +"This is the effect of a few hours spent with an eloquent guide, +philosopher, and friend. Poor Amy is under the spell now; he seems to be +teaching her geology." + +Looking in the direction of the spot where they had left Mrs. Redmond +and Amy, Priscilla saw that Mr. Knight was pointing at the stones with +his walking-stick, as if they were diagrams on a blackboard. + +"He is probably explaining the rock formation," said Priscilla, +solemnly. "My guidebook says that the region has great geological +interest." + +"Then let us go off by ourselves somewhere, for if he gets the chance he +will try to teach us all he knows, and really, I could not stand any +more instruction to-day. Come, Prissie." + +At first Priscilla hesitated. + +"Do come; we'll have such a good chance to study those rocks and crags +by ourselves." + +"I'd rather wait for the others, but still--" + +"That's a good girl;" and, half dragging Priscilla by the arm, Martine +set off rapidly toward the bold cliffs that promised them more +entertainment than they had had that afternoon. + +"There are sure to be shells," said Martine, "and perhaps curious +seaweeds in some of the little pools. The tide is so high that +undoubtedly there are many strange things washed up here." + +Martine was correct in her surmises, and for half an hour the two felt +like explorers as they picked their way from stone to stone, filling +their hands with trophies. + +"Isn't it fun?" cried Martine. "I feel as if we were quite alone in the +world. We can just enjoy ourselves without thinking of history or +geology, or anything else." + +"I wonder if the others will be worried," said Priscilla, who herself +was not quite sure that she enjoyed this sensation of being quite alone +in the world, with nobody near but Martine. + +"Of course they won't be worried. We shall be back before they even miss +us. Besides, I'd like to worry Mr. Knight." + +Priscilla looked at her watch. "I think that we ought to return now; we +have been gone more than half an hour." + +"Oh, not yet--but listen; some one is calling. It is Mr. Knight. 'Young +ladies, young ladies,'" and Martine mimicked the tones that now were +borne quite clearly to their ears. "I just won't have him find us, and +lead us back as if we were two children who had done something that we +shouldn't; let us hide behind these rocks until he passes." + +Somewhat against her will Priscilla allowed herself to be led into a +rocky nook where a jutting ledge hid them effectually from any +passer-by. + +So Mr. Knight, walking along the cliffs above them, even had he peered +down to the lower level, could hardly have seen them. His "Young ladies, +young ladies, we're starting home now," grew feebler and feebler, and +when Martine had assured herself that he was really a safe distance +away, she came out from her hiding-place with a cry of "Danger past." + +"We mustn't stay here too long," remonstrated Priscilla; "Mrs. Redmond +will be worried." + +"I am perfectly willing to go now," replied Martine, "since Mr. Knight +won't lead me by the nose. We had a hard climb to this grotto, but it +will be much easier going down." + +Hardly had Martine spoken when Priscilla, who was a few steps ahead of +her, turned back with a cry of alarm. + +"Look, Martine; what shall we do?" + +Stepping up beside her friend, Martine too exclaimed in surprise. + +"Do you suppose it will come any higher? I have heard of the rapid rise +of the tide, but this has just rushed in." + +Even in that first quick glance both girls realized that they were in a +critical position. In going up to the "grotto," as Martine called it, +they had taken no notice of tide-water marks, such as both of them might +have observed. The rocky arms by which they had ascended were now +covered by water, and an incoming wave dashed over Priscilla's feet as +they stood there, uncertain what to do. + +"Will it come all the way in? We shall be drenched if it does." + +"No," said Martine, turning about and inspecting the nook where they had +been standing when they heard Mr. Knight's voice. + +"You can see that if the last high tide had come in lately as far as +that little hollow, there would be some water there now. Instead, it is +perfectly dry. You can prove that for yourself." + +"Yes, yes, you are right; by standing back here we can at least keep +dry, but oh, dear, when shall we get out?" + +"Probably not until Mr. Knight rescues us," replied Martine, cheerfully, +"and even he will hardly come to our relief until low tide, which is +probably some hours away." + +Whatever the real danger, Priscilla and Martine saw at once that they +were in a very disagreeable predicament. The little niche in which alone +they could have a dry footing on three sides had steep walls, whose +height at the lowest was surely twenty feet. Martine scanned the sides +carefully, but the stone surface was perfectly smooth. Nowhere was there +a projection that offered the least foothold. It was in no way possible +for either girl to climb to the top. Toward them flowed the advancing +tide. It had entirely cut them off from the path by which they had +reached the grotto, and though it might not be dangerously deep at every +point of the beach and rocks that it now covered, neither girl had +courage to venture into the water. + +Martine indeed had proposed to wade as far as it seemed safe, and then, +if necessary, swim to some point where she might get a footing. + +"No, no," Priscilla had remonstrated, "you might in some way miss the +others, and if you had to wait around for some time in your wet clothes +you would be really worse off than you are now--and besides, I should +hate to be left here all alone." + +"It might be a waste of energy," replied Martine, "for surely the tide +cannot come up to this little hollow; so it is only a question of time +when we shall get out of this. But it does seem to me that so unusually +clever a person as that Mr. Knight thinks himself might have found us +before this." + +"You aren't quite fair, Martine, for he certainly was just above us +here, calling with all his might. I dare say that he even looked over +the edge. You hid yourself so completely, and made me hide too, so that +when he looked he could not see us. He must think that we went in +exactly the opposite direction, and he and the others are probably a +mile away now, searching for us." + +"I do not care how much bother Mr. Knight has, but I do regret putting +Mrs. Redmond and Amy to such trouble. Why did you come with me, +Priscilla? If you had refused we shouldn't have got into this scrape." + +"Oh, Martine, when you fairly dragged me here! Surely you are unjust." + +Martine knew that she was unjust but like many persons who realize their +own foolishness, she experienced a certain relief for the present in +blaming some one else. + +"It will be hours," she grumbled, "before the tide will be low enough to +let us out for it is still coming in, and we shall be kept here for some +time after it turns." + +"If we get out before dark I shall be thankful. It will be terribly +disagreeable to find ourselves alone here in the dark." + +"Oh, it won't be as bad as that!" Martine's voice became suddenly +cheerful. Self-reproach had taken hold of her. What if Priscilla should +really suffer from this escapade? As if in answer to her thoughts, +Priscilla coughed once or twice. + +"There it is," thought Martine; "Priscilla is away for her health, and I +may undo all the good of the summer. It will be a great disappointment +to Mrs. Redmond, as well as to Priscilla's mother. They both expected so +much from this trip." Which reflections showed that Martine was +certainly not a villain of the deepest dye. Had she been hardened in +perversity she could not so soon have reached a state of repentance. + +But repentance without works avails little, and when Priscilla coughed +for a fourth time Martine became quite feverish with anxiety. + +Two large clouds in the distance seemed to her to indicate a coming +storm. Wretched enough would their condition be if they should be caught +by a heavy rain while they were in this exposed position. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + SAFE AGAIN + + +Time passes slowly when one has nothing to do, and although the fact +that their situation was equally disagreeable to both should have drawn +Martine and Priscilla closely together, they now found even less than +usual to talk about. Yet strangely enough, without blaming the other +each was heaping mental reproaches on herself,--Martine saw her own +folly in running away from the others, and Priscilla was conscious that +she had been too easily led. + +"We might help time pass by reciting poetry," said Martine. + +"Or discussing history," rejoined Priscilla. + +"This might be a good time to settle the respective merits of the +Loyalists and the Acadians." + +"With the tide coming in so fast I should hardly dare get into a +discussion; there'd be no one to help pull us in if we fell out. But +listen, isn't that some one calling?" + +"I believe it is, although the sound doesn't come from above. Don't you +hear it?" + +"Yes, I do; it's some one calling 'halloo, halloo.' Perhaps--" + +"Yes, it may be some one searching for us." + +Any doubts that Martine may have had were soon removed by the sight of a +small dory gliding into their field of vision some distance below them. +There were two men in the dory, both hatless and in their shirt-sleeves. +In an instant both girls were on their feet, waving their handkerchiefs. +In the same instant the men in the boat caught sight of them, and one of +them lifted his oar and flourished it two or three times in the air. + +"How will they get here?" asked Martine. + +"Oh, probably the water isn't very deep; they can push up part way, and +then wade." + +"If they can wade, we might have ventured." + +"It would not have been safe for us. See, they are pushing the boat up +all the way." + +The water, indeed, was deep enough to let the boat come up into the +hollow--now filled with water--between the two arms of rock, whereby the +two girls had climbed to their present position. While the boat was +still some distance away Priscilla and Martine had recognized the +immaculate Mr. Knight as the man who was steering. Mr. Knight, however, +was immaculate no longer; he was hatless and coatless, his hair somewhat +tumbled, and his face very red from the unwonted exertion. + +From the moment of recognizing him until the moment when the side of the +boat grazed the ledge was a very short time indeed. + +"We thought we'd find you somewhere near here; at least, we hoped so," +said Mr. Knight, looking from one girl to the other as if to decide +which was the real culprit. "But how in the world did you get here?" + +"Walked," replied Martine, laconically; "hadn't time to swim." + +"But if you walked why didn't I see you when I looked an hour or two +ago? I remember standing above this particular place and calling. +Perhaps you weren't here then." + +Martine said nothing. If it should be necessary to confess she could +attend to this later. At present she had enough to think about. + +"Is Mrs. Redmond worried?" asked Priscilla, anxiously. + +"Yes and no," replied Mr. Knight, "though she'll be glad enough to see +you." + +"Must we go in the boat?" Priscilla spoke as if she dreaded the +experiment, and she added, "It looks so very wobbly." + +"Oh, that boat, she's as steady as a setting hen," exclaimed Mr. +Knight's companion. "Just you look out, though, and don't wet your +feet." + +"I'll go first, Priscilla, and if I survive, why, then you can follow." + +But before Martine had attempted to take her place Mr. Knight turned to +Priscilla, "Of course, if you would rather not go in the dory we could +wait here until the tide ebbs. I could stay with you while Mr. Sands +rows back to report to Mrs. Redmond. But the boat is perfectly safe, I +can assure you." + +"Of course it is perfectly safe," exclaimed Martine, angrily; "I never +heard such a silly idea." But whether she meant to apply "silly" to +Priscilla's timidity or to Mr. Knight's suggestion she did not deign to +explain, and the young man, after one curious glance in her direction, +did not address her again. + +It was but the work of a minute or two to get the girls aboard the dory, +and soon they were at a landing-place from which they could reach Mrs. +Redmond and Amy. + +"You ain't the first people that's got caught in that way on the rocks," +said Mr. Sands as they rowed along, "only generally it's some romantic +couple that rather likes to stay there till the tide goes out. But your +ma was afraid that if you was there you might try to wade, and so catch +your death of cold, and besides, she wasn't sure you were anywhere, as +long as Mr. Knight couldn't find you; so when they all seemed so +concerned the only thing was to haul out the dory, though it wouldn't +have hurt you a mite if you'd had to stay." + +"I would as soon have stayed," said Martine, coldly; "it was a good +view, and I rather enjoyed sitting there in that little grotto." + +"Grotto," Mr. Sands laughed loudly, and Martine fancied that a smile +flickered at the corners of Mr. Knight's lips. "Grotto," repeated Mr. +Sands. "Well, I never heard that name used before in these parts. I +thought a grotto was foreign, but you've said something now that I won't +forget. Here, Mr. Knight, you help the young ladies out, while I steady +the boat," and in a second the two girls were running up the beach, +where Mrs. Redmond and Amy greeted them with open arms. + +It was now after sunset, and all were hungry and cold. In aspect they +were wholly unlike the party that had set out from Wolfville that +afternoon. All seemed quiet and subdued,--Martine and Priscilla, because +they had really been more fatigued by their little adventure than at the +time they had realized; Mrs. Redmond and Amy, because they had been most +anxious at the prolonged absence of the girls, and Mr. Knight--well, +perhaps inwardly he was blaming "those Americans" for giving him much +more trouble than was his due. Whatever his thoughts, however, he made +no criticism, and any perturbation that he may have felt was shown only +by his silence. + +What was most to the point, however, the horses and the driver were in +good spirits, and set out for Wolfville at a fine rate. While the others +had been looking and waiting, man and beast had had food and drink, and +this accounted for their energy. + +"Grotto," cried Mr. Sands, as the party drove away, "well, that does +beat all." + +Once on the way back to Wolfville they stopped before a house, after Mr. +Knight had had a word with the driver. Then the young man, excusing +himself, went within, returning soon with a small package. This he +opened after he had resumed his seat, and distributed to each of the +party a bread and butter sandwich and two or three cookies. "I might +have brought more," he explained, "but it would be a pity to take away +all your appetite for your supper at Wolfville." + +The sandwiches and the cakes seemed to promote conversation, and in the +remaining half hour the party was as bright and cheerful as a party of +young persons ought to be after a summer excursion. When they reached +the house Mr. Knight declined the invitation that Mrs. Redmond gave him +to stay to tea, though he promised to call on her the next day. + +"While we are in Wolfville," said Mrs. Redmond, as he turned away, "we +may not be able to show you how thoroughly we enjoyed the delightful +afternoon you have given us, but if you come to Boston we will do our +best to make a return." + +"I can assure you that the pleasure has been altogether on my side," +responded Mr. Knight. + +"And I can assure you," added Martine, who had now fully recovered her +spirits, "that Priscilla was an unwilling accomplice of mine this +afternoon, and that you were very good to rescue me as well as +her--everything considered." + +"Oh, but I can assure you," began Mr. Knight, "that I didn't mean--that +is, I--" and here realizing that the more he tried to say the more he +might blunder, the poor young man backed down the steps with a polite +bow and a single "good-night." + +"Priscilla," said Amy, that evening, as she handed the former her mail, +"here's a funny little package for you, half open at one end, and a +letter directed in the same handwriting. Excuse my noticing that the +letter is post-marked 'Meteghan.'" + +"Why shouldn't you?" responded Priscilla. "We all have acquired the +habit of looking at one another's post-marks." + +"Open the parcel," cried Amy; "I'm curious to see what it is." Priscilla +glanced at Martine, who was deep in a letter from one of her +boarding-school friends. Then she cut the string, and, loosening the +paper, handed the package to Amy while she glanced over the Meteghan +letter. + +"Why, it looks like Yvonne's lace," cried Amy, and at the word "Yvonne" +Martine joined the group. + +"Why, it is Yvonne's lace," she exclaimed. "How did you get it?" + +"I sent for some," replied Priscilla. "I thought that it might help her +if I should buy it. I could not buy much, but it has pleased her to sell +it. Read her letter." + +Tears came into Martine's eyes as she read the simple letter of thanks +that seemed to come straight from the heart of the little French girl. +"She remembers us all, though she doesn't spell the names just right, +and she sends the best love of Uncle Alexandre, Uncle Placide, and aunts +Mathilde and Marie. Well, we must have made an impression." Then, after +glancing at the letter a second time, Martine continued: "But you are a +brick, Priscilla. How did you happen to think of sending for the lace? I +had forgotten all about it, though I was anxious to help Yvonne." + +"She writes a good letter, considering that she sees so dimly;" and Amy +called Martine's attention to the clear, round hand. "The convent +sisters have certainly done a great deal for the child." + +When all had admired the strip of lace, Priscilla folded it up neatly +and laid it with her letters. She was relieved that Martine had not +taken offence at her writing for it. Though Priscilla had not intended +this to be a silent reproof to Martine, it had somewhat this effect, for +too frequently in Martine's life "out of sight" meant "out of mind," and +though she had no desire to break the promises that she had made so +freely when in Meteghan, still, but for Priscilla's reminder she might +have been long in keeping them. At the same time it is but fair to say +that already without Priscilla's knowledge she had taken steps toward +carrying out the larger plan that she had conceived regarding Yvonne's +future. + +"Mamma," said Amy, after she had shown Mrs. Redmond Yvonne's letter, "I +have just had a letter from Julia." + +"Ah, that is delightful," said Mrs. Redmond. "I am always so pleased to +hear from Julia." + +Julia Bourne, the cousin of Amy's friend Brenda,--Mrs. Weston--was +little older than Amy or the other girls in Brenda's group. Julia, on +being graduated from Radcliffe, had decided to spend most of her time +and a fair share of her income on a Domestic Science School for girls. + +The experiment carried on in the Mansion, a stately West End house +belonging to her former teacher, Miss South, during its two years of +existence, had proved most successful. The work at the Mansion had been +in the nature of social settlement work, and Amy, with little money to +give, had been glad to enroll herself as a voluntary teacher. + +But for the Nova Scotia trip Amy would have been one of Julia's +assistants this very summer at Happy Hill. Often, indeed, in the course +of her travels she had thought of the work going on there, and had +indulged in a little self-reproach that she should be spending her own +holidays in idleness. Most persons, even those inclined to be critical, +would have said that Amy had really enough work on her hands in the five +or six hours of tutoring that she tried to give Priscilla every week. + +Yet even granting that her time was not sufficiently occupied, there is +a kind of idleness that in the end is more beneficial to the individual +than any amount of work. Although Amy had not been in danger, perhaps, +of breaking down during the past season, still, Mrs. Redmond realized +that she had been working up to the limit of her strength, and she had +planned the Nova Scotia trip in such a way that Amy should be unable to +withstand going. That Amy would need all her strength for her senior +year at Wellesley had been Mrs. Redmond's strongest plea. Every day of +this summer had been a proof to Amy of her mother's wisdom. + + "Of course we miss you [wrote Julia], and I am glad to say + that no one else can exactly take your place. But I honestly + believe that in a certain way you can do almost as much good + in Acadia as here; for it will be a great thing to inspire + Priscilla with more confidence in herself, and tone down + Martine a little. + + "Here at Happy Hill we have two or three of the girls who + were at the Mansion its first year. We have been able, I am + glad to say, to imbue them with some sense of + responsibility. Each of them in turn is called housekeeper + for a week, and although things are not really altogether in + her hands, the effect on her is really the same, and we + older people merely act as a check to prevent matters from + going too far out of line. + + "It is very amusing to see these older girls take charge of + the younger, and instruct them in all the details of country + life. They have some gardening to do, and they make butter + and cheese, and each one is shown how to drive, and is + permitted at intervals to drive down to the village. Then + they have open-air gymnastics in addition to the very + considerable amount of exercise that goes with their + housework, and they have just enough study from books every + day to prevent their growing altogether rusty. + + "Mr. and Mrs. Elton--it doesn't seem quite natural yet to + speak of Miss South as Mrs. Elton--are now, I suppose, in + Norway. They sent the girls a box of unmounted photographs + last week, showing the most picturesque scenery in Greece + and Italy, where they were in the early spring. Nora is to + be with me part of the summer, and Anstiss Rowe, as perhaps + you know, is giving all her time to Happy Hill. Brenda + undoubtedly keeps you informed about affairs at Rockley. She + is perfectly happy, and altogether different from the Brenda + of a year ago. + + "When your Acadia days are over, I hope that you will have a + week to spare for Happy Hill before Wellesley opens again. + With my best regards to your mother and the girls, + + "JULIA." + + +When Amy had finished this letter Mrs. Redmond glanced through it. + +"I should like to go up to Happy Hill for at least a week," said Amy. + +"It is altogether probable that you can. We shall be at home by the +first of September. Why, what has become of Martine?" + +Amy looked toward the chair where Martine had been sitting a few minutes +before. It was certainly empty. + +"I'll run up to her room;" and, suiting her action to her word, in a +moment Amy was knocking at Martine's door. + +In answer to a feeble "Come in" she entered, only to find Martine lying +face downward on the bed. + +"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, affectionately stroking +Martine's hair. + +"Oh, nothing," came in muffled tones from the prostrate Martine, "only +this has been such a long day." + +"You are tired," responded Amy, "and probably you were more excited than +you realized when you and Priscilla were lost." + +"We weren't lost"--Martine threw considerable spirit into her voice,--"I +knew just where we were." + +"But we did not--" Amy, though amused, tried not to show her +amusement--"we were rather alarmed, so really my mother and I ought to +be the persons to collapse. Come, Martine, even if you are tired, you +must cheer up, and go to bed." + + [Illustration: "'Why, what is the matter, child?' she asked + affectionately."] + +"It isn't because I'm tired," and Martine's tears flowed afresh, "but I +thought that to-night there would be a letter from my mother. There must +be a mail in, and I have counted up the time from New York. There ought +to be a letter to-night. I am sure that she's worse." + +"Nonsense, child. Probably she does not feel quite well enough to write, +and your father has overlooked the mail. You know how apt men are to +forget." + +So Amy tried to pacify Martine, and at last succeeded in getting her to +look at things more cheerfully. She had never before seen Martine in low +spirits, and she felt quite sure that fatigue, even more than +disappointment, had caused the tears. + +"I will admit," she said, "that this has been a trying day, beginning +with--" + +"Beginning with Mr. Knight,"--and now Martine was smiling. "Wasn't he +funny, with his 'you Americans,' as if we were some strange species?" + +"But in the end don't you think that Mr. Knight did pretty well? I think +that he more than redeemed himself by his kindness." + +"Well, as he is a friend of Balfour Airton's I suppose that I ought not +to criticise him. There, don't shake your head, Amy. Yes, I do think +that he was very kind--in the end. But the day has been fearfully long. +We ought not to have taken that walk this morning." + +When at last Martine went to bed Amy sat beside her until she fell +asleep. There was a strange mingling of childishness and womanliness in +this little Chicagoan to which Amy could not accustom herself. Her +worldly wisdom and grown-up air of womanliness were quite as hard to +understand as the extreme childishness in which she sometimes indulged. +The more equable Priscilla was much easier to comprehend, and yet Amy +was not altogether sure that Priscilla, under stress of circumstances, +would be the easier to manage. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG OF IT + + +"For my own part," said Martine, "I am just as firmly on the side of the +Acadians as ever. They may have been stupid about the oath, and probably +they were too easily influenced by Le Loutre, but they had been handed +from England to France and from France to England so often that I don't +see how they could consider themselves English when really they were +French." + +"You must have had Irish ancestors as well as French," said Amy, with a +laugh. "Your remark sounds almost like a bull." + +"Well, I mean to take the bull by the horns," replied Martine; "you can +blame any one else for the deportation, but not the poor Acadians. They +certainly did not in the least know who they were. But I am glad," she +concluded, "that you have taken so much trouble to explain it all to me, +Miss Amy Redmond, for I have never before understood why the English +were so cruel." + +"It is surely a fact"--Amy spoke decidedly--"that the English Government +would have preferred to keep the Acadians their subjects. They needed +them to supply provisions, and to man their garrisons. With their +knowledge of woodcraft, and of the Indians, the Acadians would have been +invaluable on the English side." + +"But you couldn't expect them to fight against the French, who were +their own flesh and blood!" and Martine cast a glance of reproach at her +friend. + +"That, of course, was the chief point in the dispute. The Acadians +claimed to be neutrals, when really they were sending their produce to +Louisbourg, or to the French in other places, to help them continue +their war with the English. Yet they expected the protection of the +English when in trouble, and they always had it, although their only tax +was the tithe that they spent for the support of their own church." + +Amy and Martine were sitting on the broad sands of Evangeline's beach, +looking toward Blomidon, and waiting for Priscilla, who had strolled +some distance away. They had driven over from Wolfville in the omnibus, +and were to have an hour or two at the edge of the Basin before they +need return. In the midst of the discussion Priscilla rejoined them. + +"More Acadians!" she cried with a smile. "Let me ask you a favor--" + +"To say no more about them?" + +"No, not that. When we leave the neighborhood of Wolfville we shall +think of other things; so, once for all I, for one, should be glad to +have the whole story straightened out. We know what happened after the +expulsion, for we've been at Clare, and we know about the earliest +French; we heard all that at Annapolis. But now, my dear Miss Amy +Redmond, you have been looking into this thing thoroughly, and if--" + +"Yes," urged Martine, "if you'll please tell us what happened in the +years between, it will save our reading, and you will make it much +clearer to us than any book." + +"Down with your flattery," rejoined Amy; "yet as there's no time like +the present, I will tell the story briefly. We might as well pass over +the various transfers of Acadia from France to England, and from England +to France, before 1710. But the conquest of Annapolis by General +Nicholson in that year gave Acadia finally to England. The change of +Government was confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and all +Acadians who did not wish to be subject to England were given time to +leave. Those who remained were required to take an oath of fidelity to +King George, and England on her part agreed to let them exercise their +own religion under their own priests. In spite of these arrangements +many of these simple-minded Acadians still considered themselves +subjects of the King of France, even up to the time of the expulsion. +Perhaps the priests encouraged them in this and delayed their taking the +oath of allegiance. By 1730, however, nearly all had signed the oath, +and if war had not broken out later between France and England there +might have been no further trouble. But when it was found that many of +the Acadians, instead of remaining neutral, were joining with French and +Indians in attacks on the English, Lord Cornwallis, the Governor at +Halifax, required them to take the oath again. This was necessary +because a new generation had grown up who had been encouraged by the +priests and politicians in enmity to England. Most of them would not +take the new oath, because it required them to defend Acadia against the +enemies of England, and this, they said, would oblige them to fight +against the French, their kinsmen. In 1751 there was a large immigration +of Acadians to Île St. Jean, then in the hands of the French. These +exiles suffered much, but they were encouraged to hope that when France +reconquered Acadia they could go back to their deserted homes. + +"Cornwallis continued firm, and at last the Acadians were informed that +all who would not take the oath must leave Nova Scotia. In the very +beginning deputies from the Acadian villages had gone to Halifax to say +that it would be impossible to take the oath and ask permission to +dispose of their farms and leave the country." + +"Why didn't they go? It would have been so much better in the end." + +"It is hard to say, Martine. Friends of the Acadians claim that the +English put all kinds of obstacles in their way, first refusing them +transportation in English vessels, then preventing their buying rigging +at Louisbourg for vessels of their own. But, as I have said, more than a +thousand did eventually pass over to the Île St. Jean, and some of these +took part in the defence of Beauséjour." + +"Well, they were surely very conscientious," said Martine, "for they +knew that by taking the oath and becoming British subjects they could +live in comfort on their farms. It was very brave in them to choose +poverty and exile." + +"It might seem braver, if behind it all they had not had the feeling +that the time was near when the French would drive the British from Nova +Scotia and so restore them to their own." + +"It was all that Le Loutre, I suppose," commented Priscilla; "he was +responsible for so much." + +"Whether he was really as bad as some represent him would be hard to +say; but this missionary to the Micmacs had great influence, and it was +all used against the English. We pity the Acadians, but we ought to pity +the innocent English settlers on the outskirts of Halifax, and at other +places, who were tortured and murdered by the Indians whom Le Loutre and +other French had stirred up. Now, to keep to our story without making it +too long, the Acadians dallied and dallied. They did not take the oath +of allegiance, and they did not seem to be preparing to leave the +country. At last Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence gave them only a short +time to decide. + +"Well, the French and Indian War continued, and the English were +generally more successful than the French. At last Beauséjour was +captured, chiefly by the help of a body of troops commanded by Colonel +Winslow. These men were New Englanders,--sturdy, conscientious men from +country towns, a large number of whom had been farmers and small +tradesmen. + +"Beauséjour fell the middle of June, and it may interest you, Priscilla, +to know that Le Loutre, rather than fall into the hands of the English, +fled to Quebec, where he was coldly received. Later he went to France, +and died in obscurity. + +"In July, 1755, a memorial was sent to Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence, +signed by twenty-five leading Acadians, on the subject of the oath, and +requesting the return of their guns that the Government had obliged them +to give up on account of their sympathy with the French. When Governor +Lawrence sent for the signers to come to Halifax, fifteen appeared +before them. He pointed out the insincerity of their memorial, and when +he desired them to sign the oath they flatly refused. Finally, on the +twenty-eighth of July, these deputies and others from Annapolis appeared +before the Governor and Council, and although warned that the +consequences would be serious, they declined to take any oath differing +from that taken under Governor Phillips; that is, they were unwilling to +bear arms for the English against the French." + +"That, I must say, seems noble to me, since they knew what risks they +were running," cried Martine. + +"That is to an extent a matter of opinion. But their refusal decided +Governor Lawrence what to do. He immediately wrote to Colonel Monckton +that enough transports had been ordered up the Bay for the Acadians, and +that he must remove them. He was told that all the property of the +Acadians was now forfeited to the Crown, and that they would be allowed +to take on board ship only their money and their household goods." + +"It is a wonder he left them anything," said Martine, sarcastically. + +"He wasn't absolutely heartless, and he gave careful directions for +provisioning the transports for their long journey." + +"I am sorry that it was a New Englander who had to carry out these cruel +orders," said Priscilla. + +"Yes, it fell on Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, and a detachment of those +New England troops that had fought at Beauséjour to attend to the +deportation at Grand Pré. It was Tuesday, the second of September, when +he ordered all the male inhabitants from ten years upwards to assemble +on the following Friday in the church at Grand Pré, to hear what his +Majesty had to say to them. Then--but really I think one gets the story +better from Longfellow. It is from this point that we have our +sympathies so deeply touched, and we are willing to forget that the +simple-minded Acadians had brought much of their trouble on themselves." + +"It doesn't make their sufferings less, even if they were to blame," +interposed Martine. + +"That is true. They may have been less peaceable and amiable than they +have been represented by the poet, and their homes and their ways of +living may have been less--less--" + +"Æsthetic," suggested Priscilla, with a smile. + +"Well, æsthetic, then. But all this does not alter the fact that they +deserved the greatest pity. Many of them, indeed, honestly believed that +they were still the subjects of Louis XV, and that to take the oath +required by the English would be a great crime." + +"What they needed was a really good and disinterested man to advise +them; some one like Paul Mascarene, who was partly French, and yet could +get the English point of view," said Priscilla. "Some way I can't feel +that the English were altogether disinterested--although," she concluded +hastily, "I am more on the English side than the French,--and I am very +sorry that it was a man of Plymouth descent who carried away the +Acadians from Grand Pré." + +This, in view of Priscilla's previous prejudice against the Acadians, +was really a very liberal statement, as the others realized. + +"It should console you, then, to remember that Colonel Winslow was +simply a soldier acting under orders, and we have no reason to think +that he used needless cruelty. 'It hurts me to hear their weeping and +wailing,' he said in his journal, and this shows that he had a tender +heart." + +"But I can't see why families were separated, and why all these Acadians +couldn't have been sent up to Upper Canada to the other French;" and +Martine sighed deeply. + +"You forget that France and England were still at war, and to have put +so many able-bodied men at the service of France would indeed have been +madness. Governor Lawrence explained all this in letters to the +governors of the different colonies to whom he sent the Acadians. They +were sent to as many different colonies as possible, and broken up into +small groups, so that they could not unite in any plan for return." + +"I suppose that Governor Lawrence thought it better for them to become +public charges,--people who had always been perfectly independent." + +"Oh, well, there is a bright side. Many of them never lost hope for a +minute, and even those who went to the French West Indies soon began to +plan to get back to Acadia. In the end, after the Peace, they began to +take the oath, and receive their new grants of land, and since then +England has had no more devoted subjects--as we saw for ourselves in +Clare." + +"All the same," said Martine, "this must be a haunted region around +here, and I can tell you I should hate to walk through Grand Pré alone +after dark, or even drive through." + +"Speaking of haunted regions," said Priscilla, "though I don't know why +I think of him just now, what do you suppose has happened to Mr. Knight? +No one has seen him since our adventure." + +"_We_ haven't seen him," responded Amy, "but I sincerely hope that he is +in the land of the living. I must have forgotten to tell you that mamma +had a letter from him the day after our drive, telling us that he had +been suddenly called to New Brunswick, and expressing his regret that +probably he should not see us again." + +"That must have been a great relief to him," murmured Martine, "that +call to New Brunswick. Otherwise he might have had to see us again." + +"Oh, he expressed great regret at having to go without doing so." + +"That was kind in him, even if it wasn't quite sincere. It is my own +opinion that he went away on purpose. He couldn't bear to see us again +when he remembered how his hair was tumbled--not a sign of the +parting--and his cuffs wet. But _we_ remember, don't we, and I hardly +blame him for running away." + +"Martine, my dear child, you are very absurd. No man could possibly be +so vain." + +"Especially, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, one whose business is the +instruction of youth," rejoined Martine, flippantly. + +"I had a letter from Eunice this morning," interposed Priscilla, "and +she said that Balfour had had a letter from Mr. Knight, who thanked him +for the introduction he had given him to us. She said that he had +written about our trip to Grand Pré, and was surprised to find Americans +so much interested in Acadian history." + +"That is all very well. People always write that way after a letter of +introduction; they feel that they must. You cannot persuade me that Mr. +Knight had any other reason for running to New Brunswick except to avoid +us." + +"Perhaps he wished to escape our thanks for the rescue." + +"Rescue!" Martine's tone was scornful enough. "We weren't in the least +little bit of danger." + +"We weren't exactly comfortable," responded Priscilla. "I was thankful +enough, I can tell you, when Mr. Knight and the dory came in sight. Why, +we might have had to stay there for hours." + +"Oh, no; there would have been some way. The tide goes out as rapidly as +it flows in." + +"Well, leaving out individuals, who certainly have been very kind to +us," interposed Amy, "considering that in their hearts many of them +think of us as 'those Yankees,' Wolfville has been fairly worth while." + +"Yes," replied Martine, "though I haven't been able to paint Blomidon, I +have captured the Grand Pré willows. The subject may be trite, but I've +managed to give it a touch of individuality by adding a tree or two and +lopping off a branch or so, here and there, and this will set some +persons guessing as to what my view is." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"But the artistic reputation of the party is kept up by your mother's +sketches. That one of the marshes is simply perfect. No one who had not +seen the colors could believe that nature up here in the north is so +brilliant. The water is so blue,--and she has caught it exactly,--and +the bright red of the shore at low tide, and the vivid green of the dyke +grass, varied here and there with clumps of yellow--" + +"Stop, stop; you make me fairly dizzy." + +"But it's a true picture, isn't it? and your mother has reproduced it to +perfection, and if she doesn't sell it before Christmas I shall get papa +to buy it for me." + +So the three friends sat and chatted on this their last afternoon in +Evangeline's land, half regretting that the time was near when they must +bid good-bye to Acadia. + +Though they had not tried to do all the things possible for the tourist, +they had gone to the Look-off, the highest part of the Blomidon ridge, +and from this spot had had a magnificent view of the Annapolis and +Cornwallis valleys, and the six rivers flowing into Minas, and the +hundreds of fertile farms and the picturesque seaports lying almost at +their feet; and they had made also several side trips. + +Priscilla had slaked her thirst for information by setting down in her +note-books many facts about the productiveness of the region, and +declared that in future if she should meet a boy anxious to become a +farmer she would send him to Nova Scotia rather than to the unknown +West. + +"Ah, but there's no government land for him to take up here, and farms +don't go for a song. Every inch is cultivated," rejoined Amy. + +Thus at last, when Amy with her mother and her friends were ready to +leave Wolfville and Grand Pré and their neighborhood, their minds were +filled not only with the history of Acadia and the memories of the past, +but with pictures of the present that seemed likely to be lasting. + +Mrs. Redmond, moreover, in balancing her accounts,--not a reckoning of +money, but of something more precious--counted as the greatest gain the +improvement in health made by Priscilla and the improvement in +disposition made by Martine. + +Priscilla's gain was easily recognized. Even she herself could see it +when she looked in the glass, and she was daily growing more and more +conscious of it. But Martine's gain,--perhaps she herself did not +realize it. Perhaps she had not known in the beginning how much she +needed improving. Yet Mrs. Redmond, realizing it, had observed with +pleasure that Martine was not nearly as self-willed, was not nearly as +ready to ridicule the foibles of others as at the beginning of the trip. +Just as the angles of Priscilla's disposition were rounding off to a +certain degree, so Martine was much less likely than formerly to fly off +in a tangent. Although it could hardly be said that the two girls +understood each other perfectly, it was yet the fact that wishes +collided far less often than in the past. When Priscilla yielded, she +did so with a smaller show of helpless resignation than had been her +wont, and Martine no longer thought it clever to laugh at every +suggestion made by Priscilla. + +As to Amy, her mother saw with pleasure that to her the summer had been +one of real refreshment. If she had been absolutely idle she could not +have been half as happy as now, with the sense of responsibility that +was hers in having the care, or at least the partial care, of Martine +and Priscilla; moreover the trip itself, opening as it did to her a +country of which previously she had known so little, was in every way a +delight to her. It had shown to her a world of history and poetry with +which she had not been familiar, even though she had known something +about it, and this in itself was worth much to her. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A DISCOVERY + + +"I almost wish," said Amy to her mother, as their train was speeding +away from Wolfville, "that we were going direct to Halifax." + +"That _is_ a concession," responded Mrs. Redmond, with a smile, "for if +you had been less anxious to see Windsor we should have passed on +without stopping there. Perhaps even yet it is not too late to change +our plans." + +"Oh, no; I am just as anxious as ever to visit King's College, and +Martine and Priscilla, if not enthusiastic, still feel pleased at the +prospect of seeing one more town before we reach Halifax. I've had to +use some persuasion to get them to take this point of view, and it would +be very foolish indeed for me to be the one to change plans now." + +A moment later Martine and Priscilla, who had been looking from the +window on the opposite side of the car, returned to their seats. + +"Would you care to give up Windsor now?" asked Mrs. Redmond. + +"No, indeed; since I realized that Windsor is the old Piziquid of the +Acadians I have been crazy to see it, for I read a story the other day +whose scene was laid there; and besides, I've heard that Windsor has one +of the queerest harbors in the world, with water in it hardly two or +three hours a day, and only red mud the rest of the time." + +"That's nothing very new," interrupted Priscilla; "we've seen enough of +that kind of thing already in Nova Scotia." + +"Oh, but the difference is that the harbor of Windsor is so large that +they say it is very amusing to see so many great vessels stranded in it +I'm quite reconciled now to spending a day or two there; it's only +Priscilla who objects, Mrs. Redmond." + +"I don't really object" responded Priscilla, "but I'm afraid we won't +have all the time we need at Halifax." + +"After all, we shall not be limited in our stay there. Unless those +letters that I expect insist on my return at once I shall be quite +willing to stay away until after the first of September." + +"Who is it then, besides Priscilla, who wishes to cut Windsor?" + +"No one but me, Martine," returned Amy; "and this is only because I have +a little feeling that I can't explain that we might better go through +directly to Halifax. It's the kind of feeling that leads people +sometimes to give up a particular train from fear that some accident +will befall it." + +"Ugh!" and Martine held up her hands in protest. "I never knew before, +Miss Amy Redmond, that you could be superstitious, for that's what +'having feelings' amounts to." + +"Well, at least I'm strong-minded enough to disregard these +premonitions. In my heart of hearts I believe that we shall not only +escape from Windsor alive, but enjoy our stay there thoroughly." + +Not so very long after leaving Wolfville the travellers were within +sight of Windsor. They had passed through beautiful farming regions with +occasional glimpses of river and marsh; and there across a stretch of +yellowish water they caught sight of the town which the Indians had so +correctly named Piziquid, "the meeting of the waters." This first +glimpse showed a town built up on the sides of leafy hills and +stretching down to the water, bordered with many wharves, at which lay +three-masted schooners and craft of every size. + +Their rooms had been engaged at one of the smaller hotels. It was +delightfully situated on a side street, and within seemed pleasant and +homelike. Already their bags had been taken to the rooms assigned them, +and Martine and Priscilla lingered a moment to speak to the landlady's +little daughter, a child of five or six, who was playing in the hall. + +"How red her cheeks are! I must kiss her;" and Martine bent down to suit +the action to the word. But the little girl was coquettish, and, +slipping away, stood at some distance, staring at the strange young +ladies. Priscilla looked sharply at the child. + +"I wouldn't kiss her," she remonstrated. "Her cheeks are flushed; they +are almost feverish. I believe she's not well." + +"Nonsense," rejoined Martine, with a laugh. "Every one down here has red +cheeks;" and she took a few steps forward in pursuit of the child. + +Priscilla laid her hand on her arm "No, no, she looks just as my little +sister did after she had scarlet fever; promise me you won't kiss her." + +"I don't see why you should care," said Martine; "but you seem so in +earnest that for once I'll do what you wish." + +At this moment Mrs. Redmond approached the girls, in company with the +landlady, who had been showing her her room. She, too, looked keenly at +the little child. + +"Is this your little girl?" she asked her companion. + +"Yes, my only child." + +"Is she,--is she quite well?" + +The woman hesitated for a moment. + +"She has been sick, but she's almost well," she replied. + +"What was the matter with her?" asked Mrs. Redmond, pleasantly. + +"She has had scarlet fever, but--" + +"Girls," said Mrs. Redmond, "have your bags brought from your rooms." + +Then she turned to the landlady. + +"I can understand now why you can offer us a choice of so many rooms; +the fever, I suppose, drove your guests away. I'm sorry, but we, too, +must look farther." + +In a few moments the four had called a carriage and were on their way to +seek a new abode. Martine saw the ridiculous side of the whole affair +and made the others laugh at her account of the way Priscilla had saved +her from the fatal kiss. + +"It is no laughing matter," protested Mrs. Redmond; "the child was +evidently in that condition when the disease is particularly contagious, +even though she herself is not especially ill. I shall have to watch you +all very carefully, and shall be thankful enough if you do not suffer +from this exposure." + +"There, Amy," cried Priscilla, "the worst is over; your premonitions are +justified, and another time we won't laugh at your superstition. Though +you hadn't scarlet fever in mind, this was the danger which we were to +pass through." + +"I hope that the worst really is over, but it is rather curious that +this particular incident should have happened here after what I said." + +Under the guidance of their driver the party soon found a boarding-place +in a large wooden house, attractively situated on a hill. + +On the morning after their arrival Mrs. Redmond advised the girls to +make the most of their time. + +"I'm told that we can visit the college and return in time to take the +afternoon train for Halifax, but perhaps it will be as well to do things +a little more at our leisure and go on to-morrow." + +"Oh, far better," said Martine; "it would be so tiresome to go on +to-day; besides--" and here she stopped as if she had almost disclosed +something that she should not speak about. + +Soon after breakfast Martine and Amy strolled off to the grass-grown +ramparts of Fort Edward, the defence that had been built by the English +against the French when Acadia came into their possession. An old +blockhouse was the most interesting thing to be seen from the Fort; +interesting at least from the historical point of view. + +"What makes Windsor seem so very new?" asked Martine. "Every one speaks +of it as such an old town, and it seems to be full of new brick +buildings that look as if they'd been finished hardly a week." + +"It's the fire," replied Amy. "The greater part of Windsor was destroyed +by fire a year or two ago. It used to be much prettier, they say, with +its old wooden buildings and tree-lined streets. The trees and the +old-fashioned dwellings have all been swept away,--at least in this part +of the city. When we go to King's College this afternoon we shall see +what is left of the older section." + +"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, when the two returned, "I'm sorry to have +to reprove you." + +"If any one is to reprove me you are the one, Mrs. Redmond, whom I +should prefer to administer the reproof; but what is the trouble now? Am +I in danger of catching anything new?" + +"No, my child, but see!" + +Mrs. Redmond held up before Martine a small chamois bag. + +"Oh, dear, did I really leave it lying about?" + +"Yes, Martine, and had any one else found it you might have been put to +considerable trouble to recover your rings." + +Taking the little bag from Mrs. Redmond's hands, Martine emptied its +contents on a table. There they were,--not only the four beautiful +rings, but the diamond star that her father had given her the preceding +Christmas. Ever since Priscilla had expressed her contempt for those who +wore expensive jewelry while travelling, Martine had carried her rings +in the little bag in which she kept the star and one or two other +valuable pins. + +"It seems to me," said Mrs. Redmond, "that it would have been wiser to +leave these valuable things in Boston." + +"But I always have them with me, and nothing has ever happened." + +Mrs. Redmond hesitated as to what she should say. Although she was +Martine's temporary guardian, she believed that it was not her place to +instruct the young girl on points that would naturally come within the +observation of her parents. If they had established no rules regarding +the times when she should or should not wear jewelry, it was hardly the +duty of another to interfere. Yet she saw that a word or two now might +prevent further complications while she and Martine were travelling +together. + +"It is true," she said, "that people must judge for themselves when they +shall and when they shall not wear jewels. But your rings, I can see, +are all valuable, especially the emerald, and it is so easy to mislay +such things when dressing, or when leaving a boarding-house, that if I +were you I would put them safely away." + +Though she did not express it, her real thought was that in travelling +there is seldom an occasion when a young girl needs to wear jewelry. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," said Martine, pleasantly. "I am truly sorry +that I brought these things with me, although at home I always wear my +rings without thinking about them. The diamond star I thought might be +worn if we were invited to a party or a reception while away, but I see +now that it would not be the thing for me to wear it at all this summer. +In fact, when papa gave it to me he said that he did not expect me to +wear it often until I was eighteen, but I thought I would like to have +it with me, and it seemed safe enough in this bag." + +"Yes, when you wear the bag around your neck; but if you leave it +carelessly lying about, you'll have only yourself to blame if you lose +it." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," responded Martine; "after this I will see +that it is put away." + +Martine had received Mrs. Redmond's words so well that the latter was +more than ever impressed with the young girl's amiability, and she +wondered that between her and Priscilla there could still exist any +antagonism. + +There was no evidence, however, of anything but good feeling when the +four set out for their drive to King's College. Amy had told them that +they were to drive also near the grounds of the old home of that Judge +Haliburton whose other home they had seen at Annapolis, explaining: + +"Some persons call him 'the father of Canadian literature,' because his +'Sam Slick' and his history were almost the first books written in +Canada to attract the attention of people outside." + +King's College, in a certain way, offered rather less than the girls had +expected, though its chief college building was an imposing structure, +with great columns in front. The grounds were extensive, and the gently +rolling lawns suggested an English landscape. + +"King's is an old college for this part of the world," said Mrs. +Redmond, "and though I cannot remember all I have heard about it, +various old forms and ceremonies are kept up here, I believe, and +commencement is always very interesting." + +"It isn't as old as Harvard, is it?" asked Martine. + +"What a question!" interposed Priscilla. "No college is as old as +Harvard--at least, in this country. Just see how small this is, too!" + +"Yet you ought to be especially interested in King's College, +Priscilla," said Mrs. Redmond, gently, "for it was founded by exiled +Loyalists almost immediately after the Revolution. Indeed, plans for the +college were made in New York even before the close of the war, when it +was seen that large numbers of educated men and women would probably +have to bring up their children in a new country, where it would take +time to establish even ordinary day schools." + +"After the Revolution! That seems young compared with Harvard. But come, +let us see what there is in this ancient-looking library. The driver +says it's the only building open to visitors now," said Amy, who had +been leading the way. + +There were some entertaining books and portraits in the old library, and +after lingering over them a little while, the girls prepared to return +to the town. They took a last look at the old college before the +carriage drove away. + +"Its surroundings are beautiful," exclaimed Amy, "but it doesn't compare +with Wellesley;" and before her eyes rose a picture of the College +Beautiful, with its lake, its hills and groves, and its many fine +buildings. + +"I'm very glad, however," she added, "that we came here, for I have got +a certain impression from King's College that is quite worth having." + +"So say we all of us," added Martine. And thus in an amiable frame of +mind the party returned to their boarding-house, pleased with their +sightseeing. Although none of the girls would admit that they were +tired, Mrs. Redmond suggested that all go to bed early. + +"I'll agree," responded Martine, "if you'll come up first to my room." + +Martine's room was large and pleasant, and even for so short a stay she +had thought it worth while to give it a few homelike touches. +Photographs of her parents and of one or two of her friends in +ornamental frames were on the mantelpiece, and over the mantelpiece +itself she had draped a soft foreign scarf. Her silver toilet articles +occupied the top of the bureau; for in spite of Priscilla's disapproval, +or perhaps because of it, she now carried these things in her suit case. +Slight though these little touches were, Martine had contrived to +relieve the room of its purely boarding-house aspect. + +The house itself was plain, and both inside and out had a certain aspect +of flimsiness. This had been accounted for by some one who had told Mrs. +Redmond that it had been put up very hastily, immediately after the +recent fire. It had been built for a boarding-house and pretended to be +nothing else. It was airy and clean, but neither its landlady nor the +other boarders attracted the travellers sufficiently to incline them to +stay downstairs in the general sitting-room; so the three girls and Mrs. +Redmond sat and chatted in Martine's room, enjoying the box of +chocolates that she had opened for their especial pleasure. + +"They ought to be good," she said, when Mrs. Redmond praised them. "They +came from Halifax;" and she glanced mischievously at Priscilla. + +"From Halifax?" repeated Amy. "I suppose that's where most shopkeepers +in Windsor get their goods." + +"Halifax by way of Windsor." + +"No, no," retorted Martine, "not by way of Windsor at all; they came to +me by mail. You know I went down to the post-office the last moment +before we left Wolfville." + +The others made no comment, but Priscilla and Amy exchanged glances, and +Priscilla's seemed to say: + +"I told you so." + +Before, however, anything could be said, Martine rushed to her bureau. + +"I received a letter, too, at the same time," she cried, "and except for +these chocolates I never should have thought of it again." + +Lifting the cover of the candy box, she took from it a large square +envelope, which for safe keeping, perhaps, she had placed under the lace +paper that lined it. + +"What next?" thought Amy. "If the letter is from either Fritz or Taps, I +wonder if she'll venture to read it." + +Then Martine, with the utmost unconcern, opened the envelope, saying as +she did so: + +"It's from Mrs. Blair; you know she's a cousin of mamma's, and she often +gives me good advice; I suppose this letter is full of it. That's one +reason I left it to read on the train. I knew it would keep till then; +and, after all, I entirely forgot it." + +"Mrs. Blair would feel complimented," interposed Amy. + +"Oh, she knows me; I never hide my feelings." + +"Do you ever try?" + +"Yes, my dear Mrs. Redmond; I've never dared let you know just how much +I care for you." + +Thus effectually silenced, Mrs. Redmond waited for Martine to read her +letter. + +"You ought to like Mrs. Blair," said Amy, for Martine still held the +opened envelope in her hand without attempting to read its contents. + +"Why?" + +"Because she has style, Martine, and you generally put that before +everything else; but read your letter, I would like to hear where they +are, for I am always interested in Edith's doings." + +"Yes, yes," yet Martine did not take the letter from the envelope; "but +people need something besides style. I get so out of patience with Mrs. +Blair when she and mamma are together. She always has the air of +disapproving of mamma for having married a western man. She makes me +think of the New Yorker who said to a Chicago woman, 'How can you bear +to live so far away?' 'Away? From what?' asked the other. And the New +Yorker couldn't say a word." + +"But that isn't like Mrs. Blair, for she always has a word ready for +everything. Do read your letter, Martine," continued Amy. + +So Martine glanced hastily over the pages, making comments as she read. + +"Oh, it's a kind of duty letter. She wants me to think it a great +privilege that you have allowed me to travel with you this summer. She +seems to have an especially high regard for you, Priscilla. I won't +flatter you by reading what she says. Oh, yes, and she wants to give me +some bad news. She has seen mamma at Carlsbad and thinks her looking +very miserable. Well, that's about all, except that she wishes Edith +cared more for Europe." + +"Yes," interposed Amy, "Edith was very anxious to go West this summer +with Philip and Pamela; they're having a fine trip over the Canadian +Rockies." + +Martine evidently was not listening to Amy. Her face wore an expression +of great bewilderment, and then, with an exclamation of surprise she +thrust the letter into Amy's hand: + +"Read it," she cried; "isn't it extraordinary?" and she pointed to the +signature. "'Audrey Balfour Blair!' Did you know that was her name?" + +"Why, I'm not sure," responded Amy. "I never had a letter from Mrs. +Blair." + +"Nor I," responded Martine, "though Edith often writes to me." + +"That's why Balfour and Audrey seem so familiar to me," added Priscilla, +whose family were on rather intimate terms with Mrs. Blair. + +"I never heard even mamma speak of Mrs. Blair by her first name," +continued Martine. "Of course I must have known that it was Audrey, but +I had never noticed the Balfour before." + +"Well, if Balfour is a family name of Mrs. Blair's it must be of your +mother's also; or at least it probably is." + +"In that case," said Martine, "then Balfour and I may be cousins." + +"I wish that Eunice and I were cousins." Priscilla's wistful tone was in +contrast to the brighter one in which Martine had spoken. + +"What's in a name?" continued the latter. "I dare say it's only the +merest happening that these names are alike." + +"I was going to suggest," commented Mrs. Redmond, "that it might be +wiser not to build your hopes too high, although I'll admit that there +may be some connection between the two families." + +"What pleases me the most," said Martine, "is to think of Mrs. Blair's +disgust when she hears that her family names belong also to people in +Nova Scotia." + +"And one of them a grocer's clerk," added Amy, whereupon Martine colored +deeply. + +"Balfour's just as good as Philip Blair, and he won't have to leave +college without taking his degree." Then, as if ashamed of her +petulance, she added: "To find out how things really are I suppose that +after this I'll have to take an interest in genealogy. Mrs. Blair +belongs to the Colonial Dames and offered to have mamma's name put +through, and I think she would have consented to this if I hadn't +laughed so at the idea. I dare say the Dames are different from the +Daughters. I hope so at any rate, for the Daughters are always waving +their ancestors in one another's faces, especially at their meetings, +which I am told are like real battles." + +"Oh, no," protested Mrs. Redmond, "not always. I've been at some that +were very pleasant." + +"Well, before long," concluded Martine, "you'll find me climbing family +trees in a way that will make you dizzy; in fact, I feel a little giddy, +as the English say, at the very prospect of having--Eunice for a cousin. +Indeed, I believe I'll not sleep a wink to-night in my effort to settle +the question." + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + FIRE AND FLAME + + +Long after the others had left her Martine sat alone. She was restless +and wide-awake, and any one looking at her would have seen that her face +was far less cheerful than usual. Her thoughts, indeed, were disturbed, +and one or two tears fell as she held her mother's portrait before her +and looked earnestly into the deep blue eyes. + +The portrait was a miniature, painted in the days when her mother was +almost as young in appearance as Martine herself, though in fact she had +been married for several years. The young girl especially valued it +because she could remember perfectly when her mother had been very like +the lady in the picture, and also because this miniature had not been +copied. It was too valuable a thing for Martine to carry with her when +travelling. + +Mrs. Blair's letter, with its mention of her mother's poor health, had +stirred her deeply. She had concealed her feelings in the presence of +Mrs. Redmond and the girls; or rather, for the moment she had been more +impressed by the suggestion that came to her, through Mrs. Blair's +signature, of a connection between her family and the Airtons. Now, +however, she began to dwell on the significance of the news from +Carlsbad, and the conclusion was hard to set aside that her mother's +condition was even worse than her father's brief letters had given her +to understand. Putting away the miniature with a sigh, she drew the last +two letters from the portfolio, reading and re-reading them in a vain +effort to decide whether her father had written briefly merely to +conceal his feelings. + +"It's strange that men always write so little in a letter. Though papa +would always rather telegraph than write, still, when he does write, I +_do_ think that he might say something. Now if it were mamma, why, she +would tell me everything;" and upon this, with the knowledge that it +might be long before her mother could write to her, Martine burst into +tears. As she tossed the letters aside Martine threw herself on her bed, +and then-- + +How long she had lain there she did not know, although rising with a +start, she realized that she had fallen asleep, and almost as quickly +she perceived a strong smell of smoke in the room. + +Opening her door, she turned toward the ell where Mrs. Redmond and the +two girls had their rooms. The smell of smoke was stronger there, and in +the darkness some one brushed against her, crying, "The house must be on +fire." With a leap Martine reached the top floor where her friends were. +Mrs. Redmond's door opened to her knock, and then she rapped loudly on +the door of the room that Amy and Priscilla occupied together. + +"Fire, fire!" she called, and in a moment Mrs. Redmond's voice was added +to hers. + +"Open the door, Amy; don't wait to dress. Come, come, don't you +understand? The house is on fire." + +"Yes, yes, we are dressing." + +"Unlock the door; I can help bring out some of your things." + +The hall was thick with smoke. Mrs. Redmond and Martine knew that the +fire was near. Amy's voice was heard from the room--or was it +Amy?--speaking almost in terror, "I cannot open the door; I have mislaid +the key." + +"Why did you take it from the lock? Oh, Amy!" + +Mrs. Redmond uttered no further reproof now. It was a time for action. +"Martine," she cried, "we must go for help." But Martine made no reply. +Already she was far on her way downstairs. All the people in the house +were now evidently aware of the fire. Doors were slamming, and she heard +steps and voices ahead of her. In spite of her difficulty in making her +way through the thick smoke, Martine soon found herself near the broad +front door. Here two or three men were standing. + +"Please help me quickly," cried Martine, breathlessly; "my friends are +in a room in the wing, and cannot open the door. Come, I will show you." + +Leading the way, Martine was soon at Amy's door again. She could see no +one, for there were no lights in the hall, but she recognized Mrs. +Redmond's voice. + +"I found a pair of large scissors in my valise; perhaps with them the +lock can be pried open." + +One of the men who had come with Martine was already pounding on the +panels of the door to learn where it could most easily be broken in. +After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the other one had +thrown down the scissors that Mrs. Redmond had handed him. Both of these +things had occupied seconds rather than minutes,--seconds that seemed +hours to Martine and Mrs. Redmond,--and then, before further violence +had been done to the door, there was a click, a turn of the lock, and +Amy and Priscilla stood before the four others. Their appearance showed +that they had indeed dressed hastily, but they made no apologies as they +hurried on. + +When they reached the street Mrs. Redmond drew a breath of relief. "Oh, +Amy," she cried, "how could you be so careless?" + +"I took the key from the door absent-mindedly, and had set my +travelling-bag on it. I'm thankful enough that I found it, for the door +might have been hard to break in." + +"Look, look!" cried Priscilla, excitedly. "We are out none too soon." + +As she spoke flames were bursting from the wing of the house that they +had so lately left, and men and women were pouring in and out of the +main building, removing furniture, pictures, and clothes. + +"Let me count you," cried Mrs. Redmond. "I am not sure--" + +"It's Martine, mamma,--she is not with us. Where did she go?" + + [Illustration: "After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, + the other one had thrown down the scissors."] + +"Perhaps she has gone back to her room for her things. She had left +everything behind when she came to rouse us." + +"Impossible! She would not be so foolish. The fire is close to her room. +Here are the engines. Why were they so long in coming?" + +"Where is Martine? We must find her." + +"No, no, Amy," and Mrs. Redmond laid her hand on her daughter's arm. + +"But, mother, if she had not called us--" + +"Yes, if she had not called us we might be in there now. She did not +think of herself, and now she has gone to her room for some of her +things." + +"Her diamond perhaps;" and then, as if ashamed of her words, Priscilla +added, "But I can help Amy, Mrs. Redmond. You cannot hurry as we must." + +As Mrs. Redmond watched Amy and Priscilla running into the house she +wished she had gone with them. Uncertainty was harder to bear than any +effort she might have made. Her suspense, however, was not long, for to +her relief she heard Amy's voice. + +"Here's Martine, mamma. We had barely time to reach her. Look, look!" + +This latter exclamation was called forth by the rapid spread of the +flames. It was a beautiful sight--beautiful yet terrible to those who so +lately had been within the walls that now seemed to be melting in the +heat. Yet even as they gazed Martine began to laugh hysterically. "You +look so--so queer--Priss--Prissie," she cried, and again she laughed. +The light from the fire enabled them to see one another plainly, and as +the others glanced at Priscilla they saw a black streak across her +forehead that altogether changed her expression. + +"It's a case where the pot can't call the kettle black," rejoined Amy; +"your own complexion is not milk-white at the present moment, Martine." + +"You are the only one who has her hair properly arranged, Miss Amy. Even +your mother has a hasty coiffure, and no collar. Oh, Mrs. Redmond!" and +again Martine laughed nervously. + +"It matters less how we look than how we feel. I wish that you, like +Priscilla, had brought your coat, though I fear there is only one hat +among us." + +"What a noise the engine makes! Can't we get away soon?" + +"I hope so. If we only had a man with us we could send him off for a +carriage. Even Fritz would be useful now." + +From her mother's tone Amy could not judge whether or not she was in +earnest, though in truth the same thought had come to her. + +"After all," cried Martine, holding up her watch, "it is not half-past +eleven. I had begun to think that to-morrow had come. The flames are not +so bright. I believe that the fire is dying down. It started in so well +that I almost hoped that we'd see the house in ashes." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"But nearly all the furniture has been saved, and the house is probably +insured, and--" + +"You are shivering, Martine. Come, we must make our way through the +crowd. Even if we have to walk down to the large hotel near the station, +that will be better than staying here." + +So they made their way through the crowd. Heaps of household goods and +pieces of furniture were scattered over the lawn, and even on the +sidewalk in front. The engine was still hissing, flames were still +darting from back and sides of the house that had so lately sheltered +them. + +Hardly had the four reached the street when a man's voice called, "Stop, +ladies, for a moment." As they halted, the man, whose outline they could +barely distinguish, overtook them. "You are the American ladies whose +doors I tried to break open a little while ago. I would have helped you +further, but I had to return immediately to my sister, who has been ill, +and who is now in a neighbor's house. I have been anxious about you, for +you are strangers. Have you plans, or will you permit me to make a +suggestion?" + +"We shall be only too happy to hear your suggestion, Mr.--" + +"Taunton," quickly rejoined the stranger, as Mrs. Redmond paused, +adding, "I would suggest that you come with me to the house where I have +taken my sister, and I may say that I have been asked to bring you back +with me. The house is large, and you can all get a good night's rest." + +It is needless to say that Mr. Taunton's invitation was gratefully +accepted, and soon the four found themselves in a warm room, where a +hospitable little hostess bustled about, offering them tea, and bread +and butter, though after all it wasn't a meal-time. + +"She's very good," murmured Martine to Amy, "not to mention how queer we +look. For my own part, I haven't dared look a mirror in the face, though +there are two in the room. How much has happened in the last hour!--for +it is only a little more than an hour since we knew of the fire; that +is, since I smelled smoke." + +"I hope that it wasn't long enough for you and Priscilla to catch cold. +We shall never forget how chilly the air of an August midnight can be." + +"Oh, I am all right," responded Martine. And then, as if to disprove her +own words, she sneezed violently. + +"Why did you go back to your room, Martine? It was a dangerous thing to +do. You brought nothing out with you but that little bag." + +"Oh, I had barely time to get that. The room was so hot and smoky that I +quite lost my head, yet I got what I especially went for;" and she +opened the little bag and drew from it a small velvet case. + +"Your diamond!" cried Amy. "Ah, Martine, how foolish to have had it with +you!" + +"No, Amy, not my diamond pin;" and snapping a spring she disclosed the +miniature of her mother. + +"That is more to me than ten diamond pins. I had barely time to snatch +it from the bureau and pick up this bag." + +"Then you left the pin behind!" + +"No, child, no; it is safely hung around my neck. But one of my rings +was on the cushion, and it will delight Priscilla's heart to know that I +did not save a single brush or silver-topped bottle. It will be rather +hard for papa, for he'll have to replace them all next Christmas. But I +do wish that I had my hat and my suit case. Until we overtake our trunks +at Halifax we can't make ourselves perfectly respectable." + +"But still," rejoined Amy, "I am thankful that we have a place where we +can sleep to-night--and mamma is beckoning us, so let us follow." + +It was nine o'clock, and the sun was streaming brightly through their +windows before Mrs. Redmond and the girls left their rooms next morning. +All but Priscilla had slept well, but the latter had tossed about all +night, with her thoughts dwelling more on Martine even than on the +exciting events of the fire. Clearly Martine had acted very generously +in the efforts she had made to awaken the others. She had had ample time +to save all her own possessions, yet quite neglectful of herself, her +one thought had been for others. If Priscilla was sometimes harsh in her +criticisms, she at least wished to be fair. After her night of confused +thoughts, it was not strange, perhaps, that Priscilla awoke heavy-eyed +and dull, thus causing Mrs. Redmond to wonder whether this one +experience might not undo all the good accomplished during their weeks +in Acadia. + +Martine was still inclined to sneeze, but she laughed when caught in the +act. + +"It sounds like hay fever, doesn't it? I have never had a fashionable +ailment before, and if it is hay fever, why, I am in the part of the +world where patients are often sent, and my recovery will be rapid." + +After breakfast Mr. Taunton, their new acquaintance, offered to help +Mrs. Redmond in any way that she might suggest. "You may wish your +luggage or your tickets attended to--or, or your shopping," he +concluded. "My sister and I saved both our trunks, and she is resting so +comfortably this morning that I can put myself at your service." + +"I do not wonder that you speak of shopping. We could hardly go even as +far as the station without buying a few necessary things. If we could +have a carriage in about an hour we could do some errands. We are going +to Halifax by the afternoon train." + +"You have lost more than most of the other boarders, in proportion to +what you had in the house," continued Mr. Taunton. "Our late landlady is +the heaviest loser, but she is a cheerful little body, and consoles +herself with the thought that she is well insured." + +"Don't forget to pay our board bill, mamma; it just occurred to me that +we left so unexpectedly that we forgot even to mention it to her," +interrupted Amy. + +Mr. Taunton laughed heartily at her suggestion, and then began an +earnest plea for his own city, St. John, in contrast with Halifax. + +"If you can visit but one, St. John is the better worth seeing. We come +to Nova Scotia occasionally to rest, but St. John is wide-awake, and its +churches and public buildings will compare favorably with any in the +United States. Then you have heard of our wonderful reversible falls, +that flow with the tide one way and with the river the other, and the +beautiful Kennebecasis--" + +"You would make a good tourist agent," interrupted their amiable +hostess, Mrs. Andrews, entering the room at this moment. "But if I +should begin to paint the charms of the Citadel, and old St. Paul's, and +the Northwest Arm, and--" + +Mr. Taunton laughed. "It's a feud as old as the hills, this rivalry +between St. John and Halifax, and a stranger can settle the matter for +himself only by seeing both places; but if you must give up either, I +honestly believe that you can best spare Halifax." + +Before Mrs. Andrews could protest, a violent ringing of the doorbell +called her from the room. A second later she returned to the +sitting-room, followed by two young men. + +In an instant half a dozen tongues were loudly exclaiming, "Why, Fritz, +how in the world did you find us?" Mrs. Redmond held the hand of one of +the new-comers while she looked affectionately up into his face; Amy, +drawing back a little, appeared far from displeased at this sudden +appearance; and Martine,--Priscilla could hardly believe her eyes,--yes, +Martine had certainly thrown her arms around the neck of Fritz's +companion, who was no other than the Freshman "Taps," of whom Priscilla +had had a passing glimpse on the Yarmouth boat. + +While Priscilla gasped in amazement Mrs. Redmond and Amy could not +conceal their surprise at Martine's demonstrativeness. But they had not +to wait long for the explanation, which Martine herself saw was due +them. + +"There, there, Lucian, don't be too affectionate until I explain--" + +"Explain what?" asked the so-called "Taps." + +"Wait, listen;" and slipping her arm through that of Fritz's friend, +Martine turned with a bow toward Mrs. Redmond. + +"Let me introduce to you and Amy and Priscilla, as well as to the rest +of the company, my brother, Lucian Stratford, otherwise 'Taps.' There, +Lucian, don't say a word. Let me explain how it was. Of course at first +we didn't mean to make any secret of it, but Lucian and I thought it +would be fun to see whether you could tell whether we were brother and +sister, and he made Fritz--I mean Mr. Tomkins--promise not to tell you. +It seemed rather funny that you hadn't heard. Then when Amy was so +sniffy--excuse me, Amy--about having boys in the party, why, I had to +promise not to tell. It was hard at first, but I got interested in +keeping it up when I found that Priscilla was so suspicious." + +Priscilla, coloring, looked more and more uncomfortable, Mrs. Redmond +was slowly grasping the situation, and only Amy appeared to be angry. + +"It's like you, Fritz," she exclaimed, "to go out of your way to play a +practical joke on me, but I did expect something better from Martine." + +Martine's face grew serious. + +"I can't see that the joke affects you, particularly, Miss Amy Redmond!" +rejoined Fritz. "To be sure, you have had various accidents that might +not have happened had we been with you to protect you, but as to knowing +that 'Taps' was Martine Stratford's brother, why, you could have found +that out for yourself, or at any rate I should have told you only too +gladly had you given me a chance. But when you banished me so +completely--" + +"Come, come, children, no quarrelling. We won't banish you again, Fritz, +and if you feel like going on with us we shall be only too happy to have +your company. Your coming now is certainly most opportune. You can do so +much to help us; we have shopping--But first let me introduce you to Mr. +Taunton, who has been so kind to us, and to Mrs. Andrews, our hostess, +and to the others." + +After the introductions Fritz explained why they had come to Windsor. + +"Halifax may be slow, but it is reached by telegraph, and the daily +papers contain some news, so when I saw the headlines 'Fire at Windsor,' +I naturally read the whole thing, for, according to the schedule which +Lucian had from his sister, you were due here yesterday, or the day +before, and we had even thought of running up to meet you." + +"Though we decided it would be better sport to take you by surprise at +Halifax," interposed Lucian. + +"Yes, and when we read that some American ladies had barely escaped with +their clothes--" + +"Not all of their clothes," murmured Martine. + +"We thought," continued Fritz, "that we'd risk it by rushing up here." + +"So we bolted our breakfast," interposed Taps, "and made the 'Yankee' +and--" + +"We poked among the ruins," added Fritz," and when we didn't find any +remains, we asked a few questions of some others who were poking there." + +"And here we are," concluded Taps, "and from this on I'm going to keep +my eye on Martine. You didn't set the fire, did you, sister?" + +"There, Lucian, if you tease like that you'll be banished." + +"No more banishment for either of us," cried Fritz, boldly. "You've all +had accidents enough to show you the need of adequate protection." + +"Perhaps you could have prevented the fire," said Amy, with some +sarcasm. + +"I could have prevented your staying at any house but the most +fire-proof hotel in the town, and that I believe is still standing." + +"What did you save?" asked Lucian, in an effort to turn the +conversation. + +"Oh, my mother's picture," said Martine, softly. And then, as if afraid +of seeming sentimental, "But I lost an emerald ring and all my silver +brushes, and a pair of slippers, and one of my gloves, and a dozen +postage stamps." + +"Stop, stop, Martine." + +"Well, I saved my best stock, and Mrs. Redmond saved her umbrella, and +we--" + +"Are all clothed and in our right minds, excepting you, Martine, who +seem in danger of losing yours," interrupted Amy. "I believe that +carriage at the door is the one that Mr. Taunton telephoned for; so, if +we are going to Halifax to-day, it is surely time to start on our +shopping expedition." + +Acting on this suggestion, Priscilla and Martine helped Amy gather +together their few remaining possessions, while Mrs. Redmond discussed +her plans with Fritz. + +When at last the moment came for the few words of farewell, Mrs. Redmond +and the girls felt that in bidding good-bye to Mrs. Andrews and the +Tauntons they were parting with friends whom they had known for weeks +instead of hours. + +Mrs. Redmond and the girls drove to the station, where Fritz and Lucian +met them after a brisk walk down town. + +"Fritz," said Amy, as the two stood together in the hotel sitting-room, +"I have a confession to make." + +"Open confession is good for the soul, so out with it at once, fair +lady." + +"It is simply this: I am really glad that you are here to take charge of +things. Even in travelling mamma, you know, hates to attend to practical +details. Now of course we have got on very well, barring one or two +little things." + +"Fires and such." There was a mischievous twinkle in Fritz's eye. + +"Oh, well, even that might have been worse; so now, until we reach +Halifax, I do wish that you would take charge of everything." + +"With pleasure," responded Fritz. "Especially will I see that you do not +mislay your keys. But you look tired, Amy. Come, sit down." + +Whereupon Amy sank wearily upon a sofa, only too glad that for the +present her responsibility was shifted to some one else. + +There was a funny side, however, to the zeal displayed by Fritz and +Lucian. They insisted, with an emphasis that no one dared oppose, that +the girls and Mrs. Redmond should rest quietly while they went out to +shop. + +"My dear boys," Mrs. Redmond had protested, "there is hardly a thing +that we shall really need before we reach Halifax. In the parlor cars we +shall be unnoticed and perfectly comfortable, and after we have opened +our trunks we can tell what we most require." + +"Oh, Mrs. Redmond, there must be some errands for us to do. Can't you +trust us?" + +Lucian's face was so expressive of disappointment that Mrs. Redmond was +glad that she had made out a small list. + +"Of course there are some things--and we are ever so much obliged to you +and Fritz for your willingness to do errands." + +"You see," continued Lucian, confidentially, and dropping his voice that +his sister might not overhear him, "I didn't ask Martine what she +needed. That would have started her off to suggest no end of +things,--you know what girls are. I can tell pretty well what she ought +to have, so we'll just slip off before she can say anything." + +Fritz had condescended to accept a few suggestions from Amy, and the two +boys rushed off in high spirits. An hour later, when they returned, +their arms filled with packages, followed by a grinning hotel boy who +was dragging a large parcel, Mrs. Redmond lifted her hands in amazement. + +"Two hats!" she exclaimed, in still greater surprise as they undid the +strings of the larger package, "but only one was really needed. Martine +left hers behind, but Amy--" + +"Now, Mrs. Redmond," said Fritz, "perhaps you didn't observe Amy's. Why, +some one must have turned the hose on it; the flowers were all +bedraggled, and the ribbon--Mrs. Redmond, surely you must have noticed +its condition. But these are so pretty that I couldn't let Lucian be the +only one to buy a hat." + +"It's certainly very thoughtful in you, Fritz, but still my list--" + +"Oh, we've got everything that was on the list, only these little extras +were just to amuse ourselves." + +"Six stocks! you extravagant boy!" Martine, arriving on the scene, had +opened one of her brother's parcels. + +"Six stocks!" he repeated. "Why, that's only one and a half apiece!" + +"And gloves; well, we could have waited until we reached Halifax. They +are probably better there. I wish I had thought to speak of shirt +waists," continued Martine. "This is hardly respectable." + +"Oh, I thought of that, too," replied Lucian; "at least, I remembered +you hadn't a coat, so I supposed some sort of a wrap would do. Coats +have to be kind of tailor-made and fitted, don't they?" While he spoke +Lucian was undoing the largest package, from which he drew out a Scotch +shawl of brown and yellow plaid. + +"There, that's the thing!" he exclaimed with pride. "It looks as if it +had come straight from Edinburgh. You can throw it over your shoulders +instead of a coat." + +"Oh, Lucian," cried Martine, "you can't expect me to wrap myself up like +that, especially on a warm August afternoon!" + +"Why shouldn't it be all right travelling?" asked Lucian, with less +elation. "You wouldn't have to think about the fit." + +But when he saw that all the others were laughing at him, he walked off +toward the window, murmuring what sounded like "There's no pleasing some +people." + +"Come back, come back," cried Martine, as he turned away; "the shawl +will be very useful if we go yachting at Halifax, and no one but you +would have thought of these delicious boxes of chocolates. We all thank +you very, very much; see, there's a box for you and Priscilla, Amy, as +well as for me." + +Lucian's face brightened under his sister's praise, while Amy and +Priscilla thanked him for their chocolates. + +"You were dreadfully worried, weren't you, Prissie," said Martine, +mischievously, "over the chocolates that I offered you last evening? But +though Lucian was the giver in that case, perhaps you will enjoy these +better, knowing where they came from." + +"Shall I put this magazine in your bag?" asked Priscilla, hoping thus to +divert Martine from further teasing. + +"Certainly," replied Martine. "Let Lucian help you with the catch. It is +hard to open." + +"The magazines are Fritz's contribution," explained Lucian, as he worked +with the spring of Martine's bag. "There's one for each of the party. +But hello, what's this? Did you think of digging a grave, or anything of +that kind, sister, when you brought this along? It's a strange thing to +have saved from a fire;" and before Martine could protest Lucian had +withdrawn his hand from the bag in which he had been fumbling, and +before the gaze of the whole party held up a queerly shaped little +trowel. + +"I didn't ask you to meddle with things in my bag," cried Martine, +excitedly, after the manner of sisters. + +"Well, what's the matter with the little spade?" asked Lucian, looking +from one to the other. + +No one replied as Amy snatched it from his hand. In fact, Amy was the +only one to recognize it as the Acadian relic that Balfour Airton had +given to Martine. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + OLD CHEBUCTO + + +So slightly had the travellers really suffered from the fire that they +soon recovered from the effects of that exciting night, yet they were +glad enough to reach Halifax and open their trunks. + +"It seems better than luck that we sent these trunks ahead to Halifax. +If they had been burned--" + +"We should have had great fun shopping, my dear Miss Amy Redmond," +responded Martine; "as it is, we shall just have to pretend that we need +things when we see any startling bargains in the shop-windows." + +"If you should try to replace what you have lost you could keep yourself +busy for a day or two," rejoined Amy. + +"No, thank you. The things that I lost I can wait for until Christmas. I +have bought some inexpensive brushes, plain enough for Priscilla to +approve; but at Christmas--well, perhaps I can persuade papa to get +tortoise-shell, or something more elaborate than the simple silver set +that melted away at Windsor." + +In this way Martine always turned aside the sympathy that the others +tried to offer her for her losses. + +Fritz and Lucian had taken the travellers to the small Halifax hotel, +where they themselves had been staying for two or three days before +their sudden flight to Windsor. It was a cheerful, homelike place, and +in its little garden the girls spent more or less time resting after the +exertions of their later days in Acadia. + +The fire and the events immediately following it had seemed to bring +Martine and Priscilla more closely together,--at least, for the time +their lack of sympathy was less plainly evident. + +One day the two were sitting in the garden. + +"I almost wish we had been a week longer in Acadia," Priscilla said. + +"Why, we are in Acadia still!" rejoined Martine. "Don't speak of Acadia +as so far away." + +"Oh," responded Priscilla, "perhaps all Nova Scotia is Acadia; but +really, when we use the word we mean where the French settled. Halifax +is thoroughly English. On that account I do prefer it, though Acadia was +certainly interesting." + +"Thanks!" said Martine, "but I am going to prove that Halifax also was +settled by the French. Amy laughed at me yesterday when I tried to prove +my case. But listen; it was Amy herself who told me that no one had +thought seriously of making a settlement here until D'Anville's fleet +took refuge here after their defeat near Louisbourg. The ships were safe +enough, but the men died by hundreds, and were buried on the beach. +Well, after they had gone away, some sort of a petition was sent from +Boston to England, asking that a settlement and fortifications be +established to prevent the French from coming into Chebucto again and +interfering with New England ships. The English thought this a good +plan, because the Acadians at Annapolis and other places would be kept +down if there was a strong town on the coast. So, you see, if it hadn't +been for the French, Halifax might never have been settled. Have I +proved my case?" + +Priscilla shook her head. She could not quite tell whether Martine was +in fun or in earnest. + +"It seems to me that if Massachusetts men suggested the plan to England, +you could just as easily say that Boston men settled Halifax." + +"That's just what 'Taps'--I beg his pardon--Lucian said when I explained +my theory to him. But then, he can't be expected to share my feelings +about the Acadians,--at least, not yet,--although on the whole he is +pretty sensible, isn't he?" + +Priscilla found it difficult to answer this question directly, so, to +conceal her embarrassment, she propounded another question. + +"Why do they call your brother 'Taps'?" she asked abruptly. + +"For no reason whatever, that I could ever see. But you know how boys +insist on nicknaming one another. Mamma just hates it; and, if you +notice, I always say 'Lucian.'" + +"'Lucian' is such a good name," said Priscilla. + +"Yes, and don't you think that Lucian himself is a dear?" + +"I like him very much," responded Priscilla, simply. She would hardly +have applied Martine's term to him, but she had found Lucian helpful and +entertaining during their three or four days in Halifax. + +"I believe," continued Martine, "that I might have told you something +about Lucian before, except that I thought you might be prejudiced." + +"Prejudiced!" + +"Yes, a month ago you were much narrower-minded than you are now, and of +course you and Amy had heard that Fritz Tomkins had charge of a Freshman +who had been in rather bad company last year; and so if you had heard +that it was Lucian before you had seen him, why, you might have had the +queerest notions about him." + +"You have the funniest way of putting things;" and Priscilla smiled +again. + +"Well, really," continued Martine, "there was nothing wrong with Lucian, +only he is rather too good natured, and papa might as well give him a +smaller allowance. But I heard Fritz Tomkins telling Mrs. Redmond that +Lucian had kept a very good standing last year, but he wanted to break +off with one or two men who were not going just the right way, and they +wanted him to go to Paris and Vienna, and the only way was to plan some +other kind of a trip. But there's really no harm in Lucian." + +"Oh, no," said Priscilla, "I am sure of that; he has such a good face. +It is curious that, with his blond hair and blue eyes, he still reminds +me of you, and you are almost a brunette." + +As Priscilla paused for a moment, the latch of the iron gate clicked +sharply, and as a step sounded on the flagged walk, Martine rose quickly +to her feet. + +"Why, Mr. Knight!" she exclaimed, and in a moment Priscilla, too, was +welcoming the new-comer. + +"But we thought you in New Brunswick!" + +"So I was a day or two ago. Certain business has brought me now to +Halifax, and it is rather singular that we should be staying at the same +hotel. I saw your names on the book this morning, and wondered if I +should see you before my departure." + +Mr. Knight's manner was so unaffected that Martine at once reproached +herself inwardly for having imagined that he had run away from Wolfville +to escape Mrs. Redmond's party. + +"I am to be here only a day or two," he continued, "but if there's +anything I can do--" + +"In the way of rescuing," interrupted Martine. + +"Oh, please," he protested, "don't mention that; it was so slight." + +"You know," continued Priscilla, "we've been rescued once more,--at +least I have been, for really it was Martine who was the rescuer." And +then, when the young man seemed mystified by their words, the two had to +tell him the story of the Windsor fire, of which, it seemed, he had not +heard. + +After Mr. Knight had congratulated them on their escape and condoled +with them on their losses, he said: + +"In case I have no other chance, I must tell you that my chief regret in +leaving Wolfville so unexpectedly was the fact that I had no chance to +show you through Acadia College, or tell you much about it. I know that +that was one of the things Balfour had in mind when he wrote to me that +I should present Acadia College in the best possible light." + +"Oh, indeed," responded Martine, with a slight touch of impatience, "we +have heard quantities about it,--that it offers the same advantages to +women as to men; that a great many distinguished college men in the +'States,' as you say down here, were graduates of Acadia; that it has a +lovely situation, and plenty of time to grow," she concluded suddenly, +for, after all, though truce had been declared, Martine could not resist +the opportunity of teasing Mr. Knight. + +"I saw Balfour Airton," continued Mr. Knight, apparently undisturbed, +"when at Annapolis the other day, and he is to be one of the +distinguished graduates of Acadia." + +"Did he say so?" Martine did not try to conceal her genuine surprise. + +"Oh, no; Balfour thinks of nothing now but hard work, and he's likely to +have his share of it the next few years." + +A little later Mr. Knight excused himself for leaving the two, on the +plea of letters to write, and during the two remaining days of his stay +they saw little of him. + +"He's afraid that he may have to rescue us again," Martine confided to +Amy, though secretly she was a little piqued by his indifference. Fritz +and Lucian, however, pronounced Mr. Knight a brick, and spent one +afternoon with him in a long tramp to a place called Herring Cove, the +description of which filled the girls with envy. + +During their whole stay in Halifax, however, the boys went off on few +excursions by themselves. + +"You have been left too long to your own devices," Fritz would say, +solemnly shaking his head, "and the punishment for your rash deeds is +that you are now to be forever in our care and protection. Until you are +safely back in Boston I hardly dare let you out of my sight, for fear of +fire and flood." + +"Do you consider this sail-boat especially safe just because you are in +it?" asked Priscilla. "If my mother could behold us now she would think +us in the greatest danger. In spite of spending all her summers at the +edge of the sea, she is always afraid of a sail-boat." + +"But I would rather run some risk than miss this sail around the +Northwest Arm. In fact I wouldn't have missed it for the world;" and Amy +glanced gratefully in Fritz's direction, for it was he who had planned +this particular excursion, and had gained Mrs. Redmond's rather +reluctant consent. "This narrow arm of the sea is so picturesque," she +continued, "with its wooded shores, and the harbor is so interesting +with its islands and its shipping." + +"Just like any harbor," cried Martine. + +"Oh, I don't know. One has a sense of its greatness here. No wonder even +the Micmacs called it Chebucto, which I believe is a word of theirs for +'Great harbor.'" + +"Please, Amy, this is a pleasure trip with no instruction. You mustn't +tell us the size of the dry dock, nor the number of guns mounted on +George's Island or on York Redoubt, or on any other of the harbor +fortifications." + +"Nor the time of day," retorted Amy, looking at her watch, "though all +the same, Captain Fritz, it is time to turn about, for I absolutely +promised that we'd be at home by five o'clock." + +"Your word is law," responded Fritz. + +"Tell me a little history," urged Lucian; but Amy refused to do anything +but enjoy the sail, and Martine, looking at her closely, wondered if she +had taken her words as criticism. + +"There's one bit of harbor history that I shall speak of," said Lucian, +as they turned homeward. "No, Martine, you needn't try to stop me. +Everybody remembers Captain Lawrence and his 'don't give up the ship.' +Well, do you know that he died here in Halifax? The 'Shannon' brought +the 'Chesapeake' as a prize into this very harbor where we are now +sailing. It was the first Sunday in June, 1813, and the town was in the +greatest excitement. The news of their coming went quickly through the +town, and every one who could get hold of a small boat pushed out to see +the ships. The men were swabbing the decks, and the scuppers ran red +with blood." + +"Don't, Lucian," cried Martine. + +"Oh, but this is history, and the kind you should remember. The +'Shannon' had set out from Halifax but a short time before, and when the +two ships met in Boston Harbor they fought a fierce duel. The 'Shannon' +had less than a hundred in killed and wounded, and the 'Chesapeake' +nearly two hundred, all in about twenty minutes; so no wonder it's +called one of the bloodiest fights on record. The ships must have been a +sight to the quiet Haligonians. Then," continued Lucian, "Captain +Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow were buried with high honors in the old +English burying-ground here, and there was a great procession from the +King's Wharf, with the coffins covered with our flags, and six British +post captains bearing the pall." + +"You'll have to visit the grave, Amy," said Martine, mischievously. + +"Can't be done. An American brig with a flag of truce came for the +bodies in August, and they were carried back to their native country." + +"How in the world did you remember so much?" asked Martine. "I never +realized before that you took an interest in history." + +"This is the result," retorted Lucian, "of travelling with an +intelligent companion," and he pointed to Fritz. + +"No, I didn't do it; don't blame me," rejoined Fritz. "He ran across a +history yesterday, or book of annals, or something of that kind, and +naturally the mention of the 'Chesapeake' and the 'Shannon' interested +him." + +"Enough said--in excuse," replied Martine, while Priscilla added, "I +wonder if we shall visit Melville Island before we go. You know that is +where they kept the American prisoners during that war. I had a +great-grand uncle who was taken prisoner, and I've always remembered +that he was at Melville Island, Halifax. My mother has his diary." + +"Why, that is interesting," said Amy. "Perhaps it may sound like wishing +ill to my forebears, but I'd even be willing to have had a relative or +two imprisoned here, just for the sake of having a closer association +with Halifax." + +"That's a very silly remark, Miss Amy Redmond," cried Fritz, +disapprovingly. + +"Yes," added Martine; "I might as well wish that some of my French +ancestors had been among the exiled Acadians, so that I could take a +deeper interest in Clare. Not that I need a deeper interest--but that +reminds me," and she turned to her brother. "It's strange, Lucian, that +I hadn't thought to tell you before, but I believe I've found some new +relations in Nova Scotia; at least, I hope so. Do you know whether we +had any Tories in our family?" + +"Tories! I should hope not," and Lucian's voice rang with patriotism. + +"Oh, they are all dead now, so don't excite yourself. But two things +equal to the same thing are sometimes equal to each other. We are +certainly cousins of Mrs. Blair's. You'll admit that?" + +"Yes, worse luck to it," grumbled Lucian. "She is such a--such a--" + +"You mean so conventional," interposed Martine, sedately; "but that's +very proper for a Bostonian. Well, Mrs. Blair's name is Audrey Balfour +Blair." + +"Why not?" asked Lucian. + +"Well, we met a girl this summer whose grandmother's name was Audrey +Balfour, and what I want to know is--are we related to her?" + +"To the grandmother?" exclaimed Lucian. "How in the world should I know? +and if we are, what's the difference? Probably the old lady's dead by +this time. Most grandmothers are." + +"Oh, Lucian, do be serious." + +"You'd better be serious yourself--say, look out for the boom, or you'll +lose your head as well as your temper." + +"I haven't lost my temper. There, I'm glad we're putting in for shore +now, if Lucian is going to be so disagreeable." + +Thus the conversation drifted from Audrey Balfour, and for the present +Martine's question was unanswered. + +This afternoon was only one of several that they spent on the water, and +when the conditions were favorable, sometimes Amy, sometimes Martine, +had a chance to show her skill as skipper, while the boys approved or +made suggestions, and Mrs. Redmond and Priscilla sat back, trying not to +show the timidity that they felt. + +On shore as well as at sea they found much to occupy them, and as +conditions for picture-taking happened for the time to be particularly +favorable, each one added largely to her own collection of photographs. +Each of the girls had a camera with her; but at first Priscilla had been +the only one really zealous for photography. + +When they visited the Citadel Lucian and Fritz had managed to intimidate +them by telling them of the fearful fate that might be theirs should +their cameras be seen in its neighborhood; so the cameras were hidden +until the girls were far from what Martine called "the sacred +precincts," until, indeed, the sight of a redcoat on Barrington Street, +standing where the sun illuminated his whole figure, caused her to shout +in delight: + +"There, my camera, quick, Lucian. Here's my chance to catch one of those +crazy little caps. How do they manage to make them stay on one ear? +Quick, before he moves, or sees us," and then the click of a spring +showed that she had accomplished her aim. + + * * * * * + +One dull afternoon Amy and Priscilla, wandering about, found their way +into the Parliament building, and after admiring the stately old +portraits in the rooms of the historical society, spent an hour or two +over some of the old books and papers in the archives. This was +especially gratifying to Priscilla, because she was thus able to satisfy +her curiosity about the exiled Loyalists. Their sufferings seemed all +the more real when written out in detail in these old manuscript +volumes, and as she read, she sighed. The sigh was not wholly for the +miseries of the past. That very morning she had received a letter from +Eunice that had set her thinking. + + "I am so glad [wrote Eunice] that you like Halifax. But it + there--in the capital of our Province? Sometimes it seems as + if I should never go anywhere, though Balfour says that he + will send me to college, that I can depend on that. But that + will be only to Acadia, and I shall have to wait so long, + until he has a law practice--and when will that be? Besides, + he thinks now that he may have to stay out of college a + year, if not give it up altogether. It's the mortgage on the + house. There's some kind of trouble about it, and Balfour is + determined not to let it go. It would just break mother's + heart. But I oughtn't to make this a complaining letter, + when one of the pleasantest things this summer--or any + summer--has been my acquaintance with you,--and the others, + too, of course, though I didn't know them so well. Please + give them my love, but the most for yourself. + + "Your affectionate + "EUNICE." + +Now Eunice was really so fond of Priscilla that nothing was farther from +her thoughts than to make her friend unhappy. Yet such was Priscilla's +sympathy for her Annapolis friend that the remembrance of the letter +made her feel sad, even as she sat with Amy in the old library. + +"If papa had only lived," she thought, "I could have asked him to do +something, but now,--why, Eunice herself would be surprised to know how +little pocket money I have. Not that Eunice wants anything, but it would +be so delightful to pay off that mortgage, and then make sure that +Balfour could get through college, and then see him put Eunice through +college, and then perhaps she could come up and take post-graduate work +with me at Radcliffe." Then, amused at the rapidity with which her +thoughts were running away with her, for Priscilla had not yet passed +her own finals for college, she laughed aloud. Unexpectedly the clouds +had been chased away. + +"Priscilla," said Amy, "I am delighted to hear you laugh. You have been +altogether too quiet to-day. Surely you are not homesick again." + +"Oh, no, not homesick, only thinking." + +"Tell me then, so that I may laugh too,--unless it's a secret." + +"Oh, no, it's hardly worth mentioning; besides, it has ended in a +foolish wish--if only I had money like Martine!" + +"Martine cares little for money," responded Amy, with some sharpness. +This was not the first time that she had thought Priscilla too ready to +criticise Martine. + +"I know that. She is surely very generous, only it would be so easy to +do things for others if one had as much money as she has." + +"I know what you think, Priscilla; but still Martine's way of spending +money is not altogether extravagance. She has had more in her hands than +most girls we know, and rich Chicagoans are fonder of spending than +hoarding. It's in the air. Martine does not care for money in itself, +but for what money buys." + +"But she surely throws it around without getting full value." + +"That's a matter of temperament." + +"Yes," but Priscilla's voice sounded as if she were not sure of this. To +herself, indeed, she was saying, "It is strange that Martine has not +talked of making plans for Yvonne. Ah, if I had as much in my power I +certainly wouldn't let Eunice worry about mortgages and going to college +and all that kind of thing." + +"Priscilla, Priscilla, wake up," cried Amy, a moment later. "Look at the +citadel. It's hard to realize that this is the greatest fortress in +America, and that only a few generations ago it was nothing but a +stockade, a defence against the Indians." + +"A few generations ago!" repeated Priscilla. "Why, it must be--" + +"A bare hundred and fifty years, my dear child, since the English ships +with their two or three thousand settlers came sailing into the harbor." + +"A bare hundred and fifty years," echoed Priscilla, "and yet that is +rather a long time, and Halifax isn't a large city yet." + +Before Amy could reply she felt her arm seized from behind. Turning +about, she found herself face to face with Martine, who held a letter in +her disengaged hand. Priscilla, not hearing the steps, had walked on a +little before she discovered that Amy was not with her. But a moment +later she too faced about, and, as her eye fell on Martine, she could +not help seeing that the latter was holding her finger on her lips with +a warning glance at Amy, as if between the two there was some secret +understanding. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + FINDING COUSINS + + +In the end it had been much better for Priscilla if she had at once +retraced her steps. Instead, while Amy still had her back to her, while +Martine stood with her finger on her lips, Priscilla, with a rapid step +that was almost a stride, walked farther away from them. Turning first +one corner and then another, she indulged herself in her unreasonable +annoyance with Amy and Martine. For a minute or two she continued to +walk briskly, wondering all the time if the others would catch up with +her. At length, when her curiosity overcame her pride, she did turn +around, only to discover that her friends were nowhere in sight. + +"I shouldn't think Amy would have acted so," she said to herself. "Of +course I can't expect much from Martine, but Amy is different." + +Yet if any one else had put the question to Priscilla she would have +found it hard to say wherein Martine was at fault. It was only that in +that fleeting glance she had gained the impression that the two were +trying to hold some secret from her. + +Priscilla had not walked very far when another turn brought her in front +of a small wooden building that reminded her at once of a child's toy. + +"Is it a school, or a church?" she wondered, and she glanced up at the +little steeple. + +"Hello, Miss Denman;" and Priscilla, lowering her gaze from the steeple, +saw in front of her Martine's brother, Lucian Stratford. + +"I didn't expect to see you here by yourself," continued Lucian. "I +thought that you girls were off somewhere together." + +"We were," replied Priscilla, "but I just thought I would--do a little +sightseeing alone." + +"Well, I don't blame you," rejoined Lucian; "it's sometimes so hard to +get Martine to take an interest in things. It used to be just so in +Europe. We could never depend on her, so I don't blame you for keeping +by yourself." + +Priscilla made no reply. She really had no explanation. + +"This is a funny little church, isn't it?" continued Lucian. "Fritz and +I were over here the other day. Some one had told him about it. It's a +little Dutch church, and almost as old as the city itself. It was built +for the Lutherans, for in the beginning there were a lot of German +settlers here in Halifax." + +"Thank you," said Priscilla. "You are as good as a guide-book; one never +expects a boy to take an interest in such things." + +"I can't say that I do generally, only you remember that foggy afternoon +when you girls were all so busy writing letters? Well, Fritz and I got +tired of staying indoors browsing over books, so we started out. We went +down to the great dry dock--though I don't suppose that you girls would +care for that,--and we had a chance to go into old St. Paul's,--that's +about as old as the city too, and makes you think of one of the queer, +dingy London churches. It has any number of interesting tablets and +memorials, and we planned to take you girls there before we go, and then +walking about we just chanced on this little toy building. But I've got +a suggestion for to-day," concluded Lucian. "You see, it's Saturday, and +one of the market days, so if you'd like to go, I'd be happy to take you +down there. What do you say?" + +"Why, yes, of course I'd like it. You are very kind to think of it." +Priscilla remembered that Amy had spoken of going to the market, and for +a moment she regretted her absence. + +Lucian Stratford, however, proved a surprisingly agreeable guide, and +even before they had reached the Green Market Priscilla was quite +ashamed of the little prejudice that she had once held against him. + +"It's an old custom," Lucian explained, as the two stood in the middle +of the street, "for the country people to drive in with their produce." + +The market was in Post Office Square, and almost every foot of space was +occupied by some man or woman with something to sell. Indians, negroes, +country people--it was a motley crowd and well worth seeing. The Indians +for the most part sat on the sidewalk, bent over their wares, though +here and there one or two leaned back against a building. + +"We saw Indians like these at Bear River," said Priscilla, "only a +little better dressed,--perhaps because it was a holiday. But these +baskets are the best I've seen this summer." + +Baskets and sweet grass were the stock in trade of these Indians, and +some of the baskets were of odd designs and really artistic shapes. + +"Do you really like them?" asked Lucian, and almost in the next breath +he had laid three or four of the prettiest in Priscilla's arms. + +"For Martine?" asked Priscilla. + +"No, no, for you,--if you'll take them. There, let me carry them. I did +not mean to load you down. Only I thought I might see something else." + +"Oh, nothing more now, thank you. You are very kind, but these are +really almost too much, and I can carry them myself--" + +An old negro at this moment crossed their path, swinging a cane. They +realized his nearness only when a sudden flourish of the stick sent +Priscilla's baskets flying into the street. The negro, apologizing +profusely, hastened to help Lucian collect the baskets, and Priscilla +was pleased that Lucian showed no anger at the man's carelessness. +Instead, he began an animated conversation with the old fellow, and +returned to Priscilla's side smiling broadly. + +"The old man has been praising his son's wife's vegetables so warmly +that we'll just have to go over there to see them. She is the fat darkey +sitting in that cart yonder, and I hope we'll get off without buying her +out." + +The next moment Lucian was laughing and chaffering with the old negro's +son's wife, and Priscilla gasped as she saw him pointing out turnips, +carrots, and even summer squashes. She did not know him well enough to +protest, and she only wondered how he meant to get the things home. + +"They're all mine," he called to Priscilla, as she waited for him a +short distance from the cart. Then he leaned over toward the old man and +said something, and the negro hobbled off, smiling. In a moment he +returned with a large pail, into which his son's wife heaped Lucian's +purchases. + +"There," said Lucian, as he returned to Priscilla's side, "won't Mrs. +Redmond and the others stare when they behold this load?" and he lifted +the pail that Priscilla might the more readily admire its contents. + +"But you don't intend to carry it through the streets?" There was a +question in Priscilla's tone. Lucian glanced at her curiously. He had +just been thinking how companionable she was, and now this Plymouth girl +was going to show herself as narrow and conventional as others. + +"I needn't carry it," he responded. "Perhaps Sambo here--is your name +Sambo?" + +"No, sir, my name's Mr. Malachai Robertson." + +"Oh, excuse me, Sambo--I mean, Mr. Malachai Robertson--could you find me +a good smart boy to carry this pail?" + +Malachai looked at his stick--symbol of dignity--then at the young man, +but at the same time he probably reflected that a fair fee was in sight; +so he straightened himself up, reached over toward the pail, and with an +"I'll carry it, sah," fell into line behind Lucian and Priscilla. Before +the two, however, were quite ready to turn homeward, they lingered to +watch the shoppers patronizing the Green Market, and buying supplies of +vegetables and fruit. + +"I only wish that Mrs. Redmond had come. It will be too bad if she +misses it altogether--and Amy; the sun has come out so bright that she +ought to be here to photograph some of these groups of colored people." + +"Oh, the chance is that you will all be here in Halifax next Wednesday +morning. The Market is here twice a week," responded Lucian. "Just now I +suppose we ought to be turning home, as they are horribly prompt about +meals at The Mayflower." + +As the two walked up Hollis Street Priscilla noticed that some whom they +met looked at them curiously. But only after she herself had thrown a +backward glance over her shoulder did she realize the cause, for +straight behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane after the +fashion of a drum-major with his baton, while with the other hand he +supported on his shoulder the pail of vegetables, balancing it with such +a nicety that the carrots and squash and the large bunch of radishes +kept their place on the top, though to the casual observer they seemed +on the point of falling to the ground. + + [Illustration: "Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane + after the fashion of a drum-major."] + +Had Priscilla been able to see herself she would have discovered that +she, too, added to the gaiety of the group, for her baskets were even +more brilliant in coloring than the vegetables, and as she had to carry +them in her arms they made a rather startling display. Lucian had +offered to take her load, but she had waved him away. + +"No, a boy always finds it much harder to manage clumsy packages. These +are not heavy; it's merely that they look awkward." + +So Lucian had contented himself with buying three or four bouquets of +the brightest flowers,--dahlias and garden asters chiefly,--and with +both hands thus filled he made the procession more brilliant. + +When they reached the house none of their party happened to be in sight, +so, at Lucian's suggestions, Priscilla left her baskets on the +sitting-room table while she went upstairs to find Mrs. Redmond. Amy's +room adjoined her mother's, and as Priscilla stood there at Mrs. +Redmond's half-open door the sound of voices in the inner room floated +out to her. For a moment she stood there listening, quite unconscious +that she was eavesdropping, until a sentence in Martine's clear voice +came to her. + +"She certainly is a terrible trial, narrow minded and priggish, and I +don't wonder, Amy, that you dislike her." + +When Priscilla grasped this sentence in its entirety she turned about +instantly. + +"Did you find them? Are they coming down?" asked Lucian, cheerfully, as +she rejoined him. + +"I--I didn't; that is, I'm not sure," stammered Priscilla. "If you don't +mind, I'll leave the baskets here. Perhaps you would give them to the +others;" and before Lucian could stop her she had run upstairs again. + +At the dinner-table Lucian looked anxiously at Priscilla. When she +thought that no one was observing her, he caught her wiping away a +surreptitious drop of moisture. What could be the matter? Lucian racked +his brains to decide if by any mischance he had in word or act offended +Priscilla; but his conscience reassured him. He could not recall +anything that might have annoyed her. On the contrary, up to the moment +of their return to the house they had got along swimmingly--the latter +phrase was his way of putting it. + +"There's no accounting for girls," he said to himself. "I've known +Martine to get dreadfully excited about nothing; but Priscilla Denman +seemed such a sensible girl that I don't quite understand what the +trouble is." + +Before dinner had ended, however, Lucian decided that whatever it was +that had disturbed Priscilla she did not blame him; for she turned to +him with the utmost friendliness when he made some allusion to their +morning walk, and between them they soon had the others at table +laughing at their account of Malachai and the Green Market. + +"I hope you paid the old man well for his trouble," said Martine; "for +it probably was a great favor on his part to walk up Hollis Street +toting a pail." + +"Probably he paid him too well," rejoined Fritz, "unless he has changed +his habits within the week. On our way from Yarmouth I tried to make +Lucian see how demoralizing it would be to the natives to introduce the +habit of tipping here." + +"Oh, but one ought to pay for benefits received," said Lucian, "and I +really do try to be prudent." + +When dinner was over Lucian noticed that, as they left the room, +Priscilla seemed to be trying to avoid Martine. She hardly replied to +some question that the latter addressed her, and he saw other evidences +that Priscilla did not care to speak to her. + +After dinner Martine ran up to her brother. + +"Oh, Lucian," she cried, "here's the most exciting letter from papa! I +can't tell you all that's in it now, for it must be kept secret a little +longer. But aren't you glad that mamma is better? I know you had a +letter from her this morning. To think they'll be home in September! Oh, +Lucian, I'd like to hug you, I'm so happy!" + +"Please, please, not now," begged Lucian; "we couldn't explain to people +that I'm your brother;" and he pointed to several passers-by on the +sidewalk just outside the garden. + +"Then sit here with me in this little arbor. I have several questions, +and this is the first good chance I've had. Did you ever hear the name +'Balfour' in our family--in mother's family, I mean?" + +Lucian shook his head. "'Balfour'?" he repeated. "I've certainly heard +the name somewhere--lately, too, I should think." + +"Yes, of course, dear stupid. Balfour Airton; that's the nice boy we met +at Annapolis. Mr. Knight's friend, you know, the one we've talked +about." + +"Oh, yes, of course; do you mean to ask if he is in our family? Strange +I never heard of it." + +"There, listen, Lucian; this is what I mean. Mrs. Blair is mother's +cousin, and her name, you know, is Audrey Balfour Blair." + +"Has she a first name, and one so frivolous as 'Audrey'? How did that +happen?" + +"That's just what I wish to know. I thought that perhaps you would +remember whether her name was Balfour before her marriage." + +For a few minutes Lucian seemed lost in reflection, then looking up he +exclaimed,-- + +"Yes, Martine, I am sure; Mrs. Blair's name was _not_ 'Balfour,' it was +'Tuck.' I once met a brother of hers. He was visiting Chicago. But, I'll +tell you what--I am pretty sure that her grandmother was a Balfour. +That's where the relationship to mamma comes in. You know that _her_ +grandmother was a Balfour, and that's what makes them cousins; their +grandmothers were sisters." + +"Why, Lucian," cried Martine, jumping to her feet in her excitement, +"that's just what I wanted to know. I don't care anything about Mrs. +Blair's grandmother, but if there's a Balfour in mamma's family, don't +you see how splendid it would be?" + +"Can't say that I do," responded Lucian; "but if it pleases you, it's +probably all right." Lucian had often said confidentially to his friends +that the ways of girls were past finding out, and he did not except his +sister from the general rule. + +"Oh, but can't you see, Lucian, that if I could prove that Balfour +Airton is a cousin to Mrs. Blair, and if mamma is a cousin of Mrs. +Blair's, which--" + +"Which she is, without doubt," said Lucian. + +"Why, then, don't you see--" + +"Oh, yes, I see," cried Lucian. "Why, then, you would be cousin to +Balfour Airton and his sister. Well, perhaps there's no harm in that, if +it pleases you; but what is there in it for me? I might not like either +of your prodigies, and so I am not ready to be made a cousin to people I +have never seen." + +Yet a good-humored twinkle in Lucian's eye seemed to say, "If I would I +could tell you something that would please you mightily--and perhaps I +will." + +Now Martine, understanding her brother pretty well, saw that he was +really more sympathetic than he professed to be, so she wisely decided +to wait until he was quite reedy to tell her what she wished to know; +and to change the subject she pulled a letter from her pocket. + +"If you hadn't had a letter from mamma by the same mail I would show +this to you," she said. "It's the most delightful letter papa has ever +written me, though I won't tell why--at least not just now," and she +waved the closely written sheet rather tantalizingly before him. + +"Oh, ho, child, you cannot tease me at this late day; and besides, I +know why you try. Put your letter away, little sister; I can wait until +you choose to read it to me. But I know what you want, and I am willing +to gratify your curiosity. Yes, there was an Audrey Balfour in mother's +family; but you may be less interested in her when I tell you about her. +She was a Tory." + +Lucian uttered the last word with all the scorn of one who has studied +American history built on the most thoroughgoing anti-British basis. + +"Oh, that's nothing," responded Martine; "at least, Priscilla would call +it nothing. Each of us likes both Acadians and Tories, though I am +supposed to care only for Acadians, and Priscilla for Tories. But how do +you happen to know about this Audrey Balfour?" + +"Through the Colonial Dames, my dear. You see, mamma had to have some +papers filled out last spring. It was while you were at school, and she +asked me to get a genealogist to copy certain things for her. Well, I +found that mother's great-grandfather was a Tory, who was driven from +his home and went to England or to Canada to live. One or two of his +elder children were married before the Revolution, and their husbands +were on the patriot side. One of these was Audrey, who was the +grandmother of Mrs. Blair; another was our great-grandmother Edmonds. +She was Martha Balfour." + +"I see," interrupted Martine. "Our great-grandmother! Then it isn't so +strange that I didn't remember the Balfour in our family; it is so far +away. I think it's just wonderful that you remember it." + +"Oh, it only happened so because I had had to have it looked up. I had +the whole line typewritten for my own benefit, and I looked at it +several times this year. I noticed the Tory Thomas and Audrey +especially, and I wondered if they would effect my eligibility to a +patriotic society that I am anxious to join. But I believe that I am all +right because I am the loyal descendant of a Tory ancestor." + +"Dear me!" cried Martine, when Lucian had finished this long speech. +"You really sound quite learned! I believe that college has done you +some good after all." + +"After all! If you look up my record you'll find that I took all the +history last year that Harvard allows a Freshman, and it's because I +have a bent that way that I can remember these things." + +"Well, Lucian, you've proved yourself a brick. I hope Priscilla won't +object to this. Sometimes she is a little jealous--but there, don't +repeat it--perhaps jealous is not just the word; but somehow, she +doesn't always approve of me." + +"She's fighting rather shy of you to-day," responded Lucian, "and I +can't help wondering what you've been up to. Miss Denman doesn't seem to +me an unreasonable girl. She and I had a fine time to-day at the market. +I'm afraid that you have been teasing her, Martine." + +But Martine continued to insist that her conscience was quite clear, so +far as Priscilla was concerned, and that Lucian must imagine any traces +of ill-feeling. + +Nevertheless, she could but observe that Priscilla seemed to be avoiding +her; for, in the afternoon, when Amy and Fritz went off on their +bicycles for a spin through the Park, Priscilla declined Martine's +invitation to go with her and Lucian to the Public Gardens to hear the +band play. + +"I have letters to write," she said, "and--well, on the whole, I really +can't go." + +"Very well," rejoined Martine, rather shortly, as she left Priscilla's +room to report to Lucian that her invitation had been so scorned. + +"You must have done something to offend her; think it over carefully, +Martine, and then confess," urged Lucian. Priscilla had made so good an +impression on him that he was unable to consider her wholly in the +wrong. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + GOOD-BYE TO HALIFAX + + +Lucian's well-meant advice shared the fate of most advice volunteered by +brothers. Martine, unconscious of offence, had no intention of +apologizing to Priscilla for things she had not done. Instead, she began +to feel annoyed with the latter for her unfairness; for certainly, +Priscilla, in giving Lucian the impression that he had received, must +have been unfair. + +"But if she has been unfair," said Martine, "she can just wait for my +news. It's too bad, for when I first read papa's letter it seemed as if +I could hardly wait to go downstairs to tell the others." + +Now Martine, though impulsive, was not naturally vindictive, and it +would have been almost impossible for her to keep her secret from Amy +and Priscilla had she not, immediately after reading her letter, +confided its contents to Mrs. Redmond. Somebody knew; and in the course +of two or three hours that they all passed together on Saturday evening, +Martine more than once changed her seat to have a whispered word or two +with Amy's mother. + +On Sunday they all set out for the Garrison Church. "We make almost as +imposing an array as the troops themselves," said Amy. + +"Perhaps we might if we were stretched out in single file. Since the +boys joined us we are really a regiment; but Halifax people are so used +to seeing strangers that I am afraid that they won't take any special +notice of us," responded Martine. + +"I should hope they wouldn't. How well we should have to behave if we +felt that all eyes were upon us," replied Amy. + +After service they pushed their way through the crowd waiting outside +the churchyard to see the troops form in line. + +"It doesn't seem quite the thing on Sunday, does it?" murmured Priscilla +to Amy; whereat Martine, laughing loudly, cried: + +"But surely it is better for the soldiers to turn out to church in a +body than to sit in their barracks moping." + +"Soldiers moping!" and Fritz laughed. + +"Perhaps it isn't the soldiers, but the people crowding to stare at +them, who take away the Sunday feeling," continued Priscilla. + +"That's just what we are doing ourselves," retorted Martine, "and I +don't feel very wicked." + +"Come, come, children, don't quarrel," cried Lucian. "You are both +probably right, and both probably wrong." + +Neither girl replied, for the troops in their brilliant uniforms were +beginning their homeward march to the inspiring music of a fine band. + +As they walked homeward Martine, slipping her arm through Amy's, drew +her one side. + +"Tell me," she said, "and please don't let the others hear or they will +laugh--is Halifax the capital of Canada?" + +"No, my dear, it--" + +"There, I thought it couldn't be; I knew it must be Montreal. But I +asked Priscilla why that old gray building was called Government House, +and she said because Halifax was the capital. I never expect Priscilla +to make a mistake;" and there was a slight touch of sarcasm in Martine's +tone. + +"She was not wholly wrong," rejoined Amy, "for Halifax is the capital of +Nova Scotia. Canada itself is composed of several provinces, of which +Nova Scotia is one. The provinces are united under a general government +with Ottawa the capital--not Montreal--as you suggested. All the +provinces send representatives to the Parliament that assembles every +year at Ottawa." + +"Oh, I see--like our States and Washington." + +"Yes, the general plan of government is much the same, and each province +has its own Parliament. Priscilla and I were in the Parliament building +here the other day. It is really a State House." + +"I've noticed the Parliament building, but what is the Government +House?" + +"Oh, that is the residence of the Governor of Nova Scotia. His real +title is Lieutenant-Governor, because all Canada has a Governor-General, +who lives at Ottawa." + +Both girls had been so interested in this little conversation that +unconsciously they had lagged, and the others were now far ahead of +them. + +"Martine," said Amy, "as we have a few minutes alone now, do let me +influence you to make up with Priscilla--not that any little +misunderstanding is wholly your fault, but it is so much harder for +Priscilla to give in than it is for you." + +"But honestly, I haven't said or done a thing to offend her,--at least, +not a thing that I know of, though of course for a day or two I have +seen that she was trying to be particularly stiff with me." + +"Well, then I wouldn't notice her stiffness. Just act as if you were the +best friends in the world, and things will soon straighten themselves +out." + +"That certainly would be the most agreeable way, and to please you, Miss +Amy Redmond, I will follow your advice. Besides, I have something very +exciting to tell you and Priscilla, and I really cannot wait longer than +this afternoon." + +"Hurry, young ladies, hurry, hurry!" + +It was Lucian calling to them. He had turned to meet them. + +"What kept you so long, Martine? What have you been doing?" + +"Nothing, only talking." + +"Oh, that accounts for it. When once Martine begins to talk in earnest, +she takes no heed of time." + +Martine replied lightly to her brother's badinage, and the three reached +the house in great spirits. With Amy's caution before her Martine +avoided collision with Priscilla during the dinner hour. After dinner, +while they were all sitting together in the little arbor,--Mrs. Redmond +as well as the girls,--Martine drew a letter from her pocket. + +"Listen," she cried; "I have something to read you--no, I can tell it +better in my own words, although it is nearly all in papa's letter. So +listen, Amy; it's for you,--and it's for you, Priscilla, as well as for +me." + +"And for me, too?" asked Lucian, trying to throw great expression into +his voice. + +"No, no, of course not. Mrs. Redmond knows, and she thinks it fine, so +listen. In the first place, papa feels much obliged to every one for +keeping me contented. You know I tried to make a fuss when they wouldn't +take me to Europe, and he says that it's a splendid thing for me to get +so interested in history. This is what he says:-- + +"'When you get back to Chicago you'll find that there's a lot of history +there that is worth studying--not entirely about the great fire, and +part of the history of Illinois is French.' I never knew that before," +interpolated Martine. Then she continued to read, "'Your mother and I +think that you owe much to the young ladies who are with you, as well as +to Mrs. Redmond, to whom I am also writing this mail. We are much +gratified by what you write about the various young people in whom you +are interested. Although I cannot promise, without knowing more about +her, to launch your special protégée, Yvonne, on a prima donna's career, +it seems right that you should be helped to do something for her, so I +am enclosing a check for three hundred dollars.'" + +Amy started; Priscilla gazed in astonishment. + +"'This,'" Martine continued to read, "'is to be divided into three +parts. Your third is for Yvonne; a second third is for Miss Amy to use +as she sees fit for the little French boy--I forget his name; and though +you haven't said so, I am sure that Miss Priscilla hasn't been behind +her friends in adopting somebody. Perhaps I ought to have sent more, but +it will do for a beginning, and I shall be glad to hear that the money +does some good.'" + +"There's more about mamma's getting better and coming home soon, that I +needn't read. But isn't it splendid? You can't think how hard it was for +me to keep it to myself a whole day." + +Upon this there was a small Babel for a second or two, until, after a +moment of silence, Priscilla, in words that showed some slight +hesitation, spoke,-- + +"I must thank you, Martine, as much as your father. You must have made +him think very pleasantly of us all. But I wonder if I ought to keep the +money?" + +"No, my dear Puritan Prissie, you mustn't keep it. It's for you to give +away as quickly as you can to your protégée, and we all know who that +is." + +"Yes," added Mrs. Redmond; "you need have no hesitation in using it for +Eunice. Mr. Stratford has written me fully on the subject. He says that +this summer has cost him so much less than Martine's vacations usually +cost, that his gift is only a part of what he has saved." + +"He hasn't heard yet about the Windsor fire," murmured Martine, "or he +might feel differently, though the silver and the jewelry will be a +Christmas matter," she concluded hastily. "Shall I send all the money at +once to Yvonne, Mrs. Redmond?" + +"Oh, no, my dear; we must talk things over and make careful plans for +Yvonne and Pierre. A little money will go a good way with both of them." + +"Oh, of course, Mrs. Redmond, whatever you say will be the thing. That +isn't slang is it, Miss Amy Redmond? There's a pained expression at the +corners of your mouth; but never mind, you can't deny that I've improved +this summer--to beat the band;" and with this shot Martine, darting +forward, laid her hand on Amy's arm. + +"As an impartial judge I can say that you all have improved this +summer,--at least, speaking for the three girls," said Mrs. Redmond. +"Although I haven't commented on it, it has pleased me greatly to +observe the rounding off of several sharp corners." + +"'Speaking for the three girls,'" quoted Fritz,--"but where do we two +come in? Didn't we banish ourselves when we were bid, and keep out of +sight, until we heard that you had been almost destroyed by fire? Our +improvement has been quite remarkable, though I don't see any one paying +premiums to us; and if we had protégés whom we wished to protect we'd +have to go deep into our own pockets for the wherewithal." + +"Yes," added Lucian, "I was thinking of that myself. It's a good thing +that we haven't found any one to be interested in." + +"Oh, but you have, Lucian; at least, I have found some one for you. +Don't you remember our new cousins, the Airtons? How stupid! I haven't +told any one else." And hereupon, without further delay, Martine plunged +into an account of the discovery that she thought that she had +made--that Eunice Airton and her brother were cousins in the third or +fourth degree to her and Lucian. + +"I feel as if we ought to wait until we can make sure, but Lucian says +that he can put his hand on the papers when he returns to Cambridge--and +at any rate mamma will know. I'm awfully sorry, Prissie dear, that they +are not your cousins too; but perhaps we can find a link somewhere back +among the Mayflowers--just large enough to join you and Eunice." + +Priscilla, not knowing what to reply to Martine's fun, wisely chose the +golden mean of silence. If Martine had not said "Prissie" she might have +thought her wholly in earnest. + +"But oh, dear," reflected Priscilla, "I do wish that Eunice had turned +out to be my cousin instead of Martine's. It doesn't seem fair that she +should have everything." This thought, however, had hardly shaped +itself, when Priscilla put it far from her. Martine had certainly been +generous, and Priscilla, if narrow in some ways, meant never to be +unjust. + +Martine, however, had other things than Priscilla's attitude on her +mind. + +"So you see, Lucian," she concluded, "there is some one for you to +help,--not that Balfour Airton wishes any one to do anything for +him,--but if he's a cousin, you'd naturally want to help him save his +time for study in the summer holidays." + +"I study so diligently myself in the summer," commented Lucian, "that +I'd be a fine one to lay down the law to my new cousin! No, poor fellow, +if I have anything to do with him, I'll certainly not advise him to lay +himself out on summer study." + +"Oh, Lucian! If I didn't know that you'd take an interest in Balfour, +I'd try to persuade you; but just think how Mrs. Blair will feel!" + +"Mrs. Blair! What in the world has she to do with--anything?" concluded +Amy, vaguely. + +"Why, if Eunice and Balfour are our cousins, then they are her cousins, +and as she doesn't like people who work, it will be great fun to tell +her about Balfour, for probably he'll get through college much better +than Philip did--" + +"My dear Martine, did Mrs. Blair ever harm you?" + +"No, except to say that what a pity it is that I am not at all like +Edith." + +"There! Eunice Airton reminds me of Edith; that's the resemblance that +puzzled me;" and Amy seemed pleased with her discovery. + +"Oh, if they're at all alike, I won't object to this Eunice as a cousin, +for Edith isn't half bad, and--" + +Lucian's speech was cut short by the appearance on the scene of the +little buttons of the hotel, who happened to know Lucian rather better +than the rest of the party. + +"If you please, sir," he said, "here's a telegram for one of the ladies, +and I don't know which is which, though her name--it seems to be Mrs. +Redmond," and he handed an envelope to Lucian. + +In an instant Mrs. Redmond had read the despatch, while Amy asked +anxiously, "Is it anything serious, mamma?" + +"No, no, my child, far from it. I told you there was a probability that +certain business would call me home a little earlier than we had +planned. Well, the summons has come, and I ought to start to-morrow." + +"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Priscilla, with an expression of real +delight. + +"Why, I thought that you were enjoying yourself." + +"Yes, Mrs. Redmond, so I am, but I shall be so happy to see mamma again, +and the children. I had a letter from the twins yesterday, and they miss +me dreadfully." + +"Shall we go home through Clare? Shall we have a chance to see Yvonne?" + +"And Pierre?" added Amy. + +"And Eunice? Of course we could stay over one train at Wolfville," +pleaded Priscilla. + +"My dear children," remonstrated Mrs. Redmond, "I fear that you did not +understand me. I must be in Boston as quickly as possible, and that +means that we must take the direct boat from Halifax." + +"All of us? Then Lucian and I will return to New England with hardly a +glimpse of the real Acadia." + +"I have no control over your movements. You and Lucian must do whatever +seems best for yourselves." + +"Whatever you advise is best," interposed Lucian, gallantly, "but I am +pretty sure that Fritz will agree with me that it would be much +pleasanter for us if you would permit us to return with you." + +"Not only pleasanter, but much safer for some of the members of your +party;" and Fritz assumed an air of importance. + +"Yes," added Lucian, "there's my sister. Suppose she should accidentally +fall overboard, or--" + +"Or suppose Amy should lose her keys," interrupted Fritz, "or--" + +"There, there, if the girls never suffer greater mishaps than those that +have come to them this summer, they will do very well. We call this a +pretty successful trip." + +"And really," added Martine, "nothing that has happened was anybody's +fault. Those things were simply adventures, and besides, I might easily +have had scarlet fever; so congratulate me on my escape. Even a trip +through Acadia would have been just a little dull without some mishaps." + +When Mrs. Redmond had left the young people to themselves, they +separated into two groups, Martine and Priscilla and Lucian in one, and +Amy and Fritz in another. + +"Now, Priscilla," cried Martine, "since we are friends again, perhaps +you will not object to telling me why you were annoyed with me +yesterday. Even Lucian noticed it." + +Priscilla, coloring at this abrupt question, glanced shyly at Lucian. + +"Oh, you needn't mind Lucian," said Martine, noting the direction of her +glance. "He doesn't count." + +Thus Priscilla, feeling less afraid of Lucian's criticism than of his +sister's reckless tongue, admitted that her feelings had been hurt by +the glimpse that she had had of Martine with her finger on her lips. + +"I always have hated secrets," she admitted, "especially when it seems +as if some one is trying to keep something from me. I thought that if +you and Amy didn't wish me to know anything,--I mean, if there was +anything that you didn't wish me to know,--why I wouldn't intrude; but I +realize now how foolish I was, especially as the secret was something +pleasant for me." + +"After all, I didn't tell it to Amy then, so you might as well have +stayed with us." + +"Oh, no, she mightn't, for then Miss Denman and I wouldn't have had that +visit to the Green Market. You, by the way, will miss it, because you +won't be here next Market Day," interposed Lucian. + +"It certainly was great fun, especially Mr. Malachai Robertson," added +Priscilla, with a smile, "and I have learned one thing--not to indulge +myself in any little jealous feelings, particularly on this trip." + +"On this trip;" and Martine shook her finger at her friend. "To think +that Puritan Prissie should break forth into slang!" But the only effect +of her ridicule was to make Priscilla smile too, and open her heart a +little wider. + +"I haven't quite finished my confession," she continued. "You know +yesterday morning, when your brother and I came home from the Green +Market, I overheard you talking to Amy about some one who was +'narrow-minded and conventional,' and you didn't wonder she disliked +her, and I thought it was me," concluded poor Priscilla, with an +apparent disregard of grammar. + +"Of course we didn't mean you," responded Martine, "although at this +moment I don't quite--oh, yes, I do remember. It was Miss Belloc, one of +Amy's classmates. Amy was telling me of some priggish things that Miss +Belloc had said, and I did use those very words yesterday. But if you +had listened longer you would have heard Amy say, 'not that I disliked +Miss Belloc, but her narrow views.' Then you would have known that we +didn't mean you." + +"Oh, I know that you didn't, and I realize now that I have been very +unfair." + +"Oh, no, only a little unfair," rejoined Martine, "but 'least said, +soonest mended,' and the most important thing is that now we are both +going to be perfectly fair after this." + +Meanwhile Amy and Fritz were discussing various practical matters. + +"Your mother and I have been talking over this letter of Mr. +Stratford's, and we both agree that you probably will not disagree with +us--in other words, we think it would be wiser for you girls not to send +money to your protégé Pierre, or to Yvonne, or Eunice, until after we +have reached Boston." Fritz had assumed a manner of unwonted dignity, +and with difficulty Amy refrained from laughing at him. + +"Delay will give Martine time to find out if it is best to put part of +the money in the hands of some one to spend for Yvonne in Clare, or +whether it would be better to have her come to Boston to have her eyes +treated. Then, after you have talked with one or two teachers, you can +judge whether Pierre is too young to have a course of manual training. +You don't know what you want yourself yet." + +"Really, Fritz!" + +"Yes, really, Miss Amy Redmond, I think that the poor little beggar +ought to have some fun with his hundred dollars, instead of being ground +down to more education. Then, as to Eunice Airton and her brother, why, +if they really are cousins of Martine's, Priscilla Denman needn't have +them on her mind any longer. Mr. Stratford will come down with something +handsome, so they might have this hundred as an instalment to get some +fun with at once." + +"You don't know Balfour Airton. I shouldn't be surprised if he should +insist on his sister's returning Martine's present." + +"Then the sooner Martine proves her cousinship the better. The money can +wait until that is accomplished. Now a word especially for you, Miss Amy +Redmond. Please admit that Lucian and I are very magnanimous in making +so few reflections upon our banishment. Also admit, please, that you +would have had a much better time if we had been with you." + +"We couldn't have had a better time," averred Amy, stoutly. "We've +enjoyed every minute of it, and I shall return to college a new person. +Why, I've gained ten pounds in these few weeks." + +"Ah, Amy," sighed Fritz, "you are as practical and unsentimental as ever +you were at Rockley. Yet you love old graveyards, and can write poetry. +Here I would have saved you from fire and flood, could have kept your +keys in my care, and still you say that by yourselves you have had a +better time than if we had been with you!" + +"Oh, no, I didn't say that, only that we have had so pleasant a time +that it couldn't have been better." + +Here Amy stopped. She saw that she had involved herself in a +contradiction; so with Fritz's laughing voice ringing in her ears she +hastened indoors to talk over with Mrs. Redmond the various arrangements +for their departure from Acadia. + + + THE END + + [Illustration] + + + + + HELEN LEAH REED'S + "BRENDA" BOOKS + + + BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB + + Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + + _The Boston Herald_ says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the + impulses and likes of real girls as their characters are + developing, and her record of their thoughts and actions + reads like a chapter snatched from the page of life. It is + bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good + characterizations." + + + BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY + + Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + + A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North + Shore of Massachusetts. + + The _Outlook_ says: "The author is one of the best equipped + of our writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are + strong, intelligent, and wholesome." + + + BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE + + Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50. + + A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's + career, excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" + book. The _Providence News_ says of it: "No better college + story has been written." The author is a graduate of + Radcliffe College which she describes. + + + BRENDA'S BARGAIN + + Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50. + + "The fourth and last of the 'Brenda' books," says _The + Bookman_, "deals with social settlement work, under + conditions with which the author is familiar." The _Boston + Transcript_ adds: "This book is by far the best of the + series." + + + LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, _Publishers_ + 254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS + + + + + _A Story for Younger Girls_ + + IRMA AND NAP + + By HELEN LEAH REED + + Author of "Amy in Acadia," The "Brenda" Books, etc. + + Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25 + + + A brightly written story about children from eleven to + thirteen years of age, who live in a suburban town, and + attend a public grammar school. 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JACK AND JILL + With 8 full-page pictures from drawings by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. + $2.00. + + The artists selected to illustrate have caught the spirit of + the originals and contributed a series of strikingly + beautiful and faithful pictures of the author's characters + and scenes.--_Boston Herald._ + + Alice Barber Stephens, who is very near the head of American + illustrators, has shown wonderful ability in delineating the + characters and costumes for "Little Women," They are almost + startlingly realistic.--_Worcester Spy._ + + Miss Alcott's books have never before had such an attractive + typographical dress as the present. They are printed in + large type on heavy paper, artistically bound, and + illustrated with many full-page drawings.--_Philadelphia + Press_. + + + LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY + _Publishers_, 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Obsolete and alternate spellings were retained. + Punctuation was standardized. + Regional dialect was retained, e.g. 'tree' instead of 'three' + 'hat' changed to 'that' ... think that she is no worse ... + 'yo'd' changed to 'you'd' ... if you'd had to stay ... + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Amy in Acadia, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + +***** This file should be named 35985-8.txt or 35985-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/8/35985/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Amy in Acadia + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Katharine Pyle + +Release Date: April 28, 2011 [EBook #35985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>Amy in Acadia</h1> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="ifront"></a><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="365" +height="500" alt="Illustration: From a drawer behind the counter she +drew a small fan." title="From a drawer behind the counter she drew a +small fan." /><br /> +<span class="smcap center smaller">Frontispiece.</span> +<span class="smaller"><i>See</i> <a href="#Pg_25">p. 25.</a></span> +</div> + +<h1>Amy in Acadia</h1> + +<h3><i>A Story for Girls</i></h3> + +<h4>By</h4> +<h2>Helen Leah Reed</h2> + +<p class="center">Author of "The Brenda Books" "Miss Theodora"<br /> +"Irma and Nap"</p> + +<p class="p4 center">With Illustrations by Katharine Pyle</p> + +<p class="p4 center">Boston<br /> +Little, Brown, and Company<br /> +1905</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><i>Copyright, 1905</i>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company</span>.<br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="p2 center">Published October, 1905</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><span class="smcap">The University Press, +Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.</span></p> + +<p class="p4 center">TO CONSTANCE<br /> +<span class="smcap">my niece,<br /> +who journeyed with me through acadia</span></p> + + +<h4 class="p4">Contents</h4> + +<div> <table class="bold" border="0" cellpadding="5" +cellspacing="10" summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td><td> </td><td +class="right"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch1">I</a></td><td><span +class="smcap">Banished</span></td><td class="right">1</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch2">II</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Lost and Found</span></td><td class="right">14</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch3">III</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Toward Meteghan</span></td><td class="right">29</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch4">IV</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Yvonne</span></td><td class="right">43</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch5">V</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">New People</span></td><td class="right">57</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch6">VI</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Pierre and Point à l'Église</span></td><td +class="right">71</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch7">VII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Digby Days</span></td><td class="right">89</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch8">VIII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Two Adventures</span></td><td class="right">105</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch9">IX</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Old Port Royal</span></td><td class="right">119</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch10">X</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Explorations</span></td><td class="right">134</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch11">XI</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">A Tea Party</span></td><td class="right">147</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch12">XII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">In the Fog</span></td><td class="right">163</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch13">XIII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Letters and Some Comments</span></td><td +class="right">178</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch14">XIV</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">An Excursion</span></td><td class="right">191</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch15">XV</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">With Prejudice</span></td><td class="right">204</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch16">XVI</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Evangeline's Country</span></td><td +class="right">219</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch17">XVII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Safe Again</span></td><td class="right">236</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch18">XVIII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">The Right and the Wrong of It</span></td><td +class="right">249</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch19">XIX</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">A Discovery</span></td><td class="right">263</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch20">XX</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Fire and Flame</span></td><td class="right">279</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch21">XXI</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Old Chebucto</span></td><td class="right">299</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch22">XXII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Finding Cousins</span></td><td class="right">315</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#Ch23">XXIII</a></td><td class="left"><span +class="smcap">Good-bye to Halifax</span></td><td +class="right">329</td></tr> </table></div> + +<h4 class="p4">List of Illustrations</h4> + +<div> <table class="bold" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="10" +summary="Illustrations"> + +<tr><td class="left">"From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small +fan"</td><td class="right"><i><a +href="#ifront">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="left">"'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come +to see me'"</td><td class="right"><i>Page</i> <a +href="#i081">71</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="left">"'Hello! hello!' she shouted"</td><td +class="right">" <a href="#i170">170</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="left">"'Why, what is the matter, child?' she asked +affectionately"</td><td class="right">" <a +href="#i246">246</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="left">"After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, +the other one had thrown down the scissors"</td><td +class="right">" <a href="#i282">282</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="left">"Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his +cane after the fashion of a drum-major"</td><td +class="right">" <a href="#i320">320</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h1><i>Amy in Acadia</i></h1> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch1">CHAPTER I</a></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">banished</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"No, Fritz, I cannot—"</p> + +<p>"You <i>will</i> not."</p> + +<p>"Well, then I <i>will</i> not ask mother to invite you to go on with +us."</p> + +<p>Amy spoke decidedly, but Fritz was not ready to give up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Amy, do be reasonable! I cannot say anything more to your +mother, for you are in an obstinate mood, evidently determined to +persuade yourself that you do not wish us to travel with you."</p> + +<p>"That is true; I do not wish you to go on with us."</p> + +<p>"But you and I are <i>such</i> friends."</p> + +<p>"So we are, and so we shall continue to be. Because we are such +friends, I am sure that you will forgive me for being so—"</p> + +<p>"So unreasonable."</p> + +<p>"No—reasonable. Now just look at the whole thing sensibly. Here +we are—mamma and I and two girls."</p> + +<p>"What do you call yourself? Aren't you a girl?"</p> + +<p>"Don't interrupt; perhaps I should have said two <i>school</i>girls. +We have come away partly for rest and change, partly for study. So it +would only upset all our plans to have you and your friend with us. +You'd be dreadfully in the way."</p> + +<p>"In the way! I like that. Why, you could rest, or study all day, for +all we'd care, and we'd afford you the change that you would certainly +need once in a while. Only—if you'll excuse my saying so—who +ever heard of any one's resting or studying on a pleasure-trip? Just +look at the funny side of it yourself, Amy—and +smile—please."</p> + +<p>Whereupon, quite against her will, the smile that twitched Amy's lips +extended itself into a laugh, in which Fritz Tomkins joined +heartily.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Amy, that laugh makes me think of old times. So now perhaps +you'll condescend to explain why two lonely youths may not visit the +historic Acadia in company with you and your mother, not to mention the +other members of your party."</p> + +<p>Amy made no answer, and Fritz continued:</p> + +<p>"Just think what we shall lose! It always benefits me to be with your +mother, and you are so full of information, Amy, and you so love to +impart what you know, that by the end of the journey I should be a +walking guidebook. To go with you would be better than attending a +summer school."</p> + +<p>"There, Fritz," interrupted Amy, with rising color, "you are getting +back at me for what I have said. But we really mean to make this an +improving trip."</p> + +<p>"So I should judge. Improving only to yourselves."</p> + +<p>"Well, then I'll explain, since you find it so hard to understand. +You surely know that mamma has been overworking, and yet she does not +wish to waste the whole summer. So, after resting a little, she expects +to find good sketching-material in Nova Scotia. Then I need more +strength before the beginning of my Senior year."</p> + +<p>"I'll be a Senior, too, in the autumn," murmured Fritz; but Amy, not +heeding the interruption, continued:</p> + +<p>"Then there's Priscilla; she has been rather low-spirited since her +father died. She is generally in Plymouth in the summer, and this will +be a change. Besides, she is to read a little English with me for her +Radcliffe examinations."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rest</i>—and <i>change</i>—and <i>study</i>, for +three of you. Well, I do hope that the other girl is to get some +pleasure out of the trip. Didn't you tell me that she comes from +Chicago?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine finds amusement in everything—even in study. She +was at a boarding-school last year on the Hudson, and she made life +there so entertaining for herself and her classmates that she had to +leave. Her parents then decided to have her visit relatives in Boston +this spring. Next year she's to go to Miss Crawdon's. She's especially +in mother's care, and I do hope she'll enjoy the summer, for she is +worried about her mother, who is ill at some baths in Germany."</p> + +<p>"Thus far, Amy, you haven't offered a single reason for your desire +to banish us from your side. Neither Taps nor I will stand in the way of +your mother's sketches, except to pose for her when she asks. We +certainly won't deprive the air of its invigorating qualities; and we +might even study—"</p> + +<p>"No, Fritz, you'd simply be in the way."</p> + +<p>"I won't admit that, Miss Amy Redmond, and if I should ask your +mother, she would probably say that you are quite wrong in your opinion. +In fact, that's why you won't let me talk with her. However, as you've +extorted a promise from me, Taps and I will go as far away from you as +we can—in Nova Scotia. We'll travel in the opposite direction from +Acadia, for Nova Scotia is large enough to contain us all without a +collision. But mark my words, many a time in the next few weeks you'll +sigh for a manly arm to pull you out of your difficulties. <i>Then</i> +you'll remember me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid. Acadia has no dangers. Even the Micmacs are tamed. +The French and Indian wars are over."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me,—please excuse me for interrupting,—you +will find Digby, where you are going to-morrow, very tame compared with +Pubnico."</p> + +<p>"Pubnico?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Pubnico, a wonderful French village, with Acadians and +descendants of the old noblesse, and with many interesting things that +you'll miss altogether in your misguided course. Then we shall go to the +deserted Loyalist town, Shelburne, which is full of history and haunted +houses."</p> + +<p>"You seem to have digested a whole guidebook, Fritz. As Shelburne is +on the opposite side of the peninsula, I suppose that you really have +not intended to travel with us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I had two strings to my bow, and when I heard of the French +villages, I decided that to visit them would be the next best thing to +do." Then, looking at his watch, "But now I really must say good-bye; +it's past my time for meeting Taps."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Fritz." Amy held out her hand amicably. "You are not +angry, are you?"</p> + +<p>"No, not angry, only—I may never forgive you. Certainly I shall +not forget."</p> + +<p>Before Amy could reply, Fritz had wheeled away, and, turning a +corner, was soon lost to sight. As Amy walked a few steps along the +hotel piazza, suddenly she met her mother face to face.</p> + +<p>"Where's Fritz?" asked Mrs. Redmond. "I expected to find him with +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's gone. It's settled that the boys are not to come with +us."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, I hope you have not sent him off. Sometimes you are +too abrupt."</p> + +<p>"Why, mother, I thought that you did not wish them to come with +us."</p> + +<p>"I was certainly surprised to see Fritz on the boat last evening. But +he is like my own son, and if he has set his heart on going to Digby, we +must not keep him away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's going around on the other coast, he and his friend."</p> + +<p>"Did you meet his friend?"</p> + +<p>"No, I heard Fritz call him 'Taps'—a perfectly ridiculous name. +Do you know anything about him?"</p> + +<p>"Only what Fritz told me last evening—that he was a Freshman +who had taken a violent fancy to him. Fritz said that he had agreed to +travel with the boy this summer from a sense of duty."</p> + +<p>"A sense of duty!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; 'Taps,' as he calls him, has been trying to shake off some +undesirable friends. He gave up a trip to Europe that he might avoid +running across them, and Fritz, knowing the circumstances, thought that +he could do no less than agree to take some other trip with him. It was +only on the spur of the moment that they decided to come with us."</p> + +<p>"Fritz was terribly cut up to find that we did not care to have +them."</p> + +<p>"Naturally—and indeed, Amy, if I had had a chance to talk +frankly with him, we could have had them with us part of the time. His +friend was a bright, honest-looking lad, hardly more than a +schoolboy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, I thought him so dandified!—just the kind to be a +nuisance in a party that intends to rough it."</p> + +<p>"Do you realize, Amy, that you use much more slang than before you +went to college?"</p> + +<p>"That's another reason for not having Fritz with us; it is not +<i>my</i> college, but <i>his</i>, that twists my vocabulary."</p> + +<p>"Possibly, but I only hope that he is not offended. Well! well! Why, +Priscilla, why, Martine, where have you been?"</p> + +<p>As she spoke two young girls came running up the steps, and one of +them with a bound flung herself upon Mrs. Redmond's neck.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it a perfect morning, so cool and salt-smelling! and it's +almost as good as Europe to see a foreign flag floating from the +hotel—even if it is only English. And isn't Yarmouth a dear sleepy +old town, though it's said to be so American! Some one told me that it +was the only place in Nova Scotia where they hustled. My, but I wish +they could see Chicago! Then they'd know what 'hustle' means."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear," gasped Mrs. Redmond; "but would you move your +arm—just a little? You almost choke me."</p> + +<p>"Please excuse me, but I feel so excited that I must hug somebody, +and Priscilla and Amy never let me hug them."</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm sure—" began Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you haven't said a word, that's quite true, and I've never +even tried to embrace you, yet I'm perfectly sure that you would hate +it, and so Mrs. Redmond—"</p> + +<p>"Is the victim," rejoined Amy. "Well, mamma <i>is</i> amiable. Only, +while we are travelling, do be careful not to squeeze too tightly; it +rumples her stock. Mamma, you'll really have to put on a fresh one +before we start out."</p> + +<p>During this conversation Priscilla had been silent. She was shorter +than Martine, and fairer, and her expression was sad, or +querulous,—at first glance it was hard to say which. Yet her +half-mourning costume—the black skirt, and the black ribbon at her +throat—suggested what was really the case—that Priscilla had +had some recent sorrow.</p> + +<p>"What have you been doing, Priscilla?" asked Mrs. Redmond, noticing +the young girl's silence.</p> + +<p>"Doing!" interrupted Martine, before Priscilla could speak. "Only +think how silly she's been. This beautiful morning—and in a new +place—she has spent writing letters. Isn't she a goose?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine!" and Amy shook her head in reproof.</p> + +<p>Priscilla colored deeply as she turned apologetically to Mrs. +Redmond. "I promised mamma to write as soon as I could. She will get my +letter day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You were very considerate to write promptly. Your mother will be +delighted to hear so soon. But where have <i>you</i> been, Martine?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, rambling a little; I just couldn't stay in the house."</p> + +<p>"It's strange, Martine," added Amy, "but a while ago, when I took a +stroll down the road, I saw a boy and a girl wheeling down a side street +together who looked so like you."</p> + +<p>"Which, the boy or the girl?"</p> + +<p>Disregarding Martine's flippancy, Amy continued: "I realized that it +couldn't possibly be you, as you know no one in Yarmouth."</p> + +<p>"And didn't bring my wheel with me," added Martine. "So please, Miss +Amy Redmond, don't see double, or else before I know it you'll have all +my faults magnified to twice their size."</p> + +<p>While Martine was speaking, Priscilla looked at her closely. But +Martine, if she felt Priscilla's eye upon her, showed no embarrassment. +Instead, she burst into a peal of laughter that woke from his slumbers a +quiet old gentleman dozing over his newspaper in a piazza chair.</p> + +<p>Martine's laughter quickly degenerated into a giggle, and with only +an "Excuse me, I can't help it," she rushed into the house.</p> + +<p>"There, mother," said Amy, "I fear that Martine will be a greater +care to us than we expected. If she hadn't run off I was going to +suggest that we all go for a walk, to see what there really is to be +seen in the town. We'll have plenty of time before dinner."</p> + +<p>"I'll get my hat and bring Martine with me;" and Mrs. Redmond left +Priscilla and Amy by themselves.</p> + +<p>A little later the four travellers were walking up the broad street, +partially shaded with trees, through which they had many glimpses of the +blue harbor.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it strange," said Priscilla to Amy, "to think that this time +yesterday we were half-stifled with Boston heat! They said that it was +the hottest day of the season, and it is probably as hot there to-day; +and here we are—"</p> + +<p>"Ready to shiver," interposed Amy. "You should have brought a coat, +Priscilla, for I almost feel an east wind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the air is soft. There's no danger of catching cold. Do you +notice all the flowers in these little gardens? It's a pleasant air, +like the Shoals, and those hawthorn hedges make me think of +England,—at least, what I've read of it, for I've never been +there. We must ask Martine."</p> + +<p>"You are almost as eloquent as Martine herself." Amy turned toward +Priscilla with a smile. "You were so quiet at breakfast, and indeed all +the morning, until now, that I feared you were not enjoying the +trip."</p> + +<p>"Well, to be honest, I felt homesick at first. You see, I have never +been away before without any of my family, and then I hadn't got the +motion of the boat out of my head. But now I feel perfectly well, and +perhaps—" but here Priscilla's voice was not quite +steady—"perhaps I shall not be homesick."</p> + +<p>Amy drew Priscilla's hand within her arm.</p> + +<p>"Of course not. Naturally, you will miss your mother and the +children. But you'll go back to them with such red cheeks, and so many +interesting things to tell, that you will be glad you had courage to +come away. You mustn't be homesick."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I won't be," said Priscilla,—"that is, if I can help it; +but if I didn't know you much better than Martine, I think that I'd have +to go home."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Amy, perceiving that Priscilla was not yet herself, strove +to divert her by telling her little incidents of early Nova Scotian +history. Her device was successful, and by the time they had overtaken +Mrs. Redmond and Martine, Priscilla was quite cheerful again.</p> + +<p>In their walk they had turned aside from the main street, and had +reached a point on the outskirts where elevated land gave them a good +view of the water. Mrs. Redmond and Martine had found a large flat rock, +on which they seated themselves, and Mrs. Redmond was already at work +with her sketchbook before her.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad that you've come, Amy,—I mean Miss Redmond," began +Martine. "I've been trying to tell your mother about some kind of a +queer stone that I heard some people talking about at the +breakfast-table to-day, but I haven't it quite clear in my mind, and so +I'm waiting for you to help me out."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the runic stone?" asked Amy. "There isn't so very much to tell +about it, except that it was found more than seventy years ago, and is +thought by some people to be a memorial of the Norsemen."</p> + +<p>"The Norsemen in Nova Scotia? But why didn't they discover the stone +before?"</p> + +<p>"It was found by a Dr. Fletcher in a cove on his own property. The +inscription was on the under side, and showed signs of great age. There, +I believe I have something about it here;" and pulling a small notebook +from her pocket, Amy refreshed her memory.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it weighed about four hundred and fifty pounds, and some +antiquarians have translated the inscription, 'Harki's son addressed the +men.' It seems that there was a man named Harki among those Norsemen who +sailed along the coast of America in 1007."</p> + +<p>"That is certainly worth knowing," said Mrs. Redmond, "and I hope +that we can see the stone before we go."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's only fair," continued Amy, "to tell you that some learned +people do not believe in the Norse theory."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's like the inscription on the Dighton rock," interposed +Priscilla, "that they now think was made by Indians."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Amy, "but the strange thing is that a few years ago a +second stone was found about a mile away from the other, and the +inscription on it was almost the same."</p> + +<p>"Well," exclaimed Martine, "it doesn't matter whether the Norsemen +really were here or not, as long as we can imagine that they may have +been. I like the romantic part of history, if it gives you something +entertaining to think about. It's all the same whether or not it is +true."</p> + +<p>After which heretical sentiment, Priscilla, Plymouth-born Priscilla, +felt herself to be farther away than ever from Martine.</p> + +<p>When Priscilla nestled down beside Mrs. Redmond to watch the growth +of her sketch, Martine became impatient.</p> + +<p>"Let us go back. We've seen everything there is to see in this part +of the town, and perhaps I shall have time for a letter or two before +dinner."</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," responded Amy. "I have some packing to do."</p> + +<p>"Packing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, just to rearrange some of my things."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Mrs. Redmond. "Priscilla and I will wait until this +sketch is finished, and then we'll return by the electric car."</p> + +<p>"Any one would know that you and your mother are from Boston," said +Martine, turning to Amy with a laugh. "I have heard my father say that +Bostonians are the only people in the world who take the trouble to say +'electric cars.'"</p> + +<p>"What do others say?"</p> + +<p>"Why, trolley, of course. They'd laugh at you if you said anything +else in Chicago."</p> + +<p>"You're pretty rapid in Chicago."</p> + +<p>"And you are rather—well, rather slow in Boston."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch2">CHAPTER II</a></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">lost and found</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Amy's face was flushed, her hat slightly askew, and she +felt even more uncomfortable than she looked. It was all on account of +her lost keys. For ten minutes or more she had been bending over boxes, +and poking among all kinds of things in the shed near the wharf, in the +vain hope that she might find what she had lost. When she had discovered +that the keys were missing, Priscilla volunteered to help her find +them.</p> + +<p>As the discovery had been made at the very moment when the carriage +was at the door to take them for an afternoon drive, Amy insisted that +the others should go without her, since it was evidently her duty to +search for the missing.</p> + +<p>"Let me go with you," Priscilla had urged. "When we find the keys we +can go sightseeing by ourselves. It will be just as good fun as +driving." Thus Amy and Priscilla made their way by themselves to the +wharf, while Mrs. Redmond and Martine were driven in the direction of +Milton.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be so bad if it were only my trunk key," Amy had +lamented, "but there's a key of my mother's on the chain, and several +keys of little boxes—one or two of which I have with me; the +others are at home. I am always losing keys."</p> + +<p>"You probably lost them after your trunk had been examined this +morning. What a fuss about nothing it was! Why, the inspector didn't +even lift the tray from my trunk. But we had all the trouble of +unlocking and opening our trunks, and in that way I suppose the keys +were lost."</p> + +<p>Priscilla spoke with more energy than was usual with her. When they +reached the wharf, the dignified Custom-House official and the small +boys congregated there and in the neighborhood of the train knew nothing +about the keys. The inspector remembered seeing them.</p> + +<p>"I noticed your party particularly, and you were swinging your keys +by a long silver chain. Well, they may have slipped through a crack +somewhere, and so the best thing for you is to get a locksmith to fit a +key before you go any farther."</p> + +<p>Overhearing this advice, one or two of the boys lounging about +offered to guide the young ladies to a locksmith. Thus Amy and +Priscilla, not in the best of spirits, with hats askew and shirt-waists +somewhat rumpled, came face to face with Fritz Tomkins.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho!" he cried mischievously, as the girls drew near. "What a +procession! All you need is a drum and a flag."</p> + +<p>Turning her head, Amy saw six little boys walking behind her in +Indian file. There wasn't much going on at the wharf, and evidently all +had thought that there would be some fun in conducting the American +young ladies to the locksmith's.</p> + +<p>Fritz himself, seated in the shade at a shop-door, looked +aggravatingly comfortable.</p> + +<p>"Why, Fritz!" exclaimed Amy, "I thought you were miles and miles +away,—at Pubnico."</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't show your disappointment too plainly. We thought that +we'd better not start before the train was ready. That will not be for +an hour yet. In the meantime, is there anything that I can do for you? +You look a little like a lady in distress."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, appearances are deceitful." Amy had recovered from her +astonishment at seeing Fritz.</p> + +<p>"I am sure that you are hunting for something."</p> + +<p>"Why are you so sure?" Amy was determined not to tell.</p> + +<p>"She <i>is</i> looking for something, isn't she, Priscilla?" Fritz +had seen more or less of Priscilla in Boston the past winter, and +naturally called her by her first name.</p> + +<p>Priscilla shook her head,—not in dissent, but to show that she +had no intention of disclosing more than Amy herself chose to +explain.</p> + +<p>"Very well," continued Fritz, "I am a mind reader. I can tell you all +about it. You are looking for a bunch of keys."</p> + +<p>"How did you know?" For once Amy was off guard.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then it's true."</p> + +<p>"Very well, since you know so much, where are the keys?"</p> + +<p>Fritz, thrusting his hand in his pocket, drew out a long silver +chain, which he swung around his head in a circle before laying it in +Amy's hand.</p> + +<p>"There, little boys, you—"</p> + +<p>"Don't call them little boys, Amy; remember how I felt when I was +ten."</p> + +<p>"Here, young men." As Fritz spoke the boys drew nearer, and Fritz, +drawing from his pocket a handful of silver, laid in each of six palms a +bright ten-cent coin with the Queen's head stamped upon it.</p> + +<p>"But we didn't do anything," one of the six managed to say.</p> + +<p>"No, but you <i>would</i> have helped the young lady find a +locksmith, and besides, you brought her to the particular spot where I +was sitting, and so you found her keys for her."</p> + +<p>This logic was so correct that the six boys, feeling that they had +earned the money, rushed off with a shout of "Thank you," to find the +quickest way of spending it.</p> + +<p>"You might have brought the keys to the hotel," complained Amy. "Then +I needn't have had this dusty walk."</p> + +<p>"After the summary way in which you banished me this morning I +certainly could not put myself in your way again. But I knew that when +you came to dress for the afternoon you would miss your keys, and happen +<i>my</i> way. Surely you can't object to my being here?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. I am very much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>"Besides, I found the keys only this afternoon. They had slipped +under a board, and when I saw the end of the chain I recognized it at +once. May I walk with you part way up-town? I'm sorry that I can't go +all the way. But Taps and I have an errand to do, and it's now within an +hour of train time. Remember, you have banished us."</p> + +<p>As they walked, Fritz, abandoning frivolity, outlined his plans for +the next week. Priscilla listened with great interest. Nova Scotia was +indeed a new land to her, and as she had rather suddenly decided to +accompany Amy and her mother she had read nothing on the subject of the +province in which they were to spend a few weeks.</p> + +<p>Fritz had known little more than Priscilla until he had stumbled on +some one crossing on the boat the preceding night who had had much to +say about the old Fort La Tour and its neighborhood.</p> + +<p>"Fort La Tour!" Amy exclaimed. "I shouldn't care to discredit your +history, but I am sure that that was on the River St. John across the +Bay, in quite the opposite direction from where you are going."</p> + +<p>"There, there, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, you are just like other +people. Because you know <i>some</i> Acadian history you think that you +know it all. There certainly was a Fort La Tour at St. John, but its +remains, I hear, are altogether invisible now; whereas the first Fort La +Tour can still be seen in outline, at least. There isn't any masonry, I +believe, yet you can trace the outline in the grass. You remember, Amy, +it was once called Fort Loméron."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Fritz, but I don't remember. You must have taken a +special course in history lately."</p> + +<p>"Yes, this very morning. You see I had time to spare after you sent +me into exile, and Taps and I were to have our dinner at a private +boarding-house, where I thought we ought to stay, since you didn't care +to have us at the hotel. Well, to make a long story short, I found a set +of Parkman there, and it seemed wise to refresh my memory before going +down to Port La Tour."</p> + +<p>"Do tell us what you learned." Amy spoke eagerly. "I'll admit that +I've quite forgotten the first Fort La Tour."</p> + +<p>"I haven't much time now," said Fritz, "but I'll do what I can to +make my knowledge yours,—only you mustn't expect me to be +perfectly accurate. This, however, is the way I figure it out. After +that old rascal, Argall, attacked Port Royal, in 1613, Biencourt, or +Poutrincourt, as he was known after his father's death, wandered for +years in the woods with a few followers, sleeping in the open air, and +living on roots and nuts like an Indian. In some way or other he managed +to get men enough, and material enough, to build a small fort in the +Cape Sable region, that he called Fort Loméron,—a rocky and foggy +neighborhood. But there was fine fishing and hunting, and he felt that +the Fort was a warning to any enemies who might try to take away the +rest of what his father had left him. Well, among his followers was +young Charles de Saint Étienne de La Tour, who also had come out to +Acadia as a boy. When Biencourt died La Tour claimed that Acadia had +been left to him by his friend. He tried to get Louis XIII. to help him +against the English, and against Sir William Alexander in particular, to +whom James I. had granted Acadia. Now young Charles La Tour began to +have a hard time because his father Claude had married a Maid of Honor +to Queen Henrietta Maria, and had promised Charles I. that he would +drive out the French and establish the English in Nova Scotia. But when +Claude appeared with his two ships before his son's Fort, he could not +persuade him to turn color and become a Baronet of Nova Scotia. The +father made great promises in the name of King Charles if the son would +surrender, but the son withstood the father, and the latter lost English +support because he had not been able to keep his promise; and so he was +nothing but a refugee the rest of his life."</p> + +<p>"Served him right for deserting his country," murmured Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's hard to understand just who did what in those days, and +why. Some say that Charles La Tour was no better than his father, and +that he, too, accepted from the English the title 'Baronet of Nova +Scotia.' On account of the conquest of Sir David Kirke, Nova Scotia was +English for a while, and then again it was under the control of the +French after Claude de Razilly brought out an expedition in 1632. +Charles de Menou d'Aunay, by the way, La Tour's great enemy, came with +Razilly. But La Tour made haste to put himself right with the King of +France, and, after a visit to Paris, came back to Nova Scotia +'Lieutenant-General for the King at Fort Loméron and its dependencies, +and Commander at Cape Sable for the Colony of New France.' Doesn't that +strike you as quite tremendous, when you think of the rocks and the fogs +and the seals, together with the forests, that chiefly made up his +domain?"</p> + +<p>"It's very interesting," said Priscilla. "What became of La +Tour?"</p> + +<p>"It's a long story," responded Fritz. "I'm afraid I haven't time to +tell it now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know all about his quarrel with D'Aunay," interposed Amy. "It +will come in better when we are at Port Royal—or rather Annapolis. +But I had forgotten this Fort near Cape Sable."</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't have forgotten it." Fritz's tone deepened in reproach. +"For many of La Tour's descendants live near the Fort, and the place +itself is called Port La Tour. I am astonished that you should have left +it out of your plan of travel. You can't go there now, because that is +where Taps and I are bound, and it wouldn't do for us to get in your +way—I mean for you to get in our way. Beyond the tip end of Nova +Scotia there's Sable Island, that used to be haunted by pirates and +privateers. Some of them may be there still, and if Taps and I go there, +and if anything happens to us, you may be sorry that you drove us away. +Good-bye, Amy; even a Nova Scotia train won't wait for me;" and before +the astonished girls could say a word, Fritz, with a touch of his cap, +was walking rapidly away from them.</p> + +<p>"We haven't offended him?" asked Priscilla, timidly.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. His plans were already made to go among the French +villages. In fact, I thought that he had gone this morning. He started +off soon after breakfast."</p> + +<p>Although Amy spoke thus decidedly, secretly she wished that she had +been less summary with Fritz. It was not strange, indeed, that her +conscience should prick her a little. When she and Fritz were not yet in +their teens they had become acquainted at Rockley, a summer resort on +the North Shore where Fritz spent the summers with his uncle. Rockley +was Amy's home all the year, and as not many boys or girls of her own +age lived near her, she greatly appreciated the companionship of Fritz. +The latter, for his part, knew that he was very fortunate in having the +friendship of Amy and her mother; for, like Amy, he had neither brothers +nor sisters, and although his father was living, his mother had died +when he was a baby. His father spent little time with him, as he was +fond of exploring new countries, and his travels often kept him away +from home two or three years at a time.</p> + +<p>Before entering college Fritz had lived with his father's elder +brother,—a serious, scholarly man. The uncle made little provision +for amusement in his nephew's life, until Mrs. Redmond had shown him +that all work and no play would do Fritz more harm than good. Amy and +Fritz, on the whole, had been very congenial friends, although the +latter could rarely resist an opportunity to tease Amy. Mrs. Redmond +often had to act as peacemaker, and Fritz always took her reproofs +good-naturedly. No one knew him so well as Mrs. Redmond did. There was +no one to whose words he paid quicker attention. He called her his +"adopted mother," and naturally it seemed strange to him that she should +agree with Amy that he and his friend would be in the way on the Nova +Scotia tour. Beneath the jesting tone that he had used with Amy lay +something sharper, and Amy, as he finally turned away, realized +this.</p> + +<p>After the departure of Fritz the girls walked on in silence. Suddenly +an exclamation of Priscilla's brought them to a standstill. In the +window of a little shop were two cups and saucers of thickish china, +decorated in a high-colored rose pattern. The cups were of a quaint, +flaring shape, and Priscilla announced that she must have them. There +were other curiosities in the window,—a small cannon-ball, two +reddish short-stemmed pipes, and many things of Indian make. The +shop-keeper proved to be an elderly woman, with a pleasant, soft accent. +The cups, she explained, had belonged to an old couple who had lately +died, leaving no children. At the auction she had bought a few bits of +china.</p> + +<p>"I know they are old,—more than a hundred years,—these +two cups. I'm sorry I haven't any more, but people from the States are +always looking for old things, and there's been a good many here this +summer."</p> + +<p>Priscilla bought the cups, and Amy inquired about the +cannon-ball.</p> + +<p>"It was dug up near Fort St. Louis, as some call it, or Fort La Tour, +and the pipes too. They say there's many a strange thing buried there +under the ground, if people only had the patience to dig."</p> + +<p>Amy decided that it was hardly wise to burden herself with the +cannon-ball, and she didn't care especially for the pipes.</p> + +<p>"There's something else here," said the woman, "if you won't be +offended at my showing it. Some Americans—"</p> + +<p>"How did you know that we were Americans?" interrupted Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, as soon as ever a Yankee—there, I beg your +pardon—any one from the States opens her mouth—"</p> + +<p>"She puts her foot in it," returned Amy, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"No, no, I wouldn't say a word against the accent, but I can always +tell it. I have a sister married in the States, and her children speak +like their father. When they come to visit me I tell them that they are +regular Yankees. Not that I have anything against that; I hope I'll live +to see Boston some time."</p> + +<p>"Have you never been there?" asked Priscilla, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss; I know that it isn't so far away, but I was born in the +Old Country, and when I take a trip, that's where I'd rather go;" and +the little woman sighed. "But I'll show you the curiosity I spoke +of."</p> + +<p>From <span class='pagenum'><a name="Pg_25" id="Pg_25">\[Pg +25]</a></span>a drawer behind the counter she drew a small fan, one or +two of whose sticks were broken, while the silk was faded and torn.</p> + +<p>"I bought that from an old lady who said that her grandmother fanned +an officer who was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, while he lay +sick in her house after the battle. Perhaps I oughtn't to speak of it," +she concluded apologetically.</p> + +<p>"Why not? The war's entirely over, and no one has any feeling about +it now."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not." But the woman's voice carried a question.</p> + +<p>"Why, to prove that I have no resentment I'll buy the fan,—even +if it did once soothe the brow of a hated Britisher." Amy smiled at +Priscilla as she spoke.</p> + +<p>The price named came so well within Amy's means that she half doubted +the authenticity of the relic. Of her doubts, however, she gave no hint +to the talkative little Englishwoman. Instead, by what she afterwards +called a genuine inspiration, she asked some question about the French +people at Pubnico.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are good enough," said the woman, "and spend plenty of +money in Yarmouth; and there's many of the young people working here in +our shops and mills, although many French come from Meteghan and up that +way."</p> + +<p>"Meteghan?" queried Amy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's a pretty country up North on St Mary's Bay, and all +French. If you're going to Digby you'd better stop off."</p> + +<p>"But we were going straight through to Digby."</p> + +<p>"Yes, most people go straight through, and don't know what they miss. +You see, the natives up there are Acadians, and it's kind of foreign +like, for they mostly speak only French. My husband and I, we went up +there once and stayed at the hotel, for he had an order for some goods +that he had to see about himself."</p> + +<p>While Mrs. Lufkins was talking the practical Priscilla had taken out +her notebook, in which she wrote the name of the station and other +things that would help them.</p> + +<p>"Do you think that your mother would like to change her plans?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; she will think this just the thing. Probably there will +be good material for sketching,—scenery, and odd people, and all +that kind of thing. I am sure that she will like it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Lufkins," said Amy, as they turned away from the +mistress of the little shop; and then in a particularly cheerful tone +she added to Priscilla, "I feel as if I had found a gold-mine. Fritz was +so very sure that he was to have a monopoly of the only French in Nova +Scotia, that it will be great fun to write him about our French +people."</p> + +<p>"Then you think you will go there?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; mother will enjoy it, and it will be great fun for the +rest of us. Wasn't Mrs. Lufkins entertaining? If she were Yarmouth-born, +perhaps she wouldn't speak of us as Yankees. You know the first +permanent settlement here was made about 1761, by Cape Codders. In fact, +the name's from Yarmouth on the Cape, not from the English Yarmouth +directly. I remember the names of two of the first +settlers,—Sealed Landers and Eleshama Eldredge. Don't they sound +like real old Puritans?"</p> + +<p>"But how did they come to be English? Why didn't they stay on our +side in the Revolution?" Priscilla's tone contained a whole world of +reproach for Sealed and Eleshama.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's a long story. I dare say they were on our side—in +their hearts; but they couldn't afford to give up all they had worked +for, after coming here as pioneers. Many of the Yarmouth people were +thought to be in sympathy with the American privateers that were always +prowling about the coast. But the English managed to hold Nova Scotia, +and in the War of 1812 the number of American vessels captured by +Yarmouth was greater than the number of Yarmouth vessels captured by the +Americans."</p> + +<p>"When I left home," said Priscilla, "I did not know that there was so +much history down here. I thought that we were just coming for change of +air."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the place is alive with history; only you must let me know if I +bore you with too many stories."</p> + +<p>"You could never bore me." Priscilla laid her hand affectionately on +Amy's. She was an undemonstrative girl, though her likes and dislikes +were well known to herself. But for her fondness for Amy she would +hardly have made one of this summer party.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch3"></a>CHAPTER III</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">toward meteghan</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Amy rested her hand on her bicycle, waiting to mount.</p> + +<p>"I did not think that it would be quite so lonely; but still, you're +sure it's perfectly safe?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Miss, and not a long way." There was a trace of accent in +the speech of the man who replied to Amy's question. He had just +deposited a pouch of mail in the vehicle in which sat Mrs. Redmond, +Priscilla, and Martine, and had turned to adjust the harness of his +meek-looking horse.</p> + +<p>"You are not afraid, are you?" Priscilla's voice was anxious. "I wish +that I had brought my bicycle, and could ride with you."</p> + +<p>"You <i>do</i> look like a maiden all forlorn,—spruce trees to +right of you, spruce trees to left of you. Excuse my smiling;" and +Martine's smile lengthened itself into a decided giggle.</p> + +<p>"Don't," whispered Priscilla. "The driver will think that you are +laughing at him." It always surprised her that Martine should show so +little respect for Amy, who was several years her senior.</p> + +<p>"Amy," interposed Mrs. Redmond, "do you object to our driving away +and leaving you? Doubtless if we tried, we could find some kind of a +conveyance to carry you and the bicycle."</p> + +<p>"Not till after dinner, Madame." Their driver turned toward Mrs. +Redmond, lifting his hat politely,—"Every horse is away now."</p> + +<p>"The only thing for Amy to do is to let you hold her on your lap, +Priscilla, while I take the bicycle on mine." At which absurd suggestion +even Priscilla was forced to laugh; for the vehicle sent down to +Meteghan station for her Majesty's mail was as narrow and shallow as any +carriage could well be that made even a pretence of holding four +persons. But with the deftness that comes with experience the driver had +managed to find room not only for his passengers, but for their suit +case and bags, for several packages that had come by train, and finally +for his great pouch of mail.</p> + +<p>"There must be a perfect cavern under the seat," whispered Martine to +Mrs. Redmond. "I am sure that we could put Amy there."</p> + +<p>But even as she spoke Amy had mounted, and was up the hill ahead +before the driver had taken his seat. Yet although Amy had taken the +hill so well, she was soon out of breath. The road was soft, and the +hill steeper than she had thought, and when a little chubby boy darted +directly toward her, she slipped from her wheel and bent down to talk to +the little fellow.</p> + +<p>To her surprise, at first he did not respond to her "What's your +name?" but hung his head shyly. Then it occurred to her that he did not +understand, and when she repeated her question in French his "Louis, +Mademoiselle," showed that her venture had been right.</p> + +<p>"Does every one here speak French, Monsieur?" she asked, as the +carriage approached.</p> + +<p>"Yes, all," responded the driver, stopping beside her for a +moment.</p> + +<p>"And no English?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, many, though some have no English."</p> + +<p>Martine and Priscilla praised the bright eyes of little Louis. Mrs. +Redmond handed him an illustrated paper that she had brought from the +train, and the driver started up his horse.</p> + +<p>"You follow me," he called back to Amy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," cried Amy, laughing, knowing that she could soon pass +him; but while she loitered to talk with the child, the carriage was +soon so far ahead that she could barely discern the fluttering of the +long veil that Martine held out to stream in the wind like a flag.</p> + +<p>After leaving little Louis, Amy pedalled along leisurely. At first +she passed only one or two houses, but each of them offered her +something to think of. In front of one, two or three barefooted children +were playing hop-scotch, with the limits marked out in lines drawn by a +stick on the dusty road. "I should think they'd stub their toes," she +thought, as she watched them, "but they're so well-dressed, except their +feet, that I suppose they prefer to go without shoes."</p> + +<p>In the doorway of a second cottage, set like the other, close to the +road, a mother was standing with a baby in her arms, and a tiny little +girl clinging to her skirts. These children, like all the others she had +seen, had the brightest of black eyes. Beside the door was a well, +boarded in, with a bucket beside it.</p> + +<p>The woman looked so friendly that Amy stopped for a drink of water, +and, making use of her best French, she spent a few minutes talking with +the woman.</p> + +<p>A fine team of oxen hauling an empty hay wagon, beside which walked a +strapping youth in blue jeans and a flapping straw hat, was the next +reminder to Amy that she was indeed in a foreign country. After she had +returned the cheerful <i>bonjour</i> of two or three bareheaded women +whom she met trudging along toward a hayfield, Amy was recalled to +herself. Her mother and the others were out of sight. "The driver will +think that I am not even following;" and making good speed up a long, +gradual hill, she saw the carriage waiting for her some distance +ahead.</p> + +<p>"This way, this way," shouted Martine. The driver waved his whip +toward the left, and when Amy caught up, they had changed their +direction, and she could feel the soft fresh breeze blowing in from St. +Mary's Bay.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see such a clear blue sky?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Martine,"—Amy was thinking of cloudless days on the +North Shore,—"but none bluer, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"But it seems so foreign," interposed Priscilla, in a tone that +expressed some disapproval of foreign things. "I'm not sure that I like +it."</p> + +<p>"It seems different from other places, though I can't tell why."</p> + +<p>"This child is part of the why. Just look + at him." Martine pointed to +a little boy of about eight, dressed in black, with deep embroidered +ruffles of white falling about his wrists, and a broad ruffled collar on +his coat. He wore a hat that was something like a tam-o'-shanter, and +something like a mortar-board, and he carried a large slate under his +arm.</p> + +<p>"He's evidently on his way home from school. See the crowd of +children behind him."</p> + +<p>As the children drew nearer, some stood still, the better to see the +party of strangers. Thus the latter had a chance to note various +peculiarities of dress and general appearance. One or two little girls +wore sunbonnets, one or two wore hats, and several had on their heads +black <i>couvre-chefs</i>, that made them look like little old women. +The sturdy little boys in blouses were more like other boys, and they +indeed were too busy racing and tumbling over one another to pay +attention to the travellers.</p> + +<p>"Amy," exclaimed Martine, "you should have kept beside us all the +way, we have been hearing such wonderful stories. Down there by the +bridge there are several descendants of the Baron d'Entremont, and other +people whose ancestors came from France hundreds of years ago."</p> + +<p>"The Baron d'Entremont!" Amy felt a thrill of pleasure. Surely that +was one of the names that Fritz had mentioned in connection with +Pubnico, and if she too could come across some of his descendants, how +delightful this would be!</p> + +<p>The houses were now nearer together than they had been. At the right +there was a glimmer of blue water. On the bridge at the foot of the +decline Amy dismounted to watch the men loading with lumber a little +schooner at the wharf near-by. The carriage drew up before the tiny +post-office, where part of the mail was left. A gray-bearded man in the +door of a small shop caught Amy's eye. With his broad-brimmed hat, loose +trousers, and slippers,—yes, slippers,—he reminded her of +pictures she had seen of old Frenchmen. She longed to snap her kodak, to +catch him just as he stood there, leaning on his cane. But she did not +dare, there was something so very venerable and dignified in his +appearance.</p> + +<p>Then her eye fell on the name d'Entremont over the shop. Martine and +Priscilla joined her. Martine was in great spirits.</p> + +<p>"Your mother is writing a post-card in the office. So, while we are +waiting, let us go in here and try the d'Entremont brand of ginger ale. +They're sure to have some, and one doesn't often have the chance to +patronize the descendant of a French nobleman."</p> + +<p>Within the dim little shop two or three men were lounging near the +counter, who probably said to themselves, "Oh, those foolish Americans!"</p> + +<p>But their manner showed no disrespect as they moved aside, and the +proprietor made one or two pleasant remarks as he served the trio.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Amy was again on her bicycle, the others had +taken their places in the carriage, and the little village was behind +them. The large farms that they had seen near Meteghan station gave +place to small gardens. The houses were near together, and they were +painted in colors that drew many exclamations of approval from Martine. +"This is great! I never dreamed that I should see a lavender cottage +with green trimmings,—and what a shade of yellow for a house! Oh, +Mrs. Redmond, I hope that our water-colors will last the trip. I'm +afraid that we'll use them all up, painting the wonders of Meteghan. +This is Meteghan, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mees," replied the driver. "It was all Meteghan, from the +station, only that was a different name for the other post-office. But +there is our church; this is the true village."</p> + +<p>"Star of the Sea" was an imposing building, but the journey since +leaving Yarmouth had been long, and they were too eager now to reach +their destination to give the church more than a passing glance.</p> + +<p>Amy's quick eye had noted the swinging sign of the little inn not so +very far beyond the church, and, hastening ahead, she was the first to +be welcomed by Madame, wife of their driver, who was also proprietor of +the small hotel.</p> + +<p>Welcomed with ceremonious politeness, they were soon made to feel +perfectly at home. When the question was pressed, they all admitted that +they were very hungry. In the pleasant rooms to which they were shown, +they had barely time to make themselves ready when a loud bell called +them to dinner. As the four entered the dining-room, they saw that there +were several other guests at the long table. One, a stout man with a +fondness for jokes, proved to be the agent for a millinery house in +Halifax. There were one or two others who said so little that even Amy +could not tell whether they were French or English; two middle-aged +ladies near Mrs. Redmond quickly let her know that they were teachers +from Connecticut, now for the first time making a tour of the provinces. +They had sailed from New York to Halifax for the sake of the sea voyage, +and had come down slowly through Windsor, Grand Pré, and Annapolis, and +were enthusiastic about all these places.</p> + +<p>"But if you can," one of them concluded, "you must have a few days at +Little Brook,—Petit Ruisseau, as some call it. It's the centre of +everything interesting in Clare; it's really where the first Acadians +landed after the expulsion, and only a short distance from Point à +l'Église."</p> + +<p>Amy listened eagerly. Here evidently was some one who could tell her +much that she wished to hear about this new country, and later, when +they were all outside on the little piazza at the front, she learned +what she wished to know. On consulting her mother, they decided that +after a day at Meteghan they would go on to Little Brook, and spend at +least two or three days there—if possible at the Hotel Paris, +which the teachers recommended.</p> + +<p>Missing Priscilla and Martine, Amy found them in the little +sitting-room.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," whispered Martine, "aren't you disappointed?"</p> + +<p>"Disappointed with what?"</p> + +<p>"Why, in this house—this room especially; it's so—so +unforeign."</p> + +<p>Amy glanced around her,—at the bright-flowered carpet; the +marble-topped table, on which was displayed a bouquet of wax-flowers +under a glass globe; on the two machine-made oak rockers; and then on +the pictures.</p> + +<p>"Where do you suppose they found that picture of the Queen with such +very pink cheeks, and a mouth as small as a pin, and those wax-figure +princelings—and those saints? Do you suppose Madame and her +children know the names of them all?"</p> + +<p>At that moment Madame herself entered the door.</p> + +<p>"You like pretty things. Ah, you must see my rugs, if you would care +to."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," Amy replied politely.</p> + +<p>"Then come with me. They are in my room,—the best,—and +the American ladies always admire them."</p> + +<p>So the two girls followed their landlady upstairs, where she proudly +displayed rug after rug of wonderful design and still more wonderful +color. Martine dared not say what she thought,—that it seemed a +pity that so much time had been put into things that could only dazzle +rather than please the average beholder. Amy conscientiously praised +those that could be properly praised,—for here and there was a rug +of really artistic design,—and Priscilla gave an exclamation of +delight as she noticed on the bed a really exquisite spread.</p> + +<p>"You like that?" asked Madame. "It is good work, all by hand; only +two or tree women can now make them. My old aunt who made that is dead, +but—"</p> + +<p>"It is like the finest Marseilles, only I never saw so beautiful a +pattern. I did not know people could make such things by hand."</p> + +<p>"On a loom, surely yes; there are only one or two in Meteghan, but +you can see one work, if you wish, at Alexandre Babet's."</p> + +<p>"There, that will be something to see! Is it far?" cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. You can find it quickly."</p> + +<p>"After we are rested," responded Amy. "The sun is still hot. Your +rugs and the spread are beautiful."</p> + +<p>As the girls sat down on the piazza, Priscilla turned to Amy. "You +did not think those rugs really beautiful?"</p> + +<p>Amy did not resent this slight touch of reproach, even though +Priscilla was so much her junior.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and no. Some of them were beautiful even from my point of view. +They all were from that of their owner, and since she desired to please +us by showing them, it seemed only fair to reward her with a word of +praise."</p> + +<p>"But if every one praises her she will go on using those terrible +aniline colors. They made my head ache just to look at them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Priscilla, you are so precise I'll call you 'Prim' as well as +'Prissie.'"</p> + +<p>"<i>No</i> one else calls me 'Prissie,' Martine."</p> + +<p>"No one else dares tease you. Probably your little brothers and +sisters are frightened to death of you, and then, because you are the +oldest, you have always been made to think that you are absolutely +perfect."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine!"</p> + +<p>"There, there, I know just how it is. It's so in our family; I have +an elder brother, and he has always been held up as a model, although, +between you and me, he's far from perfect. It just keeps me busy, +showing him his faults. So, Miss Prissie, if you are too old-maidish +I'll have to show you yours."</p> + +<p>Priscilla was helpless under Martine's rapid fire of words. In her +moments of reflection it surprised her that a girl whom six months +before she had not even heard of, should now venture to say things to +her that no one in her own family would dare to say.</p> + +<p>A little later, Amy and Priscilla and Martine set out to see the loom +that made the fine quilts. Priscilla had desired to postpone the visit +until next morning. "It would be better to rest now."</p> + +<p>"I'm tired resting," protested Martine. "Unless we move on, I will go +indoors, and play doleful things on the melodeon. You don't know what I +am when I'm melancholy."</p> + +<p>Unmoved by Martine, when Amy showed that it was better not to spend +the whole afternoon listlessly, Priscilla objected no longer.</p> + +<p>The Babet house was a ten minutes' walk up the street. After +mistaking one or two houses for the one they were seeking, their third +trial brought a tall, long-bearded man to the door who answered to the +name of Alexandre Babet.</p> + +<p>"We hear that some one here—your wife, perhaps,—makes +those beautiful quilts."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," responded Alexandre, in fair English. "They are good +quilts, and we have a loom."</p> + +<p>Martine pinched Priscilla's arm. "I'm disappointed; I thought that +he'd speak French."</p> + +<p>"Come in, come in;" and Alexandre showed them into the neatest of +sitting-rooms,—neat, but painfully bare. It was brightened, to be +sure, by one or two gay pictures of saints in brilliant-colored +garments, and by two or three geraniums in flower on the window. But the +wooden floor was unpainted, and on it was only one rug, and there was +little furniture besides the high dresser and a long table.</p> + +<p>Alexandre went off to summon his wife, and soon she came in from the +kitchen, accompanied by another, whom Alexandre introduced as his +sister. The girls soon became embarrassed under the piercing gaze of +their black eyes. The women wore dark calico gowns with little shawls +over their shoulders, and their <i>couvre-chefs</i> were bound closely +to their heads. Neither of them understood English, nor spoke it. But +Alexandre proved as talkative as any two women. Moreover, he +occasionally translated his own words into French, and in the same way +made the women understand what the young American girls said—to +the great amusement of Amy and Martine. Priscilla sat solemnly through +the conversation, as if she found something pathetic in the aspect of +the women.</p> + +<p>During a moment of silence, when the room seemed rather close and +uncomfortable,—for the windows were shut, and the blinds were +drawn,—there came a gentle tapping on the door. Madame Babet +sprang to her feet.</p> + +<p>"No, no, sit still; she can come in." Then turning to the others, +Alexandre added, "It is Yvonne, our little one. Come in, Yvonne," he +called in a louder tone; "here are Americans."</p> + +<p>Upon this the door was pushed open, and a little girl wearing a pink +gingham gown and a white sunbonnet, entered slowly, holding one hand +outstretched, as if not quite sure of herself. Then, walking directly +toward Madame Babet, she slipped to the floor beside her, and laid her +head on her lap.</p> + +<p>The girls looked from her to Alexandre to read an explanation in his +face, and he, understanding, raised his hand to his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Blind!" exclaimed Martine, involuntarily. "Poor little thing!"</p> + +<p>"She understands English," said the man, warningly; "she does not +wish pity."</p> + +<p>"I see much," said Yvonne, proudly, "when the light does not glare. I +see the American ladies. This one is pretty;" and rising, she made her +way carefully to Martine, and laid her hand confidingly in hers.</p> + +<p>Martine's color deepened; she felt a great tenderness toward the +girl, and she raised the little hand to her lips.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch4"></a>CHAPTER IV</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">yvonne</span></p> + +<p class="p2"> "She is adopted," said Alexandre, "but we know no +difference. She calls us her parents. Her mother and father are dead, +and she makes her home with us since she was a baby. When I get my gold +out she shall sing, oh, so beautifully."</p> + +<p>"Your gold out?" queried Amy.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes! Back here on my farm, which looks all rocks, there is much +gold underneath. I know not how to get it out, but some day I shall find +a miner who knows. See!"</p> + +<p>From a drawer in the dresser he brought out two pieces of quartz, +which he asked the girls to look at carefully. "It is gold underneath, +sans doute, and, Mees, if you know a miner in Boston to study this, he +could have some of my gold when it is dug out, but as for me I know not +how to get it out, and poor Yvonne cannot have her music."</p> + +<p>Gradually the girls gathered that Yvonne had a voice "sweeter than an +angel's," and that Alexandre had set his heart on giving her a musical +education. His plans soared far beyond the Western continent. He would +send her to Paris, to Italy, and she should astonish the world. The most +of this conversation or monologue took place in the little field back of +the house that Alexandre dignified as "my farm." The soil was poor and +rocky, and evidently he had hard work to raise the few patches of +vegetables needed for his family. There was a tiny orchard,—it had +not been an Acadian farm without that. The trees were knotty and +scrubby, and Amy was not surprised that the prospect of a gold-mine +offered even more than the usual attractions to the visionary Alexandre. +But Amy, though she knew nothing of mineralogy, thought it most unlikely +that a gold-mine lay hidden beneath the stony surface in which Alexandre +had dug a deep, deep hole with a vague idea that it was a shaft. Indeed, +Amy felt quite sure that even a mineralogist—for such was the +meaning of his "miner"—would give him little encouragement. Yet as +she looked at the slender figure of Yvonne walking ahead with Martine, +she felt deep sympathy with his ambition.</p> + +<p>Evidently Yvonne, in spite of her infirmity, was the pride of the +little household. Her print gown of a delicate pink cambric was +spotlessly neat, and her white sunbonnet had been laundered with the +greatest care. Though much shorter and slighter than Martine, the latter +was surprised to find that the little Acadienne was hardly a year +younger, and that it was true, as Alexandre said, that she ought soon to +have the chance to study—if—and here was the +question—if her voice was what he pictured it.</p> + +<p>"Miss Amy," murmured Priscilla, half impatiently, "I thought that we +came to see the loom."</p> + +<p>"Indeed we did, but these people have been so interesting that we +have spent too much time out here." Then turning toward their host, who +had fallen back, she asked him to show them the loom.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, with the greatest pleasure,—the loom, and the +beautiful quilts that my wife makes, and the lace of Yvonne. The mine +did almost make me forget, but we shall go in quick."</p> + +<p>When they were again in the house he led them up a steep flight of +stairs to an unfinished room, with great rafters overhead and two small +windows admitting little light.</p> + +<p>There at the loom sat his silent wife, and beside her stood the +equally silent sister. So it fell on Alexandre to explain the workings +of the great wooden frame. While he was talking, however, the attention +of all the girls flagged a little. Amy had never been interested in +machinery, and made no pretence of understanding it. Priscilla was +impressed by the quaintness of the scene, but she was weary from her two +or three days of travelling, and her mind wandered while the voluble +Frenchman was talking; and Martine, fully occupied with Yvonne, paid +little heed to any one else. Nevertheless they were all sufficiently +impressed with the skill with which the rather dull-looking wife of +Alexandre managed warp and woof, and produced, even as they were looking +at her, a fragment of pattern.</p> + +<p>While Alexandre was in the midst of one of his speeches Priscilla +whispered to Amy, and Amy, as if at her suggestion, turned to +Alexandre.</p> + +<p>"We cannot stay much longer," she said politely, "and we are +delighted to have seen this loom, so that we can understand how these +quilts are made. It's really quite wonderful, your wife is so clever;" +and she paused for a moment to watch the busy fingers now flying in and +out among the threads. "But we came particularly to see some of the +quilts."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Mees, certainly, we will show you quick;" then with an eye +to business,—"perhaps you will want to buy."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Amy, "perhaps we may. Come, Priscilla; come, +Martine."</p> + +<p>The two women followed the girls downstairs, and when they were again +in the little front room, from a wooden chest in the corner they brought +out a large quilt of much more beautiful design than any they had +seen.</p> + +<p>"I must have that," cried Martine in delight; "it is just what I +want."</p> + +<p>Then, when a second was shown, she was equally enthusiastic, and then +a third was laid on top of the pile.</p> + +<p>"The money from the quilts is saved for Yvonne," Alexandre whispered +to Amy, and the latter did not protest when four of the quilts were laid +aside for Martine. Amy also chose one for herself, but Priscilla, +although she praised them, expressed no inclination to buy. Only when +some narrow hand-made lace was brought out from the chest did she become +enthusiastic, or as nearly enthusiastic as was possible for Priscilla, +and Yvonne blushed under her praise.</p> + +<p>"It is an old art," the little blind girl explained; "it was my +grandmother taught me, and her grandmother taught her, and so on back to +the days of old France."</p> + +<p>"But how can she do it? She is blind!" exclaimed Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not all blind, and not always! She can see a little, though +everything is dim, and the lace it is knitted,—not pillow lace, +like some,—and she can make her fingers go, oh, so quickly! Ah, +she has much talent, the little Yvonne, and you must hear her sing."</p> + +<p>So Yvonne sang to them standing there in the middle of the room, +without notes and unaccompanied, and the plaintiveness of the tone and +the richness of the voice drew tears from the eyes of the three American +girls, while father and mother and aunt were lost in admiration as they +gazed at the slender figure in the pale pink gown.</p> + +<p>Hardly had she finished when Martine, jumping up, impulsively threw +her arms about Yvonne's neck.</p> + +<p>"You must go back with me to the hotel. You must sing to me again. +There is a melodeon in the parlor, and I will accompany you. Please, Mr. +Babet, can she go back with us?"</p> + +<p>"It is an honor for Yvonne," he replied politely; "I will ask her +mother."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let me; I will make her say 'Yes'"; and in a few words of rapid +French Martine asked that Yvonne might go to the hotel as her guest, to +stay to tea. The mother at once assented, and both of the silent women +were in a flutter of excitement as they accompanied Yvonne to her +bedroom to make some additions to her dress.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Alexandre, "she has never been inside the hotel; it will +seem very grand to her."</p> + +<p>Then Yvonne, kissing them all,—the mother, the aunt, and +finally the tall father,—turned her back to the cottage, and with +beaming face leaned on Martine's arm as Amy led the way.</p> + +<p>A little distance down the road they saw a man standing by a +gate.</p> + +<p>"Good-day, little one," he called; "where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"To the hotel, Uncle Placide."</p> + +<p>"How happens it?"</p> + +<p>"These American ladies have asked me. I am to have tea."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, she is a dear little one, and you are good to her."</p> + +<p>The whole party had now halted in front of the gate, and these words +seemed to be particularly addressed to Amy; for, standing directly in +front of her, Placide lifted his hat. "Won't you enter?" he asked +pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"But, uncle," remonstrated Yvonne, "we have no time; we go to the +hotel."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but there is much time; I have been in the States, and I like to +talk to the strangers, so enter my garden at least, ladies, to taste of +my cherries."</p> + +<p>There was nothing to do but enter the garden. At the mention of +cherries Yvonne indeed had seemed more willing to halt on her way to the +hotel, and the others, as Placide thrust upon them liberal handfuls of +his great crimson cherries, did not regret the delay.</p> + +<p>"You are from Boston," he said, after Amy had mentioned her home. +"Ah, I worked in Boston, that is, in Lowell, which was the same, and +then I came home when I had saved enough to buy a house. It is not so +gay here as in Lowell, but it is happier, and I can make a pleasanter +living. I never did like the mill, but the pay was good."</p> + +<p>"What do you do now, Mr. Placide?" asked Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I fish. The sea is good to us Acadians; it is better than the +factory. One gets health here as well as fish, and fish enough to keep +the house fed. So, with my potatoes and my cherries, I am rich." Then, +with an afterthought,—"But I hope sometime that little Yvonne can +go to Boston, where there is much music. She could study and be great +singer, for the voice it needs teaching. I know that, because I have +been in the States where people study so much."</p> + +<p>The girls found it hard to leave Placide, for he was even more fluent +than Alexandre, and his years in the States had given him a certain +amount of information about things American, and he was evidently fond +of displaying what he knew. But at last they managed to say good-bye, +and continued their way down the road.</p> + +<p>"I am tired," sighed Priscilla, as the four stood at the door of the +little hotel.</p> + +<p>"Then let us sit here on the piazza. Would this suit you, +Yvonne?"</p> + +<p>Yvonne turned toward Amy with a smile. "I like whatever the other +ladies like; it is all good for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," added Martine, "it will be great fun to sit here and watch +the passers-by. Things are rushing this afternoon; two persons are +entering that shop across the way, and I can count three ox-carts and +two buggies in sight. Where do you suppose the buggies are going?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps half a mile up the road; perhaps to Yarmouth. You know there +is a continuous street along St. Mary's Bay, about forty miles from +Yarmouth to Weymouth."</p> + +<p>"One street forty miles long!" Amy's statement roused Priscilla from +her lethargy.</p> + +<p>"The young lady says true," interposed Madame, their landlady, who +had stepped out on the piazza. "Forty miles, and all Acadians! Is it not +marvellous that they have grown to be so much, when the English treated +them so cruelly, long, long ago?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, Evangeline," responded Martine, politely.</p> + +<p>"Evangeline never came back," said the literal Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"That is true," assented the landlady. "But there is more than +Evangeline to tell about. Little Yvonne here knows many tales."</p> + +<p>Yvonne sighed softly. "Ah, yes, very many. But Evangeline lived not +in Meteghan. Her country was Grand Pré, far north. You will go there, +without doubt?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Yvonne, we shall spend a week there."</p> + +<p>"There are not so many stories about Meteghan, for no one lived here +until after the exile."</p> + +<p>"I remember one," interposed Amy; "the story of Aubrey, who was lost +in the woods. At least, some writers say that he was lost in the +Meteghan woods, others that it all happened near Digby."</p> + +<p>"Tell us the story, Amy, and we can decide for ourselves where it +was."</p> + +<p>"How like Martine!" thought Priscilla, "as if a girl could decide +where to place an historic event!"</p> + +<p>"After all," continued Amy, "it's only a little story, but it tells +of something that happened on that first expedition to St. Mary's Bay, +when De Monts brought his vessels here in 1604, and Champlain named this +stretch of water, as he named so many other places. One member of the +expedition was Aubrey, a priest, with an intelligent love of nature. A +small party went off from the vessel to look for ore along the shores of +St. Mary's Bay. The priest was one of the number, but when the boat was +ready to return he could not be found. He had left his sword in the +woods, and had gone back to look for it. For four days the others +searched for him without success, and suspicion fell on one or two +Huguenots in the party, in whose company he was last seen. With one of +them he had had some rather violent discussions on religious matters. To +the credit of all, however, no harm was done to the Huguenots in spite +of the suspicion. After sailing without Aubrey, the party went farther +north, and it was nearly three weeks before they returned to the +neighborhood where he had disappeared."</p> + +<p>"Did they find him?" asked Martine, somewhat impatiently. Amy was to +learn that Martine's temperament led her always to desire the climax +almost before she had heard the story itself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they found him; for when they were some distance from shore +they saw something that looked like a flag waving. A boat was sent out, +and to the delight of those who went in it, they saw that the flag was a +handkerchief tied to a hat on a stick, that the missing Aubrey was +holding to attract their attention. Looking for his sword, the good +priest had missed his way, and for seventeen days he had wandered in the +woods, living on berries and roots."</p> + +<p>"How delighted he must have been to see his friends!"</p> + +<p>"Not more delighted than they to see him; for had he not been found, +the consequences for the suspected Huguenots might have been +serious."</p> + +<p>"It is Yvonne's turn to tell us a story," said Martine, "but we all +need to rest before tea, and I want to tell your mother about the +quilts. If she disapproves of my buying so many—"</p> + +<p>"I suppose that you will send them back;" Amy's tone contradicted her +words.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I will not send them back. But I do wonder what I shall do +with them."</p> + +<p>Yvonne and Martine went indoors, and Amy and Priscilla soon followed. +Amy prepared her mother for Yvonne by telling her all that they had +learned about the little girl.</p> + +<p>"I won't discourage Martine's altruism," said Mrs. Redmond. "Her +impulsiveness in the past has sometimes led her into trouble, but +Martine herself will be benefited by having this warm interest in +another. As to the quilts, though we cannot carry them about with us, +they can be easily expressed home, and the duty will not be large."</p> + +<p>After tea the whole party sat in the little parlor, to listen to +Yvonne. Her first two or three songs were without accompaniment. They +were plaintive songs with French words, and unfamiliar to the Americans +who were listening. But a chance question revealed the fact that Yvonne +was also familiar with much music that Amy knew well. Thereupon Martine +suggested that if Amy would improvise some accompaniments Yvonne might +be heard to even better advantage. So Amy, seated there at the melodeon, +played, and Yvonne continued to sing, and some of the music was rendered +with a dramatic power that surprised all who listened.</p> + +<p>"Ah, she will be great some day," said the landlady, listening +enraptured to the bird-like tones. "How it had pleased her poor mother +to know that she was to be a singer!"</p> + +<p>While Yvonne sang, various plans were rushing through Martine's busy +brain. "Yvonne shall have a parlor organ, Yvonne shall have teachers, +Yvonne shall have her eyes examined by a good oculist. Evidently she is +not blind,—not really blind."</p> + +<p>While she was thinking and planning, her eyes never left the face of +the little French girl, held there by the wonderfully happy expression +which lit it. Yvonne's wide, brown eyes, her half-parted lips, the +little brown tendrils curling around her forehead, all combined to make +a picture that impressed itself strongly on all in the room. Moreover, +the gentle and unassuming manner of the young singer, as she received +the praise showered on her, completely won the hearts of all. Or perhaps +it would be more nearly true to say that if Priscilla's heart was not +completely won, she at least had begun to see some reason in Martine's +infatuation.</p> + +<p>"Is it not wonderful?" asked Martine of Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>"She certainly sings remarkably well—for a little girl."</p> + +<p>Martine looked up quickly at Mrs. Redmond. Was the latter able to +find some flaw in what she herself considered altogether perfect? She +had no time just then to question her, for Yvonne herself might overhear +the reply, and besides, the young girl was about to sing again, and +Martine could not spare a note.</p> + +<p>When at last the tall figure of Alexandre Babet appeared in the +doorway, they knew that the music must end, and with a protracted +farewell from Martine, Yvonne and her adopted father started for home +before nine o'clock.</p> + +<p>"Yvonne did not seem as much overcome by the grandeur of the hotel as +Alexandre prophesied," remarked Amy, as the girls went upstairs.</p> + +<p>"Yvonne would never be overpowered by anything," responded Martine; +"I don't believe she'd be surprised by the Auditorium."</p> + +<p>Whereat both Amy and Priscilla laughed loudly. "To compare small +things with great," said Priscilla, "of course she wouldn't be impressed +by this hotel. Why, it's smaller than a summer boarding-house."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Alexandre meant?" mused Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was only his way of trying to make you think that you were +doing Yvonne a great favor by asking her here," responded Amy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the French way of pretending that things are what they are +not," added Priscilla, as if the word "French" comprised the very +essence of deceit.</p> + +<p>"Take care," retorted Martine. "I never dared tell you before, but I +had a French great-great-grandmother."</p> + +<p>Although Priscilla made no reply to this, her inward comment was, +"That accounts for many things that have made me wonder."</p> + +<p>At breakfast the next morning, before Martine had come down to the +table, Amy asked her mother what she really thought of Yvonne's +singing.</p> + +<p>"I do not profess to be a judge of that kind of thing, but the child +seems to have a fine natural voice, as well as a musical nature. Yet, +like all other singers, she must have her tones properly placed, and she +is still too young to profit by expensive musical instruction. It is my +own opinion that it would be better for her to sing little for the next +few years. Some of the things that she sang last evening were beyond +her, and there is danger of her forcing her voice, and so injuring +it."</p> + +<p>"Have you said this to Martine?"</p> + +<p>"No, for Martine is the type of girl who profits most by finding out +things for herself. She will learn gradually that everything cannot be +done at once for Yvonne."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch5"></a>CHAPTER V</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">new people</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"I don't like to."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p>"It seems strange. They may not care to have us visit them."</p> + +<p>"We can only try. If they turn us away why, that is the worst we need +expect." So, drawing Priscilla's arm within hers, Amy led her up the +narrow flagged walk toward the Convent School.</p> + +<p>A sister wearing a glazed bonnet with a long veil was trimming +rosebushes in the garden bed close to the house.</p> + +<p>"Yes, surely, we are glad to have visitors. The school itself is +closed now, for the girls have their holidays, but you can see all there +is. Excuse me for a moment and I will be with you."</p> + +<p>In a short time she had joined them in the little hallway to which +they had been admitted by another sister.</p> + +<p>"Would the ladies care to see the chapel?"</p> + +<p>"Ladies" had a pleasant sound to Priscilla, and she put aside her +prejudice against entering churches not of her own faith.</p> + +<p>The chapel was simply a large room suitably fitted with altar and +seats. It had no color, but everything was daintily white, with here and +there a touch of gold.</p> + +<p>The neat dormitory, the pleasant schoolroom, and the spotless +cleanliness of the whole house appealed to Priscilla, and to her +surprise she found herself asking the sister questions about her +work.</p> + +<p>"We are Sisters of Charity, and our headquarters are in Halifax," the +good sister said gently. "The school is but a little part of our work. +We go in and out among the sick and the troubled. The Acadians are good +to their own, and no one need suffer here; but some will make mistakes, +and some suffer through the fault of others, and often the priest and +the sisters alone can set things right."</p> + +<p>Soon they had seen all that there was to see, and when the sister, +looking at the clock, regretted that she must leave them to visit a sick +woman, both girls asked if they might not walk with her.</p> + +<p>"With pleasure," she replied. "Indeed, I would take you to the house +where I am going, were it not that this woman is too sick to see +visitors."</p> + +<p>"We should like to see another Acadian house," said Amy; "we have +visited only that of Alexandre Babet, and that was so plain."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you have been at Alexandre Babet's. Then you have seen the +little Yvonne. Is she not charming?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, charming and talented. We have heard her sing."</p> + +<p>"Yvonne sings sweetly. We have taught her some music here, but nature +has done the most for her, and she is so patient about her eyes."</p> + +<p>"Do you think that she will be blind?" asked Amy, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not wholly blind, though it is largely a question of +doctors. This came to her through an illness a few years ago. She did +not have the right care. They did not understand. But there is always +hope, and I think <ins title="'hat' in the original">that</ins> she is +no worse this year or two."</p> + +<p>"We have a friend who has taken a great fancy to Yvonne. She +preferred to go up to Alexandre Babet's this morning rather than to come +sightseeing with us."</p> + +<p>"Yvonne wins the heart of all so quickly, and her good father and +mother, though adopted, would do everything for her if they could. Poor +Alexandre looks for a gold-mine."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we know," and Amy smiled; "but I am glad to know that there is +hope for Yvonne's eyes."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, there is hope. Poor child! She has had a strange +history."</p> + +<p>At that moment two small girls crossed their path. They looked like +little old women, with their shawls and <i>couvre-chefs</i>. The sister +laid her hand on the shoulder of one of them.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>The girls hung their heads shamefaced, and would not meet the +sister's gaze.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you know; go home and get your hats."</p> + +<p>The children ran off without looking back, and the sister turned with +a smile to Amy and Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"You see they are foolish. When they are at school I tell them they +must wear hats every day; but in holidays they will put on +<i>couvre-chefs</i>. It is an old fashion that I think not good. When +they are married—ah! it is too bad—at once they put on the +<i>couvre-chef</i>, the very girls that I took such trouble with. It +takes long to get the Acadians away from the old fashions. But they are +good people."</p> + +<p>"We should like to see more of them," said Amy. "We should like to +see another Acadian house. That of Alexandre Babet did not seem +typical."</p> + +<p>"Then I should be glad to take you to see one. Why, here we are, just +opposite the house of Madame Doucet, who speaks some English, and with +her daughter you would see two excellent Acadians. Would you care to +call there? I will introduce you, though I must go on farther."</p> + +<p>Priscilla looked up in protest, but when Amy expressed pleasure at +the prospect of making the visit, she said nothing in opposition. The +sister, saying a word or two more in praise of Madame Doucet, and +leading them across the street, knocked briskly on the door of a small +pink cottage.</p> + +<p>This was one of the brightest of the brightly painted dwellings that +Amy had noticed when on her wheel the day before,—a pink with +pale-green trimmings. When the sister had introduced them to the +heavy-browed young woman who came to the door, she left them, to go +farther on her errand of mercy.</p> + +<p>The young woman, after welcoming the girls heartily, led them to the +kitchen in the rear, into which the bright morning sunshine was pouring, +while a tiny canary in its cage sang cheerfully.</p> + +<p>In the rocking-chair near a window sat an elderly woman, whom the +daughter introduced as her mother. She was stouter and stronger looking +than Madame Babet, and although she could hardly be called of ruddy +complexion, she was far less sallow. Her face showed signs of age, but +her hair had hardly begun to turn gray, and she welcomed the two girls +so cordially that they were at once at their ease.</p> + +<p>Amy, while the daughter exchanged a few words with her mother, +glanced around the room. Its floor was partially covered with a square +of oilcloth, and the most conspicuous article of furniture was the +large, highly polished range, on which were several bright pans and +kettles of tin. There were religious pictures on the wall, and one or +two rocking-chairs. Evidently it was sitting-room as well as kitchen. A +set of shelves in the corner laden with dishes attracted Amy's +attention. Madame Doucet, observing Amy's interest, for she had stepped +toward the shelves, said to her kindly,—</p> + +<p>"Ah, go close, eef you please; you may touch them."</p> + +<p>Amy gave an exclamation of delight as she took down a pitcher of +copper lustre shining like burnished gold.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful! I wish I had one like it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is not to sell; it is family what you call it?"</p> + +<p>"Heirloom," suggested Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"But yes, that is so, for my grandmère had it long ago. She was +daughter to an exile."</p> + +<p>Amy handled the pitcher carefully as she set it back on the shelf. +Few of the other dishes were china, though one delicate cup and saucer +Amy pronounced older even than the pitcher.</p> + +<p>When Priscilla complimented the two women on their English, they +beamed with pride, and explained that they had made a great effort to +learn it while living in Yarmouth, where the older woman's husband had +worked in a mill.</p> + +<p>"But we see not many English, so we have not much chance to practise. +That how the sister send you here."</p> + +<p>"As a language-lesson," murmured Amy; and even Priscilla smiled in +spite of herself.</p> + +<p>The younger woman was talkative. She took them into her neat bedroom, +with its floor in two colors,—a yellow geometrical design painted +on a brown ground,—and showed them with especial pride her +dressing-table, the frame of which she had fashioned with her own hands +and draped with white muslin. From the window she pointed out her little +garden, with its vegetable patch and tiny strawberry-bed, which she +worked herself.</p> + +<p>"I sell some every year," she said. "That helps keep house. We don't +need much, we Acadians; we very lazy."</p> + +<p>"You don't seem lazy to me," remarked Amy; "certainly you are +hard-working."</p> + +<p>"P'raps lazy is not the word—no, it is content. We Acadians are +too content with what we have. We want not too much, and so we make not +money as the Americans."</p> + +<p>With some difficulty Amy brought to a close the visit to the cheerful +mother and daughter. She on her part, and they on theirs, had so many +questions to ask and to answer.</p> + +<p>On their way back to the hotel they stopped for a moment at the +graveyard in front of the great brick church.</p> + +<p>"Let us not go in," urged Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"It may not be open," returned Amy, "though this Stella Maris +interests me because our landlady told me that the whole parish helped +build it. All saved and saved, and gave what they could, and the men, +when they came home tired from fishing, would go some distance where the +bricks were and haul them to the building. But if you don't care to go +into the church, do spend a few minutes in the churchyard,—I have +a weakness for studying old gravestones;" and as she spoke Amy's mind +went back to a day long ago when she and Brenda and Nora and Julia had +poked among the stones in that old burying-ground overlooking Marblehead +Harbor. This thought reminded her of Fritz, who had teased her that day +in his boyish way, and strangely enough these memories took such +possession of her that she could not put her mind on this little +churchyard of the Acadians.</p> + +<p>Moreover there was less of interest here than she had expected. +Inscriptions were few, and these were modern and practical. There was +something pathetic in the general tangle of grass and shrubbery, and in +the plain little wooden crosses that marked the majority of the +graves.</p> + +<p>As they approached the hotel a shout greeted them,—"Amy, Amy, +Prissie, Prissie! Where have you been?"</p> + +<p>"How silly Martine is!" Priscilla had barely time to say, when +Martine herself rushed out of a little building near the house.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do come in, Yvonne is with me; I've been buying her a hat."</p> + +<p>"A hat!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, do come and see. There's a man here from Halifax,—a +drummer, I suppose,—and he has the loveliest fall styles. I would +get one for myself if I knew how to carry it."</p> + +<p>"An autumn hat in July! Will you make poor Yvonne wear it now?"</p> + +<p>When they entered the room where the millinery was displayed, they +saw Yvonne standing in rapt admiration before the long double row of +hats that the milliner's man had taken out of his boxes. In her hand she +held a large shaggy felt, trimmed with rosettes of velvet. The little +girl was fingering it lovingly.</p> + +<p>"I have never had a hat," she explained, "only hoods and sunbonnets, +but my new friend, she desires that I have one for the winter, and it +will indeed be a pleasure. I could never wear a <i>couvre-chef</i> like +an old woman. I do not see these plain, but they feel so soft."</p> + +<p>"Put it on, Yvonne, you look so sweet."</p> + +<p>So Yvonne put it on, and after trying one or two others, Martine +still preferred the first one. Accordingly it was packed in a large box, +and Martine carried it to the hotel, where Yvonne was to stay until Mrs. +Redmond and her party should start for Little Brook.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was warm. Mrs. Redmond went down to the edge of the Bay +to finish a sketch that she had begun in the morning. Amy and Priscilla +sat on the piazza, lazily watching the passers-by, and commiserating the +men mowing grass in the meadow across the road that lay between them and +the sea.</p> + +<p>Martine roamed about the house with Yvonne clinging closely to her, +and at last sat down for an hour in the parlor, to hear Yvonne sing some +of her plaintive songs.</p> + +<p>After their early tea Alexandre came to claim Yvonne, and the two +girls fell on each other's necks in a farewell embrace. Though they were +less demonstrative in their expression, Amy and Mrs. Redmond, and +Priscilla too, felt some emotion at parting with their new friend.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a real good-bye," whispered Martine to Yvonne; "I know that +Mrs. Redmond will help me carry out those plans I spoke of. So <i>au +revoir</i>."</p> + +<p>From Meteghan to Little Brook they were to drive eight +miles,—at least, all but Amy were to drive, while she, as before, +was to wheel beside the carriage.</p> + +<p>"You will stay in Little Brook a week," said the two Connecticut +teachers, bidding them good-bye. "Don't forget the Hotel Paris. It's +smaller than this," they added, smiling, "but you will find it +entertaining in every way."</p> + +<p>"We can't stay a week," Mrs. Redmond had replied; "already we need +our trunks."</p> + +<p>"And our letters," added Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are waiting for us in Digby. You see this side trip to +Clare was as unexpected as it has been pleasant."</p> + +<p>But the farewells were at last all said, and with only one backward +glance at the landlady and her children, the teachers, and the +commercial traveller, the four turned their faces toward Petit +Ruisseau,</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i6"> ... "'when brightly the sunset</span> +<span class="i0">Lighted the village street.'"</span> +</p> + +<p>sang Amy as they rode along. "Don't you remember that in +'Evangeline,' Priscilla?" she asked, for she was riding close to the +carriage.</p> + +<p>"It sounds familiar. We must find time to read Longfellow while we +are at Little Brook."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; but now—"</p> + +<p>Amy did not finish the sentence, for the driver started up his horse, +and to show that she did not intend to be outridden she increased her +own speed, and soon was out of hearing of the others. It was a beautiful +evening. The gaily painted houses of Meteghan, and even those that were +dazzling white, all suggested the toy dwellings of the Christmas shops. +Amy greatly enjoyed the scene as she pedalled along. A girl standing in +one doorway, knitting busily, called out a cheerful salutation, which +Amy returned.</p> + +<p>At one corner was a little shop, where a few men in blue jeans had +gathered to talk after their day's work. Soon Meteghan was far behind, +and Amy had passed the great white church of Saulnierville. As she was +still some distance ahead of the carriage, she dismounted to speak to a +group of children playing some kind of a dancing game, to which they +sang an accompaniment. Making an effort to understand the words that +they sang to the merry air, she discovered that their French was unlike +hers.</p> + +<p>A little farther on she noticed a boy walking along with the help of +a crutch. Her first glance made her think of Fritz, whom a slight +accident had once obliged to limp about in this same way. Something in +the boy's face when she looked at him a second time rather startled her. +He certainly resembled Fritz.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if he is really lame, or if this crutch means only that he +has had some slight accident." This was her thought.</p> + +<p>Dismounting, she turned back to the little boy.</p> + +<p>"How far is it to Little Brook?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not very far on a wheel."</p> + +<p>"A mile?" again ventured Amy.</p> + +<p>"About a mile—perhaps."</p> + +<p>Amy looked back. The carriage was so far behind that it was hardly +worth while for her to hurry on toward the Hotel Paris. Moreover, if she +knew just where the house was, she would not care to reach it ahead of +her mother and the others; so she walked along with the boy.</p> + +<p>Although less talkative than some of the older Acadians whom she had +met, he was not at all shy, this little Pierre, who, after telling her +his name, confidently asked her hers.</p> + +<p>"You speak good English," Amy said in compliment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mademoiselle, we are taught English in school; we must learn +it, we Acadians. One often meets the English." The last was said with a +condescending air, amusing enough in one who was born a subject of the +Queen of England. "But you," continued Pierre, "are not English. You are +American,—is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Americans from the United States."</p> + +<p>"Ah! they are strange, the Americans; you are going, perhaps, to the +Hotel Paris?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but how did you know?"</p> + +<p>"Because it is the only place where Americans stay. So late, you +would be going somewhere. It is a good house, but Madame who keeps it +has had a death there to-day."</p> + +<p>This piece of news disturbed Amy.</p> + +<p>"A death! I must tell my mother. She is behind, in the carriage."</p> + +<p>"You need not wait for it. It will soon overtake you if you walk with +me," said Pierre, sadly, glancing down at his crutch.</p> + +<p>When, however, the carriage did overtake the two, they were not far +from the Hotel Paris. Mrs. Redmond heard what Pierre had to say about +the death of the landlady's sister, and when she learned that it was the +result of an accident received some years before, she felt less concern +than at first about approaching the house.</p> + +<p>"It is unlikely, however, that Madame will wish us to stay +there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she is not so," interposed Pierre; "she will always take money +when it comes to her."</p> + +<p>"But I do not like to stay where there is a death," interrupted +Martine.</p> + +<p>Priscilla made no comment. But Mrs. Redmond was undisturbed. It was +now almost dark, and to return to Meteghan would mean a tiresome and +probably cold ride. Pierre asserted that there was no other house where +they could stay in Little Brook, and it was doubtful if there was any +room at Church Point.</p> + +<p>"We must at least see Madame Bourque at the hotel. A message was sent +her last night, asking her to reserve rooms for us, and perhaps she can +help us out of our difficulty," said Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>To the great surprise of all, the Hotel Paris, when they reached it, +proved to be but a small dwelling-house, larger than its neighbors, but +even smaller than the inn at Meteghan, for which "hotel" seemed a +misnomer. As the four sat in the little parlor, Madame Bourque, a +dignified and even elegant appearing woman, in her black gown and black +<i>couvre-chef</i>, tried to make them feel comfortable.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but the death, it makes no difference," she said, after assuring +Mrs. Redmond that the rooms were in readiness. "It is my sister who has +been long sick, and was glad to go. Indeed I am sorry that you heard of +it, for the funeral will be before you wake in the morning, and had I +thought it would disturb Madame, why, we might indeed have had it +to-day."</p> + +<p>"Business before pleasure," whispered Martine to Amy, who was trying +valiantly to keep from smiling,—a difficult task, indeed, for any +of the four.</p> + +<p>As they seemed to have no choice in the matter, the girls agreed with +Mrs. Redmond that they could hardly do better than take possession of +the large, pleasant rooms that Madame Bourque showed them.</p> + +<p>In the early morning, a gray morning, before the others were awake, +Amy looked from the window. A sad little procession was setting out from +the door. The plain deal coffin was in an open wagon. Behind it were a +dozen shabby carriages, with mourners, men and women. They were to drive +to the churchyard at Point à l'Église, three miles away. She did not +waken the others, but she watched the little procession until it was out +of sight.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch6"></a>CHAPTER VI</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">pierre and point à +l'église</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"Ah, why should she wish to see you, the American young +lady? You have much conceit, Pierre."</p> + +<p>The words were French, the voice was Madame Bourque's, and Amy, +quickly translating what she overheard, perceived that Madame Bourque +was throwing obstacles in the way of the little boy's seeing her.</p> + +<p>"Madame Bourque," she cried, stepping out into the hall, "I asked him +to come to see me. It is as he says."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i081"></a><img src="images/i_f071.jpg" width="362" height="500" +alt="Illustration: 'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come to +see me.'" title="'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come to +see me.'" /> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, then excuse me, Mademoiselle. I did not understand. I did not +know that you had seen Pierre."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, he helped me find my way last evening. He may come in, may +he not?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, surely, since you wish it. Pierre talks much, and I have known +those whom he tired. But enter, Pierre, since you have been +invited."</p> + +<p>Then Pierre followed Amy into the little sitting-room, where +Priscilla and Martine were already seated near an open fire; for the +gray and damp early morning had introduced a foggy day, and at present +sightseeing was out of the question. Priscilla had been writing letters, +Amy had been reading a history of the Acadians, and Martine, before +Pierre's arrival, had been looking through "Evangeline."</p> + +<p>"Pierre," Amy asked, not knowing just what to say to the +old-fashioned boy, "do you care for 'Evangeline'?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, yes," he replied, his face lighting up. "Your Longfellow has +sympathy for the Acadians. A lady who stayed here last summer lent me +his poems, but best I understand the 'Evangeline.'</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen +summers.</span> +<span class="i0"> Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the +thorn by the wayside,</span> +<span class="i0"> Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown +shade of her tresses!'"</span></p> + +<p>Pierre recited with much expression.</p> + +<p>"Ah," he continued, "I can say much of that beautiful poem, and +indeed it makes me weep to think how they were treated, those poor +Acadians, my ancestors. The English were most cruel."</p> + +<p>"Amy," half-whispered Martine, "my history is a little rusty, so +please tell me if the Acadians were driven out from Little Brook."</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, Little Brook was founded by some who made their way +back from exile. Pierre," she added in a louder tone, "you are so +interested in your people, can you tell us about those who founded +Little Brook?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Pierre can tell you all the story," interposed Madame Bourque, +who had entered the room to put wood on the fire. "He knows it all from +his grandmother, and he remembers."</p> + +<p>Pierre, thus commended, flushed even more deeply than he had when Amy +made her request; but he remained silent until she spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is not everything that you would wish to hear," he said, +"that I shall tell; but my grandmother told me that it was all forest in +Clare when the Acadians were driven from their homes by the cruel +English. There were no farms here then, and so Petit Ruisseau has no sad +memories of poor people driven from their homes. But you know that +Acadians from Annapolis and Grand Pré and other places farther north +were carried off to the English settlements that are now the States, and +were treated like beggars; for they had no money, and spoke but a +strange tongue. Fathers were separated from children, and brothers and +sisters were not often in the same ship. But all were strong in their +hearts, and determined to come back to their beautiful Acadia. Some +began to come back before the Peace, and walked all the +way—hundreds and hundreds of miles—from Boston and New York, +until they reached the coast of the Bay. When the war was over, and +there was a great Peace, many, many more came, and walked all the way +around from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia to find their homes again."</p> + +<p>"But I thought that all their houses were burned and that they had no +homes to return to."</p> + +<p>"That is true; but some knew not this, and even those who had seen +the fires from the ships did not believe that everything of theirs was +destroyed. So they were very sad when they could find no signs of their +old homes, and saw that everything belonged to the English settlers. It +was a great crime, sending them away, oh, so many; I am proud my +great-great-grandparents were exiles and my great-grandmother was born +in Salem; so perhaps I am half Yankee; that's why I speak some +English."</p> + +<p>At that moment Madame Bourque took part in the conversation. "Ah, it +is terrible to think of their sufferings, people of such worth,—it +is the crime of history. Just think of Belliveau; you tell about him, +Pierre."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he was very brave, and the first exile to land in Clare. He and +his wife came across the bay in a little boat, bringing their baby too, +and they landed safely on the shore that you can see from the window. +They had a terrible passage—and to think to-day that some people +fear to cross the bay to St. John, even in a steamboat! At first they +did have nothing, but they cut wood, and soon other Acadians joined them +who had walked all the way around on land."</p> + +<p>"Pierre," interposed Amy, "you describe things very well; what do you +intend to be when you grow up?"</p> + +<p>A shadow crossed Pierre's face. "I should like to be a sailor, and +then a great captain, but I am not strong enough, and I shall never grow +big; so I think I may be a teacher, and that is why I take trouble to +speak and write English."</p> + +<p>"You should be here," interrupted Madame Bourque, whose mind still +dwelt on the Acadians, "on the fifteenth of August; that is the day of +the return from exile that all the people in Clare celebrate."</p> + +<p>"We shall hardly be in this part of the country then, Madame +Bourque," responded Amy, "but we shall try to know all we can about the +early Acadians before we leave Little Brook. But, Pierre," added Amy, +"you haven't told us all that you know, have you? Haven't you some +stories that your mother or grandmother has told you?"</p> + +<p>"One about the cane I like much."</p> + +<p>"Then tell it to us."</p> + +<p>"Well, there was one of our family, a great-grand-uncle, I think, who +lived down near Cape Sable before the exile; one time he was very kind +to a shipwrecked captain and took him into his house and gave him +clothes and food; then when my relative was driven from home they took +him to Boston, and he had to wander about, begging his bread, for he +could not speak English. And then he and his three sons with him were +put in jail; then the captain whom he had been kind to heard that these +Frenchmen were in jail, and, remembering the kindness he had had, went +to visit the prisoners. How surprised he was to find his old +acquaintance who had helped him after the shipwreck! My relative was +glad to see him too. Then the captain went to the governor and told him +about the kind Frenchman who was in jail, and the governor said to bring +him before him and perhaps he would pardon him. As my relative had no +clothes fit to wear before the governor, the captain bought him a +beautiful suit and a cane with a large head. Then the governor, when he +saw my grandfather, pardoned him and his three sons, and they stayed in +Boston several years, until the Peace, when they all came back to Nova +Scotia. I know this story is true, because I have seen the cane, which +one of my cousins owns in Pubnico."</p> + +<p>"Do you think that is true?" whispered Priscilla to Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, true enough; it certainly is not very exciting. It has been +handed down so long that the point is evidently lost."</p> + +<p>Pierre, once started, continued to tell many stories of the hardships +borne by the early Acadians, beside which the tale of Evangeline seemed +almost cheerful.</p> + +<p>"Now, Priscilla," said Martine, when Pierre paused, "you must admit +that the English don't show themselves in a very good light compared +with the Acadians. Did you ever hear of such cruelty?"</p> + +<p>"There must have been some cause for it," rejoined Priscilla, +stoutly; "we have heard only one side thus far. Perhaps the Acadians +themselves were a little in the wrong."</p> + +<p>"They certainly were not perfect," interposed Amy, taking part in the +discussion, "as you will admit when you have read their history more +carefully. We have not time to go into things more fully now, and I have +thought that Grand Pré would be the best place for our study of the +causes leading to the exile. It's putting the cart before the horse to +talk too much of the effects before we know the causes."</p> + +<p>Had Pierre exactly understood Amy he might have entered into a +discussion with her, but for the moment he had run to the front door to +admit Madame Bourque's little daughters, whom he had seen entering the +yard. When he was again in the room Madame Bourque once more joined the +group.</p> + +<p>"How does it happen, Madame Bourque," asked Martine, mischievously, +"that your hotel is the Hotel Paris? You should have named it 'Acadia' +or 'Evangeline,' or something like that."</p> + +<p>"Ah," responded Madame Bourque, "it is that my husband is a +Frenchman, from Paris, and I like my children not to forget that. Some +day, when they grow up, they shall go to Paris."</p> + +<p>"Have Acadians any real love for France?" asked Amy. "It is certainly +a long, long time since their ancestors left it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," replied Madame Bourque, "just as the Englishman always +loves England, or the Irishman Ireland; they are still strangers in a +strange land, though they must call the English Queen their queen," she +concluded sentimentally. "Some Acadians go back to France to study, and +some French boys come out to the college at Church Point, and one of +them—ah, it is so romantic!—married an Acadienne a few years +ago."</p> + +<p>"Oh, tell us about it," exclaimed Martine; "I love anything +romantic."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Madame Bourque, "there was such a pretty girl at +Church Point in the convent, and this youth was sent by his parents to +study at the College of St. Anne. He fell in love with the pretty girl +and would marry her, and oh, his father and mother they felt so bad, for +they thought Acadians were something like Indians; and so they hurried +out to Nova Scotia, and when they saw the girl they fell in love with +her too, and knew she was no savage, and say their son can marry her. +But the girl would not leave her people, and as the son would not give +up the girl, the parents decided to come to Acadia to live, for he was +an only son and they were rich. So they have bought much land up beyond +Weymouth, and they call it New France. They have a great mill where they +cut timber, and a railroad of their own twenty miles long, by which they +send it to the sea, and good houses and electric lights—all on +account of a pretty Acadienne."</p> + +<p>"That's just the kind of story I like," cried Martine. "I suppose +history is just as true, but someway I have more interest in things that +are happening to-day."</p> + +<p>Madame Bourque now left the room to make arrangements for the early +dinner. She had foretold that the fog would lift before noon, and +accordingly Priscilla, looking out the window, was not surprised to +catch a fleeting glimpse of the sun through an opening in the veil of +mist.</p> + +<p>"We'll take your word that the sun will shine," exclaimed Amy, "and +I'll run upstairs and ask mamma if she will drive this afternoon. I +imagine that the most there is to be seen is at Church Point, and the +sooner we go there the better."</p> + +<p>Madame Bourque, when asked, promised to have two carriages ready +early in the afternoon, for Amy had not only invited Pierre to dinner, +but intended to take him to drive with her.</p> + +<p>"Mamma," said Amy, as she gave her mother an account of the morning, +"you will find Madame Bourque very amusing. She evidently believes the +Acadians to be the salt of the earth; but though I sympathize with their +sufferings, I do not believe they were quite the superior beings that +she paints them."</p> + +<p>"It might be unkind," replied Mrs. Redmond, "to suggest that this is +part of her stock in trade; the more remarkable she can represent the +old Acadians to have been, the more interested will her guests be in the +places associated with them. They were a good, honest people."</p> + +<p>"But they were peasants, were they not, mamma? You would think to +hear her talk that they were very near nobility."</p> + +<p>"Oh, among the Acadians of to-day are doubtless many descendants of +men of good family in France. Indeed, some of them can claim for +ancestors Charles de la Tour and Baron D'Entremont; but the peasant +blood is in the ascendant, and the strain of nobility must be very +slight."</p> + +<p>At the dinner-table Pierre won Mrs. Redmond's heart by the gentleness +of his manner, and she told Martine that Amy's protégé would be a close +rival of hers.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," replied Martine; "no one can rival Yvonne. Just think +of her voice and her little curls and her pink cheeks."</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that Pierre lacks these characteristics, though all in +all they would hardly enhance his value. From what Amy says, however, I +should judge that Pierre, even if he has neither curls nor pink cheeks, +has a voice that is very effective when he uses it in telling +stories."</p> + +<p>Fearing that Pierre might overhear these personalities, Mrs. Redmond +changed the conversation. "Amy," she said in a somewhat louder voice, +"where do you suppose Fritz is now?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, if Pubnico is as fascinatingly French as he expected it to be, +he is probably there still. I doubt if he will be better entertained +than we have been."</p> + +<p>"I almost wish he were with us," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "for he is +always a fund of entertainment in himself; I have thought of him many +times this dull morning, and I hope that we shall find a letter from him +awaiting us at Digby."</p> + +<p>If Amy agreed with her mother, she did not so express herself at this +moment; yet if the truth were known, it must be said that more than once +since their parting at Yarmouth she had regretted that she had not at +least given Fritz a chance to join their party.</p> + +<p>When the carriages came to the door in the afternoon Amy recognized +them as having formed part of the funeral procession; they were shabby, +with hard seats, and the horses, as well as the vehicles, looked as if +they had seen better days. It was arranged that Amy and Pierre should go +in the small carriage, as Madame Bourque's husband assured them that the +horse was perfectly safe for a lady to drive. "Ah, he could not run +away!"</p> + +<p>"I should think not," said Amy. "If he manages to carry us even the +three miles to Church Point I shall be surprised; he seems so dispirited +that I imagine the funeral has made more impression on him than on +Madame Bourque herself."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond, Priscilla, and Martine were in the second carriage, and +Madame Bourque was the driver.</p> + +<p>Amy noticed in gardens and windows fewer hollyhocks, oleanders, and +other bright flowers than she had seen at Meteghan. The houses, too, +were painted in less bright colors, and the village street had a less +stirring appearance.</p> + +<p>Pierre was a good cicerone; he pointed out near the edge of the sea +the spot where the first of the returning exiles had landed. He also +showed Amy a little one-story house on a slight elevation, said to be +the oldest in the town, and to date but little later than the +landing.</p> + +<p>"It is hard," he said in his precise way, "to imagine that it was all +forest here in those first years, since now there is hardly a tree in +sight except the fruit trees in the orchards. The first comers had large +grants of land from the government; thus the English tried to make up +for the wrong they had done."</p> + +<p>"But the farms are very small now," ventured Amy. "The yards are so +close together."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, that is it; each father had many children and divided his +land among his sons, and as every one wanted his house to be on the +village street, they have kept it up, cutting it up into long narrow +strips, some of them running back one or two miles; and away at the end +of the strips there are still forests that are worth money."</p> + +<p>Some time before they reached Church Point, the lighthouse and the +college buildings were seen in imposing outline in the distance.</p> + +<p>Their horse justified Amy's forebodings, and when they overtook +Madame Bourque and her party the latter were standing near a monument +before the large building that Pierre had said was the College of St. +Anne. Amy, though undisturbed by Martine's gibes at the slowness of her +steed, was glad enough to get out of the carriage. Both horses were left +in charge of a boy whom Madame Bourque knew, while the sight-seers +started to walk to the shrines of the Acadians—for by this term +did Madame Bourque describe the burying-ground and site of the early +houses.</p> + +<p>"It is not a long walk," the voluble Frenchwoman had explained, +"unless you go out to the lighthouse, for which we have not time +to-day."</p> + +<p>Priscilla lingered behind the others to copy the inscription on the +monument. It was in honor of the Abbé Sigogne, to whom the Acadians of +Clare owe more than to any other one person.</p> + +<p>Priscilla, reading the inscription, wondered why she had never before +heard of this man, who evidently had been so much to his own people. +Acadia is not far from Massachusetts, and yet already she realized that +this was a corner of the world of which she knew far too little. Amy, +however, could tell her what she wished to know, and she hurried on to +join the others, who were now far ahead.</p> + +<p>"Amy," she cried, overtaking her friend, "tell me something about the +Abbé Sigogne; I am ashamed to say that I never heard of him before."</p> + +<p>Pierre glanced at the American girl with an expression of absolute +amazement at her ignorance.</p> + +<p>"There is so much to tell," said Amy, "that it would be too long a +story for the time that we have now; yet as we walk along I can give you +a little idea of his work. He was a French priest of good family, who +barely escaped losing his head during the French Revolution. After +fleeing from France he lived a few years in England. When he heard that +the poor Acadians of Clare were without a clergyman, he decided to go to +them, and from that time he made their lot his. This was in 1799, about +thirty years after their return from exile, and though they had cleared +the forest and built houses, they had made little progress in other +ways; they were without schools and almost without religion, but the +good Abbé built them a church, established schools, and made frequent +visits to all the little settlements along St. Mary's Bay, often +travelling along the coast in a small, open boat. He taught them many +things besides religion. He made them firm in their allegiance to Great +Britain, and when he died, in 1844, he was bitterly mourned by all who +knew him, whether English or French."</p> + +<p>When Amy and Priscilla and Pierre caught up with the others, they +were in a large field, looking at a spot of ground on which Madame +Bourque said had stood the very first house at Point à l'Église, built +after the exile. Near by was a little old graveyard, where the first +generation of returning exiles had been buried. Only a few graves were +marked, and these with rough stones without inscriptions. A rude arch of +whalebone formed the entrance to this little enclosure. It was not very +far from the point of land on which stood the lighthouse, near which, +along the edge of the sea, a file of black-coated priests was walking. +Though they were indistinctly seen in the distance, their large caps and +flapping surtouts gave them a picturesque appearance.</p> + +<p>A strange structure like a shrine of open slats decorated with spruce +boughs attracted Martine's attention, and she insisted on making a +sketch of it.</p> + +<p>"It is a repository," explained Pierre, politely, "where the priest +stands, as a station for the procession, on festival days."</p> + +<p>When they returned to the College of St. Anne, Madame Bourque grew +more and more eloquent.</p> + +<p>"Is it not wonderful," she said, "that all this great building is +restored since the fire of two years ago? You will come inside, ladies, +and see how pleasant the rooms are."</p> + +<p>"I will stay outside," replied Priscilla, "and watch the horses," she +concluded rather lamely.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," began Amy, but looking at Priscilla, she saw that the +young girl was in earnest, and so insisted no further.</p> + +<p>"Amy," whispered Priscilla, as her friend drew near her, "I was sorry +afterwards that I went into the convent yesterday, and so I would much +rather not go into a priest's house."</p> + +<p>"I had no idea that you would be so narrow," rejoined Amy.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean to be narrow," responded Priscilla, "but I really don't +feel like going inside."</p> + +<p>So Priscilla sat down on the grass near the monument and all the +others went inside the main building of the College of St. Anne. Not +very long afterwards Mrs. Redmond came out again, with her sketch-book +in her hand. "I thought it a good time now to make a sketch of the +church. I have seen many other schools like this one, for, after all, +it's only a boys' boarding-school. The girls enjoy practising their +French with the Eudist Father, who is taking them about, and it will +probably be some time before they are ready to leave. I think you make a +mistake, Priscilla, in not joining them."</p> + +<p>"It isn't a very old building," said Priscilla, implying that this +was sufficient reason for her staying away from the party.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly not very old," rejoined Mrs. Redmond; "the college +has been established less than ten years. It is a great thing to have +founded it here in the midst of the Acadians, and it has made the boys +of Clare much more ambitious."</p> + +<p>"What good is a college education to them?" asked Priscilla; "fishing +and farming seem to be their chief occupations."</p> + +<p>"This is really only a preparatory school," replied Mrs. Redmond, +"and the boys who are going into the Church or into the professions +enter other colleges in Canada or in France. The Father told us with +pride of the high standing of some of the graduates in their work in +other colleges."</p> + +<p>"If I do not care for the college," said Priscilla, "I love this +church of Abbé Sigogne's; it makes me think of a New England +meeting-house, with its white walls and steeple."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond's sketch was hardly finished when the others came out +from the college. Madame Bourque was in her most talkative mood, as she +led them across the road into the white church. This time Priscilla went +with them and looked with some interest at the paintings on the wall, +and the sacred emblems, and the tablet inscribed to the memory of Abbé +Sigogne.</p> + +<p>Martine, it must be admitted, found something amusing even in this +church, for inside the gallery where the choir boys sat were many +pictures of little boats, and even of full-rigged ships scratched in +deeply with a penknife, presumably by the fingers of mischievous young +singers.</p> + +<p>Pierre, who happened to be with Martine when she made this discovery, +did not laugh with her, but shaking his head solemnly, said, "Ah, those +pictures show what really fills the heart of the Acadian boy."</p> + +<p>Madame Bourque was disappointed that her party of Americans did not +care to visit the girls' school near by, but the hour was late, and the +tired-looking horses were not likely to make speed on the way home.</p> + +<p>"We have really seen so much," said Mrs. Redmond, "that we shall need +to think it all over before seeing more, and you have been so good a +guide that in our one visit to Church Point we have learned as much as +most persons do in two."</p> + +<p>"We have learned a great deal," murmured Priscilla to Amy, "but I +always feel that Madame Bourque paints the Acadians as much more +remarkable than they are. But I should like to have seen Father Sigogne +baptizing Indian pappooses; they say that he used to wipe their faces +with his gown to find a spot where he could kiss them."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and Madame Bourque says that there are people still living who +can remember great crowds of Indians filing through the woods to Church +Point that they might receive Abbé Sigogne's blessing on St Anne's +Day."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch7"></a>CHAPTER VII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">digby days</span></p> + +<p class="p2">On the way back to Little Brook Amy had a good chance to +talk with little Pierre about his hopes and ambitions. She found that he +was extremely fond of reading, and it was almost impossible for him to +get books such as a boy loves to read. About half a mile from Madame +Bourque's, Pierre pointed out a small cottage which he said was his +home.</p> + +<p>"My mother will be there now," he said, "and I hope you will come in +with me to see her. She does not speak so very good English," he added +apologetically, "but she can understand it."</p> + +<p>Though Madame Robichaud greeted Amy warmly and thanked her for her +kindness to Pierre, there was something pathetic in her manner and +appearance. She was a tall, thin woman, with a delicate, pale face that +was made all the paler by her plain black gown and the +<i>couvre-chef</i> that covered her hair. Her husband, Pierre explained, +was lost at sea when Pierre was five years old, and since that time she +had supported them both wholly by her own labor.</p> + +<p>Madame Robichaud showed Amy with great pride some drawings nailed to +the wall that Pierre himself had made,—simple drawings of ships +and houses that showed draughtsmanship rather than imagination. These +suggested to Amy that Pierre had a talent that might be cultivated to +greater advantage than his ambition for school-teaching.</p> + +<p>She and Pierre parted reluctantly, and Madame Robichaud promised that +the little boy should be at the hotel in the morning before Amy left +Little Brook.</p> + +<p>All the travellers slept soundly that night despite the huge +feather-beds that Madame Bourque had provided, as she thought, for their +comfort.</p> + +<p>In the morning they wrote their names in her visitors' book, on whose +pages were inscribed the names of a number of Americans, some of them +fairly well known, who at one time or another had been guests at the +Hotel Paris. Pierre arrived very soon after breakfast with a great bunch +of hollyhocks or <i>passe-rose</i> for Amy. He had evidently taken a +great fancy to his new friend.</p> + +<p>"She is more beautiful even than my school-teacher," he had said to +Madame Bourque; a compliment which the latter repeated as of especial +value, because hitherto Pierre had considered his teacher the model of +womanly perfection.</p> + +<p>"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, before the carriage arrived, "have you +written to Yvonne?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I meant to, but now I'll wait till we reach Digby."</p> + +<p>"I fear that Yvonne will be disappointed. She probably expected a +letter to-day."</p> + +<p>"I know it; I am ashamed of myself."</p> + +<p>Martine's tone was penitent, but no one who knew Martine ever +expected her to do promptly what she had promised. It was always a +little easier to put off things to another day. Priscilla looked at her +scornfully, as if to say "How fickle!"</p> + +<p>When at last they were ready to start, all felt sad at parting with +Madame Bourque and her family, for in two days they had come to seem +almost like old friends. The two little Bourque girls, as the carriage +drove off, looked with astonishment at the dollar bill that Mrs. Redmond +had put in the hands of the elder to divide with her younger sister.</p> + +<p>Pierre walked on a little way with Amy before she mounted her wheel, +and on saying good-bye at last he knew that the American lady would +really send him the books that she had promised.</p> + +<p>Their train to Digby was not the famous "Flying Bluenose," but a +local that made no pretence of hurrying; it instead gave them ample +opportunity to study the scenery from the windows.</p> + +<p>When at last they reached Digby, they were warm and dust-covered, and +glad enough, too, when they found carriages waiting for them at the +station.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing but a summer resort, this Digby that we have heard so +much about," complained Martine, as they drove along the main street. +"Just look at those boys in golf suits, and that crowd carrying shawls +and wraps as if bound for a sailboat. Why, the town doesn't even look +English. It makes me think of Blue Harbor in Maine, where we spent one +summer."</p> + +<p>"I noticed a great deal of Philadelphia accent while we were waiting +for our trunks at the station."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't mention it," replied Martine; "Philadelphians flock +everywhere, and they are so cliquey that they just spoil a place for me, +though I'll admit that they know a good thing when they see it."</p> + +<p>"Be careful, Martine," cautioned Amy; "no more slang than you can +help on this trip."</p> + +<p>"'On this trip!' If that isn't slang I'd like to know what is."</p> + +<p>"No matter now; here's the hotel; mail first and rooms +afterwards."</p> + +<p>In an instant Amy had hurried to the hotel office, returning to the +others with a bundle of letters, which she gave to Priscilla to +distribute while she went ahead with her mother to look at the rooms +they had engaged. The hotel was like most small summer hotels, and in +spite of their pleasant remembrance of Clare, Mrs. Redmond and the girls +had to admit that it was more comfortable than the little French +houses.</p> + +<p>"'Pubnico!' why, of course;" here Amy stopped as she held the letter +in her hand, turning it over once or twice as people will before opening +a letter.</p> + +<p>"Of course; don't hesitate to tell us that it's from Fritz. It would +be very strange indeed if he had not written," cried Martine, +mischievously.</p> + +<p>"'Pubnico,'" said Priscilla, as if the word had just penetrated her +brain; "why, there were two letters with that postmark, were there +not?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, only one," replied Amy, promptly, "and, as Martine surmises, +it was from Fritz."</p> + +<p>But while Amy was speaking Priscilla looked sharply at Martine, and +Martine, as if uncomfortable under her gaze, suddenly left the room.</p> + +<p>After dinner, as they all sat on the piazza, "Amy," said Mrs. +Redmond, "you haven't told us yet how Fritz is enjoying his +journey."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he thinks he has found the only French in Nova Scotia. He +describes their dress and their houses and their great fat oxen, and +speaks of the misfortunes of the exiled Acadians as if he were an +original discoverer. How foolish he will feel when he finds that what he +has seen is old news to us, for his description reads just like a +description of Clare."</p> + +<p>"Only I'll warrant that he didn't find any Madame Bourque," and +Priscilla smiled.</p> + +<p>"No, nor an Yvonne," added Martine.</p> + +<p>"Not to speak of Pierre," concluded Amy.</p> + +<p>"My letter from home," said Priscilla, "mentions that this was the +hottest week of the season. Just think, only yesterday we were half +frozen driving home in the fog from Church Point."</p> + +<p>After breakfast, on their second morning at Digby, Mrs. Redmond and +the girls walked the whole length of the tree-lined main street. As +Martine had surmised, they had indeed arrived at a regulation summer +resort. The holiday spirit prevailed on all sides; every one was +going somewhere, or had just been somewhere, on pleasure bent.</p> + +<p>In spite of her professed prejudice against Philadelphians, Martine +almost fell into the arms of a former schoolmate from the Quaker City, +who rushed out to greet her from the garden of a small hotel near the +top of the hill.</p> + +<p>"Isn't the view fine, and the air just perfect? I'm so glad you're +here; there's something to do every hour of the day, and we shall be so +glad to have you join us, you and your friends." And she glanced +dubiously at Priscilla's mourning dress and serious face.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, but I can't make plans just now. There are four in our +party; the other two have walked ahead. We arrived only on Saturday, and +yesterday was so rainy that we stayed indoors until evening, when we all +went to church. Until we really have our bearings I don't think that I +can make any plans. But you must come to see us. There, I haven't +introduced you to Priscilla; you must excuse me. Priscilla, the Rose of +Plymouth, let me introduce you to Peggy Pratt from the quiet city of +Philadelphia."</p> + +<p>"You are the same old Martine," cried Peggy, as they turned away, +while Priscilla, reddening, added as the two walked on, "Oh, Martine, +how silly you can be!"</p> + +<p>Amy was delighted with everything that they saw in the course of that +morning walk, from the beautiful view of the Basin, surrounded by hills +that looked mountains, to the little fish-houses, the quintessence of +neatness, in front of which quantities of cod were drying. As to the +Basin, when she said she felt as though she had seen it before, Mrs. +Redmond reminded her that it resembled closely the harbor of Santiago, +with which she was familiar through pictures.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," rejoined Amy, "and that little opening into the Bay of +Fundy that they call 'The Gut' is like the passage where Hobson tried to +sink the Merrimac."</p> + +<p>"It isn't such a very little passage; somebody told me that it is +nearly a mile wide; it was there that the ships of De Monts entered the +Basin in 1604, when they discovered Acadia," Mrs. Redmond added.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen hundred and four!" cried Martine. "Oh, dear, we're going +backwards in our history. It was seventeen hundred and something when +the Acadians were expelled, and I shall never be able to remember +earlier dates."</p> + +<p>"At present we may put dates aside. For a day or two we can merely +enjoy ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I hope we are coming to some English history," said Priscilla; "I am +tired of the French. I always supposed Nova Scotia was a British +province, but this whole week we have heard very little about the +English."</p> + +<p>"I tell you what we'll do, Priscilla," cried Amy; "while mamma and +Martine sit here to make a sketch of something or other, you and I can +set out in search of some English history. Undoubtedly there's an +historic house or two to discover. That's the kind of thing I never let +escape me."</p> + +<p>At first it seemed as if Amy's search would be unsuccessful. One +person after another whom she asked said that there were no historic +houses in Digby.</p> + +<p>"There's an old shop over across the way," one added, "the frame of +which, they say, was brought out from England; I'll point it out to you, +though it doesn't look very old."</p> + +<p>This last statement was true enough, for the old house had been +reshingled and reclapboarded and repainted, so that it retained hardly a +vestige of antiquity in its appearance. To compensate Amy for her +disappointment, the obliging native made a suggestion that in the end +proved valuable.</p> + +<p>"What you ought to do is to see Mrs. Sally Tatem; her house isn't +much to look at, but it's old enough, and she knows more about the +history of Digby than any one else here."</p> + +<p>"Where does she live?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, just a little way up that street and round the next corner and +up the hill and you will see a little cottage at the end of the lane; +just knock at the door, and if she's at home she'll be very +obliging."</p> + +<p>So Amy and Priscilla went "up the street and round the next corner +and up the hill," and at "the end of the lane" they saw a small white +cottage almost covered with vines. Amy's knock brought to the door a +little old lady with silvery hair and a tiny ruffled cap, wearing a gray +gown and, most important of all, a pleasant smile. The hesitation that +Amy had felt in explaining the object of their visit disappeared under +the old lady's greeting.</p> + +<p>"Dear child, come right in; I'll tell you all the Digby history I +know; but it isn't so very much."</p> + +<p>As Amy sat down in the little sitting-room, she could not help +looking about, and she was quick to recognize that the two chairs were +Chippendale.</p> + +<p>"They were brought by my grandfather," said Mrs. Tatem, noting the +direction of Amy's glance. "He was a captain in the Queen's Rangers; you +know many Americans were on the King's side in the Revolution."</p> + +<p>A look of surprise crossed Priscilla's face, but she did not venture +to raise a question.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Amy, "I know about the Loyalists."</p> + +<p>"Well, my grandfather was a farmer in Westchester County, rich and +prosperous, but he would not take arms against the King. A friend and +neighbor of his was tarred and feathered, and he was in some danger +himself. So he went into the war, and when it was over he couldn't stay +in New York. With other Loyalists he came down here. Of course it was +very hard for him to have all his property taken away, but his wife was +brave and she was willing to suffer."</p> + +<p>"Who sent them away?" asked Priscilla, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Why, the Yankees,—the Americans, I mean," said Mrs. Tatem.</p> + +<p>"The Patriots," whispered Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," interposed Amy.</p> + +<p>"But," continued Priscilla, "I didn't know that there were two sides +to the story." And as she said this the old lady smiled.</p> + +<p>"We have no bitterness now. I ought not to have said 'Yankees.' I +have many friends in the States, but it was hard for my mother and aunts +to have to grow up in the wilderness. I used to hear my aunt talk. She +was an older daughter."</p> + +<p>"But how did they live here in those days?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the King gave a large grant of land and provisions for three +years and some building material. Many who came to settle would not +stay, and it was harder for those who did remain. There was no church +even, for a long time, until good Mr. Viets came; he did everything for +the white settlers, and even held a school for the Blacks."</p> + +<p>"The Blacks?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; you see many people brought their slaves with them."</p> + +<p>"Southerners?"</p> + +<p>"No, New Yorkers. Many Northern people had slaves in those days. I +know that my grandfather had two, but when he died he left them their +freedom in his will. Out at the Joggins' there are still living many +descendants of these slaves, and of the Black Pioneers, a regiment of +Blacks that fought on the English side in the war."</p> + +<p>"What you've told us is almost as romantic as the French Revolution," +said Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Maybe so," replied the old lady, hesitatingly, "though things +probably did not seem romantic to the first settlers here; but perhaps +it's just as well that our lot was cast in this healthy climate. I hear +there's a great deal of sickness in New York, and it's a great big city +where people care only for money. I'm sorry our young people go off so +much to the States; they could all make a comfortable living if they +would only stay at home."</p> + +<p>Amy could not refrain from admiring the china and all the daintiness +of the little house, plain and unpretending though it was. But the most +interesting thing of all was the old lady with her charming manner and +fund of history.</p> + +<p>"I've heard my mother say," she remarked before they went, "that the +first name of Digby was Conway, and it was only after Admiral Digby had +been here that it was named in his honor."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't the French settle Digby?" asked Priscilla; "they seem to +be everywhere else in Nova Scotia."</p> + +<p>"Probably because there are no marshes; they were attracted by the +dyke lands at Annapolis and Grand Pré."</p> + +<p>The girls bade good-bye to Mrs. Tatem with real regret. Before she +returned to the hotel Amy wandered by herself in a little old churchyard +where lay many of the first settlers, and as she looked at the +weather-beaten stones she saw that many of those who lay buried there +were natives of New York or its neighborhood; closing her eyes for a +moment to shut out the present, she pictured to herself what life in the +wilderness must have been to these refugees who had suffered everything +in a losing cause.</p> + +<p>That afternoon Martine's friend, Peggy, from Philadelphia, invited +them all to join a sailing party; though at first disinclined to go, Amy +at last accepted the invitation. It was a delightful afternoon, with +wind and sea in their favor, and the charm of the surrounding scenery +was increased by a delicate mist that hovered over the North Mountain, +as a reminder of the Bay of Fundy outside.</p> + +<p>For some reason this sail around Digby reminded Amy of some of her +excursions in Marblehead Harbor, especially of a certain day on the +"Balloon," and this in spite of the fact that the "Mary Jane" in no way +compared in equipment with Philip's yacht. No picture of Marblehead +could of course be complete unless Fritz were in it, and almost to her +annoyance Amy now found Fritz occupying a large corner of her mind. +Nevertheless, she was interested in all that was going on around her, +and once or twice lent a hand to the skipper, when a sudden change of +wind occasioned a quick shifting of the sails. Then the Bluenose skipper +complimented the Yankee girl on her skill in handling the ropes, and +Martine and Priscilla and Peggy expressed their astonishment that she +should know so much about a boat.</p> + +<p>For almost the first time since their departure from Boston Priscilla +was now in good spirits; she had overcome her original homesickness, and +her letters from Plymouth had been so cheerful that she was almost ready +to find enjoyment in the new scenes and faces. Between her and Martine +there was less intimacy than between her and Amy. Mrs. Redmond was sorry +to see that, for some reason, Priscilla lacked confidence in Martine. +This was to be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that the two girls +were so unlike in temperament and education. Though reserved in speech, +Priscilla was uncompromisingly accurate in statement; Martine, on the +other hand, while apparently unreserved, occasionally lacked frankness. +No one could accuse her of being untruthful, and yet her exaggerations +and her occasional concealments were a constant annoyance to the literal +Priscilla.</p> + +<p>On the second day of their stay at Digby, Martine had written a long +letter to Yvonne, and at the same time had sent her a roll of new music, +which she had happened to find in a Digby shop.</p> + +<p>"If I knew just how long we should be here, I really think I would +send for Yvonne to spend a week with us."</p> + +<p>"We shall not be here a week," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "and I am +afraid that Yvonne would rather handicap us if we tried to have her +travel farther."</p> + +<p>On their last morning at Digby, Amy and Martine had a parting walk +around the wharf. The wharf had been a source of much amusement to +Martine, and she had sketched it at high tide when it looked just like +any other wharf, and at low tide when it rose high above the water, its +sides covered with seaweed and barnacles. Indeed the vagaries of the Bay +of Fundy tides were an endless amusement to the party, exposing, as they +did, long, long stretches of reddish mud, and apparently casting up all +kinds of craft high and dry on the land.</p> + +<p>"Now, around by the fish-houses," cried Martine; "how I shall miss +the cod which we meet here at every turn! Fish flakes, in my mind, will +always be the emblem of Digby. Priscilla says that she has seen more on +Cape Cod, but I can hardly believe her. It's strange that no one has +given us a Digby chicken since we came here. Any one would suppose that +the Digby chicken is the only fish that grows here; yet really and truly +we haven't seen one, have we, since our arrival? For it's the cod that's +everywhere, and it's funny to think that they send so much codfish to +the West Indies. People there must be thirsty enough without having cod +sent to tantalize them."</p> + +<p>On their way back to the hotel they did an errand in a corner shop. +The clerk addressed them in rather broken English, and in answer to +Amy's question said that he was a descendant of an Acadian exile. He +told them one or two anecdotes, and when he had to turn to other +customers Amy waited until they were served, hoping to hear more from +him.</p> + +<p>"That negro," he explained, as a tall Black went out of the shop, "is +a descendant of one of the slaves of the Revolution."</p> + +<p>"Was that other man a negro, too, who went out with him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he's an Indian from the Bear River Reservation. If you go +that way, you must be sure to visit it."</p> + +<p>"I hope that we are going there, for I hear that Bear River is a +beautiful place. Though I am not particularly anxious to see the Micmac +on his native heath, it certainly is interesting to have met +representatives of the four race elements in this little shop," said +Amy, as they turned away.</p> + +<p>"Four race elements?" asked Martine, not quite understanding her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of Nova Scotia Loyalists, Acadians, Indians, and negroes. To be +sure Pre-Loyalists would be more representative than negroes—but +the former did not settle Digby."</p> + +<p>"Let's go up on Cannon Hill for a last look. Your mother just loves +it. We have made some fine sketches of those crooked apple-trees and +that old house."</p> + +<p>"And the cannon? They are certainly unlike any others you will come +across."</p> + +<p>"I have photographed the cannon," replied Martine, with dignity, "and +if I had time, I might sketch them."</p> + +<p>"I love it here," cried Martine, as they stood on the hill. "One gets +such a splendid view of the entrance to the Basin,—I can't bring +myself to say Gut. When I stand here, I just close my eyes, and then +fancy how these steep shores must have looked to the Frenchmen, +Champlain and the others, who came sailing in through the passage that +June morning so long ago. Then when I open my eyes I can actually see +them out there—and if I were a poet, like you, Amy, I would write +something worth while."</p> + +<p>"I a poet! what nonsense! What put that into your head?"</p> + +<p>"As if I didn't know all about you, Miss Amy Redmond," and Martine +quoted a line or two of verse that brought the color to Amy's +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"That isn't poetry," she said with a smile. "But you are in a mood +that shows me we ought to go home."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch8"></a>CHAPTER VIII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">two adventures</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"Oh dear," sighed Priscilla three hours later, as she +strapped her valise, "I believe I'd rather stay in one place all summer +than move so often. I shall miss the pier and the barnacles. When we +came in from the boat at low tide the other day, it seemed like one of +the caverns of fairyland—so dark and mysterious."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you'll miss the codfish, too. Amy and I have been going +through the missing agony this morning. But I have a fish story that +will please you, Puritan Prissie. Though curing codfish is a leading +occupation here six days of the week, on Sunday that man is fined who +even sticks a pitchfork into a helpless cod—except,—and here +I am afraid that this covers a quantity,—that if there has been a +week of wet weather, if Sunday is sunny, then the gentle codfish may be +turned over. This is merely a humane provision for the comfort of the +cod, who otherwise would become unduly weary lying so long on one +side."</p> + +<p>"We shall become unduly weary waiting for you," cried Amy, who had +entered the room during the latter part of Martine's speech. "I hope +that you are both ready, for it is almost train time."</p> + +<p>"All aboard then," cried Martine. "If my hat is on straight, nothing +need delay us. Let me help you with your valise, Priscilla. My luggage +has gone on."</p> + +<p>When they reached the station Mrs. Redmond and her party found that +after all they had some time to spare. At five minutes past the hour +they took their seats. "Standard time, Halifax time, hotel time, local +time," hummed Martine. "I wonder which we're starting by."</p> + +<p>Presently the conductor walked along the station platform to the +little waiting-room, and from the open window they heard him speak to +some one inside.</p> + +<p>"Have you made up your minds yet, ladies, about going?" he asked in a +polite tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, gracious, yes," exclaimed a shrill voice. "We were waiting for +the bell;" and two elderly women hurried toward the train with their +knitting in their hands. Amy had noticed them busily knitting there, in +a corner, when she passed. It seemed, by the conductor's subsequent +explanation, that knowing they were uncertain whether to go by that +train or the next, he had patiently waited for them to decide.</p> + +<p>Bear River was one of the places where Mrs. Redmond had planned to +stay. After a short railroad journey that included a passage over some +wonderful bridges, beyond which was a great extent of water, and after a +drive of five or six miles, they found themselves gazing down at +picturesque Bear River. The beautiful town sloped to a broad stream, its +white houses and spires half hidden by trees.</p> + +<p>"It reminds me of Switzerland," cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"It's a dream," exclaimed Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe Fritz has seen anything more beautiful," added +Amy.</p> + +<p>"It deserves a more beautiful name," said Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>"But, really, mamma, it's named for Imbert, the explorer, and the +name doesn't seem so bad when we think of that."</p> + +<p>Their day in Bear River proved to be a gala day of the town. They had +arrived at the height of the Cherry Carnival, and games and boat-races +and other festivities had been arranged as part of the celebration. The +girls were up very early that first morning, and soon after breakfast +Martine was out with her camera, taking snapshots in every direction. A +fat old squaw in a red jersey pretended to be afraid of the kodak, and +turned her head; but there was a grin on her face as she looked around, +which Martine quickly caught. Another squaw, also fat, with a little +pappoose in her arms and another clinging to her skirts, begged Martine +to take her.</p> + +<p>"Where you live?" asked Martine, as if talking to a child.</p> + +<p>"Up there," pointing vaguely in the distance.</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Reservation; you come see."</p> + +<p>Martine was interested.</p> + +<p>"Is it far?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no."</p> + +<p>"What's your name?" asked Martine.</p> + +<p>"Marie Brown. You find my house."</p> + +<p>Though the name didn't seem to fit the Indian, Martine was glad that +it was one that she could remember; for all in a moment she had made up +her mind to visit the Reservation.</p> + +<p>During the morning, while she watched the sports and chatted with the +bystanders and ate dozens and dozens of the famous Bear River cherries, +Martine said nothing to the others of her intention of visiting the +Reservation. It would be easy enough to borrow Amy's bicycle and say +that she did not care to drive with the others.</p> + +<p>Everything happened as she planned.</p> + +<p>"Bear River is so hilly," said Mrs. Redmond, "that you will hardly +wheel very far. But yet it's a quiet little place, and there is no risk +in your doing some sight-seeing by yourself."</p> + +<p>Martine soon found herself on a road leading toward the Micmac +Reservation; she had asked her way once or twice, and felt lonely as +houses and shops were left behind; but though she was going in the +direction of the Reservation, she saw nothing to remind her of +Indians.</p> + +<p>"Where are the wigwams? Surely with so many Indians around there must +be wigwams somewhere."</p> + +<p>Martine looked about anxiously at trees, bushes, and at one or two +small wooden houses. She had been riding for half an hour, and she felt +that she had not taken the wrong way. There was nothing to do but to +inquire at one of the little houses. As she approached it, she realized +that it was an Indian dwelling; three pappooses were playing in front of +it, and a tall, thin squaw, in a purple calico gown, came out to the +door as she entered the gate.</p> + +<p>"Marie Brown," said the woman; "oh, that far away. Too far for you; +you better go home; it's late."</p> + +<p>Martine knew that this was intended as advice, not as discourtesy, +but Martine was not fond of advice, and she decided that if she could +not see Marie Brown she would visit the chapel, of which she had heard +some one speak at dinner that day.</p> + +<p>When she asked the way, the woman drew her one side to an open space +behind the house, where, on a hill that did not look too remote, she saw +a small, square building with a cross on top for a steeple; so after a +little conversation with the squaw about her people and their way of +living, Martine pushed on toward the hill. She soon found that she must +leave her bicycle behind, as there was no good road and the path was +steep, and finding a spot that was screened by bushes, she left her +wheel there; so on she went on foot until she had come to the enclosure, +in the centre of which stood the Micmac Chapel.</p> + +<p>Seen at close range, it looked like a toy church, built plainly of +wood, absolutely simple and bare on the outside. Martine raised herself +on a ledge of wood so that she could look in through the windows. There +was something almost pathetic in the tawdry attempts at +decoration—the little altar draped with old lace curtains and gold +lace and some faded flowers. On top there was a silver cross within a +white canopy, and a small altar with a canopy in the corner. Walking +around the graveyard, Martine noticed that there were French names on +almost all the stones.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she was disturbed by the barking of a dog, and, following +the direction of the sound, she saw a house on a hill high above the +chapel. The dog was running up and down in front of the house, and +barking loudly, as if he detected the presence of a stranger near the +church. Martine remembered that the Indian woman in the cabin below had +spoken of the chief's house near the church, but this did not reassure +her. Perhaps the chief, himself, would object to the presence of a young +American girl, and she began to wonder how she should make her peace +with him if he should interfere; she was less afraid of the possible +chief, however, than of the very real dog, whose barking still +continued. To leave the enclosure by the way she had come would bring +her out in full view of the creature. To avoid this, therefore, with +some difficulty she climbed a fence at the other side, believing that +she was going straight in the direction of the bicycle. But alas for her +miscalculations! She was in a tangled thicket of shrubbery; she tore her +dress and scratched her ankles, and she could not get back to the +bicycle nor even find the cabin from which she had been directed to the +chapel.</p> + +<p>When at last she reached the broad road, she sat down disconsolately +by the side of a fence.</p> + +<p>"Why was I so foolish as to borrow Amy's bicycle?" Had it been her +own wheel, so reckless was Martine's disposition, she would have left it +behind without a qualm. Yet though it was quite possible for her to buy +a new one for Amy, it did not seem quite right to return to the hotel +without it. While she was pondering, without seeing any way out of the +difficulty, she heard a shrill voice crying,—</p> + +<p>"Hi, lady, hi!"</p> + +<p>Turning about, she saw the tall, thin Indian woman in the purple gown +walking down the hill and guiding the bicycle beside her.</p> + +<p>"Why, how did you know I was here?" asked Martine, after she had +thanked her profusely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I could see the way you start from the chapel, and I thought you +not find your wheel, so I thought I bring him."</p> + +<p>Martine, thanking the woman warmly, gave her all the silver that she +happened to have in her purse,—not a very large sum from her point +of view, but magnificent from that of the Indian.</p> + +<p>The squaw then walked with her down the hill and into the village, +saying that young ladies should not go so far alone. As they walked, +Martine asked several questions about Indian life, and was told that, in +the summer, many were away selling baskets or fishing; they would be +coming back soon, she said, and even as she spoke Martine looked toward +the river on which two canoes were gliding, each containing two or three +Indians and their numerous belongings.</p> + +<p>"They are coming back for St. Anne's Day," said the woman; "great +time then at the chapel."</p> + +<p>They had not gone very far together when, turning a corner, the two +came suddenly on Priscilla and Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine," cried the latter, "where have you been? We have had +our tea, and mother is so worried about you."</p> + +<p>"I hope it was a good tea and that you saved me some," rejoined +Martine; "for now that you mention it, though I hadn't thought of it +before, I realize that I'm half starved."</p> + +<p>"But where have you been?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've been a kind of babe in the woods, only there weren't any +berries for me to feed on, and all that I have to show for my adventure +are these tears in my gown."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, ladies," said the Indian woman, while Martine was talking, +"and I thank you much," she concluded, holding out her hand to +Martine.</p> + +<p>In a moment she had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Is that another protégée?" asked Priscilla, a little sharply.</p> + +<p>Martine did not answer. She had already plunged into a lively account +of her afternoon, omitting nothing, not even her own carelessness in +relation to the bicycle.</p> + +<p>At the hotel Mrs. Redmond spoke to Martine more seriously about the +danger in expeditions by herself. "I had no idea that you thought of +doing anything beyond wheeling around the town," she said; "and if you +had met any real mishap, it would have been very hard for Amy and me, in +whose care your father and mother put you."</p> + +<p>So Martine promised that in the future she would be less thoughtless. +"Although to be honest," she added, "my thoughts are so apt to come +afterwards that it is almost dangerous to promise anything."</p> + +<p>That evening, in the little hotel parlor, when Martine narrated her +adventure, an old gentleman who was a permanent boarder there told her +many anecdotes of the Micmacs.</p> + +<p>"In the early days, as you know, they were very friendly to the +French. They were early baptized and became Roman Catholics, and as they +began to be civilized, they liked to be known by French names, and many +married with the French. The Canadian Government is very good to them, +and provides for them on reservations or encourages them to own land for +themselves. The children all go to school, some in reservation schools, +and some attend the ordinary day schools with white children. While some +of them still prefer to live by hunting, fishing, and Indian +handicrafts, others work in mills and on railroads; and, on the whole, +they compare well with the lower class of white citizens, for they +<i>are</i> citizens with certain voting rights."</p> + +<p>"I thought they'd be more picturesque and like real savages," said +Martine. "I was so disappointed. There's something attractive in the +name 'Micmac,' and I supposed that at least they'd live in wigwams."</p> + +<p>"Considering the way in which you rushed in among them," interposed +Mrs. Redmond, "I should think you would be glad that you met only tame +Indians to-day."</p> + +<p>"Very tame," rejoined Martine. "Only a tall, thin Indian woman in a +purple calico gown."</p> + +<p>"There are certainly not many of the original red men left in Nova +Scotia," said Mr. Dolph, the gentleman who had been talking to them. +"There are some collections of their legends that are interesting to +read, and the names of many Nova Scotia places are of Indian +origin."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Amy; "I came across some lines to-day that I copied," +and she began to recite:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'The memory of the Red Man,</span> +<span class="i2">How can it pass away?</span> +<span class="i0">While their names of music linger,</span> +<span class="i2">On each mount and stream and bay?</span> +<span class="i0">While Musquodoboit's waters</span> +<span class="i2">Roll sparkling to the main,</span> +<span class="i0">While falls the laughing sunbeam</span> +<span class="i2">On Chegoggin's fields of grain?'"</span> +</p> + +<p>The next morning, when they were ready to leave Bear River, Amy +decided to wheel rather than drive to the station. It was hardly five +miles, over a main road, and she felt that she needed exercise.</p> + +<p>"Keep us in sight, Amy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, if I don't pass you," she replied.</p> + +<p>But Amy at first lagged behind,—there were so many lovely +points of view, and she stopped several times to enjoy them to the +utmost. What a curious effect, to look down on the river, or rather to +look down from a hill, and see a ship apparently moored among trees! Of +course the explanation was that the beautiful Bear River lay in a narrow +valley, surrounded by hills that descended sharply to its very margin, +with trees so close together on its banks as to produce the strange +effect that Amy had noted.</p> + +<p>The carriage was out of sight when Amy finally pushed on. Shortly she +realized that pedalling required great effort. At first she ascribed her +difficulty to the hills, but a slight grating of the wheel made her look +at her tires, and, to her dismay, she found a small puncture. What +should she do? She glanced at her watch, and was surprised to see how +much time she had lost. One or two wagons had already passed her on +their way to the train, and she regretted that she had not called for +help. It might have been ignominious—it certainly would have been +more discreet—to make her appearance at the station carried in a +wagon rather than to lose her train altogether, as now appeared +probable. She stopped a boy whom she met walking toward her.</p> + +<p>"How far is it to the station?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Only a little way," he replied, after the fashion of boys, and she +pushed on hopefully. She heard wheels in the distance, and made up her +mind to humiliate herself to the extent of asking the new-comer to +assist her; but when the vehicle came in sight it proved to be a narrow, +one-seated buggy, and its three passengers seemed more than enough for +it. A little farther on she heard an ominous whistle. The train was +nearing the station. She felt indignant.</p> + +<p>"Why should this particular train be on time on this particular day? +Nova Scotia trains are not noted for hurrying."</p> + +<p>Now she was walking and dragging her bicycle along. She met a number +of persons who evidently had left the train at the Bear River station +and were walking up to their homes. Then she heard the engine whistle +again as the signal for starting on, and she knew that it was useless to +go down to the station itself. She stood still for a moment, half +paralyzed. Of course there was no special danger; her mother and the +others might go on to Annapolis without her, and she could return to +Bear River for the night; but it was all very mortifying. Then a sudden +thought came to her; in fact, it had occurred to her when she first +discovered the punctured wheel.</p> + +<p>"If Fritz were with me, he would have found some way of mending the +puncture; in fact, one man is almost necessary on an excursion." That +was what Fritz himself had said to her.</p> + +<p>She recalled his very words, and the remark with which he had +ended,—"Then you'll remember me."</p> + +<p>But there was no time for reflection now. The train was coming slowly +along the bridges; Amy could see the smoke from the engine. Between her +and the track lay an open space—a slight decline from the point +where she stood on the road—covered with long grass and bushes. A +quick impulse urged her on; at the worst she could only fail; Nova +Scotia conductors were very obliging, and there was more than half a +chance that she might succeed. She lifted her bicycle across her arm, +managed to climb over the low fence, and was pushing her way down the +hill as the train drew near. A man, probably the conductor, was standing +on the platform of a car; she waved her hand violently. The train seemed +to move more slowly; a man thrust his head out of the engine cab; he, +too, had seen her. She was now not far from the track; the train stood +still; the conductor leaped down from his post, plunged into the +shrubbery, relieved her of her wheel, and she followed him without a +word; then one or two passengers pulled her on board the train, the +signal was given, and the engine started on.</p> + +<p>"Lucky it wasn't a flying express," said one of the passengers.</p> + +<p>"I guess they wouldn't do that in the States," said another.</p> + +<p>Red-faced and crestfallen, Amy found herself a moment later in the +bosom of her family.</p> + +<p>"A punctured tire," she began.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; don't try to talk."</p> + +<p>Amy sat still.</p> + +<p>Martine fanned her.</p> + +<p>Priscilla brought her a glass of water.</p> + +<p>Her mother asked for no explanation.</p> + +<p>The passengers stared at her; the majority as if amused, though. One +or two talked as if they thought their rights had been infringed.</p> + +<p>"We were sorry," Mrs. Redmond said later, "to go without you, but it +was better for you to be left than for the rest of us to lose the train; +we knew you could go back to Bear River, and we could have telegraphed +you what to do; we knew you would be equal to the occasion."</p> + +<p>"So I was."</p> + +<p>"Well, we hardly expected you to stop a train."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the train stopped me."</p> + +<p>"'All's well that ends well'"</p> + +<p>Later in the day Martine came over to sit beside Amy.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid, Amy, that I may have punctured your tire yesterday; the +road to the chapel was so very stony."</p> + +<p>"Tires are bound to be punctured," replied Amy, "and if this hadn't +happened when it did, I shouldn't have had the fun of stopping a +train."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch9"></a>CHAPTER IX</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">old port royal</span></p> + +<p class="p2">At Annapolis, the old Port Royal, Amy and her party were +to stay longer than at any other place. They had engaged rooms at a +pleasant house where there were no other boarders, and when they had +unpacked their trunks, began to feel as if they were really away for the +summer.</p> + +<p>"We have a fine view of the river," said Mrs. Redmond to Martine the +morning after their arrival, as they looked from the windows of her +room, which was at the rear of the house.</p> + +<p>"River!" sniffed Martine; "I see nothing but red mud and green +marshes; I wonder where the water is."</p> + +<p>"You won't ask that question at high tide; you'll find water enough +to float a small vessel," she replied, "and if you look a little beyond +our immediate neighborhood, you can see the whole Basin, and far, far +away there in the distance, I suppose, that land is Digby. I am going +out to sketch immediately after breakfast; I've seen several photographs +of the old fort, and I have special reasons for wishing to make a sketch +of it; and you, Martine, will get plenty of inspiration for your +water-colors."</p> + +<p>Amy was in her element at Annapolis. She had already +given some time to the history of the old town, and anticipated great +pleasure in retracing the steps of the brave Frenchmen who had made it +famous.</p> + +<p>"More French history!" Priscilla exclaimed, when Amy began to talk +about De Monts and Poutrincourt; "when shall we hear about the English?" +and Priscilla, with a wry face, continued, "I'm so tired of the +French."</p> + +<p>"All in good time," responded Amy; "but now we must take things in +due order and not skip about as we did. Let us go with the others into +the port to-day, and while they are sketching I'll talk a little about +its history."</p> + +<p>So it was that, while Mrs. Redmond and Martine were making sketches +of the sally-port and old officers' quarters, Amy, seated near them, +played the part of historian and guide.</p> + +<p>"This fort, you know, is from Vauban's plans, with four bastions and +connecting curtains."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose there's a moat?" interrupted Priscilla; "it looks as +if there should be one here."</p> + +<p>"There used to be a wet ditch in the eighteenth century, and I +suppose that was much the same thing, though it's dry now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can tell you something more entertaining than that," +interposed Martine. "They used to have logs on the top of the parapet +ready to roll down on the heads of assailants. But tell me, Amy, I've +forgotten; did Champlain build this fort?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Martine, where is your history? Vauban and Champlain; oh, +no. Champlain's fort is six miles down the river, opposite Goat +Island."</p> + +<p>"Then who first built this fort?"</p> + +<p>"Probably D'Aunay first planned it, and it was improved by Brouillan +and Subercase. You must remember that it has suffered twenty attacks and +ten regular sieges. There's little good in talking about it until you +know the history of the times better."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," murmured Martine, "of course I knew this was to be an +improving trip, and yet I do think it's hard to have to learn history in +the summer."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid there's no escape for it," said Amy; "the fog is rolling +in, and this afternoon I will tell you once for all certain things that +will give you great interest in Annapolis during your stay here."</p> + +<p>So, undisturbed by further historical information during the morning, +Martine, under Mrs. Redmond's direction, completed her sketch of the +officers' quarters within the fort,—a quaint old building, with +its thirty-six chimneys and thirty-six fireplaces, every one of which +had probably been needed in the long and cold winters of old Acadia.</p> + +<p>As Amy had prophesied, the afternoon was foggy, and she felt little +compunction in insisting that Martine as well as Priscilla should join +her before her open fire while she talked to them of Port Royal +history.</p> + +<p>"Although some French," she said, "may have visited Acadia as early +as 1504, our starting point is 1604, when De Monts, who was a nobleman +of the Court of Henry Fourth, and Champlain, and Poutrincourt, and +Pontgravé came out on a voyage of exploration. Poutrincourt seems to +have been the one most anxious to make a permanent settlement here. +Champlain was the geographer and map-maker of the expedition, and was +also on the search for ores. The grant of the land known as Acadia had +been given by Henry Fourth to De Monts. He, as well as Pontgravé had +been on a previous expedition to the New World. At first they were +delighted with Acadia. They saw fine opportunities for fur-trading as +well as for a permanent settlement. But after visiting the shores of the +Annapolis Basin, they made a mistake by going farther south to the St. +Croix River, and they spent their first winter on an island some +distance from its mouth. This proved a bad thing, for the climate was +severe and many of the colonists died; so when the weather permitted +they went back to the neighborhood of Port Royal and set up their houses +and built a small fort on Goat Island.</p> + +<p>"They found the Indians everywhere very friendly, especially the old +chief, Membertou, who was said to be nearly one hundred years old.</p> + +<p>"When their buildings were finished, De Monts sailed back for France, +knowing that he could be spared until after the harvests were gathered. +Pontgravé was left in charge of the colony in his absence, assisted by +Champlain and Champdore. When the spring of 1606 came and De Monts had +not returned, the colonists were alarmed. They needed the supplies that +he had promised to bring them, and they were afraid that something had +happened to him. So, late in July, Pontgravé started off to see if he +could not find some fishing-vessel to take them all back to France.</p> + +<p>"In the meantime, De Monts in France had had trouble in getting +people to interest themselves in the Port Royal Colony. But +Poutrincourt, who had returned with him, proved his best friend, and +helped in fitting out a vessel called the 'Jonas,' and promised to +return to Acadia with De Monts, and take his family with him, to +establish a permanent colony.</p> + +<p>"With them came Lescarbot, an advocate of Paris, who afterwards wrote +a full account of his residence in Acadia, from which we learn many +interesting details that, but for him, we would not know. Pontgravé fell +in with a shallop from De Monts' vessel and all returned to Port Royal. +De Monts wasn't perfectly satisfied with Port Royal for a permanent +settlement, and he persuaded Poutrincourt to make a journey farther +south to find a better place; but this expedition ended badly, and +Poutrincourt returned, convinced that he could be better off at Port +Royal than anywhere else in the New World.</p> + +<p>"Unluckily, the merchants in France who had supplied money for this +trading colony sent word that they had decided to give it up. Without +money with which to trade, the colony could not prosper, and so the +majority of the colonists decided to go back to France. Poutrincourt, +however, was determined to come back, and he took home with him +specimens of grain grown in Acadia, and various animal, vegetable, and +mineral products, to show the King what could be raised in Acadia. The +King encouraged him to go back, and ratified the grant of land that De +Monts had given him.</p> + +<p>"So Poutrincourt returned to Acadia, and it is greatly to the credit +of the Indians he had left in charge that all the buildings were +unharmed. A new crop of grain, planted by the Indians, was growing +finely, and Membertou and savages welcomed him very cordially.</p> + +<p>"The King had given him a grant of money to be used for the Church +and he brought with him a Jesuit priest, who baptized the savages by +wholesale.</p> + +<p>"In the summer of 1610, Poutrincourt sent his son, Biencourt, back to +France to report the conversion of the savages and the general +prosperity of the colony. Things in France were not going to be very +favorable now for Poutrincourt. When Biencourt arrived in Paris, it was +not long after the assassination of Henry Fourth. The Jesuits were now +anxious to get control of Acadia, and, to make a long story short, +Madame De Guercheville obtained a grant from the King of the very land +that De Monts had granted to Poutrincourt; Biencourt had to take certain +Jesuits back with him to Acadia; and there was much dissension in the +little colony. But what really proved its downfall was an attack made in +1613 by the Virginian Argall, who killed and captured many of the +inhabitants and burnt all the buildings to the ground. Poutrincourt made +no effort to re-establish Port Royal, but Biencourt, his son, remained +in the woods, living, with a few companions, the life of an Indian."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, it was he, was it not," said Priscilla, "who was the friend +of Charles La Tour down at Fort St. Louis?"</p> + +<p>"The very man," replied Amy. "I often think that if Biencourt had +left a record of his wanderings we should have something very +interesting. He and his father made a good fight for New France, but +circumstances were too strong for them."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Priscilla. "I understand better than I did before +how the French happened to settle Port Royal."</p> + +<p>"Why," asked Martine, "did that Virginian—Argall, I think you +called him—wish to interfere with the French? Jamestown had been +settled only six years when he came up here and attacked Port Royal, and +there wasn't any Plymouth, then, Priscilla."</p> + +<p>"He had no real right to interfere, but the English, even then, +claimed the whole coast of North America, basing their claims on the +discoveries of the Cabots; Argall himself, however, is considered little +more than a pirate, and no Englishman justifies his destruction of the +prosperous and peaceful colony at Port Royal.</p> + +<p>"The next settlement here was under the auspices of Sir William +Alexander, a friend of James the First. You remember that he made La +Tour a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He had great plans, and his colony was +near Goat Island. I am told that some people here in Annapolis still +speak about the Scotch fort, some trace of which is yet to be seen.</p> + +<p>"War between France and England finally put an end to Sir William +Alexander's colony, and it was Charles La Tour who did more than any one +else to make Acadia of some importance to France. He claimed that +Biencourt, Poutrincourt's son, when he died in 1623, had left all his +claims to Acadia to him, including the position of Governor."</p> + +<p>"Amy," said Martine, yawning slightly, "this is all very interesting, +but unless I have time to digest it I shall forget it entirely. Let us +put history aside until another day and see if we cannot find something +more amusing."</p> + +<p>"I'm going downstairs for a moment," said Priscilla; "I have an idea +the mail has come."</p> + +<p>In a moment she returned with a handful of letters.</p> + +<p>"Boston, Plymouth, two from Shelburne—where's that? I suppose +that I may look at the postmarks?"</p> + +<p>"Give, give," cried Martine, and Priscilla put a couple in her +hand.</p> + +<p>"Only one for me," said Amy, "and it's from Fritz; he's at Shelburne. +Did you have one too, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mrs. Redmond, who had just entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I thought there were two Shelburne postmarks."</p> + +<p>Priscilla noticed Martine's heightened color, and an idea that had +come to her at Yarmouth now returned. As it was a matter in which +she had no real right to meddle, she said nothing.</p> + +<p>"What does Fritz say?" asked Mrs. Redmond, turning to Amy.</p> + +<p>"That he's having the time of his life, that he and Taps have found +the best fishing in the world, and like Nova Scotia so much that they +may bring a party of their own here next summer. What he writes about +the French of Pubnico sounds exactly like Meteghan and Church Point, so +I'll skip all that; Shelburne seems more romantic, and I almost wish it +had lain in our path. He says it has one of the finest harbors he ever +saw, but I will read you a little in his own words.</p> + +<p>"'Shelburne, my dear Amy, is like the ghost of a city, to one who has +imagination. It was planned to be the chief city of Nova Scotia, and +there is something rather tragic in looking at the broad streets that +were meant for a larger city. Hardly one of the fine old houses remains. +They say that twelve thousand Loyalists came here just after the +Revolution, and most of them were rich and influential. The frames of +large houses were brought and set up here; people tried to live as they +would in a great city, with servants and every luxury. With such a great +harbor they expected to have a great seaport; but the trouble was, there +was nothing in the country back of them. There was no farming land, and +no farmers to supply produce for the ships in the harbor to carry away +in exchange for other goods. After a while people found they had used up +the money they had brought with them from New York and other places. +Then those who could left Shelburne. Some went away leaving their houses +fully furnished, and they never came back. They went to Halifax, to +Annapolis, or even back to New York and Boston after the bitter feeling +over the war had gone down.</p> + +<p>"'If you were here, Amy, you'd find plenty of material for poems in +Shelburne, especially on moonlight nights like last night, when Taps and +I wandered up and down the broad streets, trying to imagine what +Shelburne must have been in the days of its greatness. I hope that you +and the others are enjoying yourselves as much as you expected to, +without me or any other masculine disturber of the peace. I haven't a +doubt that your mother thinks we've been pretty badly treated. She +always was an unusually sensible woman, and we'd have been useful to +carry your bags, if nothing more; however, mark my words, before your +journey is over you will sigh for me more than once, and the day will +come when you'll really need me.'"</p> + +<p>"He thinks enough of himself, doesn't he?" said Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's not really conceited," replied Amy, "and I dare say that he +would liven us up a little; but on the whole things are best as they +are."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you quieter than usual, Martine?" asked Amy that evening.</p> + +<p>"Well, I had a letter from papa to-day," she said, "and he says that +mamma is really very ill, and that they may have to stay abroad all +summer. I have just written him about Yvonne; but of course it will be +some time before I can get an answer."</p> + +<p>"What do you want him to do?" asked Amy,—"to let you adopt her? +She's almost as tall as you are."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not sure what I want, but I know that if Yvonne should +have her voice cultivated she'd be a great prima donna, and what a +feather in my cap to have been her discoverer!"</p> + +<p>"I fear that your father would need more than your opinion to enable +him to decide a matter like that. In fact, only an expert musician could +make a safe prophecy about Yvonne."</p> + +<p>"Well, at least, I hope that he will consent to letting her go to +Boston to study next winter. We could find a doctor to help her +eyesight."</p> + +<p>"Why not ask your father to invest in Alexander's gold mine?" asked +Amy, with a smile; "then he could do everything for Yvonne himself."</p> + +<p>"That isn't the point. I've really taken a great fancy to Yvonne, and +I want to have her near me. Have you written to Pierre yet?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I went out this morning and bought him a copy of +Longfellow. He had never owned one himself, and was anxious to have it. +I have asked him to write us so that we shall get the letter at Grand +Pré."</p> + +<p>"It's time Priscilla had a protégée," said Martine, "though she +doesn't seem the kind of person to adopt anything very warmly except her +own opinions."</p> + +<p>This was a rather sharp remark for Martine to make, and it convinced +Amy of something that she had tried to doubt—that the two girls +were really rather far apart, "and both such charming girls," she said +to herself.</p> + +<p>Martine's letters with the Pubnico and Shelburne postmarks had given +Priscilla considerable concern. Though not a meddler, she yet saw +Martine's lack of frankness about those letters. Priscilla knew that +neither was in the handwriting of Fritz Tomkins, and she was sure that +they were written by the Freshman with him whom she knew only by the +name of "Taps." She was now quite convinced, also, that it really was +Martine whom Amy had seen wheeling through the streets of Yarmouth with +this same youth. That it was no concern of hers she realized perfectly; +and yet, she wondered if it might not be her duty to tell Mrs. Redmond +what she knew. Priscilla was over-conscientious; she was always more +ready to disclose her own faults than to conceal them,—to +disclose, at least, faults that she herself recognized. She did not +altogether realize that a certain form of censoriousness was growing +upon her; that she was too much inclined to measure all people by her +own standard.</p> + +<p>Thus many little things that Martine did quite innocently and +naturally seemed to Priscilla bits of affectation. Martine's hand was +ever in her pocket. When it was a question of buying books or fruit or +some other little thing for the traveller, Martine always managed to pay +for it, and Priscilla thought that her readiness to do this came from a +desire to display the size of her allowance. Priscilla herself, on the +other hand, had to be careful about little expenses, and while their +present trip called for no great expenditure, she hated to be obliged so +often to thank Martine for small luxuries. Then, too, Martine had an +extravagant way of talking that disturbed the serious Priscilla. She +could not say that she had ever found Martine in a real untruth. Still, +Martine's way was not her way, and instead of drawing nearer together as +the journey progressed, the two girls were farther apart.</p> + +<p>Martine, on her part, thought Priscilla rather old-fashioned, but +accounted for the seriousness of her dress and her manner by the fact +that she was still in mourning for her father, who had died of fever +contracted in Cuba at the beginning of the late war.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was because she realized that her prejudices were a little +unreasonable, that Priscilla hesitated about speaking to Amy or Mrs. +Redmond regarding the suspicious postmarks.</p> + +<p>The long "historical disquisition," as Martine called it, that Amy +had given them on their first day at Annapolis, was not immediately +followed by another. Their mornings were spent in sketching in the +neighborhood, and their afternoons in driving. One day they crossed the +Grandville Ferry and went down to the old fort near Goat Island. But +though they all professed to see slight traces of the earthworks, it +required imagination rather than eyesight to discern even a slight trace +of Poutrincourt's fort.</p> + +<p>"It's one of the ironies of history," said Amy, "that tradition +should speak of this as a Scotch fort, for the Scotch were here so short +a time before the French were again in power."</p> + +<p>"What became of the Scotch?" asked Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"It is supposed that most of them went back home, and that the few +who stayed intermarried with the conquering French. Sir William +Alexander and his Baronets of Nova Scotia made little impression on +Acadia."</p> + +<p>"Amy," said Martine, "of all the people you've told us about the most +interesting to me is young Biencourt, wandering about in the woods and +living like an Indian; I even dreamt about him the other night. How did +he happen to escape when Argall destroyed the fort?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he and some of his companions were up there where Annapolis now +is, working in their grain fields; you know they had a mill up there, +and rich fields of grain. The fort itself was not in a good +location,—at least for farming. It is said that Argall and the +other Virginians were not aware of the existence of the mill and the +fields, and when they had destroyed the fort, thought that there was +nothing left for the French."</p> + +<p>"You may be pretty sure," said Martine, "they wouldn't have let +anything escape if they'd known; the English are always greedy."</p> + +<p>"They are not a bit worse than the French," retorted Priscilla. "Just +think how cruel the French were during the Reign of Terror."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's an entirely different kind of thing; the French are never +half as anxious to grab other people's land as the English are."</p> + +<p>"There, there," interposed Amy, "I'll have to be a Board of +International Arbitration; in other words, let us have peace. There's +one thing," she continued, "I feel as if young Biencourt kept alive the +love of the French for Port Royal. Charles La Tour was himself only a +boy like Biencourt when he first came to the New World. The King had +certainly given Poutrincourt rights in Acadia, and he had passed them on +to his son. Poutrincourt was killed at the Siege of Marye in 1610, +scarcely three years before Argall's destruction of Port Royal."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch10"></a>CHAPTER X</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">explorations</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"How very gay your attire, Martine! Do you think of paying +afternoon visits?"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear Amy, I do not, because I know no one to visit; but I'm +tired of cloth skirts and a shirt-waist, and I thought I would like to +see how it would feel to wear something decent."</p> + +<p>Martine's gown was a pale blue voile, made up over a bright blue +lining, with a delicate white insertion on the waist; her hat, a blue +chip, trimmed with white flowers, and she carried a parasol to +match.</p> + +<p>"Is your gown quite suitable for a walk on a dusty road?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it isn't," responded Martine, "but sometimes one must live +up to her feelings, and this is how I feel to-day,—like wearing my +very best; besides, this is nothing remarkable, this dress, but it +happens to be the best I have with me."</p> + +<p>"Very well," and Amy sighed; "it's no use to argue with you, and as +soon as Priscilla comes downstairs we'll set off."</p> + +<p>When Priscilla appeared, she, like Amy, had a short cloth skirt and +shirt-waist, but she made no comment on the elegance of Martine's +appearance.</p> + +<p>There was one thing rather incongruous in Martine's aspect,—she +carried a small shovel, which looked as if it had never been used; such, +indeed, was the case, and as she brandished it she said cheerfully, "I +hope we shall go somewhere where we can dig. I hear there's any amount +of hidden treasure around Annapolis, and I am anxious to get some of it +for myself."</p> + +<p>The girls walked a good while before they saw anything likely to +reward an amateur antiquarian. Then, in a field quite outside the town, +Martine's sharp eyes saw something that interested her. In a moment she +was over the fence, with the others following.</p> + +<p>"There," she said excitedly, "you see these very old, gnarled +apple-trees and this clump of willows; I'm perfectly sure that this used +to be an Acadian farm."</p> + +<p>"That's a safe guess," rejoined Amy, "for all the land about here was +once in the hands of the Acadians."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I think from this little mound and that hollow beside it +that there was a house on this very spot. I noticed what Dr. Gray said +when he was talking to your mother last evening, and that was what +decided me to do some digging for myself."</p> + +<p>"In a blue voile dress," responded Amy, in a tone of disapproval. +"Ah, Martine, you are so absurd!"</p> + +<p>Even while Amy was speaking Martine had begun to +dig,—aimlessly, of course, although in a few minutes she had made +a fairly large hole. When her shovel struck something hard she was +delighted, but, digging deeper, she brought up only a piece of broken +brick. Undiscouraged, she dug one side of the first hole, and presently +she held out to Amy what at first puzzled them both. It looked like a +mere bit of rusty iron, but later they decided that it was probably part +of an old lock.</p> + +<p>"Which I shall label 'Exhibit No. 1' in my museum of curiosities," +said Martine.</p> + +<p>"Let me see what I can do," cried Amy; "you must be tired."</p> + +<p>So Martine surrendered her shovel, and in a quarter of an hour Amy +brought up an old bottle, not at all remarkable in shape, but very +valuable from Martine's point of view, because it was undoubtedly an +Acadian trophy.</p> + +<p>Priscilla contented herself with some slips from an ancient +willow-tree.</p> + +<p>"It is not the best time of year for making cuttings," she said, "but +these French willows cling to life as closely as the proverbial cat. I +heard of a man who had a walking-stick cut from a willow-tree. It looked +as hard and dry as a bone, but one day he happened to stick it in the +ground near a spring and forgot all about it. Some time afterwards, when +he passed, the walking-stick was sending out little shoots, and in time +it became a full-fledged willow-tree."</p> + +<p>"That's a very good story," commented Martine, "and as we know you +never tell anything but the exact truth, Priscilla, neither Amy nor I +would think of doubting it."</p> + +<p>As the trio were walking back toward town they met Mrs. Redmond, +driving.</p> + +<p>"Come," she cried, "which two of you will drive with me? You slipped +off this afternoon without my realizing that you were going away, and +now I want company."</p> + +<p>"I would rather stroll along," replied Amy, "but I am sure that +Martine and Priscilla would enjoy the drive. Martine is turning +antiquarian, and if your driver can take you to some old grave or Indian +mound, she will be delighted to use her shovel."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what I can promise in the way of graves and mounds, but +if Martine comes with me I can offer her a lovely view."</p> + +<p>"If you please, Mrs. Redmond," said Priscilla, "I would rather walk +back home than drive."</p> + +<p>Although Amy tried to make her change her mind, Priscilla was firm, +and the discussion ended by Amy's getting into the carriage with Martine +and Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>As she walked along the main street, where the houses were still +rather far apart, Priscilla noticed a little graveyard in a corner of a +garden. As the gate was open, she felt at liberty to walk inside. The +stones at which she glanced were of marble, and the inscriptions were +well cut. The names on two or three of them were French, and the men who +bore them had evidently been officers in the English army. This +interested her, and when she saw a girl of about her own age standing at +the door of a cottage near by, she felt emboldened to speak to her.</p> + +<p>"They were not really French," said the girl, in answer to her +question, "but of Huguenot family, who fought for the King in the +Revolution. I've heard my mother say that one of them was a cousin of +her grandmother's, and they all came here together at the close of the +war."</p> + +<p>Priscilla was delighted. Here, perhaps, was a person who would tell +her something about the Loyalists of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>"Were your people Loyalists?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course," was the reply, as if anything else were +unsupposable.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" responded Priscilla. "I've been waiting to hear +more about the Loyalists."</p> + +<p>"You are an American?" questioned the girl. "Americans are not apt to +care about Loyalists; they seem to think only about the Acadians; but my +ancestors were all Loyalists, and if you will just come into the house +my mother would love to talk to you."</p> + +<p>So Priscilla followed her new acquaintance indoors. Outside, the +house looked small, but within she found many rooms opening one into +another, none of them very large, and all of them with low ceilings.</p> + +<p>"My mother's great-grandfather built this house when he first came +from New York. He was an officer in the Loyal American Regiment. There +is his commission; we framed it to hang on the wall."</p> + +<p>"By His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., General and +Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the Colonies lying +on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West Florida inclusive, etc., +etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"By Virtue of the Power and Authority in Me vested, I DO hereby +constitute and appoint You to be Captain of a Company in the Loyal +American Regiment commanded by Colonel Beverly Robinson."</p> + +<p>Priscilla read the whole commission in which the duties of the newly +made captain were defined, to the very end where the signature of Sir +Henry Clinton still stood out clearly.</p> + +<p>While the new acquaintance went to call her mother, Priscilla looked +around the pleasant sitting-room. There was a high, old-fashioned +bookcase filled with books, many of them in dingy calf bindings. The +young girl returned while she was looking at them, expressing her regret +that her mother was not at home.</p> + +<p>"My grandfather brought many of these books from New York," she said; +"he was a nephew of the rector of Trinity Church, and was himself a +graduate of King's College, New York."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how they had the courage to give up everything and come +down here so far away. Even if they did not like the new government, I +should think they would rather have stayed where most of their friends +and relatives were."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it wasn't always a matter of choice," rejoined Eunice, for this, +Priscilla discovered, was her new friend's name; "some had to come, +because they had been too active in the King's cause and the other side +would not forgive them. Even after the Peace many were in danger of +imprisonment; and then a great many had had all their property +confiscated, and thought it would be easier to start over again down +here than to live in poverty among their old friends and neighbors."</p> + +<p>Priscilla looked in amazement at Eunice. She expressed herself so +much more carefully than most girls of her age.</p> + +<p>"Martine would call her quaint," thought Priscilla, looking at her, +"and if she knows as much about other things as she does about history, +she must be a wonder."</p> + +<p>"I wish my mother were here," said Eunice, politely. "She gets quite +worked up when she talks about the Loyalists."</p> + +<p>"I should think she would," responded Priscilla. "They certainly had +a hard time."</p> + +<p>"She thinks that we have been cut off from things that really are our +own, and now, when we have so little money that I can't even afford to +go away to college, she feels more and more indignant at the injustice +of it all."</p> + +<p>Priscilla did not know exactly what to say. In her mind there was a +struggle between her feeling of patriotism and her sense of justice. As +Eunice had put it, it did not seem fair that the Loyalists should have +lost everything, simply because they had had the courage to hold out for +the King. But a phrase came into her mind that she had often heard, and +for the moment it seemed the only sentiment that she could express.</p> + +<p>"After all," she said gently, "I suppose it was the 'fortune of war' +that your people suffered so much."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," responded Eunice, "that is what I often say to my mother; +and then I tell her too, that in one hundred and twenty-five years the +family probably would have lost all the property they had before the +Revolution."</p> + +<p>Finding that the subject was getting a little beyond her, Priscilla +ventured a more general remark.</p> + +<p>"There must be many interesting historical incidents connected with +Annapolis; I mean, incidents that are not French," she concluded +hastily. "I am just a little tired, myself, of the Acadians."</p> + +<p>"I don't know of many very entertaining things," responded Eunice, +"but I remember one story that might amuse you. During the Revolution, +the people of Annapolis were awfully afraid of attacks from Privateers. +You see, after the Acadians were driven out a large colony from New +England came down here. They received grants of land from the +government, and were very prosperous when the war began. Many were on +the side of the Yankees, but in the end England was able to hold Nova +Scotia. However, the small privateering vessels were constantly coming +into Nova Scotia ports, and even Annapolis wasn't perfectly safe. One +night two rebel schooners came up to the mouth of the river; they had +about eighty men, and landed them safely, because the sentry at the fort +was asleep. They entered the houses and stirred people up immensely; +they seemed more bent on making mischief than in doing any real +violence. There were not many citizens here in the town then, but one of +them, looking from the window when he heard a noise in the street, saw +two of the rebels disputing over something they had stolen; when they +saw him at the window, they dashed into his house, and a minute or two +afterwards another Annapolis man, only half dressed, rushed excitedly +into the room to tell his friend that the Yankees were plundering the +town; this was unnecessary information, because, as I have said, two +rebels were already in the house. He discovered them with their bayonets +pointed at him just as he had finished telling his story, and he was so +surprised that he fell backward over a cradle, with his feet in the air. +His comical appearance made the rebels laugh so, that he afterwards said +that this saved his life, for before they had recovered he had jumped to +his feet and run away. But later he and all the other able-bodied +citizens were shut up in the fort, while the men from the schooners went +through the houses and carried away everything movable. They allowed the +ladies to keep their shoes, though they first removed the silver +buckles. The schooners disappeared in the morning, when the report was +spread around that the militia of the county were gathering and coming +to Annapolis. That, I believe, was the only attack on Annapolis during +the Revolution. It happened two or three years before the arrival of the +refugees, and the accounts of it that have been handed down always +represented it as a very comical affair."</p> + +<p>"Did you say 'Yankees'?" asked Priscilla. "Did you mean—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I meant schooners from New England; I've heard they were from +Cape Cod," replied Eunice.</p> + +<p>"It was pretty small business," said Priscilla, almost +apologetically. "I don't believe that the men on the schooners were +either soldiers or sailors. I am sure that Washington wouldn't have +approved if he had known."</p> + +<p>"You don't think that all on your side were good, do you," asked +Eunice, "and that all on ours were bad?"</p> + +<p>Priscilla hardly knew what to reply. She was getting again into deep +water, for she saw that although the war was long over, Eunice was still +a strong partisan. So, as a kind of peace-offering, she asked Eunice if +she would not walk back home with her.</p> + +<p>"I should like to have you meet my friends whom I am travelling +with," she said. "We are going to stay in Annapolis a week or more. Mrs. +Redmond is making some beautiful sketches, and her daughter Amy is just +dear; she is older than Martine and I, but she never makes us feel the +difference in our ages, and she knows more than almost anybody I ever +saw."</p> + +<p>"I should love to walk back with you," said Eunice, "though I cannot +stay very long. What is Martine like?" she asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine,—well, Martine is different. She always sees the +funny side of things, and she doesn't care what anything costs if she +happens to want it. She's perfectly devoted to the French, and I'm so +terribly tired of her Acadians that I want to find out what the English +did in Annapolis."</p> + +<p>"I will be glad to do what I can to help you," responded Eunice, +"only you mustn't be too touchy about things; for you see we're still +all English down here."</p> + +<p>As Priscilla walked back to the boarding-house she congratulated +herself on her new friend; for although she had known Eunice so short a +time, she already regarded her as much more than an ordinary +acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"I can always tell," she said to herself, "whether any one is going +to wear well. Mother says that that is the only test for real friends, +and I can see that Eunice and I are likely to be more than +acquaintances. I feel as if I had known her a long time. Now it wasn't +so with Martine, and even though we have been together so much this +summer, some way I don't feel perfectly comfortable with her. I'd like +to be fair, but still—"</p> + +<p>Yes, Priscilla meant to be fair, but still—what was the +trouble? It is to be feared that she had not yet learned the real +meaning of tolerance. Martine's point of view was often so unlike hers +that Priscilla did not make enough effort to put herself in her friend's +place. While believing herself just, she certainly permitted herself to +be biassed little in her judgments. Nor did she realize that Martine +herself often spoke in an exaggerated tone, chiefly for the purpose of +seeing to what extent she could impose on Priscilla; for Martine, +discovering Priscilla's attitude toward her, liked to say things to +surprise her,—"Puritan Prissie," as she called her at these +times.</p> + +<p>It would not be quite true, perhaps, to say that Priscilla distrusted +Martine's interest in Yvonne, although she had a strong conviction that +it was merely impulse that had led her to promise so much.</p> + +<p>"For the day that we spent at Meteghan, Yvonne was like a new +plaything to her. Had Martine been with Yvonne a week, it would have +been the same; she would have lavished things on her, and would have +been ready to promise her anything. But 'out of sight, out of mind;' I +believe that that is always the way with her. I am not even sure that +she is as fond of Mrs. Redmond and Amy as she seems to be."</p> + +<p>Poor Priscilla! she was really borrowing trouble needlessly, and yet +in more senses than one it was real trouble to her, because she was +never sure just how she ought to respond to the more flippant remarks +made by Martine. They were often so witty that she could not help +laughing, even when she felt the greatest need of preserving her own +dignity.</p> + +<p>Another grievance was Martine's way of addressing Amy. Priscilla +herself had begun by trying to say "Miss Redmond;" occasionally she +slipped into "Amy," but more usually "Miss Amy" was her form of address. +Martine had laughed loudly at this, and one day she said, "It is what I +call too servile. Amy is not greatly our superior, but still I'd rather +call her Miss Redmond. I notice that Fritz Tomkins in some of his +letters says 'Miss Amy Redmond.' I wonder if that would do for us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Amy—that is, Miss Redmond—explained that it was just +his way of making fun of her when he says 'Miss Amy Redmond.'"</p> + +<p>"Probably, but when I can't think of anything else I will say that, +though generally Amy is good enough for me, and here she is, looking as +sweet as a rose." Whereupon, without the slightest regard for the +dignity with which Priscilla would have liked to hedge Amy, Martine had +thrown herself upon the older girl's neck, to the destruction of +something less ideal than her dignity; to wit, the freshness of her +muslin stock.</p> + +<p>Thinking of this scene, Priscilla sighed. "Eunice would never do or +say anything silly." This goes to show that she did indeed regard Eunice +as a kindred spirit.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch11"></a>CHAPTER XI</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">a tea party</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"Prissie, Prissie," said Martine, in a teasing tone, "you +are altogether too enthusiastic; I don't believe in these perfect +people, and your little Tory must be rather a prig, from what you +say."</p> + +<p>When Martine called her "Prissie," Priscilla knew that she meant +mischief, and though in her inmost heart she admitted that Martine's +teasing carried no real sting, she never stood this teasing with very +good grace.</p> + +<p>"She isn't a Tory," she replied rather sharply; "there are no Tories +in these days, and Eunice Airton is not a prig."</p> + +<p>But Martine only laughed; perhaps she retained too firmly in her mind +the remembrance of Priscilla's indifference to Yvonne and was now trying +to pay her back. Priscilla had just given an enthusiastic account of her +new acquaintance, and Mrs. Redmond and Amy had listened with great +attention. Mrs. Redmond, indeed, was pleased that Priscilla had found +something really to interest her. Although away from home not quite two +weeks, Priscilla had begun to show the good effects of the trip in round +and rosier cheeks, and in a slightly more animated manner. Yet it had +seemed to Mrs. Redmond that she was not quite as pleased with things in +general as the other two girls. She was sorry too to note the growing +antagonism between Martine and Priscilla, though its cause was hard to +discover. At first Martine's teasing had proceeded from the merest love +of fun, and she thought that Priscilla took it all too seriously. Amy +had already cautioned her that she could soon disarm Martine, by +receiving everything she said as if said in pure fun. But Priscilla was +sensitive, and she was just conscious enough of certain little foibles +of her own to realize that sometimes Martine was laughing at her.</p> + +<p>"Even if Eunice were a Tory, I shouldn't care," she continued. "I +never heard any one talk as well as she does."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's just it, my dear Miss Prissie Prunes," retorted Martine; +"I'll warrant that she's just as prim and precise as—"</p> + +<p>Martine did not finish the sentence, but Priscilla realized well that +she meant to say "as prim and precise as you are."</p> + +<p>The day after this conversation Mrs. Airton called on Mrs. Redmond +and the girls. Martine was not at home, but the others were pleased with +the delicate little woman, in rather faded black, who was particularly +cordial and anxious to have them see Annapolis at its best.</p> + +<p>As she talked, it was easy to understand how Eunice came by her +precise manner and language, for there was a certain bookishness in her +choice of words, and correctness of expression, that, although not +really subject to criticism, might become tiresome. Mrs. Airton had +heard more or less about Mrs. Redmond and her party from Dr. Gray, to +whose family Mrs. Redmond had brought an introduction.</p> + +<p>"Now I hope," she said, toward the end of her visit, "that you will +give us the pleasure of spending to-morrow afternoon with us and staying +to tea. I suppose 'tea' has gone out of fashion in the States, but it's +just the height of the strawberry season now, and perhaps you'll accept +high tea in place of a late dinner."</p> + +<p>"We shall be delighted to accept your invitation," Mrs. Redmond +replied, "and as for tea, why, we never have late dinner at home in +summer. We shall enjoy your hospitality."</p> + +<p>Now it happened, unfortunately, that on the morning of Wednesday, the +day for which Mrs. Airton had invited them, Martine and Priscilla had +their first falling out. Like most fallings out, it began in a very +trivial way. Among Martine's belongings was an elaborate toilet set of +silver-mounted brushes and boxes; she had had the good sense not to +carry them in her travelling bag, but at Annapolis, where they were to +stay longer than at some places, she had unpacked them all from her +trunk, and they were spread out in elaborate array on her bureau. Amy +had planned an excursion for the morning to Granville across the +Granville Ferry to a certain picturesque spot on the other side. When +she and Priscilla were ready to start, they knocked at Martine's door, +thinking that she too would be ready. To their surprise, they found her +in a loose dressing-sack, busily engaged in polishing her silver.</p> + +<p>"There, I forgot all about going with you," cried Martine; "the damp +air has blackened my brushes so that I just thought the best thing was +to sit down and polish them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," rejoined Priscilla, "we are late as it is; for if we miss +this ferry-boat, we'll have to wait so long for another that we won't +have any time on the other side."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it," retorted Martine; "you can go without me if you +like, though I'll drop what I'm doing and hurry to get dressed; but if +you do not want to wait, it's all the same to me."</p> + +<p>"Of course we'll wait," said Amy, gently. "I particularly wish you to +be with us, Martine, and though it will shorten our time a little, we +must make the best of it now."</p> + +<p>Priscilla looked at her watch. "We ought to take this next +ferry-boat, and if we wait for Martine we shall lose it. Cleaning silver +seems such a waste of time when we're travelling."</p> + +<p>Priscilla's manner rather than her actual words irritated +Martine.</p> + +<p>"I am the best judge of what wastes my own time," she said with +unwonted sharpness, "and as a matter of fact, I'd rather stay here than +go with you."</p> + +<p>Amy, looking at her earnestly, realized that this was not the time +for further argument.</p> + +<p>"Very well," she rejoined. "Priscilla, let us go on. Martine is +certainly the best judge of what she ought to do."</p> + +<p>"I know I shouldn't have criticised Martine," apologized Priscilla, +as they walked along; "but it seems so silly to me that she should carry +a valuable set of silver like that on a trip of this kind. I spoke +before I thought."</p> + +<p>"Martine has always been greatly indulged," said Amy. "At least, I've +been told that she sets no value on money, and so what would seem a +little extravagant to us does not seem so to her."</p> + +<p>"Well, good taste is good taste," rejoined Priscilla, "and if I had +ten times as much money as I have, I'd never carry jewelry about with me +travelling, nor expensive toilet-sets."</p> + +<p>Amy did not reply to this. Her own view was much the same as that of +Priscilla, but she realized that it was not for her to criticise either +girl.</p> + +<p>The trip to Granville proved less satisfactory than she had hoped. +The town itself, though small, was attractively situated, and she +identified one or two historical spots that she had hoped to see; but +she missed the particular road for which she was looking, and on account +of their engagement at Mrs. Airton's, she had to hurry back to Annapolis +without accomplishing what she had set out to do. The mid-day sun was +very hot, and she and Priscilla reached the house dusty and tired, to +find Martine looking tantalizingly cool and comfortable, seated on a +rustic bench under a tree in the orchard, busily working at a +water-color sketch.</p> + +<p>After their early dinner, Mrs. Redmond took Amy aside and said rather +anxiously:</p> + +<p>"I wish you could persuade Martine to go with us this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Go with us?" returned Amy. "Why, of course. Mrs. Airton expects +her."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand it, but she says that she does not care to +go, and in fact she has engaged a horse for a ride."</p> + +<p>"On horseback! Who is going with her?"</p> + +<p>"No one. She says that it's perfectly safe for her to go alone, and +though I tried to dissuade her, I can see that she is determined to have +her own way."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's what they mean by Martine's being difficult to +manage. Thus far I had thought her remarkably amiable."</p> + +<p>"There's one thing about it," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "it may be +better to let her have her way this time than to have her take it +without our permission. I have learned that the horse she is to have is +perfectly safe,—so safe in fact, that I fear she'll find it rather +a bore,—and she says that she'll only go over the road where we +drove the other afternoon, every step of which she knows; but I must say +that I regret her discourtesy to Mrs. Airton, for her refusal of her +invitation must seem very strange. Why do you suppose she is unwilling +to go?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's because she and Priscilla had a little disagreement +this morning. It was so slight that I wouldn't have attached any +importance to it, but apparently Martine has taken it more to +heart."</p> + +<p>When Priscilla learned of Martine's change of plan, she made no +comment, believing in her inmost heart that Martine had taken this way +to show her real distaste to those whom she called Priscilla's "Tory +friends." When Mrs. Redmond and the other girls reached Mrs. Airton's +early in the afternoon, they found their friend Mrs. Gray there, and one +or two young girls of the neighborhood. For a while they sat in the +low-studded sitting-room where Priscilla had looked at the commission +signed by Sir Henry Clinton. Their conversation did not concern itself +entirely with the past, but there were many questions about the present, +of Nova Scotia in general and Annapolis in particular, that the +Americans were anxious to ask and the others glad to answer.</p> + +<p>Later, however, they got back to the subject in which Priscilla was +especially interested,—the Loyalist refugees and the hard times +they experienced. Eunice had shown her, among other things, her +great-great-grandfather's silver breastplate, with his monogram and a +crown finely engraved upon it, and one or two of his letters, the paper +yellow with age and the ink faded.</p> + +<p>"Since you are interested in such things," said Mrs. Airton, "perhaps +you would like to see some other letters. You might show her, Eunice, +that one that we have that is a copy of the one that my great-grand-aunt +Hester wrote to Sir Guy Carlton, when she was trying to arrange to leave +New York. You know, my dear," she continued in explanation, "in those +days people almost always made copies of their letters, and we have a +good many that are really very interesting. I believe this letter +contained a request from Hester and her sister, Anne, whose husbands had +both been killed toward the close of the war."</p> + +<p>So Amy, taking up the paper, read without difficulty the clear, round +handwriting:</p> + +<p class="blockquot1">"'The Memorial of Hester Danforth, widow of Benjamin +Danforth, late captain of the Prince of Wales' American +Regiment and Anne Dutton, widow of Josiah +Dutton, Lt. in said Regt.</p> +<p class="blockquot3">Humbly sheweth</p> +<p class="blockquot5">That your Memorialist, Hester Danforth</p> +<p class="blockquot7">has two sons, one fourteen and the other twelve +years old, and Anne Dutton three children, oldest son fourteen, youngest +son seven and her daughter ten years old—That as they purpose to +go to Nova Scotia with their children—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">They wish to go on the ship with Dr. Peter Brown, +who is about going with a company of refugees to St. Johns River.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">That they may be indulged with drawing the land's +Government may allow them in that quarter and with the company that goes +under the direction of Dr. Brown or such other company of refugees as +may appear to your Memorialists more eligible.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">That they may be indulged with the liberty of +taking with each of them a man and woman servant and allowances of +provisions, clothing, etc. as to your Excellency may seem meet.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">That, should your Excellency graciously order six +months advance upon their pensions to be paid previous to their sailing, +it will be very thankfully received as indeed their circumstances are +such as they cannot go with reasonable Comfort and Decency without +it.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">As your Memorialists sufferings have been very long +and great—They humbly ask as many Favours and Indulgences as to +your Excellency shall appear anyways reasonable and fit, and as in duty +bound they will ever pray etc.</p> + +<p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Hester Danforth</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Anne Dutton</span></p> + +<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">New York</span>, <i>June 2, +1783</i>.'"</p> + +<p>"I always think that an interesting letter," said Mrs. Airton, +"because both of those ladies who signed it were brought up in the +greatest luxury; their father had one of the large estates on the Hudson +and their mother was of English birth and an heiress; but the family +saved not a single shred of their fortune and it is rather touching to +read behind the lines of this letter and to see that both these young +women, for they were under thirty-five, had for some time been suffering +for the necessities of life."</p> + +<p>"'The fortune of war,'" commented Priscilla, in the very words that +she had used on her first visit to Eunice.</p> + +<p>"I hope," added Amy, "that they found life comfortable after they +came here."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Mrs. Airton, shaking her head, "at first life here could +hardly be called comfortable. Imagine twenty-five hundred people crowded +into this little town, which had not rooms for one tenth the number. +Often a whole family had to content itself with one room, and delicately +reared women and children had to spend at least a part of that first +winter in tents. Several hundred, it is said, were herded together in +the church. Of course, after a few months they began to distribute +themselves through the country. Sometimes they had great trouble in +taking possession of the land granted them, because it was already in +the possession of the New Englanders who had settled on the farms of the +Acadians twenty years before. Usually these pre-Loyalist settlers had a +rightful title to the land they claimed; then the refugees had to apply +for other lands. Many of these refugees were professional men or +merchants from New York City, and they found it hard in middle life to +become farmers; but, as you say, my dear, it was the fortune of war, and +in time they adapted themselves to the new conditions. In the course of +a few years some went back to New York, others sailed over to St. John, +where, from the beginning, city life prevailed, and those who stayed +here in Nova Scotia seemed to be contented with their lot; although I +for one feel very bitter when I think of all that my family in its +various branches lost. I feel it the more because I'm able to do so +little for my children, and they are reaching an age when a little money +would mean so much."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, mamma," interposed Eunice, "but if the money had stayed in +the family after the Revolution it might all have been lost before this, +and besides, Balfour and I do not care half as much for wealth +as—" and here she stopped, for at this point Mrs. Gray interrupted +her.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I think it a greater privilege to have grown up in Annapolis +than to have lived in the finest city of the United States. Why, I can +assure you, Mrs. Redmond," turning to the latter, "that few places of +its size have had so many distinguished residents. When the fort was +garrisoned, it was quite like an English town, and I've heard my +grandmother speak of the parties that were given here when she was +young; not to mention the Duke of Kent, who was here before her day, +there have been such men in the garrison as Sir Colin Campbell, +afterwards Lord Clyde, while Sir Fenwick Williams, the defender of Kars, +was a native of the town, and surely no literary man in America has a +wider reputation than Judge Haliburton, whose house was just down there +beyond the hotel. I often think of the lines by Oliver Goldsmith, who +lived here,—a grand-nephew, my dear," laying her hand on Amy's, +"of the great English poet, who himself wrote 'The Rising Village,' +describing Annapolis."</p> + +<p>"Oh, can't you recite a part of it?" asked Amy. She had already +discovered a vein of sentimentality in Mrs. Gray, and she was right in +judging that the request would please her.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to say," replied Mrs. Gray, "that my memory is not what it +used to be, and the only lines I recall do not touch on the social so +much as the natural charms of Annapolis."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but please do say them." This time it was Priscilla, and Mrs. +Gray began:<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span></p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'Here the broad marsh extends its open plain,</span> +<span class="i0">Until its limits touch the distant main;</span> +<span class="i0">There verdant meads along the uplands spring,</span> +<span class="i0">And grateful odours to the breezes fling.</span> +<span class="i0">Here crops of grain in rich luxuriance rise,</span> +<span class="i0">And wave their golden riches to the skies;</span> +<span class="i0">There smiling orchards interrupt the scene,</span> +<span class="i0">Or gardens, bounded by some hedge of green;</span> +<span class="i0">The farmer's cottage bosomed 'mong the trees,</span> +<span class="i0">Whose spreading branches shelter from the +breeze;</span> +<span class="i0">The winding stream that turns the busy mill,</span> +<span class="i0">Whose clacking echoes o'er the distant hill;</span> +<span class="i0">The neat, white church, beside whose walls are +spread,</span> +<span class="i0">The grass-clad hillocks of the sacred +dead.'"</span></p> + +<p>"It sounds like 'The Deserted Village,'" said Priscilla, politely; +"that was one of the poems that we studied at school last year; you +recite this beautifully."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, I'm aware that the first Oliver Goldsmith's poem is +greater poetry, but here in Annapolis people were very fond of Oliver +the younger, and if ever you've time to read the whole poem, you will +find that he thoroughly appreciated Acadia."</p> + +<p>But all the hours of that pleasant afternoon were not spent in +historical conversation. Priscilla and Eunice, arm in arm, wandered out +in the pleasant orchard, and, swinging together in the hammock, talked +about all kinds of things, more frivolous than serious, such as girls +care to talk about. In appearance the two girls were not unlike, though +Eunice was a little the taller, despite the fact that she was a few +months younger; her eyes were the same gray-blue and her hair the same +pale brown as Priscilla's; not quite fair enough to be called golden, +and hardly dark enough to be called brown.</p> + +<p>"It is strange," Amy had said to her mother, after Eunice had first +called on them, "that Eunice Airton reminds me of some one I have known; +I cannot say just who, but it is one of those resemblances that worry +one; you feel as if you must decide whom it is she resembles, yet try as +I can I cannot think."</p> + +<p>While the girls were in the orchard, Eunice pointed out to Priscilla +the various additions that had been made to the house. Little ells and +rooms had been added, some of them only one story high, and the original +house, built by her Loyalist ancestor, was the very smallest part of the +present dwelling.</p> + +<p>"I thought it strange," said Priscilla, "when you said that this +house was built just after the Revolution, that it should have been so +large, but now I understand."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's been an ell added for nearly every generation. To tell +you the truth," she concluded, "although my mother speaks so +despondingly now, the family have seen better days, even in +Annapolis. My grandfather Balfour was a very successful lawyer, and +in spite of the Revolution"—here she smiled—"we might have +been rich to-day if he had not sunk his money in unlucky +speculation."</p> + +<p>"Balfour?" queried Priscilla. "Where have I heard that name?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the name itself is not so very uncommon. There must be many of +the name somewhere, although our family was the only one down here."</p> + +<p>A little later the girls were looking over some of the old books on +the bookshelves; they were chiefly history and poetry. There was +Robertson's "Charles Fifth," a fine set of Pope's Complete Works, and +Dodsley's "Miscellany," with the gilding on its calf binding not yet +quite worn off. Priscilla looked at these books with less interest than +Amy showed for them; she was not as ardent a lover of things ancient, +although her respect for Eunice increased when the young girl told her +that she had read nearly every book in the house.</p> + +<p>"We have long winter evenings," she said, "and fewer amusements, I +suppose, than you have in the cities; and really I would rather read +than do anything else."</p> + +<p>"But these books are so very old-fashioned, and Pope's poetry, don't +you find it pretty dull? I didn't care so very much for 'The Rape of the +Lock,' though some people call it amusing."</p> + +<p>"I prefer Tennyson," replied Eunice, in a judicial tone, "but I feel +there are certain things one must read some time, and mother says that I +might as well read them now, while I have the books. Some time," and +here she sighed, "we may have to break up our home, and that might mean +packing away all our books; so it's well to 'make hay while the sun +shines,'" she concluded with a bright smile that was in marked contrast +with the sigh of a moment before.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Amy, in looking over some of the books, gave an +exclamation of surprise; she had opened a large Bible, on the fly-leaf +of which was written "Audrey Balfour, Her book."</p> + +<p>"There is something very familiar in that name," she cried, "Audrey +Balfour, and yet for the moment I can't recall any one to whom it +belongs."</p> + +<p>"It's a family name," said Eunice, "and I've always wished that it +had been given to me, for there has always been an Audrey in the family +for each generation until now."</p> + +<p>At last supper was announced, and if any of the party had lacked +appetite, the sight of the long table, with its delicate china and +old-fashioned silver and glass, would have been an inspiration. The +silver spoons, to be sure, were very, very thin, and the cups and +saucers were not without cracks, and here and there showed other +imperfections; but these things only emphasized the fact that silver and +china were really old; and the large silver dish, heaped with great +strawberries, was of a style that Mrs. Redmond said would make it almost +worth its weight in gold to a collector.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry," said Mrs. Airton, politely, "that Miss Martine is +not with you. I have seen her passing two or three times, and she is a +particularly attractive girl."</p> + +<p>"She is indeed very attractive," responded Mrs. Redmond, "and on this +account we regret her occasional wilfulness; she had planned a ride to +the Bay Shore and we could not induce her to give it up. But she wished +me to thank you for her invitation, and she said that if she possibly +could, she would be here in time for tea; but it seems now as if she has +been unable to carry out this part of her plan."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if she really goes to the shore," interposed Mrs. Gray, "I am +sure she will hardly be back in Annapolis before dark. It's a long ride, +and I only hope she doesn't find the road too hard."</p> + +<p>"Martine is a good horsewoman; her father told us that we might trust +her on any horse, and had I not known this, I should have hesitated to +let her go."</p> + +<p>"She did not go alone, I hope," said Mrs. Airton, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; she consented rather reluctantly to an escort, and from the +stable they sent a Mr. Frazer, an elderly man, who promised to look +after her."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Frazer!" Eunice laughed as she uttered the name. "Well, if he's +on his own horse and if Miss Martine keeps beside him, she'll certainly +have a slow, safe ride."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch12"></a>CHAPTER XII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">in the fog</span></p> + +<p class="p2">In the meantime, where was Martine? When Mr. Frazer and +his staid sorrel steed appeared in front of the hotel, Martine had +smiled inwardly.</p> + +<p>"His horse certainly looks safe, and the man himself,—well, he +may be a good guide, as they say, and perhaps he can tell me about +everything we see in passing; but if he proves a bore, as I am perfectly +sure he will, I'll contrive some way to rid myself of his company."</p> + +<p>It was a perfect afternoon for a ride, mild and windless, with just +enough sun to relieve the landscape of the monotony by creating artistic +effects of light and shade. Martine was in great spirits, for, like most +persons from the inland cities, she loved the sea even more deeply than +those who dwell beside it.</p> + +<p>"The Annapolis basin is tame," she had said the day before. "I am +tired of the still, blue water and the red mud and the marshes and the +meadows, and I long for a breath of the real ocean."</p> + +<p>"We're some distance still from the ocean," Amy had rejoined. "The +nearest to it is the Bay of Fundy."</p> + +<p>"Well, from all I've heard, the Bay of Fundy is fiercer than the +ocean itself, and I must see it; for I've been tracing our route on the +map, and it seems to me that we've left out the Bay of Fundy altogether; +we are curving away from it all the time."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we can have a picnic on the Bay Shore before we leave."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, my dear Miss Amy Redmond; we won't have many days, and 'a +bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Just as soon as I can manage +it, I'm going to the Bay Shore myself."</p> + +<p>So Martine had "managed it" by giving up the afternoon at Mrs. +Airton's, and now, as she rode along toward the North Mountain, she had +a certain feeling of triumph.</p> + +<p>At first she and her guide kept very close together. He felt it +incumbent on him to give her as much information as he could about the +country and its history. Even when his tale concerned the Loyalists, +Martine did not assume the air of indifference that was always hers when +Priscilla touched on the same subject.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity," said Mr. Frazer, "that there is nothing to be seen now +of all the wonders that old General Ruggles did in his time. He had one +of the largest grants of land hereabouts, away up over the top of a +mountain, and though he was past seventy when the war ended, he set to +work clearing forests and laying out his grounds like a young man. He +imported all kinds of trees from Massachusetts, and his place was a +model for the whole county. He found a deep gulch on his land that was +sheltered from the winds and yet sunny, and there he planted some rare +trees,—black walnut and peach and other things that generally grow +only in the far south."</p> + +<p>"Was he an English general?" asked Martine, listlessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've heard," replied Mr. Frazer, "that though he was bred a +lawyer in Massachusetts, he became a colonel in the wars that the +Americans fought against the French, and was high in command at +Ticonderoga and Crown Point; it was in that war that he got his title of +Brigadier General, and so he might be called an American officer."</p> + +<p>"Then what was he doing down here in Nova Scotia?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, when the Revolutionary troubles began he wasn't in favor of +breaking off from the mother country; he was a Chief Justice of Common +Pleas, and he wrote and spoke against separation. So at last he and his +family had to give up everything and take refuge with the British in +Boston. He doesn't seem to have been a fighter against his countrymen, +but he preferred exile to sacrificing his principles. I've always been +interested in the old general," added Mr. Frazer, apologetically, +"though I don't just know why, for he was dead long before my father +even was born. But I've read a lot about him, and people here still tell +many stories of him, and altogether he seems something like those heroes +we hear of, working so energetically to keep his spirits up."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Martine, "I agree with you that it does seem rather +heroic, only it's a pity that he was on the wrong side." Then, lest Mr. +Frazer should be inclined to argue with her, she quickly changed the +subject.</p> + +<p>"This road over the mountain is pleasanter than I thought it would +be; I mean, everything looks so cultivated and prosperous."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there isn't a better section anywhere than this," he replied. +"The orchards and farms all pay well; why, there's a place up beyond," +he continued, "that they call Paradise; and if it wasn't for winter, +which I suppose they don't have in heaven, I should say that the name +just fitted."</p> + +<p>Mr. Frazer was so pleased with his own wit that he chuckled softly, +and so far forgot himself as to urge his horse forward.</p> + +<p>"Let's stop here," cried Martine, "for a moment; I never saw so many +beehives."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Mr. Frazer, timidly, "as it's hardly safe; +sometimes, when they're swarming, they are apt to sting if you go too +near them."</p> + +<p>But Martine was already off her horse and over the low fence, and Mr. +Frazer could only follow her example. The farm was situated at the +junction of two roads. Martine had taken the precaution to tether her +horse to a hitching-post, but Mr. Frazer, trusting too implicitly to the +sedateness of his steed, had left it unfettered to nibble the grass by +the roadside. The hives that had attracted Martine's attention proved as +harmless as she had prophesied, so she wandered on toward an +old-fashioned garden, blazing with mid-summer blossoms. Now Jill, the +sorrel that Mr. Frazer had ridden so proudly, proved less reliable than +might have been expected from the character of its owner; for, in the +course of its nibbling, it wandered down the road, passing back of the +farm, and Mr. Frazer was so intent upon telling Martine all that he knew +about bees and flowers that he quite forgot to keep his eye on his +horse. Thus it happened that the animal found itself near some hives +whose occupants were changing habitations. Then, at the very moment when +Mr. Frazer bethought him of Jill, to his horror and great surprise he +saw her starting on a run down this back road. He did not wait to +explain matters to Martine; he knew by the cloud of bees in the distance +that the horse had undoubtedly been stung. "Wait until I come back," he +shouted, as he started in pursuit of his horse.</p> + +<p>Martine smiled as he leaped over a fence, his coat tails flying in +the air.</p> + +<p>"Unseemly haste," she murmured, "for so dignified a person. I wonder +how long he can keep it up."</p> + +<p>For five or ten minutes Martine continued to wait in the +old-fashioned garden; then she looked at her watch. It was later than +she supposed; the sun was less bright, and a slight chill in the air +warned her of approaching fog.</p> + +<p>"I didn't promise to wait," she said to herself, "and after all the +bother of arranging it I can't be cheated out of my sight of the Bay. +It's a straight road and perfectly safe, and my horse hasn't shown a +sign of a trick; so in five minutes, if my guide hasn't returned, I +shall go on alone."</p> + +<p>At the end of five minutes Mr. Frazer had not appeared, and Martine, +remounting her horse, resumed her way toward the Bay Shore. She set off +at a speed that would have quite shaken the breath out of Mr. Frazer, +and she was really surprised to discover how much life her animal had. +Thus it happened that in spite of the delay she really had a glimpse of +the Bay of Fundy before the fog had hidden it. It is true that already +there was a thin veil of mist floating about her and permitting her to +see rather dimly the rocky shore, and the scattered hamlet that lay at +her feet.</p> + +<p>Martine felt most uncomfortable. Her situation was certainly lonely, +and she would gladly have borne the rather tiresome conversation of her +late guide for the sake of his protection. But though she waited as long +as she dared, he did not appear; nor did she meet him as she turned +about toward Annapolis.</p> + +<p>Toward Annapolis—but where was Annapolis? For all at once she +seemed to be riding through a cloud, and she recalled a day when she and +a party of friends had thought themselves lost on one of the highest of +the White Mountains, pushing their way vaguely through the cloud that +enshrouded them. Of one thing, however, she now felt sure. When she +reached the crossroads and the farm where the beehives were, she would +have no difficulty in continuing her way.</p> + +<p>But, alas for all calculations! how it happened she never knew, but +soon she realized that she was on a road quite different from the one by +which she had travelled to the shore. In the fog she had turned +somewhere, and the new road was lonely in the extreme. There were no +houses near; at least, she judged there were not, for the road itself +was rough, more like a forest road, and both sides seemed to be lined +with trees. For a short time she went on cautiously; then a line of +verse came into her mind that she had heard Amy quote only the day +before,<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span></p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'When once a man hath misséd the right way,</span> +<span class="i0">The farther he doth go, the farther doth he stray.' +"</span> +</p> + +<p>So she brought herself to a full stop and, slipping from her horse, +stood beside him, gently stroking his side.</p> + +<p>"Good old fellow," she said gently, "if I'd leave you to yourself, I +dare say you'd carry me home safely. Perhaps in a few minutes we can +turn round and make a fresh start; but now I want to think."</p> + +<p>So she stood for five minutes or more, and among the many thoughts +that flew across her brain was one that, if shaped into words, would +have been: "I wish that I had gone with the others to Mrs. Airton's." +But she could not remain inactive.</p> + +<p>"Whatever happens, I won't be lost on the mountain," cried Martine, +emphatically. "It's always better to go on than to stand still, and +especially as the fog is so thick that I'm likely to be drenched to the +skin if I stay here much longer."</p> + +<p>At this moment the surrounding stillness was broken by a sound; she +listened intently, and in a very short time realized that what she heard +was really the noise of approaching wheels. She drew her horse close to +the side of the road; a vehicle of some kind was near her.</p> + +<p>"Hello, hello," she shouted, picturing herself at the moment as a +stranded mariner on a shipwrecked vessel. The vehicle was close upon +her; the driver drew up his horse; Martine approached him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i170"></a> <img src="images/i_f170.jpg" width="352" height="500" +alt="Illustration: 'Hello! hello!' she shouted." title="'Hello! hello!' +she shouted." /> +</div> + +<p>"What on earth—" he began.</p> + +<p>"Yes, on earth," responded Martine. "I shouldn't like to be at sea, +lost in the fog."</p> + +<p>"So you're lost, are you?" replied the driver of the wagon, in a +brisk, cheerful voice. "Well, there's one thing, you needn't stay +lost."</p> + +<p>Martine looked at the speaker, who had now jumped down from his seat +and was standing beside her. He was a tall youth, with reddish brown +hair and a frank, pleasant face, and she judged that he was two or three +years her senior.</p> + +<p>"It's fortunate," he said, "that we happened to have an order for +some groceries up beyond at the Jones farm. I don't come this way once a +month, and there is very little passing any day; so if you had waited +for some one to rescue you, you would have had to wait a long time."</p> + +<p>Martine was not sure that she liked the word "rescue." All her life +she had prided herself on her independence, and it irritated her to +realize that she had put herself in a position that obliged her to +depend on a stranger.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I shouldn't have said 'lost,'" she responded; "I've only +just missed my way a little, and if the fog should lift I could easily +find my way back to my friends."</p> + +<p>"If the fog should lift!" The boy laughed heartily. "Are you +acquainted with the habits of fogs? Or perhaps it behaves differently in +the States; but in this part of the world, when it sets in late in the +afternoon, it generally stays all night. But come," he continued more +gently, "you'll catch cold if you stay here much longer. I'm on my way +to Annapolis myself, and I'll very gladly take you there. Come," he +continued, holding out his hand; "you'd better get into the wagon here, +and I have a rope by which we can lead the horse behind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Martine; "I can ride just as well. I don't mind the +fog, if you will let me follow your wagon."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" protested the boy; "you can't go fast enough to keep +warm, and your horse might make a misstep; and besides," he concluded, +"I have a sister about your age and I know what's best for girls. Come, +jump in."</p> + +<p>To her own great surprise Martine found herself obeying the strange +youth; perhaps, after all, she felt that there would be more comfort for +her in his covered wagon than in picking her way through the fog, over +the rough road. When she was seated, he handed her a carriage robe which +he bade her wrap around her; then he tied his rope to the horse's +bridle, saying as he did so:</p> + +<p>"I know this animal well, and he'll follow us like a tame cat."</p> + +<p>Then he took his seat beside Martine and they drove along slowly. +After a turn or two they came to the place that Martine called "the +beehive farm." Already she had related the story of Mr. Frazer's +adventure, and her acquaintance had laughed heartily at her account of +the good man's flight after the recreant Jill.</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose even a swarm of bees could put any speed into Jill, +but Frazer himself is so conscientious that I wonder that he isn't +sitting here on the fence waiting for your return."</p> + +<p>As they talked Martine wondered and wondered who her rescuer could +be. Both his language and his subjects of conversation were not what she +would have expected from a grocer's boy, for that was what he called +himself once or twice, and in the back of the wagon there was a large +kerosene can, with one or two empty boxes, as well as some packages that +certainly looked like groceries. But she did not waste much time in +speculating, because she found so many things to ask that she had never +thought to ask any one else before.</p> + +<p>"Didn't realize that the first mill on the Continent was built at +Annapolis?"—said her companion, "and you from Chicago, where +people are supposed to think and dream about flour and grain? I am +surprised. And you didn't know that Membertou, that old Indian, is +reckoned the first convert made in America? Dear me, where have you been +brought up?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm learning," responded Martine. "I'd never heard about the +Acadians until we came down here. But now I think they're just great; +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I should hardly call them great," returned the other, with a smile, +"although there's any amount of interesting history connected with them; +but I've always taken more interest myself in the early days of Port +Royal than in the exile of the Acadians. I wish they'd change the name +of Goat Island back to Biencourtville, for that's what it's called on +Lescarbot's map."</p> + +<p>"Oh," replied Martine, not knowing what else to say.</p> + +<p>She knew nothing about Lescarbot and less about his map, but she +didn't wish to display her ignorance.</p> + +<p>"I remember Biencourt," she added meekly; "he had a very hard time, +hadn't he?"</p> + +<p>The face of the other brightened.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm glad you remember him; he's my idea of a hero. I believe if +he had lived Port Royal would have fared much better. Charles La Tour +was not at all the same kind of man. But Madame La Tour, ah, she was the +right sort! Perhaps you know her story."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Martine, meekly, "I do not, but probably Amy does."</p> + +<p>"Who is this paragon, this 'Amy'? You've spoken of her several times; +she seems to know everything."</p> + +<p>"I really think she does," replied Martine—"know almost +everything. But I wish you could tell me about Madame La Tour."</p> + +<p>"There won't be time now, but I could lend you a book, if you stay +here longer. She doesn't exactly belong to Annapolis; it was the fort at +the mouth of the St. John that she defended. But here we are fairly in +the town, and you can consider yourself saved," he concluded with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"Why, there's Mrs. Airton's house!" exclaimed Martine in surprise; "I +didn't know you were coming this way."</p> + +<p>The boy looked at her curiously.</p> + +<p>"Do you know Mrs. Airton?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly, for I was out when she called, but she was kind +enough to ask me to tea to-day, only I thought I'd like to ride instead. +I thought that perhaps I'd be back in time for tea."</p> + +<p>"You were right in that," rejoined her companion, pulling up his +horse. "I'm sure they're not through tea yet; I can leave you and take +your horse on to the stable. Here, jump out."</p> + +<p>But Martine hesitated, and for the moment she was annoyed at her +rescuer. If Priscilla or Amy should look from a window, how mortifying +it would be to be seen driving in a grocer's cart with a riderless steed +tagging on behind.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," she said; "I would rather go on to my +boarding-house; please drive on."</p> + +<p>She never knew whether her new acquaintance would have heeded her +request or not, for hardly had she spoken when from a side door Eunice +Airton and Priscilla rushed toward the wagon.</p> + +<p>"Where's Martine?" cried Priscilla, excitedly; "we recognized the +horse."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Balfour," began Eunice, "what—"</p> + +<p>Without further ado Martine jumped down from the seat. The girls had +approached the wagon from the rear, and at first had not seen her. Her +sudden appearance surprised them. By this time Amy had reached the +group.</p> + +<p>"What happened?" and she looked on Martine for an explanation.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, nothing," replied Martine, "only I was caught in the +fog."</p> + +<p>Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm.</p> + +<p>"Your clothes are damp; you may take cold."</p> + +<p>"Come into the house," added Eunice; "we are not yet through +tea."</p> + +<p>Martine saw that protest could not avail. As a matter of fact, she +was not only cold but hungry, and the prospect of something to eat was +one that she could not resist.</p> + +<p>"You said that you might come to tea," remarked Amy, "and so Mrs. +Airton will not be altogether surprised."</p> + +<p>Had any one but Amy said this, Martine would have suspected her of +sarcasm; but even if Amy would inwardly smile at her ignominious return, +Martine could bear ridicule from her better than from any one else.</p> + +<p>When Martine had replaced her waist with a drier one belonging to +Eunice, Eunice led her to the dining-room, where the others had resumed +their seats. Mrs. Redmond and Mrs. Airton made little comment on her +misadventure, and never did hot biscuit, and strawberries, and +chocolate, and cookies seem more appetizing to Martine than they did on +this occasion. Later, when Amy and Priscilla were helping Eunice clear +the table, Mrs. Airton sat down beside Martine.</p> + +<p>"I am glad it was Balfour who found you," she said, "though I am +sorry that he could not come in to tea with you. It is his night at the +store, and he usually waits for his tea until late in the evening."</p> + +<p>"Balfour?" asked Martine; "who is Balfour? Of course I know he drove +me home, but who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Balfour," replied Mrs. Airton, "why, Balfour is my son and Eunice's +brother."</p> + +<p>"Ah," cried Martine, "I did not realize that; now I understand."</p> + +<p>But what she understood she did not then explain.</p> + +<p>Not long after tea Mr. Frazer rushed excitedly into Mrs. Airton's +sitting-room.</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad the young lady's safe," he cried, "though indeed I +thought she'd wait for me; but the sorrel led me a long chase, and when +I got back to the farm she wasn't there. But I never thought of her +going to the Bay Shore with the fog rolling in so thick, and when I +found she wasn't at the house, I went back again to the farm, thinking +she'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. At last I met some one who had seen +her driving with Balfour; then I knew she was safe. So I must apologize +again for the behavior of my sorrel, though it was all the fault of the +bees."</p> + +<p>Martine forgave the sorrel as readily as she forgave Mr. Frazer, for +her adventure had ended so pleasantly that there was no occasion for +blaming any one.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch13"></a>CHAPTER XIII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">letters and some comments</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"Do you realize that we have only a day or two longer in +Annapolis?" asked Amy, one soft afternoon in July, as she sat with +Martine and Priscilla within the walls of the old fort.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond, seated some distance from them, was sketching a bit of +far-off shore that came within her range of view. Martine had her hands +folded idly in her lap, though the sketching-block and materials that +lay beside her showed that at least she had made some pretence of work +that day.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I realize it all too well," she responded. "I wish we could +stay here all summer."</p> + +<p>"It has been so much pleasanter since we knew the Airtons that we +shall find it very hard to go," added Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Of course we might stay here the rest of the summer," replied Amy, +"only, since we had a definite route planned out it would be a pity not +to follow it."</p> + +<p>"The other places may be very stupid," murmured Martine.</p> + +<p>"Not Grand Pré," rejoined Priscilla. "You'll probably enjoy that far +better than Annapolis; you seem to forget that it is full of memories of +the expelled Acadians."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, the Acadians; but do you know they don't seem half so +important to me as they did when we were in Clare. I've really grown +tremendously interested in those first Frenchmen, who had such an +unlucky time here at Port Royal. Annapolis has memories enough for +me."</p> + +<p>"What a fickle creature you are, Martine! Surely you haven't +forgotten Yvonne."</p> + +<p>"No, no," and Martine sprang to her feet. "I'm only waiting for a +letter from my father and then you shall know what is going to happen to +Yvonne. Why, I've written her three times since I left Meteghan; I +thought you knew that, Amy."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but don't excite yourself unduly, child; only, when you +expressed your indifference to Acadians I wondered whom you included. +Nothing would make me forget little Pierre. Here's a letter that I +received from him to-day."</p> + +<p>Amy drew from her pocket a half-sheet of paper and read its contents +to her friends:—</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'<span class="smcap">My dear Mademoiselle, Amy +Redmond</span>,—It gives me great pleasure to think that you and +your beautiful mother and the charming young ladies like so well our +historic Annapolis. I once it visited with my uncle, to view the fort +that was built in the days of the greatness of Acadia; it was sad to me +to know that now it belongs to the cruel English, who drove my ancestors +from their happy homes. When I am a learned man, I shall teach history +in a great school, and I will write books to make all know the truth; +but now I am only a little boy, and I thank you for your letter and the +book you sent me that will ever keep your lovely face fresh in my mind. +So with her best duty from my mother, I subscribe myself,</p> + +<p class="blockquot3">"'Your humble friend,</p> + +<p class="quotsig">"'<span class="smcap">Pierre Robichaud</span>.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'P. S. Please write soon again.'"</p> + +<p>Martine and Priscilla smiled at the quaint letter, with its curious +mingling of pride and humility and its touch of French gallantry.</p> + +<p>"Pierre seems quite sure of his own future,"—and Amy replaced +the sheet in her pocket. "With his aim so firmly in view, it's quite +probable that he'll attain his ambition."</p> + +<p>"'Best duty,'" observed Priscilla, "isn't that a strange +expression?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly isn't French; he has picked it up from some of the +'cruel' English."</p> + +<p>"He probably had an old-fashioned school-teacher at some time. I hope +that we'll see both Pierre and Yvonne before we return home; but now we +must keep our minds on Annapolis. I'm so afraid that you haven't got all +you might of its history."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear Amy, Priscilla is just brimful of the Loyalists and +their sufferings; you ought to hear some of the stories that she has +gathered up. Show her your note-book, Priscilla."</p> + +<p>Priscilla reddened and shook her head, while Martine continued:</p> + +<p>"And as for me, I'm so charged with historical associations that I +feel as if I'd give them out in electric sparks if any one should rub me +the right way. Of course I know that this is not the original French +fort, but when one is dreaming, she needn't be so very particular about +facts; so if I shut my eyes, here on this very spot," and Martine suited +the action to the word, "I can see Poutrincourt and Lescarbot and all +the others who were here that long winter when De Monts had gone back to +France, leaving Pontgravé in charge. I just imagine that the old +barracks over there is the great hall where they used to have their +feasts, and I can see them all marching in with the fifteen gentlemen at +the head who sat at Poutrincourt's table, the Grand Master strutting in +front, with his staff of office in his hand and his napkin over his +shoulder. L'Ordre de Bon Temps—that was a capital idea of +Lescarbot's, to keep them all in good spirits and make each man think +himself of supreme importance for a day."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it," said Priscilla. "If I ever knew, I believe I've +forgotten what it was."</p> + +<p>"That's it, my dear; you have been so very full of the much less +important English history of Annapolis that you've overlooked the more +romantic French." Then pointing toward the Basin, Martine chanted:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'Sing on, wild sea, your sad refrain,</span> +<span class="i0">For all the gallant sons of France</span> +<span class="i0">Whose songs and sufferings enhance</span> +<span class="i0">The romance of the western main.'"</span> +</p> + +<p>"Well, if this is a wild sea I wonder what you'd call the Bay of +Fundy," said Amy, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! You are so very practical; but I can't argue with you now, +for I must make Priscilla understand just what 'The Order of the Good +Time' was. During the long winter Lescarbot suggested that each of the +fifteen gentlemen of greatest importance in the settlement should be +appointed caterer for a day at a time; so they took turns, and each one +tried to outdo the others in providing as many delicacies as possible. +The steward of the day was called the Grand Master, and fish and game +were so abundant here that often the table was supplied with food that +the King of France might have envied. In order to keep up their dignity, +they all observed a very formal ceremony, entering the hall at each meal +just as I told you a little while ago. At the close of the day, after +grace, the Grand Master removed his collar and placed it on the neck of +the one who was to do duty the next day, while they drank each other's +health in wine and recited appropriate verses. No wonder the Indians +thought it great sport to watch the white men dine, for they crowded the +hall at every meal, and Membertou, their Chief, was often at the +Governor's table."</p> + +<p>"I hope the other Indians had something to eat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes indeed; they were always well fed by the French, and well +treated; so that from the very beginning the French and Indians were on +the very friendliest terms."</p> + +<p>"You must have done a deal of reading, Martine, you know your subject +so well," said Amy, quizzically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I haven't read so much," she began.</p> + +<p>"No, it's all Balfour Airton," interposed Priscilla. "He talks like a +book, and he's discovered that he can make Martine listen to him."</p> + +<p>"Any one would like to listen to him," rejoined Martine, "and I'm +glad to say that though he is of English descent, he doesn't consider +the English absolutely perfect."</p> + +<p>"There, there," said Amy, throwing oil on the waters, "our +acquaintance with the Airtons has certainly added to the pleasure of us +all. Balfour seems a plucky fellow, for it can't be particularly +pleasant to him to serve as a grocer's clerk in the summer +holidays."</p> + +<p>"But he needs the money."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Martine; but I know boys who would remain idle rather than +do work that they thought a little beneath them."</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth," added Priscilla, "I'm afraid that the +Airtons have very little money indeed. Eunice says that there's a +mortgage on their house, and that they may have to give it up before +long. Balfour has offered to stay out of college and look for work in +Halifax, but his mother will not listen to this; she wishes him to be a +lawyer like his grandfather."</p> + +<p>"He has a scholarship at college, and he earns more or less money all +the year, so that really his education costs his family nothing."</p> + +<p>"I fear our conversation is too personal," interrupted Amy, "though +it has certainly been a pleasure to meet two people so free from +self-consciousness as Eunice and Balfour. That reminds me," concluded +Amy, "that I had a letter to-day from my friend Brenda, Mrs. Weston. She +is surprised that we find so much to interest us in Nova Scotia. She +made a trip this way one summer with her parents, but they travelled +rather hurriedly through the province and made their longest stay at +Halifax."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Halifax," interrupted Martine. "Nothing but English; only +fancy," with a true English accent, and she raised her hand toward her +eye as if holding a monocle. "If there's anything in the world I +dislike, it's the real English. Excuse me, Priscilla; I did not mean to +hurt your feelings."</p> + +<p>"My feelings? Why, I'm no more English than you are, Martine. You +won't deny that you have some English blood in your veins?"</p> + +<p>"Unluckily, I can't deny it; but I'm glad that they named me Martine; +that at least is un-English."</p> + +<p>"It certainly is a queer name."</p> + +<p>"Not queer at all, Priscilla. My grandfather was Martin, and Martine +is the French feminine for it. If I'd been a boy, I would have been +named Martin. Unluckily I wasn't, and so Martine was the best that could +be done. My elder brother had been named for my father; Lucian, you +know, is his name. I never heard any one else call 'Martine' a queer +name;" and the Chicago girl turned away petulantly.</p> + +<p>Noting again the signs of a coming storm, already too frequent on +this trip, Amy hastened to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I should have so many letters in my pocket to-day, +but since I brought my mail with me, let me read you a little from +Brenda's letter; you know her, Priscilla?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Brenda,—Mrs. Weston," cried Martine, eagerly, all trace of +annoyance disappearing from her face and voice. "I've never talked with +her, but I've seen her several times; I think she's just fine. She isn't +a bit prim and stiff like most Bostonians. Why, she has as much style as +a Chicago girl."</p> + +<p>"My dear," interposed Amy, "remember that Priscilla and I are from +the neighborhood of Boston."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but you don't set up for style—there, I don't mean +that, of course; I only mean—"</p> + +<p>But Martine was getting herself into deep water, and her floundering +amused Amy, although she maintained a grave face, as she said:</p> + +<p>"Style is not confined to dress; other things are considered just as +important by the true critic. However, I'm glad that you admire Brenda, +for you'll be the more interested in her letter.</p> + +<p class="blockquot"> "'Your account of what you have seen in Nova +Scotia is perfectly fascinating. But you haven't told me how you like +those funny little brown fish that they call Digby chickens, that have a +flavor made up of smoked ham and salt cod; you can fancy how surprised I +was when I ordered them, for I thought they'd be real chickens. We +didn't see any French in Nova Scotia; I can't imagine where you found +them. Are they the real thing? or do they speak with a Stratford atte +Bow accent?</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'How different this summer is from last, when we +were all so worried about Arthur and the Spanish War,—at least, I +was. It is just a year since I was so very ill, and now I am perfectly +happy. I feel quite ridiculous when they ask me to chaperone parties of +girls who are older than I until I remember that I am really an old +married woman and quite settled.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'It is all I can do to prevent Arthur's going to +the Philippines; he really has the war fever, and I wonder what will +come of it all. Next month he is to make an address at some reunion of +Spanish War Veterans; doesn't it seem absurd to call him a veteran? Tim +McSorley is at Manila. Maggie is down here at Rockley with us this +summer, and you haven't an idea how useful she is. My mother says that +the way she does things is recommendation enough for the Mansion School, +and that if Julia needed to earn money she would make a small fortune +training girls.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'I had a letter yesterday from Happy +Hill,—you know that's the name of the farm where she has the girls +this summer. They are nearly all new girls, who do not interest me as +much as the others who were there my year. Norah is with Julia this +summer; but there, I'm telling you things that are no news to you, and +in fact I have very little news of any kind to write; but I hope you'll +give my love to your mother and Priscilla, and Miss Stratford and I only +hope that you are as strict with them as you can be some times, when you +want people to get all the information they can out of a trip.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"'Oh, that reminds me. I hear that Fritz Tomkins is +in Nova Scotia; you do not mention him in your letter, but you must be +delighted to have him with you. Of course four women can get along +perfectly well, but if anything should happen, it is so much better to +have a man in your party; and Fritz is so like a brother that I'm sure +you can make him very useful. With love to all,</p> + +<p class="quotsig">"'Sincerely,<br /> +"'<span class="smcap">Brenda Weston</span>.'"</p> + +<p>Amy had read the whole letter aloud without realizing how personal it +was, for her original intention had been only to read that part relating +to Nova Scotia.</p> + +<p>"That sounds just like Brenda," she said to the girls, "and I'm glad +that she's so happy, for last summer was a miserable one for her."</p> + +<p>"It was for all of us," murmured Priscilla.</p> + +<p>And then Amy suddenly realized that the Spanish War was a subject too +sore for her to touch on in Priscilla's presence.</p> + +<p>"Come," she said, "one last look at old Port Royal. We shall have +several farewell calls to pay to-day and to-morrow, and we may not have +time to return to the Fort."</p> + +<p>"Amy," said Martine, "I know I'm very stupid, but I'd really like to +know where Port Royal ends and Fort Anne begins. Some one told me that +this is really Fort Anne, but you always speak of it as Port Royal; so +just to gratify my curiosity I'm willing to listen to a little more +history."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll give you as much, or rather as little, as I can to make +you understand some of the happenings at this Fort in the early days. I +am sorry that I cannot go at all into details about the many sieges and +expeditions against the Fort in the seventeenth century. The quarrels of +D'Aunay and Charles de La Tour form a most exciting series of episodes, +and you must read them at length in Parkman or some other history. +Although theirs was not warfare between French and English, La Tour was +a Huguenot, and in a general way the English were on his side. In fact, +he once came down to Boston and interested Winthrop and others in his +cause. In the end I suppose La Tour may be considered to have been the +conqueror; at least, he survived D'Aunay, and later married for his +second wife D'Aunay's widow. Port Royal was captured by Cromwell's fleet +in 1654, and a few years later, in the reign of Charles II, was given +back to France. In 1690, when England and France were again at war, De +Menneval, the governor of the Fort, had to surrender to Sir William +Phipps, and the account of this expedition you will surely read +sometime, for Phipps was a New Englander and his career most +interesting."</p> + +<p>"The New Englanders seem to have had a special spite against Acadia," +said Martine; "so it isn't strange, Priscilla, that you have inherited +part of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I haven't; only if I must choose I naturally prefer what is +English to what is French."</p> + +<p>"After all that Phipps thought he had accomplished," continued Amy, +"Acadia was again handed back to France; but I will pass over other +attacks to remind you of what you have doubtless read many times in your +school histories, that, when the Treaty of Utrecht settled the wars +between Queen Anne and Louis XIV, Acadia was given to the English. Since +that time the fort has been Fort Anne and the town Annapolis."</p> + +<p>"It's no wonder," said Martine, "that the Acadians hardly knew whom +to obey, when they'd been handed over from one side to another so +often."</p> + +<p>"This does account for much of the misunderstanding that finally led +to their deportation. They trusted too implicitly in the French King, +and for a long time vainly hoped that he would conquer the English and +make them again his subjects."</p> + +<p>Hardly had Amy finished when a boyish voice was heard crying, +"Good-morning, good-morning. Is it really true that you're starting +North to-day?"</p> + +<p>"No, not to-day; we have still a day or two left before we set out +for Grand Pré; we are going over to see your mother this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," responded Balfour, "for I'm to have a day off, or +rather an afternoon, and I wanted to be sure of your plans."</p> + +<p>Balfour did not explain that he had asked for this special holiday in +order to have some time with his new friends.</p> + +<p>"You won't spend the whole afternoon with my mother," he began +awkwardly,—"at least, not all of you,—and so I thought that +perhaps some of you would go for a drive with me."</p> + +<p>"I am going to stay with Eunice," said Priscilla; "it will be our +last day together."</p> + +<p>Martine said nothing.</p> + +<p>Then Balfour turned to Amy:</p> + +<p>"Would not you and Miss Martine drive with me? I can take you to one +or two out-of-the-way places that you probably haven't visited."</p> + +<p>"Surely," responded Amy, "that will be delightful. I can go, and with +pleasure. As for Martine, she must speak for herself."</p> + +<p>Amy had no doubt as to Martine's desire, so that it was hardly +necessary for her to await a reply.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course," replied Martine; "there's nothing I'd like so +well."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch14"></a>CHAPTER XIV</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">an excursion</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Balfour, when the three started on their afternoon +expedition, was in a particularly happy frame of mind.</p> + +<p>"There's one advantage in working all summer—a half holiday +seems ten times more valuable now than usually. Not that I'm working +hard this summer, only my days are not my own, and I can seldom make +plans; besides, I do begrudge the time that I have to take from +study."</p> + +<p>"Then you will probably think to-day wasted."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed; besides, we are going to study nature, and—"</p> + +<p>"A little French history," interposed Martine. "Did you not say that +you would take us to an old battleground?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hope to, for my steed is not like Jill. We can depend on +getting somewhere with Lion, whereas Jill—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Frazer would say that she went fast enough the day he rode her +in my company."</p> + +<p>"It's a great thing for a horse to know when to stop, as well as when +to go on. Whoa, Lion! There, we can leave him standing while we go up +that little hill. It's said to be the site of an ancient French church. +It may interest you."</p> + +<p>Amy and Martine loudly praised the beauty of the scenery as they +stood on the elevated land above the narrow, winding river.</p> + +<p>"They say that a church stood here in the earliest French days, with +a set of silver bells that rang out most musically over the water. Then, +when the church fell to pieces, the bells sank into the earth, and are +hidden somewhere underground,—and any one who likes may dig for +them."</p> + +<p>Martine began to prod in the earth with her parasol.</p> + +<p>"Come, my dear, we won't have time to-day, and you need a crowbar +rather than that tiny stick. If you found them they would be rather too +clumsy to carry home;" and Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather look for Apostle spoons," replied Martine. "I heard of a +woman who dug up two in her garden, and when she saw how dirty they +were, threw them into a kettle of lye that she happened to have boiling +for soap, or something of that kind. She almost lost her head when the +ugly lead things came out looking like gold, for they were silver washed +with gilt. If she found such things, why not I, for it's a true story, +isn't it?" turning to Balfour.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, fairly true, and there's always a chance of finding +something by digging long enough. But I would never waste my time +digging, except with hoe and spade, for fruit and vegetables. There's +good money," he concluded, "in strawberries here in Nova Scotia. In +Annapolis I know a man who has several acres, and in good seasons he +gets two thousand boxes a day."</p> + +<p>"Strawberries! Aren't apples the prize crop here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and more certain than anything else. A man can get $300 an acre +from a good orchard. If money were the only thing I'd rather be a farmer +than a lawyer down here."</p> + +<p>"That's better than some gold mines," said Amy, as they turned and +walked down the hill to the carriage.</p> + +<p>"When I was a small shaver," continued Balfour, "and had plenty of +time to spare, I used to walk there along the top of the dykes of +Annapolis. From the base of seven or eight feet it narrows to hardly a +foot at the top, and I can tell you that it was ticklish work keeping a +footing."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't I know of that before?" cried Martine. "I certainly +should have tried it. I love to walk on railroad tracks, and +dyke-walking must be almost the same."</p> + +<p>"You can't try anything of that kind while you are in my care," +interposed Amy. "The river is probably deeper than it looks, and if you +should go too near the edge—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can swim, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, though, to put your +careful soul at ease, I'll promise not to go near the water. All the +same, I wish that I were an Indian, at this very moment gliding down +from Minas to Digby. Didn't you tell me that this was one of their +favorite routes?" and she turned to Balfour for a reply.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," he replied, "from any point outside Minas they used to +glide over to French Cross, then by a portage of four miles to +Aylesford, and they would be borne on by the current down the Annapolis +River, sometimes as far even as Digby."</p> + +<p>"French Cross?" asked Amy. "What have I heard of French Cross?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps of the awful winter there that some of the Acadians passed +through, just after the deportation."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it," cried Martine, eagerly. "I never heard of +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, after the Acadians had been put aboard the ships at Grand Pré, +some friendly Micmacs hurried down secretly to warn the French at the +eastern end of Annapolis. When they heard the news, about sixty Acadians +decided on flight, and with a Micmac guide began to make their way +north. They hoped to reach a point on the shore where the English would +not see them, from which they could cross over to New Brunswick, and +then get the protection of the French at Quebec. But when they reached +Aylesford they did not dare try to cross. Their food was poor, sickness +broke out among them, many died, and were buried in the soft Aylesford +sand. The others went on to French Cross, but still did not dare cross +the Bay. During the bitter cold of December, while they were suffering +everything, they saw the last of the transports pass down the Bay, +carrying their countrymen to the southern colonies. Many died during the +winter, and when spring came the friendly Indians made birch-bark canoes +for the remainder, who then crossed in safety to the New Brunswick +shore."</p> + +<p>"Man's inhumanity to man," sighed Amy, sentimentally.</p> + +<p>"What wretches the English were!" exclaimed Martine, more +energetically.</p> + +<p>"Remember, please, that I am English;" and Balfour raised his hand in +remonstrance. "Besides, the persecutors of the Acadians were not +English, but your fellow New Englanders, who took the whole matter on +themselves, without asking leave of any one else."</p> + +<p>"But I am no New Englander," objected Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all the same. Some of your ancestors were from New England +undoubtedly, unless you are different from most Chicagoans. But if you +repudiate New England, you cannot object to my arousing your sympathies +for some of those exiled Loyalists who suffered quite as much as the +over-pitied Acadians."</p> + +<p>"It's a shame Priscilla is not here," murmured Martine.</p> + +<p>Now Balfour was not likely to speak idly, and in a moment he had +begun his recital.</p> + +<p>"The old lady who told this story to my mother was visiting Annapolis +from Fredericton, and her mother, the daughter of an officer in a New +Jersey regiment, experienced all the hardships that she described. The +vessels with these New Jersey officers and soldiers and their families +went up the St. John River in early October, and landed at a place +called St. Ann's, that later became Fredericton, the capital of the +Province. It was a wet, cold season, and the people had no shelter but +tents, that they tried to cover with spruce boughs. Their floor was the +ground, and when snow fell in early November the old lady's mother said +that her family tried to shut it out by putting their one rug against +the opening. Often a part of the family had to sit up all night to keep +the others from freezing. When everything else failed they would heat +boards at the fire, and hold them over the children to give them needed +warmth."</p> + +<p>"A likely story!" and Martine smiled.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, it is perfectly true," rejoined Balfour, gravely. "Many men +and women died of exposure and lack of food that terrible winter. Their +graves were dug with pickaxe and shovel, in the hard ground not far from +the tents. Like the Acadians at French Cross, they had no clergyman to +pay the last rites. They had been used to comfortable and pleasant +homes, and many of them had had wealth; so it was doubly hard to have to +live in Indian fashion on fish, and moose, and berries. In the spring +they made maple sugar, and killed pigeons. There was great rejoicing +when the first vessels came with corn and rye. They were in constant +fear of the Indians, and it was long before they could live even half +decently."</p> + +<p>"I have always sympathized with the Loyalists," said Amy, +quietly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it's all over now," returned Balfour, bitterly. "But it +must have been hard for many of them to remember that their houses and +lands, and even their personal property, had been passed over to people +who to them seemed to have no shadow of right to it."</p> + +<p>"Do you care now?" asked Martine, gently.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no;" but Balfour's tone belied his words. "My family did not +suffer so much as some, though we had to start here in Annapolis with +little besides the land that the King granted."</p> + +<p>"Back to the soil is a good thing sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, and Nova Scotia was very hospitable to the poor Loyalists; +but still—to tell the truth, sometimes I wish that I had grown up +on the other side of the line. There seems to be more chance in many +ways;" and Balfour sighed.</p> + +<p>Amy looked at Balfour in surprise. He was evidently considerably her +junior, yet he talked like one much older.</p> + +<p>"I should like to see him and Fritz together," she thought. "I +believe that Fritz would appear five years younger, for he always +persists in talking like an overgrown boy."</p> + +<p>"There," concluded Balfour, "I have said too much. On the whole, I am +contented, and the Province offers more than many corners of the world +to an ambitious young man, so enough said. Now, just see, I was so +absorbed in harrowing your feelings over the Loyalists that I have taken +a wrong turn, and we are now so far from the battleground that we'll +have to give it up this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"'All roads are alike to me,'" hummed Amy, while Martine added, "But +the scenery here is lovely. Just see how the North Mountain stands out, +with that little fringe of mist hanging about the top, and I've never +seen so many fine orchards. Oh, I wouldn't have missed this particular +drive for anything;" and her flushed cheeks and beaming eyes showed that +she had meant what she said.</p> + +<p>"The drive has been full of pictures, too," added Martine. "I've seen +a great many things even that you have not spoken of, and whenever I +look over there toward the woods I fancy I see an Indian creeping along; +not an unfriendly savage, but one with a smile on his face, hoping +perhaps to be asked by Lescarbot to stay to dinner at the Fort."</p> + +<p>"Yes," rejoined Balfour, "one of those jolly fellows who objected to +the wording of the Lord's Prayer in asking for bread, saying that bread +alone wouldn't do for him, as he needed moose, and fish besides."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and some of the French dishes that they favored him with +occasionally."</p> + +<p>"Well, I have heard many things that make me believe that the Indians +of Acadia were jokers. Some of the stories would shock you, I am +afraid;" and Balfour hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we are not so easily shocked. Tell us, do."</p> + +<p>"Very likely you've heard this particular thing. But it is said that +one of the men in that first expedition of the French undertook to make +a dictionary, and when he tried to get some of the natives to give him +the Micmac for various sacred names, the Indian gave him words that were +just the contrary,—almost profane, in fact,—so that the +Frenchman made himself very ridiculous when he tried to make use of his +new vocabulary."</p> + +<p>"Which shows," said Martine, "that the Micmac Indian was not such a +serious and solemn creature as those that used to appear in our school +histories bewailing the advance of the white man. I always thought I'd +like to meet one of them."</p> + +<p>"Why, Martine?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, just for the pleasure of sticking a pin in him. He would never +have had spirit enough to turn his tomahawk against me. But these +Micmacs knew how to enjoy life. The dictionary maker was probably a +prim, conceited fellow, who deserved to be laughed at. Of course, in a +general way," she concluded hastily, "I am always on the side of the +French, and I love to remember that the old Fort once belonged to +them."</p> + +<p class="poem stanza"> +<span class="i1">"'When from Port Royal's rude-built walls</span> +<span class="i2"> Gleamed o'er the hills afar,</span> +<span class="i0">The golden lilies on the shield</span> +<span class="i2"> Of Henry of Navarre.</span></p> + +<p class="poem stanza"> +<span class="i1">"'A gay and gallant company,</span> +<span class="i2"> Those voyagers of old,</span> +<span class="i0">Whose life in the Acadian Fort</span> +<span class="i2"> Lescarbot's verse has told,'"</span></p> + +<p>recited Balfour, as they turned into St. George's Street, "and here +we are in sight of Fort Anne, and it pleases my soul that the flag +floating above is the flag of Great Britain."</p> + +<p>"We won't quarrel about that now," said Martine, "for you have given +us the very pleasantest afternoon we've had."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Amy, "it has certainly been delightful, and so it is all +the harder to remember that this is probably our last excursion around +Annapolis,—at least, for the present."</p> + +<p>"You are very good to appreciate our old town so, and I hope that you +will find Wolfville almost as attractive. I am sorry enough, however, +that you are going away. We shall miss you all;" and though emphasizing +"all," Balfour looked directly at Martine as he spoke. "My sister has +grown so fond of Miss Priscilla that she has forgotten her inborn hatred +for New Englanders, and I hope you'll understand that we all appreciate +your interest in Acadian history. I only trust I haven't bored you and +Miss Martine by my facts and reminiscences. I fear that I've been almost +garrulous."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed, far from that;" and Martine's emphasis showed how +deeply she meant what she said.</p> + +<p>At this moment they had reached their own door and the last good-byes +had to be said.</p> + +<p>"I cannot come again this evening," Balfour explained, "but I'll see +you for a moment at the train."</p> + +<p>Then, thrusting his hand into his pocket, with an exclamation he drew +out a small object that he held toward Martine. "I had almost forgotten, +but if you would take this," he cried, "for your collection, I would be +so pleased. It's in a better condition than most things they dig up;" +and as Martine took it, she saw that it was a small trowel, remarkably +bright, yet of a curious shape.</p> + +<p>"Another Acadian relic. How kind you are!"</p> + +<p>"This fork is for you, Miss Redmond. Even if you have not a +collection, it will interest you. The trowel," Balfour continued, "was +almost as bright as this when it was dug up, it had been buried so deep, +and the fork is of an odd shape. Of course they haven't any great +value," he concluded, "only they are genuine relics, as I know, for I +dug them up myself. I might have brought you a gridiron with a long +handle and four feet, but you would have found some difficulty in +carrying it about, and the little spade can be carried in your +travelling-bag for use in mending a broken dyke, or shaping bricks, if +you happen to wish to mend or build on the way. That at least was its +original use, and the fork—well, you can find many uses for it;" +and he turned from Martine to Amy.</p> + +<p>Both girls found it hard to bid good-bye to Balfour. In spite of the +shortness of their acquaintance he was already an old friend, one whose +friendship they particularly valued.</p> + +<p>"How sensible he is," sighed Martine, as they went indoors, "and to +think that he's only a year older than Taps!"</p> + +<p>"A year older than—who?" asked Amy, thinking that she must have +misunderstood. "What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing—really nothing," replied Martine, hastily, with a +heightened color. "I was only thinking that Balfour Airton seems so very +much older than most boys of his age, and he knows so much more than +most students." Martine's words were hurried and nervous, and Amy +decided that she was more disturbed than she had expected her to be at +parting with her Annapolis friends.</p> + +<p>But if Amy only suspected Martine's feelings, she had no difficulty +in deciding how Priscilla felt. She and Eunice had formed a most +romantic attachment for each other, and made no effort to hide the tears +that fell freely as they bade good-bye at the station. At the final +parting each threw her arms around the other's neck, and the bystanders +tried not to laugh when Eunice in her emotion knocked off Priscilla's +hat and entangled the cord of her eyeglasses in Priscilla's belt. But +the bystanders, if amused, were sympathetic, consisting as they did +chiefly of Dr. and Mrs. Gray, Balfour, and Mrs. Airton, and one or two +other friends whom the travellers had met during their weeks in +Annapolis.</p> + +<p>"Your tears, my dear Eunice," said Dr. Gray, "exactly express the +feelings of all the rest of us; and while we wish you, Mrs. Redmond, a +safe journey, it is perhaps not too selfish to hope that you and the +young ladies may look back to Annapolis as the brightest spot on the map +of your travels."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, we shall," said Mrs. Redmond, cordially, "and—"</p> + +<p>"All aboard!" called the conductor; "Good-bye," shouted Balfour; +"Write soon," sighed Eunice.</p> + +<p>"Come back next summer," cried Dr. Gray.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps sooner," responded Amy, and with a puff and a shriek the +"Flying Bluenose" glided off toward the real land of Evangeline.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch15"></a>CHAPTER XV</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">with prejudice</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"Priscilla," said Amy, as they finished breakfast on their +first morning at Wolfville, "you are no longer homesick."</p> + +<p>"Did I say I was homesick?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not in words, though you have looked it a great many times. +But I noticed a change during our last week in Annapolis; you have +seemed perfectly cheerful ever since."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm sorry," responded the over-conscientious Priscilla, "if I +seemed less than cheerful before; it was really very wrong in me, for +you and your mother have been so kind, and Martine is so very<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>" here she hesitated for a +moment<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"so very +lively."</p> + +<p>Amy smiled at Priscilla's earnestness.</p> + +<p>"To most persons you would have seemed perfectly cheerful, but little +things have shown me that your heart was not wholly with us."</p> + +<p>"That was only because I had never before been altogether away from +my family. But if there has been any change lately, it has been on +account of Eunice. She seems to me the most sensible person I have ever +known, and I hope that she can carry out her plan of going to college. +If papa had lived I could have done something for her, but now I can't +make any promises for the future, because mamma says that we shall have +to be very careful about spending for a few years."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad, however," responded Amy, "that you have this interest in +Eunice, even if you cannot do all that you would like to do for her; it +is rather curious that each of us should have found a protégé in the +course of our travels; Yvonne, Pierre, and Eunice, each one so unlike +the others, and yet all of them rather interesting."</p> + +<p>"Martine, of course, can accomplish the most," and Priscilla sighed. +"I imagine that her father and mother never say 'no' to her."</p> + +<p>"Money isn't everything," replied Amy, "and you and I can do more or +less for Eunice and Pierre in spite of the fact that time and thought +are the most we can give. I have often noticed that the person who has a +real interest in the welfare of some one else can really accomplish +things in better ways than by spending money."</p> + +<p>"Balfour wouldn't let any one spend much money on Eunice; he is so +very independent, and wishes always to stand on his own feet. I never +saw any one just like him."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you, Priscilla, and I feel that we owe much to him for +all he did for us in Annapolis; besides, he has given mother one or two +letters to people in Wolfville, so that I fancy we shall be somewhat +indebted to him here."</p> + +<p>A few moments later Amy, in her little bedroom, reread a letter +received from Fritz that morning. Its tone was so cheerful that it ought +to have had an exhilarating effect on her; on the contrary, she was now +less happy than before she received it. Fritz and his friend had already +reached Chester on the east coast, and he wrote most enthusiastically of +the charms of this little watering-place. Not one word of regret did he +utter now over his separation from Mrs. Redmond's party. His time was +apparently fully occupied with boating and driving excursions and other +pleasures of the conventional summer resort. One sentence only, at the +end, suggested that he had not forgotten what he had previously said to +Amy.</p> + +<p>"I am surprised that you have travelled so comfortably, with not a +single accident to interfere with your pleasure; but if anything +disagreeable should happen, then perhaps you will wish that you had some +stronger person to help you out of your difficulty."</p> + +<p>With a sigh Amy laid the letter in her bureau drawer, and as she did +so her eye fell on an envelope addressed to Martine. Evidently she had +picked it up with her own letters when she had brought them upstairs. +The envelope was empty and hardly worth returning, but as she took it to +drop into the waste basket, she looked, as one will, at the postmark. To +her surprise, it was the same, "Chester," as on her own letter from +Fritz. Then her mind flew back to the morning at Yarmouth, when she +thought she had seen Martine wheeling down the side street with an +unknown youth. The inference was now plain—in some way Martine had +made the acquaintance of Fritz's friend, and was keeping up a +correspondence with him. There was nothing very wrong in this in itself, +except that it implied on Martine's part a certain amount of deception. +"Taps," as Fritz called him, might have been a perfectly desirable +friend for all the girls, and Fritz himself might have introduced him to +Martine. She had had no opportunity to meet him on the boat. Yet even +had he been an old friend of hers, there seemed to be no reason why she +should not speak frankly about him. The discovery of this envelope +reconciled Amy completely to Fritz's banishment. It was just as well +that he and his friend had been sent off by themselves.</p> + +<p>As to Martine, Amy decided that at present it was hardly well to +speak to her of the letter, or even mention it to Mrs. Redmond. But for +the rest of the day she was less cordial than usual toward Martine, and +the young girl felt the change.</p> + +<p>When Amy returned to the piazza, where she had left the others, she +found only her mother and Martine. In a moment Priscilla joined them, +looking bright and happy, and with unusual color in her fair cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I've been down the street," she said, "and the town is so attractive +that you must all come with me on an exploring tour; I can't tell why, +but I feel more at home here than in most places. Wolfville seems less +English than Annapolis; in fact, it is more like one of our own New +England towns."</p> + +<p>"That, I dare say," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "is partly because it is a +college town, but more likely because it was settled by Americans. I +have an idea that hardly a Loyalist came here after the Revolution."</p> + +<p>"Settled by Americans?" cried Martine. "Wasn't this all French +country through here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—once—my dear. You remember, however, that after the +French were deported, their lands were granted to colonists from New +England. Those who came to this part of Nova Scotia were chiefly from +Connecticut, and Wolfville is named for a well-known family of these +colonists, named De Wolfe."</p> + +<p>"Then this isn't Grand Pré?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; there is still a Grand Pré two or three miles to the west, +with relics and memories without end, of Evangeline and Basil."</p> + +<p>"Let us go there, then, as soon as we can," cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, my dear. We would better first see something nearer at +hand; Mr. Knight, Balfour's friend, has offered to drive us to Grand Pré +this afternoon, and if this suits you all, I will send him a reply at +once."</p> + +<p>The three girls, agreeing that they should enjoy the afternoon drive, +fell in with Mrs. Redmond's suggestion for a morning walk.</p> + +<p>"I have been advised," said Mrs. Redmond, "to take a road behind the +college, leading to the top of the ridge, where we can get a fine view +of the Gaspereau Valley."</p> + +<p>Though it was a steep hill, the view from the summit repaid them by +its surpassing beauty. The deep valley, bordered with trees of varying +shades of green, the blue river flowing between, and toward its mouths +winding in and out among the marshes, formed a scene long to be +remembered.</p> + +<p>"If we could see to the very mouth," said Mrs. Redmond, "and bring +our imagination into full play, we could picture the poor Acadians +gathered in forlorn groups waiting to be dragged away to the English +transports. Their pleasant homes were found all along the sides of this +valley, as well as at Grand Pré. Undoubtedly it is Longfellow's poem +that has given the latter place its greater prominence."</p> + +<p>Some distance along the ridge the four Americans continued to walk, +until they reached a point from which they had a wider view; then for +the first time their eyes fell on the clear waters of Minas Basin. On +its farther shore rose a high, red bluff.</p> + +<p>"Bluff," at least, was what Martine called it, but Priscilla, +repeating her words, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"No, no, it's a mountain; it must be."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond smiled at the emphasis that each girl threw into her +words.</p> + +<p>"My dear children," she exclaimed, "I should think that you'd at once +know Blomidon; surely you must often have seen it pictured. Blomidon, +you remember, was the home of Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs, and +Minas Basin was his beaver pond. Poets and painters have been inspired +by Blomidon, and I imagine, Martine, that you and I will even make some +attempt to reproduce its beauty."</p> + +<p>"Ah," sighed Martine, "but we could never give the effect of that +light and shade on the side of the mountain, for it really is a +mountain, as Priscilla says; and there's something quite wonderful in +that deep red that stands out so between the sky and the water."</p> + +<p>"From Grand Pré we'll have an even better view, I'm told, of +Blomidon. You are so fond of jewels, Martine, that you'll be tempted to +cross the Basin to hunt for amethysts."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me," said Amy, "of something I read the other day; when +De Monts visited the Basin, he called Blomidon, 'Cap d'Or.' Among the +amethysts that he found on an island near by was one of extraordinary +size, which he took back to France and presented to the King and Queen, +who had it set among the crown jewels."</p> + +<p>"We cannot linger here much longer," said Mrs. Redmond; "if we take +this lower road, it will probably bring us into the business section, +and then we can walk back home, along the main street."</p> + +<p>When they had done their errands and were perhaps half-way home, Mrs. +Redmond, who was ahead, looked back for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Here, Amy, is something especially for you."</p> + +<p>Amy hurried on and found herself at the entrance of a little +graveyard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, you are laughing at me."</p> + +<p>There was a suspicious smile on Mrs. Redmond's lips as she said:</p> + +<p>"Every one, my dear child, knows your <i>penchant</i> for old +graveyards, and this one is so bright and cheerful that you might have +missed it had I not called your attention to it."</p> + +<p>Following Mrs. Redmond and Amy, the others entered the enclosure. It +was, as Mrs. Redmond had said, "bright and cheerful," with neatly kept +walks, and a little fountain playing in the centre. Evidently it was no +longer a place of burial. Many of the stones were more than a hundred +years old, and marked the resting-place of the first Connecticut +settlers.</p> + +<p>"How far away they were," said Amy, "from their real home. After all, +in spite of the rich dyke-lands given them here, I wonder if many of +them did not regret the homes they had left."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me," said Priscilla, "of some lines I copied from a +poem the other day; Eunice had the book," and she turned over the leaves +of her note-book.</p> + +<p>"Read them, please," said Mrs. Redmond. So Priscilla began rather +timidly, "The poem is 'The Resettlement of Acadia,' but I copied only +parts of it," and then she read with expression:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'But the simple Norman peasant-folk shall till the +land no more,</span> +<span class="i0">For the vessels from Connecticut have anchored by the +shore,</span> +<span class="i0">And many a sturdy Puritan, his mind with Scripture +stored,</span> +<span class="i0">Rejoices he has found at last "the garden of the +Lord."</span></p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i0">They come as Puritans, but who shall say their hearts +are blind</span> +<span class="i0">To the subtle charms of nature, and the love of +humankind?</span></p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i0">And tears fall fast from many an eye, long time unused +to weep,</span> +<span class="i0">For o'er the fields lay whitening the bones of cow and +sheep.'"</span></p> + +<p>"I know that you'll think me frightfully stupid," was Martine's +comment, as Priscilla finished reading. "That is delightful poetry, but +it isn't clear in my mind who the Connecticut Puritans were. Were they +exiles, too, like the Acadians and the Loyalists?"</p> + +<p>"Only by their own will. But you are not stupid in failing to +understand about the resettling of Acadia. Many Nova Scotians know very +little about it. After the French had been deported in 1755, this +fertile Province would have been of little service to England without +inhabitants. The simplest way to repeople the land was to attract +colonists from the older colonies. So Governor Lawrence sent a +proclamation to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, stating +the terms on which the Government would grant land to settlers. As a +result three separate groups of settlers were formed. The Massachusetts +families came to Annapolis; the Rhode Islanders to the country North of +Grand Pré, where there is now a Newport; and the Connecticut settlers, +as Priscilla has just read, to Grand Pré. These people were of the +highest character. Many of them had considerable property of their own, +and they came down here in the spirit that took so many sturdy New +Englanders West a generation or two ago."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond; I am glad to know that they didn't drive +the French out."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, many of them had undoubtedly seen the fertility of Nova +Scotia during the long French and Indian Wars, in which they had fought; +the richness of the country was pretty well understood. But they +themselves had nothing to do with deporting the Acadians. Dr. Gray +explained all this at Annapolis. But come, girls! You can copy these +inscriptions some other day, Priscilla. We must rest a little now, if we +expect to enjoy the afternoon."</p> + +<p>When Mr. Knight called for them that afternoon the girls were +surprised at his appearance. Mrs. Redmond had forgotten to say that he +was an extremely young man, whose youth seemed all the greater because +he tried to assume the manners and aspect of a much older person. He had +been graduated from Acadia College a few years before, the youngest of +his class by more than a year. He was now a teacher in the neighboring +school that fitted boys for Acadia, and on this account perhaps felt the +need of maintaining a dignity of demeanor that should make them forget +his youth.</p> + +<p>His friendship for Balfour and his sincere admiration of the whole +Airton family ought to have saved him from Martine's ridicule. But from +the moment that her eye took in the details of his costume,—his +high-standing collar, his round-headed walking-stick, his monocle, and +his hair neatly parted in the middle (though this was hardly a detail of +costume), she was convulsed with laughter. The carriage that Mr. Knight +had brought was two-seated, but each seat was wide enough for three, and +the pair of horses looked capable of travelling many miles without +fatigue.</p> + +<p>Martine and Priscilla begged for the front seat with the driver, and +Mr. Knight, accordingly, sat on the back seat with Amy and Mrs. +Redmond.</p> + +<p>The party was soon outside the more closely built streets, on a broad +road that for the time offered little outlook. Mr. Knight, with the +evident intention of doing his full duty by Balfour's friend kept up a +monologue whose steady current afforded great amusement to Martine.</p> + +<p>"Talk of babbling brooks," she murmured; "did you ever hear anything +like it?" and she gave Priscilla's arm a gentle pinch that made her +squirm.</p> + +<p>"He's taking any amount of trouble to make history clear," rejoined +Priscilla, who, as usual, was not ready to accept Martine's point of +view.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he's beginning at the wrong end. We know all about +Champlain, and De Monts, and the Scotch Fort, and all that; what we want +is how the Acadians were treated at Grand Pré, and where<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll get there."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if we give him time. But I am going to make him change the +subject." So, leaning back, Martine turned to Mr. Knight, "You are a +great friend of Mr. Airton's, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed; that is—but of course you know—well, +Mr. Airton is—ah, not exactly a contemporary of mine—that +is, he is—I am older."</p> + +<p>Mr. Knight, as he spoke, grew rather red in the face. There seemed to +be no excuse for his embarrassment, except the one that Mrs. Redmond +gave later, that he regarded Martine's question and her way of putting +it much in the light of a question from an <i>enfant terrible</i>.</p> + +<p>Realizing, however, that he had not said just the right thing, the +poor young man next began to stammer in his effort to explain +himself.</p> + +<p>"Balfour certainly is a great friend of mine, and one of the finest +boys I know."</p> + +<p>This ought to have been sufficient to please even the critical +Martine, and had Mr. Knight not used the word "boy" she might have been +quite content. As it was, this word happened to irritate her, and she +responded in a tone that disturbed Amy:</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you say that Mr. Airton is younger than you? Isn't he +considerably taller?"</p> + +<p>If Mr. Knight's face had been red before, it now became almost a +deep, deep crimson. Amy, rejoicing that her mother's seat was so far +from Martine's that she had not heard this remark, resolved at the +earliest opportunity to have a word alone with Martine.</p> + +<p>The opportunity, however, did not come for some time, and meanwhile +Mr. Knight talked enthusiastically of the apple crops of Cornwallis, and +of the fortune that any man might gather who would deal intelligently +with the Gravenstein.</p> + +<p>"The Cornwallis Valley," he said, "is one of the finest farming +regions in the world. You will see what I mean when you go to the +Look-off, as you will while you are here. But now<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, is this an old French church?" asked Martine, excitedly, as they +approached an ancient wooden structure half hidden by Lombardy +poplars.</p> + +<p>If Mr. Knight heard her, he did not reply, but he jumped to the +ground, even before the driver had fairly pulled up his horses, and +then, when the carriage came to a full stop, offered to assist Mrs. +Redmond to the ground.</p> + +<p>"This," he began, "is sometimes incorrectly called an Acadian +church."</p> + +<p>"Does he mean to snub me?" whispered Martine to Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Yet it is merely an old Scotch church," continued Mr. Knight, "built +about a hundred years ago. A service is held here two or three times a +year, but the building receives no great care, and, as you can see, even +some of its windows have been broken by mischievous boys."</p> + +<p>"Such as Balfour Airton?" suggested Martine. But Mr. Knight took no +notice of her flippant criticism of his previous remark about +Balfour.</p> + +<p>"It is like a New England meeting-house," said Amy, with a tinge of +disappointment, as they looked inside the old building, noting its high +pews, and sounding-board, and unadorned walls. Then, as she saw Martine +standing apart from the others, she remembered the words that she had +meant to say to her. So, drawing near, she took the young girl's hand in +hers. Martine looked up at her with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I know that you have a scolding tucked away somewhere, but I just +won't let you give it to me. It won't do me the least little bit of +good, and you wouldn't waste even a scolding, would you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine, you are incorrigible; you surely realize that you need +at least a reproof. Mother would give it to you if she had heard."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Redmond is too sensible to overhear disagreeable things."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Martine; but tell me honestly, wouldn't you prefer to sit +with mamma? She always has a soothing effect on you."</p> + +<p>"That would bring me beside Mr. Knight. No, thanks. Surely, Amy, you +realize how ridiculous he is, talking in that patronizing way of +Balfour, who is a whole head taller than he."</p> + +<p>"You forget, my dear child, that if he were not a great friend of +Balfour's we should not have had the pleasure of his escort this +afternoon. He is certainly most kind in taking all this trouble."</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that he is very kind, though I dare say that we could +have found our way around without him. But he is ridiculous, isn't he, +with his walking-stick, and his English accent in an out-of-the-way +place like this?"</p> + +<p>"As Wolfville has always been his home, Mr. Knight probably feels +that he has the right to a walking-stick or an English accent. If he had +a French accent you would perhaps make greater allowances for him. But +for the sake of peace, if you don't object, I'll have Priscilla change +places with you. If you overhear anything you dislike, you may vent your +anger on me. I do not wish Priscilla to be a victim."</p> + +<p>"A victim! She doesn't realize that she is a victim now. Just look at +her. She is hanging on every word that Mr. Knight utters—and it's +all on account of his English accent."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch16"></a>CHAPTER XVI</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">evangeline's country</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"I will admit that what he is saying is perfectly +true."</p> + +<p>"And absolutely necessary, Martine, to our understanding properly +this land of Evangeline."</p> + +<p>"But he needn't talk so conceitedly, as if he were the only one in +the world who knows that there was no real Basil, nor Gabriel, and that +Evangeline herself was somebody else. Why, even in Chicago, where we are +farther away from Acadia than you are in Massachusetts, we know that. +But just listen,"—and as Martine and Amy stood there in silence a +few feet from the willows, they heard Mr. Knight's rather shrill voice +saying:</p> + +<p>"I am aware that you Americans have mapped out almost every inch of +Grand Pré, and that you can point out the site of Basil's smithy, and +Gabriel's house, and the old church, although as a matter of fact only +the last is at all certain. It is quite natural that you should accept +your Longfellow as real history, but<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>Here Martine could restrain herself no longer. Stepping forward she +faced Mr. Knight, who stopped talking in his surprise at her sudden +appearance from the background; and in a clear voice she began to +recite:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"'with a summons sonorous</span> +<span class="i0">Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a +drum beat.</span> +<span class="i0">Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in +the churchyard,</span> +<span class="i0">Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on +the headstones</span> +<span class="i0">Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the +forest.</span> +<span class="i0">Then came the guard from the ships, and marching +proudly among them</span> +<span class="i0">Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant +clangor</span> +<span class="i0">Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and +casement.'</span></p> + +<p>Isn't that history," she asked gravely, "as well as Longfellow?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, in a general way," responded Mr. Knight, with an amused +smile. "As to details, why, I am not quite so sure, though I can assure +you I have no intention of questioning Mr. Longfellow's accuracy. Far +from it. His picture of the deportation is wonderfully complete."</p> + +<p>"Yet you were criticising him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, only the tendency of some tourists to connect everything in +the neighborhood of Grand Pré with something mentioned by +Longfellow."</p> + +<p>"But if it makes the place more interesting," began Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly, that is one of the uses of poetry, and really, Miss +Stratford, I intended no criticism of 'Evangeline,' only—" and +again that smile of amusement—"you will pardon me when I say that +these are not Evangeline's willows, as some call them, except in the +poetic sense."</p> + +<p>"They are very picturesque," said Amy, in an effort to turn the +conversation. "Until I came to Nova Scotia I had never thought of +willows as so strong and sturdy. In fact, I had in mind only the weeping +variety."</p> + +<p>The line of willows, a dozen or so beside the rail fence, with two or +three cows grazing in their shade, formed a picture so tempting that +Priscilla turned her camera upon it, and with a wave of her hand pointed +to something beyond. In a minute or two Mrs. Redmond and Amy were beside +her, with Mr. Knight and Martine but a step behind.</p> + +<p>"Shall you object if we call this Evangeline's well?" asked Martine, +with a touch of scorn in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Ah, call it what you please, Miss Stratford. It is certainly an old +French well. Evangeline may have drunk from it."</p> + +<p>"Is it quite safe to drink from an old well?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, mamma, you are not usually so anxious."</p> + +<p>"I can assure you, Mrs. Redmond, that this is pure water. The wall +was built a few years ago, and you will find the water deliciously cold. +This well, by the way, is probably near the site of the priest's house;" +and involuntarily he glanced toward Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she rejoined, as if in answer to his glance, "I thought that +there was no priest—except in the poem."</p> + +<p>"Ah, surely there had been a priest, though not Father Felician; and +indeed at the time of the deportation the priest was away from Grand +Pré, a prisoner at Halifax, and so he could not exhort the people. But +these are mere matters of detail. Undoubtedly we are now standing very +near the site of the church."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the bells are hidden in the earth like those we heard of +at Annapolis," and Amy turned to Martine with a smile, hoping to divert +her from quizzing Mr. Knight.</p> + +<p>"Ah, the bells!" exclaimed the offending young man. "There is a +story—if you should care for it."</p> + +<p>"By all means," replied Mrs. Redmond; and under the embarrassing gaze +of four pairs of eyes Mr. Knight told his tale.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a remarkable story in any way, only they say that when the +Acadians saw that they were prisoners, some of them managed to take down +the bell and wall it up in one of the vaults under the church, while the +church treasure was put in the other. Years afterwards, in the days of +the English settlers, a strange vessel was seen in the Basin one night. +People who passed this way thought they heard queer noises during the +night, and in the morning the ground near the site of the old church was +disturbed. Some people said that in the night they had heard a bell +ringing. That night there came a terrible storm, and soon bits of +wreckage drifted in that must have come from the strange vessel. In this +way every one believed that the theft had been avenged—if the +strangers stole the bell and the treasure. It is only fair to say," +continued Mr. Knight, "that some believe that the bell was taken by +returning Acadians who wished to set it up in an Acadian chapel on the +Gaspé coast. At any rate, there are people still living who have heard +their parents say that at certain times they can hear the distant +ringing of this Grand Pré bell."</p> + +<p>"How weird!" cried Martine. "Are there any more stories like that? I +love them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there are some others connected with buried treasures, but an +evil fate was usually supposed to attend those who grew suddenly rich by +unearthing Acadian treasure; and there are tales of ghostly fires on St. +John's eve; and other stories used to trouble me very much when I was +small and had to pass lonely places in the night."</p> + +<p>"Oho," thought Martine, though she said nothing, "then it is as I +thought; he is easily scared."</p> + +<p>"At the time of the deportation," said Mr. Knight, as they took their +places again in the carriage, "the water came much nearer the village. +Since the days of the Acadians thousands of acres of dyke-lands have +been reclaimed. When the Connecticut settlers came they found many dykes +broken, through which the sea was rolling in, and they might have had a +hard time repairing them if they had not found a few Acadians still left +in the country, who had managed to escape the English and were lurking +in the neighborhood of their old homes."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me," said Priscilla; "who were the Acadians, that is, +where did they come from in the first place? I have never thought of +this before."</p> + +<p>"Why, Priscilla, they were—" then Amy stopped, not feeling +quite sure of her ground.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they were French, from—" and Martine could get no +farther.</p> + +<p>"Of course they were French, but why did they know so much about +dykes and such things?"</p> + +<p>When no one else seemed inclined to answer the question, Mr. Knight +undertook to reply.</p> + +<p>"The Acadians of Grand Pré, like the Acadians of Annapolis, were +nearly all descended from a group of peasants from Rochelle, Pictou, and +Saintonge, who came out with D'Aunay and Razilly about 1630. They came +from a region of marshes, and they brought with them the art of building +dykes. The <i>aboiteaux</i> that they built were marvels, and before you +go we must try to show you one of the dykes at low tide, when all the +wonderful method of building will be displayed. Pierre Terriau, by the +way, was the name of the first Acadian to settle in the Grand Pré +region. He came to the shores of the Habitant in 1671. Others soon +joined him. The people at Minas were so shut off from Port Royal that +they grew very independent. Indeed, this desire to escape the close +observation of those at the Fort was what sent Acadians from Port Royal +to this new region. In time there were three parishes in +Minas,—St. Joseph, St. Charles, and Grand Pré,—and the +people were like one great family, constantly inter-marrying, and always +ready to help one another.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to +their windows;</span> +<span class="i0">But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of +the owners;</span> +<span class="i0">There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in +abundance,'</span></p> + +<p>as your Longfellow says;" and Martine, had she been inclined, might +have taken this as an apology for the disrespect she had imagined cast +on her poet a little earlier.</p> + +<p>But there was no time now to discuss either Longfellow or the +Acadians. Before the party stretched the broad dyke-lands, where already +many farmers were cutting hay, while here and there were mammoth +haystacks.</p> + +<p>Priscilla snapped her camera at a hay wagon with a larger load than +any she had ever seen, drawn by two of the heaviest, sleekest oxen; Amy +made a few notes in her diary; Mrs. Redmond sighed for her palette and +sketch-book; and Martine exclaimed loudly on the richness of color, the +vivid green of the marshes, the unclouded blue of the sky, and the +richer blue of the water, with a glimpse here and there of reddish +shores, and above all Blomidon, the magnificent, showing up in the +distance, like a veritable giant.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen all that you care to see at Grand Pré?" asked Mr. +Knight, politely, with a "Here, driver, draw up for a last look at +Blomidon before we turn toward Avonport."</p> + +<p>"How dark it looks now!" exclaimed Amy, pointing to the +promontory.</p> + +<p>"That is because the sun no longer shines on it," replied Mr. Knight +"Listen to one of our poets:</p> + +<p class ="poem stanza"> +<span class="i1">"'This is that black bastion, based in surge,</span> +<span class="i0">Pregnant with agate and with amethyst,</span> +<span class="i0">Whose foot the tides of storied Minas scourge,</span> +<span class="i0">Whose top austere withdraws into its mist.</span></p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p class="poem stanza"> +<span class="i1">"'Yonder, across these reeling fields of foam,</span> +<span class="i0">Came the sad threat of the avenging ships.</span> +<span class="i0">What profit now to know if just the doom,</span> +<span class="i0">Though harsh. The streaming eyes, the praying +lips,</span> +<span class="i0">The shadow of inextinguishable pain,</span> +<span class="i0">The poet's deathless music, these remain.'"</span></p> + +<p>"Have we seen all that we can see?" interrupted Martine, untouched by +the poetical tribute to her Acadians. She was determined to show no +appreciation of anything said by Mr. Knight.</p> + +<p>"Have we seen all that we can see?" repeated Martine, adding with +some sharpness, "I thought that there would be much more."</p> + +<p>"Well, I am sure—" and Mr. Knight hesitated, "I am +sorry—but there isn't so very much—you know all the Acadian +houses were burnt, and it's just a modern village—the old +Covenanter Church is perhaps the oldest thing—and you've seen the +old well and the willows and the things that we point out to +Americans."</p> + +<p>"There it is!" thought Martine, "that same patronizing tone when he +speaks of Americans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there is one thing," continued the unhappy young man, conscious +now, as at all times, of Martine's disapproval, "I should have shown you +the little ridge near the station where Colonel Noble and one of his +soldiers were buried, after that terrible fight in 1747. You remember +the French had only seven killed to the one hundred English who were +slaughtered."</p> + +<p>"That was a cowardly attack," said Amy, warmly.</p> + +<p>"But it was the real French, and not the Acadians, who were +responsible," interposed Martine.</p> + +<p>"Yet the Acadians helped—at least as guides."</p> + +<p>"This pleasant country has certainly witnessed a great deal of +tragedy." Mrs. Redmond's voice was that of the peacemaker.</p> + +<p>"Yet through it all Blomidon has remained there calm and placid." Up +to this time Priscilla had had little to say.</p> + +<p>"But Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs," responded Mrs. +Redmond,—"you remember that after the white men came to Minas, +displeased with their teachings, he fled away, and has never been seen +since.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="i1">"'You can see yourself Five Islands Glooscap flung at +him that day,</span> +<span class="i0">When from Blomidon to Sharp he tore the Beaver's dam +away.</span> +<span class="i0">Cleared the channel, and the waters thundered out into +the Bay.</span> +<span class="i0">Here he left us—see the orchards, red and gold in +every tree!</span> +<span class="i0">All the land from Gaspereau to Portapique and +Cheverie,</span> +<span class="i0">All the garden lands of Minas and a passage out to +sea.'"</span></p> + +<p>"Why, mamma, I never heard you quote poetry—at such +length."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you thought that I couldn't, but this is a Canadian poet, +and later you must read more of the myths grouped around Glooscap."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know that Blomidon was his home, and Minas his beaver-pond, +and Spencer Island used to be his kettle that he tipped upside down when +he deserted Acadia, and two rocks there in the Bay were once his dogs +that he turned to stone at the same time. He never was cruel, never grew +old, and was never to die, and so I suppose that the Indians are looking +constantly for him to come back and restore their own to them."</p> + +<p>"As to that," said the serious Mr. Knight, "the Indians in Nova +Scotia are much better off than in the days of Glooscap. They may sit +side by side with white children in almost all the schools of the +country. Many of them live on land of their own, and raise live +stock—though unluckily they prefer ponies to heifers, and in every +way the government is fitting them for the full responsibilities of +citizenship."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," sighed Martine, laying her hand on Amy's and leaning +forward so that those on the back seat might not hear. "What a regular +schoolmaster he is! He is more improving even than you, Miss Amy +Redmond. But listen—how much more appreciative is our dear +Priscilla."</p> + +<p>In spite of herself Amy could but smile as Priscilla's gentle voice +came to her. "Thank you, Mr. Knight; the present condition of the +Indians interests me very much, and I have made a note of what you have +said to report at one of our Indian Aid Association meetings when I +return home," whereat the driver of their vehicle laughed, chuckled, and +shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to show her some specimen Micmacs," he said to Martine, +"that come round here oftener than once in a while, and have some +distance to travel before they are fully fitted for the responsibilities +of citizenship."</p> + +<p>"Now, ladies, a last look at Blomidon," cried Mr. Knight, as the +carriage took a sharp turn, and then, after one long, backward look, +they pressed on and drove westward toward Avonport.</p> + +<p>"Dear Prissie," said Martine, when at last they stood on the broad +beach, "you have been a very good girl to-day." Priscilla, reddening at +her words, made no reply.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you have been very good," continued Martine, "and when Mr. +Knight recalls this afternoon he will remember with pleasure the close +attention that you have given to his every word."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine, how absurd you are; I never heard you talk so pompously +before."</p> + +<p>"This is the effect of a few hours spent with an eloquent guide, +philosopher, and friend. Poor Amy is under the spell now; he seems to be +teaching her geology."</p> + +<p>Looking in the direction of the spot where they had left Mrs. Redmond +and Amy, Priscilla saw that Mr. Knight was pointing at the stones with +his walking-stick, as if they were diagrams on a blackboard.</p> + +<p>"He is probably explaining the rock formation," said Priscilla, +solemnly. "My guidebook says that the region has great geological +interest."</p> + +<p>"Then let us go off by ourselves somewhere, for if he gets the chance +he will try to teach us all he knows, and really, I could not stand any +more instruction to-day. Come, Prissie."</p> + +<p>At first Priscilla hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Do come; we'll have such a good chance to study those rocks and +crags by ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather wait for the others, but still<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"That's a good girl;" and, half dragging Priscilla by the arm, +Martine set off rapidly toward the bold cliffs that promised them more +entertainment than they had had that afternoon.</p> + +<p>"There are sure to be shells," said Martine, "and perhaps curious +seaweeds in some of the little pools. The tide is so high that +undoubtedly there are many strange things washed up here."</p> + +<p>Martine was correct in her surmises, and for half an hour the two +felt like explorers as they picked their way from stone to stone, +filling their hands with trophies.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it fun?" cried Martine. "I feel as if we were quite alone in +the world. We can just enjoy ourselves without thinking of history or +geology, or anything else."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the others will be worried," said Priscilla, who herself +was not quite sure that she enjoyed this sensation of being quite alone +in the world, with nobody near but Martine.</p> + +<p>"Of course they won't be worried. We shall be back before they even +miss us. Besides, I'd like to worry Mr. Knight."</p> + +<p>Priscilla looked at her watch. "I think that we ought to return now; +we have been gone more than half an hour."</p> + +<p>"Oh, not yet—but listen; some one is calling. It is Mr. Knight. +'Young ladies, young ladies,'" and Martine mimicked the tones that now +were borne quite clearly to their ears. "I just won't have him find us, +and lead us back as if we were two children who had done something that +we shouldn't; let us hide behind these rocks until he passes."</p> + +<p>Somewhat against her will Priscilla allowed herself to be led into a +rocky nook where a jutting ledge hid them effectually from any +passer-by.</p> + +<p>So Mr. Knight, walking along the cliffs above them, even had he +peered down to the lower level, could hardly have seen them. His "Young +ladies, young ladies, we're starting home now," grew feebler and +feebler, and when Martine had assured herself that he was really a safe +distance away, she came out from her hiding-place with a cry of "Danger +past."</p> + +<p>"We mustn't stay here too long," remonstrated Priscilla; "Mrs. +Redmond will be worried."</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly willing to go now," replied Martine, "since Mr. +Knight won't lead me by the nose. We had a hard climb to this grotto, +but it will be much easier going down."</p> + +<p>Hardly had Martine spoken when Priscilla, who was a few steps ahead +of her, turned back with a cry of alarm.</p> + +<p>"Look, Martine; what shall we do?"</p> + +<p>Stepping up beside her friend, Martine too exclaimed in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose it will come any higher? I have heard of the rapid +rise of the tide, but this has just rushed in."</p> + +<p>Even in that first quick glance both girls realized that they were in +a critical position. In going up to the "grotto," as Martine called it, +they had taken no notice of tide-water marks, such as both of them might +have observed. The rocky arms by which they had ascended were now +covered by water, and an incoming wave dashed over Priscilla's feet as +they stood there, uncertain what to do.</p> + +<p>"Will it come all the way in? We shall be drenched if it does."</p> + +<p>"No," said Martine, turning about and inspecting the nook where they +had been standing when they heard Mr. Knight's voice.</p> + +<p>"You can see that if the last high tide had come in lately as far as +that little hollow, there would be some water there now. Instead, it is +perfectly dry. You can prove that for yourself."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, you are right; by standing back here we can at least keep +dry, but oh, dear, when shall we get out?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not until Mr. Knight rescues us," replied Martine, +cheerfully, "and even he will hardly come to our relief until low tide, +which is probably some hours away."</p> + +<p>Whatever the real danger, Priscilla and Martine saw at once that they +were in a very disagreeable predicament. The little niche in which alone +they could have a dry footing on three sides had steep walls, whose +height at the lowest was surely twenty feet. Martine scanned the sides +carefully, but the stone surface was perfectly smooth. Nowhere was there +a projection that offered the least foothold. It was in no way possible +for either girl to climb to the top. Toward them flowed the advancing +tide. It had entirely cut them off from the path by which they had +reached the grotto, and though it might not be dangerously deep at every +point of the beach and rocks that it now covered, neither girl had +courage to venture into the water.</p> + +<p>Martine indeed had proposed to wade as far as it seemed safe, and +then, if necessary, swim to some point where she might get a +footing.</p> + +<p>"No, no," Priscilla had remonstrated, "you might in some way miss the +others, and if you had to wait around for some time in your wet clothes +you would be really worse off than you are now—and besides, I +should hate to be left here all alone."</p> + +<p>"It might be a waste of energy," replied Martine, "for surely the +tide cannot come up to this little hollow; so it is only a question of +time when we shall get out of this. But it does seem to me that so +unusually clever a person as that Mr. Knight thinks himself might have +found us before this."</p> + +<p>"You aren't quite fair, Martine, for he certainly was just above us +here, calling with all his might. I dare say that he even looked over +the edge. You hid yourself so completely, and made me hide too, so that +when he looked he could not see us. He must think that we went in +exactly the opposite direction, and he and the others are probably a +mile away now, searching for us."</p> + +<p>"I do not care how much bother Mr. Knight has, but I do regret +putting Mrs. Redmond and Amy to such trouble. Why did you come with me, +Priscilla? If you had refused we shouldn't have got into this +scrape."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine, when you fairly dragged me here! Surely you are +unjust."</p> + +<p>Martine knew that she was unjust but like many persons who realize +their own foolishness, she experienced a certain relief for the present +in blaming some one else.</p> + +<p>"It will be hours," she grumbled, "before the tide will be low enough +to let us out for it is still coming in, and we shall be kept here for +some time after it turns."</p> + +<p>"If we get out before dark I shall be thankful. It will be terribly +disagreeable to find ourselves alone here in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it won't be as bad as that!" Martine's voice became suddenly +cheerful. Self-reproach had taken hold of her. What if Priscilla should +really suffer from this escapade? As if in answer to her thoughts, +Priscilla coughed once or twice.</p> + +<p>"There it is," thought Martine; "Priscilla is away for her health, +and I may undo all the good of the summer. It will be a great +disappointment to Mrs. Redmond, as well as to Priscilla's mother. They +both expected so much from this trip." Which reflections showed that +Martine was certainly not a villain of the deepest dye. Had she been +hardened in perversity she could not so soon have reached a state of +repentance.</p> + +<p>But repentance without works avails little, and when Priscilla +coughed for a fourth time Martine became quite feverish with +anxiety.</p> + +<p>Two large clouds in the distance seemed to her to indicate a coming +storm. Wretched enough would their condition be if they should be caught +by a heavy rain while they were in this exposed position.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch17"></a>CHAPTER XVII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">safe again</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Time passes slowly when one has nothing to do, and +although the fact that their situation was equally disagreeable to both +should have drawn Martine and Priscilla closely together, they now found +even less than usual to talk about. Yet strangely enough, without +blaming the other each was heaping mental reproaches on +herself,—Martine saw her own folly in running away from the +others, and Priscilla was conscious that she had been too easily +led.</p> + +<p>"We might help time pass by reciting poetry," said Martine.</p> + +<p>"Or discussing history," rejoined Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"This might be a good time to settle the respective merits of the +Loyalists and the Acadians."</p> + +<p>"With the tide coming in so fast I should hardly dare get into a +discussion; there'd be no one to help pull us in if we fell out. But +listen, isn't that some one calling?"</p> + +<p>"I believe it is, although the sound doesn't come from above. Don't +you hear it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do; it's some one calling 'halloo, halloo.' +Perhaps<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it may be some one searching for us."</p> + +<p>Any doubts that Martine may have had were soon removed by the sight +of a small dory gliding into their field of vision some distance below +them. There were two men in the dory, both hatless and in their +shirt-sleeves. In an instant both girls were on their feet, waving their +handkerchiefs. In the same instant the men in the boat caught sight of +them, and one of them lifted his oar and flourished it two or three +times in the air.</p> + +<p>"How will they get here?" asked Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, probably the water isn't very deep; they can push up part way, +and then wade."</p> + +<p>"If they can wade, we might have ventured."</p> + +<p>"It would not have been safe for us. See, they are pushing the boat +up all the way."</p> + +<p>The water, indeed, was deep enough to let the boat come up into the +hollow—now filled with water—between the two arms of rock, +whereby the two girls had climbed to their present position. While the +boat was still some distance away Priscilla and Martine had recognized +the immaculate Mr. Knight as the man who was steering. Mr. Knight, +however, was immaculate no longer; he was hatless and coatless, his hair +somewhat tumbled, and his face very red from the unwonted exertion.</p> + +<p>From the moment of recognizing him until the moment when the side of +the boat grazed the ledge was a very short time indeed.</p> + +<p>"We thought we'd find you somewhere near here; at least, we hoped +so," said Mr. Knight, looking from one girl to the other as if to decide +which was the real culprit. "But how in the world did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"Walked," replied Martine, laconically; "hadn't time to swim."</p> + +<p>"But if you walked why didn't I see you when I looked an hour or two +ago? I remember standing above this particular place and calling. +Perhaps you weren't here then."</p> + +<p>Martine said nothing. If it should be necessary to confess she could +attend to this later. At present she had enough to think about.</p> + +<p>"Is Mrs. Redmond worried?" asked Priscilla, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Yes and no," replied Mr. Knight, "though she'll be glad enough to +see you."</p> + +<p>"Must we go in the boat?" Priscilla spoke as if she dreaded the +experiment, and she added, "It looks so very wobbly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that boat, she's as steady as a setting hen," exclaimed Mr. +Knight's companion. "Just you look out, though, and don't wet your +feet."</p> + +<p>"I'll go first, Priscilla, and if I survive, why, then you can +follow."</p> + +<p>But before Martine had attempted to take her place Mr. Knight turned +to Priscilla, "Of course, if you would rather not go in the dory we +could wait here until the tide ebbs. I could stay with you while Mr. +Sands rows back to report to Mrs. Redmond. But the boat is perfectly +safe, I can assure you."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is perfectly safe," exclaimed Martine, angrily; "I +never heard such a silly idea." But whether she meant to apply "silly" +to Priscilla's timidity or to Mr. Knight's suggestion she did not deign +to explain, and the young man, after one curious glance in her +direction, did not address her again.</p> + +<p>It was but the work of a minute or two to get the girls aboard the +dory, and soon they were at a landing-place from which they could reach +Mrs. Redmond and Amy.</p> + +<p>"You ain't the first people that's got caught in that way on the +rocks," said Mr. Sands as they rowed along, "only generally it's some +romantic couple that rather likes to stay there till the tide goes out. +But your ma was afraid that if you was there you might try to wade, and +so catch your death of cold, and besides, she wasn't sure you were +anywhere, as long as Mr. Knight couldn't find you; so when they all +seemed so concerned the only thing was to haul out the dory, though it +wouldn't have hurt you a mite if <ins title="'yo'd' in the +original">you'd</ins> had to stay."</p> + +<p>"I would as soon have stayed," said Martine, coldly; "it was a good +view, and I rather enjoyed sitting there in that little grotto."</p> + +<p>"Grotto," Mr. Sands laughed loudly, and Martine fancied that a smile +flickered at the corners of Mr. Knight's lips. "Grotto," repeated Mr. +Sands. "Well, I never heard that name used before in these parts. I +thought a grotto was foreign, but you've said something now that I won't +forget. Here, Mr. Knight, you help the young ladies out, while I steady +the boat," and in a second the two girls were running up the beach, +where Mrs. Redmond and Amy greeted them with open arms.</p> + +<p>It was now after sunset, and all were hungry and cold. In aspect they +were wholly unlike the party that had set out from Wolfville that +afternoon. All seemed quiet and subdued,—Martine and Priscilla, +because they had really been more fatigued by their little adventure +than at the time they had realized; Mrs. Redmond and Amy, because they +had been most anxious at the prolonged absence of the girls, and Mr. +Knight—well, perhaps inwardly he was blaming "those Americans" for +giving him much more trouble than was his due. Whatever his thoughts, +however, he made no criticism, and any perturbation that he may have +felt was shown only by his silence.</p> + +<p>What was most to the point, however, the horses and the driver were +in good spirits, and set out for Wolfville at a fine rate. While the +others had been looking and waiting, man and beast had had food and +drink, and this accounted for their energy.</p> + +<p>"Grotto," cried Mr. Sands, as the party drove away, "well, that does +beat all."</p> + +<p>Once on the way back to Wolfville they stopped before a house, after +Mr. Knight had had a word with the driver. Then the young man, excusing +himself, went within, returning soon with a small package. This he +opened after he had resumed his seat, and distributed to each of the +party a bread and butter sandwich and two or three cookies. "I might +have brought more," he explained, "but it would be a pity to take away +all your appetite for your supper at Wolfville."</p> + +<p>The sandwiches and the cakes seemed to promote conversation, and in +the remaining half hour the party was as bright and cheerful as a party +of young persons ought to be after a summer excursion. When they reached +the house Mr. Knight declined the invitation that Mrs. Redmond gave him +to stay to tea, though he promised to call on her the next day.</p> + +<p>"While we are in Wolfville," said Mrs. Redmond, as he turned away, +"we may not be able to show you how thoroughly we enjoyed the delightful +afternoon you have given us, but if you come to Boston we will do our +best to make a return."</p> + +<p>"I can assure you that the pleasure has been altogether on my side," +responded Mr. Knight.</p> + +<p>"And I can assure you," added Martine, who had now fully recovered +her spirits, "that Priscilla was an unwilling accomplice of mine this +afternoon, and that you were very good to rescue me as well as +her—everything considered."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I can assure you," began Mr. Knight, "that I didn't +mean—that is, I—" and here realizing that the more he tried +to say the more he might blunder, the poor young man backed down the +steps with a polite bow and a single "good-night."</p> + +<p>"Priscilla," said Amy, that evening, as she handed the former her +mail, "here's a funny little package for you, half open at one end, and +a letter directed in the same handwriting. Excuse my noticing that the +letter is post-marked 'Meteghan.'"</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't you?" responded Priscilla. "We all have acquired the +habit of looking at one another's post-marks."</p> + +<p>"Open the parcel," cried Amy; "I'm curious to see what it is." +Priscilla glanced at Martine, who was deep in a letter from one of her +boarding-school friends. Then she cut the string, and, loosening the +paper, handed the package to Amy while she glanced over the Meteghan +letter.</p> + +<p>"Why, it looks like Yvonne's lace," cried Amy, and at the word +"Yvonne" Martine joined the group.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is Yvonne's lace," she exclaimed. "How did you get it?"</p> + +<p>"I sent for some," replied Priscilla. "I thought that it might help +her if I should buy it. I could not buy much, but it has pleased her to +sell it. Read her letter."</p> + +<p>Tears came into Martine's eyes as she read the simple letter of +thanks that seemed to come straight from the heart of the little French +girl. "She remembers us all, though she doesn't spell the names just +right, and she sends the best love of Uncle Alexandre, Uncle Placide, +and aunts Mathilde and Marie. Well, we must have made an impression." +Then, after glancing at the letter a second time, Martine continued: +"But you are a brick, Priscilla. How did you happen to think of sending +for the lace? I had forgotten all about it, though I was anxious to help +Yvonne."</p> + +<p>"She writes a good letter, considering that she sees so dimly;" and +Amy called Martine's attention to the clear, round hand. "The convent +sisters have certainly done a great deal for the child."</p> + +<p>When all had admired the strip of lace, Priscilla folded it up neatly +and laid it with her letters. She was relieved that Martine had not +taken offence at her writing for it. Though Priscilla had not intended +this to be a silent reproof to Martine, it had somewhat this effect, for +too frequently in Martine's life "out of sight" meant "out of mind," and +though she had no desire to break the promises that she had made so +freely when in Meteghan, still, but for Priscilla's reminder she might +have been long in keeping them. At the same time it is but fair to say +that already without Priscilla's knowledge she had taken steps toward +carrying out the larger plan that she had conceived regarding Yvonne's +future.</p> + +<p>"Mamma," said Amy, after she had shown Mrs. Redmond Yvonne's letter, +"I have just had a letter from Julia."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is delightful," said Mrs. Redmond. "I am always so pleased +to hear from Julia."</p> + +<p>Julia Bourne, the cousin of Amy's friend Brenda,—Mrs. +Weston—was little older than Amy or the other girls in Brenda's +group. Julia, on being graduated from Radcliffe, had decided to spend +most of her time and a fair share of her income on a Domestic Science +School for girls.</p> + +<p>The experiment carried on in the Mansion, a stately West End house +belonging to her former teacher, Miss South, during its two years of +existence, had proved most successful. The work at the Mansion had been +in the nature of social settlement work, and Amy, with little money to +give, had been glad to enroll herself as a voluntary teacher.</p> + +<p>But for the Nova Scotia trip Amy would have been one of Julia's +assistants this very summer at Happy Hill. Often, indeed, in the course +of her travels she had thought of the work going on there, and had +indulged in a little self-reproach that she should be spending her own +holidays in idleness. Most persons, even those inclined to be critical, +would have said that Amy had really enough work on her hands in the five +or six hours of tutoring that she tried to give Priscilla every +week.</p> + +<p>Yet even granting that her time was not sufficiently occupied, there +is a kind of idleness that in the end is more beneficial to the +individual than any amount of work. Although Amy had not been in danger, +perhaps, of breaking down during the past season, still, Mrs. Redmond +realized that she had been working up to the limit of her strength, and +she had planned the Nova Scotia trip in such a way that Amy should be +unable to withstand going. That Amy would need all her strength for her +senior year at Wellesley had been Mrs. Redmond's strongest plea. Every +day of this summer had been a proof to Amy of her mother's wisdom.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Of course we miss you [wrote Julia], and I am glad +to say that no one else can exactly take your place. But I honestly +believe that in a certain way you can do almost as much good in Acadia +as here; for it will be a great thing to inspire Priscilla with more +confidence in herself, and tone down Martine a little.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Here at Happy Hill we have two or three of the +girls who were at the Mansion its first year. We have been able, I am +glad to say, to imbue them with some sense of responsibility. Each of +them in turn is called housekeeper for a week, and although things are +not really altogether in her hands, the effect on her is really the +same, and we older people merely act as a check to prevent matters from +going too far out of line.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"It is very amusing to see these older girls take +charge of the younger, and instruct them in all the details of country +life. They have some gardening to do, and they make butter and cheese, +and each one is shown how to drive, and is permitted at intervals to +drive down to the village. Then they have open-air gymnastics in +addition to the very considerable amount of exercise that goes with +their housework, and they have just enough study from books every day to +prevent their growing altogether rusty.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Mr. and Mrs. Elton—it doesn't seem quite +natural yet to speak of Miss South as Mrs. Elton—are now, I +suppose, in Norway. They sent the girls a box of unmounted photographs +last week, showing the most picturesque scenery in Greece and Italy, +where they were in the early spring. Nora is to be with me part of the +summer, and Anstiss Rowe, as perhaps you know, is giving all her time to +Happy Hill. Brenda undoubtedly keeps you informed about affairs at +Rockley. She is perfectly happy, and altogether different from the +Brenda of a year ago.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"When your Acadia days are over, I hope that you +will have a week to spare for Happy Hill before Wellesley opens again. +With my best regards to your mother and the girls,</p> + +<p class="quotsig">"<span class="smcap">Julia.</span>"</p> + +<p> When Amy had finished this letter Mrs. Redmond glanced through +it.</p> + +<p>"I should like to go up to Happy Hill for at least a week," said +Amy.</p> + +<p>"It is altogether probable that you can. We shall be at home by the +first of September. Why, what has become of Martine?"</p> + +<p>Amy looked toward the chair where Martine had been sitting a few +minutes before. It was certainly empty.</p> + +<p>"I'll run up to her room;" and, suiting her action to her word, in a +moment Amy was knocking at Martine's door.</p> + +<p>In answer to a feeble "Come in" she entered, only to find Martine +lying face downward on the bed.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, affectionately stroking +Martine's hair.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i246"></a> <img src="images/i_f246.jpg" width="360" +height="500" alt="Illustration: 'Why, what is the matter, child?' she +asked affectionately." title="'Why, what is the matter, child?' she +asked affectionately." /> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, nothing," came in muffled tones from the prostrate Martine, +"only this has been such a long day."</p> + +<p>"You are tired," responded Amy, "and probably you were more excited +than you realized when you and Priscilla were lost."</p> + +<p>"We weren't lost"—Martine threw considerable spirit into her +voice,—"I knew just where we were."</p> + +<p>"But we did not—" Amy, though amused, tried not to show her +amusement<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"we were rather +alarmed, so really my mother and I ought to be the persons to collapse. +Come, Martine, even if you are tired, you must cheer up, and go to +bed."</p> + +<p>"It isn't because I'm tired," and Martine's tears flowed afresh, "but +I thought that to-night there would be a letter from my mother. There +must be a mail in, and I have counted up the time from New York. There +ought to be a letter to-night. I am sure that she's worse."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, child. Probably she does not feel quite well enough to +write, and your father has overlooked the mail. You know how apt men are +to forget."</p> + +<p>So Amy tried to pacify Martine, and at last succeeded in getting her +to look at things more cheerfully. She had never before seen Martine in +low spirits, and she felt quite sure that fatigue, even more than +disappointment, had caused the tears.</p> + +<p>"I will admit," she said, "that this has been a trying day, beginning +with—"</p> + +<p>"Beginning with Mr. Knight,"—and now Martine was smiling. +"Wasn't he funny, with his 'you Americans,' as if we were some strange +species?"</p> + +<p>"But in the end don't you think that Mr. Knight did pretty well? I +think that he more than redeemed himself by his kindness."</p> + +<p>"Well, as he is a friend of Balfour Airton's I suppose that I ought +not to criticise him. There, don't shake your head, Amy. Yes, I do think +that he was very kind—in the end. But the day has been fearfully +long. We ought not to have taken that walk this morning."</p> + +<p>When at last Martine went to bed Amy sat beside her until she fell +asleep. There was a strange mingling of childishness and womanliness in +this little Chicagoan to which Amy could not accustom herself. Her +worldly wisdom and grown-up air of womanliness were quite as hard to +understand as the extreme childishness in which she sometimes indulged. +The more equable Priscilla was much easier to comprehend, and yet Amy +was not altogether sure that Priscilla, under stress of circumstances, +would be the easier to manage.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">the right and the wrong of +it</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"For my own part," said Martine, "I am just as firmly on +the side of the Acadians as ever. They may have been stupid about the +oath, and probably they were too easily influenced by Le Loutre, but +they had been handed from England to France and from France to England +so often that I don't see how they could consider themselves English +when really they were French."</p> + +<p>"You must have had Irish ancestors as well as French," said Amy, with +a laugh. "Your remark sounds almost like a bull."</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean to take the bull by the horns," replied Martine; "you +can blame any one else for the deportation, but not the poor Acadians. +They certainly did not in the least know who they were. But I am glad," +she concluded, "that you have taken so much trouble to explain it all to +me, Miss Amy Redmond, for I have never before understood why the English +were so cruel."</p> + +<p>"It is surely a fact"—Amy spoke decidedly—"that the +English Government would have preferred to keep the Acadians their +subjects. They needed them to supply provisions, and to man their +garrisons. With their knowledge of woodcraft, and of the Indians, the +Acadians would have been invaluable on the English side."</p> + +<p>"But you couldn't expect them to fight against the French, who were +their own flesh and blood!" and Martine cast a glance of reproach at her +friend.</p> + +<p>"That, of course, was the chief point in the dispute. The Acadians +claimed to be neutrals, when really they were sending their produce to +Louisbourg, or to the French in other places, to help them continue +their war with the English. Yet they expected the protection of the +English when in trouble, and they always had it, although their only tax +was the tithe that they spent for the support of their own church."</p> + +<p>Amy and Martine were sitting on the broad sands of Evangeline's +beach, looking toward Blomidon, and waiting for Priscilla, who had +strolled some distance away. They had driven over from Wolfville in the +omnibus, and were to have an hour or two at the edge of the Basin before +they need return. In the midst of the discussion Priscilla rejoined +them.</p> + +<p>"More Acadians!" she cried with a smile. "Let me ask you a +favor<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"To say no more about them?"</p> + +<p>"No, not that. When we leave the neighborhood of Wolfville we shall +think of other things; so, once for all I, for one, should be glad to +have the whole story straightened out. We know what happened after the +expulsion, for we've been at Clare, and we know about the earliest +French; we heard all that at Annapolis. But now, my dear Miss Amy +Redmond, you have been looking into this thing thoroughly, and +if<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Yes," urged Martine, "if you'll please tell us what happened in the +years between, it will save our reading, and you will make it much +clearer to us than any book."</p> + +<p>"Down with your flattery," rejoined Amy; "yet as there's no time like +the present, I will tell the story briefly. We might as well pass over +the various transfers of Acadia from France to England, and from England +to France, before 1710. But the conquest of Annapolis by General +Nicholson in that year gave Acadia finally to England. The change of +Government was confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and all +Acadians who did not wish to be subject to England were given time to +leave. Those who remained were required to take an oath of fidelity to +King George, and England on her part agreed to let them exercise their +own religion under their own priests. In spite of these arrangements +many of these simple-minded Acadians still considered themselves +subjects of the King of France, even up to the time of the expulsion. +Perhaps the priests encouraged them in this and delayed their taking the +oath of allegiance. By 1730, however, nearly all had signed the oath, +and if war had not broken out later between France and England there +might have been no further trouble. But when it was found that many of +the Acadians, instead of remaining neutral, were joining with French and +Indians in attacks on the English, Lord Cornwallis, the Governor at +Halifax, required them to take the oath again. This was necessary +because a new generation had grown up who had been encouraged by the +priests and politicians in enmity to England. Most of them would not +take the new oath, because it required them to defend Acadia against the +enemies of England, and this, they said, would oblige them to fight +against the French, their kinsmen. In 1751 there was a large immigration +of Acadians to Île St. Jean, then in the hands of the French. These +exiles suffered much, but they were encouraged to hope that when France +reconquered Acadia they could go back to their deserted homes.</p> + +<p>"Cornwallis continued firm, and at last the Acadians were informed +that all who would not take the oath must leave Nova Scotia. In the very +beginning deputies from the Acadian villages had gone to Halifax to say +that it would be impossible to take the oath and ask permission to +dispose of their farms and leave the country."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't they go? It would have been so much better in the +end."</p> + +<p>"It is hard to say, Martine. Friends of the Acadians claim that the +English put all kinds of obstacles in their way, first refusing them +transportation in English vessels, then preventing their buying rigging +at Louisbourg for vessels of their own. But, as I have said, more than a +thousand did eventually pass over to the Île St. Jean, and some of these +took part in the defence of Beauséjour."</p> + +<p>"Well, they were surely very conscientious," said Martine, "for they +knew that by taking the oath and becoming British subjects they could +live in comfort on their farms. It was very brave in them to choose +poverty and exile."</p> + +<p>"It might seem braver, if behind it all they had not had the feeling +that the time was near when the French would drive the British from Nova +Scotia and so restore them to their own."</p> + +<p>"It was all that Le Loutre, I suppose," commented Priscilla; "he was +responsible for so much."</p> + +<p>"Whether he was really as bad as some represent him would be hard to +say; but this missionary to the Micmacs had great influence, and it was +all used against the English. We pity the Acadians, but we ought to pity +the innocent English settlers on the outskirts of Halifax, and at other +places, who were tortured and murdered by the Indians whom Le Loutre and +other French had stirred up. Now, to keep to our story without making it +too long, the Acadians dallied and dallied. They did not take the oath +of allegiance, and they did not seem to be preparing to leave the +country. At last Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence gave them only a short +time to decide.</p> + +<p>"Well, the French and Indian War continued, and the English were +generally more successful than the French. At last Beauséjour was +captured, chiefly by the help of a body of troops commanded by Colonel +Winslow. These men were New Englanders,—sturdy, conscientious men +from country towns, a large number of whom had been farmers and small +tradesmen.</p> + +<p>"Beauséjour fell the middle of June, and it may interest you, +Priscilla, to know that Le Loutre, rather than fall into the hands of +the English, fled to Quebec, where he was coldly received. Later he went +to France, and died in obscurity.</p> + +<p>"In July, 1755, a memorial was sent to Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence, +signed by twenty-five leading Acadians, on the subject of the oath, and +requesting the return of their guns that the Government had obliged them +to give up on account of their sympathy with the French. When Governor +Lawrence sent for the signers to come to Halifax, fifteen appeared +before them. He pointed out the insincerity of their memorial, and when +he desired them to sign the oath they flatly refused. Finally, on the +twenty-eighth of July, these deputies and others from Annapolis appeared +before the Governor and Council, and although warned that the +consequences would be serious, they declined to take any oath differing +from that taken under Governor Phillips; that is, they were unwilling to +bear arms for the English against the French."</p> + +<p>"That, I must say, seems noble to me, since they knew what risks they +were running," cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"That is to an extent a matter of opinion. But their refusal decided +Governor Lawrence what to do. He immediately wrote to Colonel Monckton +that enough transports had been ordered up the Bay for the Acadians, and +that he must remove them. He was told that all the property of the +Acadians was now forfeited to the Crown, and that they would be allowed +to take on board ship only their money and their household goods."</p> + +<p>"It is a wonder he left them anything," said Martine, +sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"He wasn't absolutely heartless, and he gave careful directions for +provisioning the transports for their long journey."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry that it was a New Englander who had to carry out these +cruel orders," said Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it fell on Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, and a detachment of +those New England troops that had fought at Beauséjour to attend to the +deportation at Grand Pré. It was Tuesday, the second of September, when +he ordered all the male inhabitants from ten years upwards to assemble +on the following Friday in the church at Grand Pré, to hear what his +Majesty had to say to them. Then—but really I think one gets the +story better from Longfellow. It is from this point that we have our +sympathies so deeply touched, and we are willing to forget that the +simple-minded Acadians had brought much of their trouble on +themselves."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't make their sufferings less, even if they were to blame," +interposed Martine.</p> + +<p>"That is true. They may have been less peaceable and amiable than +they have been represented by the poet, and their homes and their ways +of living may have been less<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>less<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Æsthetic," suggested Priscilla, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Well, æsthetic, then. But all this does not alter the fact that they +deserved the greatest pity. Many of them, indeed, honestly believed that +they were still the subjects of Louis XV, and that to take the oath +required by the English would be a great crime."</p> + +<p>"What they needed was a really good and disinterested man to advise +them; some one like Paul Mascarene, who was partly French, and yet could +get the English point of view," said Priscilla. "Some way I can't feel +that the English were altogether disinterested—although," she +concluded hastily, "I am more on the English side than the +French,—and I am very sorry that it was a man of Plymouth descent +who carried away the Acadians from Grand Pré."</p> + +<p>This, in view of Priscilla's previous prejudice against the Acadians, +was really a very liberal statement, as the others realized.</p> + +<p>"It should console you, then, to remember that Colonel Winslow was +simply a soldier acting under orders, and we have no reason to think +that he used needless cruelty. 'It hurts me to hear their weeping and +wailing,' he said in his journal, and this shows that he had a tender +heart."</p> + +<p>"But I can't see why families were separated, and why all these +Acadians couldn't have been sent up to Upper Canada to the other +French;" and Martine sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>"You forget that France and England were still at war, and to have +put so many able-bodied men at the service of France would indeed have +been madness. Governor Lawrence explained all this in letters to the +governors of the different colonies to whom he sent the Acadians. They +were sent to as many different colonies as possible, and broken up into +small groups, so that they could not unite in any plan for return."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that Governor Lawrence thought it better for them to +become public charges,—people who had always been perfectly +independent."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, there is a bright side. Many of them never lost hope for a +minute, and even those who went to the French West Indies soon began to +plan to get back to Acadia. In the end, after the Peace, they began to +take the oath, and receive their new grants of land, and since then +England has had no more devoted subjects—as we saw for ourselves +in Clare."</p> + +<p>"All the same," said Martine, "this must be a haunted region around +here, and I can tell you I should hate to walk through Grand Pré alone +after dark, or even drive through."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of haunted regions," said Priscilla, "though I don't know +why I think of him just now, what do you suppose has happened to Mr. +Knight? No one has seen him since our adventure."</p> + +<p>"<i>We</i> haven't seen him," responded Amy, "but I sincerely hope +that he is in the land of the living. I must have forgotten to tell you +that mamma had a letter from him the day after our drive, telling us +that he had been suddenly called to New Brunswick, and expressing his +regret that probably he should not see us again."</p> + +<p>"That must have been a great relief to him," murmured Martine, "that +call to New Brunswick. Otherwise he might have had to see us again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he expressed great regret at having to go without doing so."</p> + +<p>"That was kind in him, even if it wasn't quite sincere. It is my own +opinion that he went away on purpose. He couldn't bear to see us again +when he remembered how his hair was tumbled—not a sign of the +parting—and his cuffs wet. But <i>we</i> remember, don't we, and I +hardly blame him for running away."</p> + +<p>"Martine, my dear child, you are very absurd. No man could possibly +be so vain."</p> + +<p>"Especially, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, one whose business is the +instruction of youth," rejoined Martine, flippantly.</p> + +<p>"I had a letter from Eunice this morning," interposed Priscilla, "and +she said that Balfour had had a letter from Mr. Knight, who thanked him +for the introduction he had given him to us. She said that he had +written about our trip to Grand Pré, and was surprised to find Americans +so much interested in Acadian history."</p> + +<p>"That is all very well. People always write that way after a letter +of introduction; they feel that they must. You cannot persuade me that +Mr. Knight had any other reason for running to New Brunswick except to +avoid us."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he wished to escape our thanks for the rescue."</p> + +<p>"Rescue!" Martine's tone was scornful enough. "We weren't in the +least little bit of danger."</p> + +<p>"We weren't exactly comfortable," responded Priscilla. "I was +thankful enough, I can tell you, when Mr. Knight and the dory came in +sight. Why, we might have had to stay there for hours."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; there would have been some way. The tide goes out as rapidly +as it flows in."</p> + +<p>"Well, leaving out individuals, who certainly have been very kind to +us," interposed Amy, "considering that in their hearts many of them +think of us as 'those Yankees,' Wolfville has been fairly worth +while."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Martine, "though I haven't been able to paint +Blomidon, I have captured the Grand Pré willows. The subject may be +trite, but I've managed to give it a touch of individuality by adding a +tree or two and lopping off a branch or so, here and there, and this +will set some persons guessing as to what my view is."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine!"</p> + +<p>"But the artistic reputation of the party is kept up by your mother's +sketches. That one of the marshes is simply perfect. No one who had not +seen the colors could believe that nature up here in the north is so +brilliant. The water is so blue,—and she has caught it +exactly,—and the bright red of the shore at low tide, and the +vivid green of the dyke grass, varied here and there with clumps of +yellow<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Stop, stop; you make me fairly dizzy."</p> + +<p>"But it's a true picture, isn't it? and your mother has reproduced it +to perfection, and if she doesn't sell it before Christmas I shall get +papa to buy it for me."</p> + +<p>So the three friends sat and chatted on this their last afternoon in +Evangeline's land, half regretting that the time was near when they must +bid good-bye to Acadia.</p> + +<p>Though they had not tried to do all the things possible for the +tourist, they had gone to the Look-off, the highest part of the Blomidon +ridge, and from this spot had had a magnificent view of the Annapolis +and Cornwallis valleys, and the six rivers flowing into Minas, and the +hundreds of fertile farms and the picturesque seaports lying almost at +their feet; and they had made also several side trips.</p> + +<p>Priscilla had slaked her thirst for information by setting down in +her note-books many facts about the productiveness of the region, and +declared that in future if she should meet a boy anxious to become a +farmer she would send him to Nova Scotia rather than to the unknown +West.</p> + +<p>"Ah, but there's no government land for him to take up here, and +farms don't go for a song. Every inch is cultivated," rejoined Amy.</p> + +<p>Thus at last, when Amy with her mother and her friends were ready to +leave Wolfville and Grand Pré and their neighborhood, their minds were +filled not only with the history of Acadia and the memories of the past, +but with pictures of the present that seemed likely to be lasting.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond, moreover, in balancing her accounts,—not a +reckoning of money, but of something more precious—counted as the +greatest gain the improvement in health made by Priscilla and the +improvement in disposition made by Martine.</p> + +<p>Priscilla's gain was easily recognized. Even she herself could see it +when she looked in the glass, and she was daily growing more and more +conscious of it. But Martine's gain,—perhaps she herself did not +realize it. Perhaps she had not known in the beginning how much she +needed improving. Yet Mrs. Redmond, realizing it, had observed with +pleasure that Martine was not nearly as self-willed, was not nearly as +ready to ridicule the foibles of others as at the beginning of the trip. +Just as the angles of Priscilla's disposition were rounding off to a +certain degree, so Martine was much less likely than formerly to fly off +in a tangent. Although it could hardly be said that the two girls +understood each other perfectly, it was yet the fact that wishes +collided far less often than in the past. When Priscilla yielded, she +did so with a smaller show of helpless resignation than had been her +wont, and Martine no longer thought it clever to laugh at every +suggestion made by Priscilla.</p> + +<p>As to Amy, her mother saw with pleasure that to her the summer had +been one of real refreshment. If she had been absolutely idle she could +not have been half as happy as now, with the sense of responsibility +that was hers in having the care, or at least the partial care, of +Martine and Priscilla; moreover the trip itself, opening as it did to +her a country of which previously she had known so little, was in every +way a delight to her. It had shown to her a world of history and poetry +with which she had not been familiar, even though she had known +something about it, and this in itself was worth much to her.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch19"></a>CHAPTER XIX</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">a discovery</span></p> + +<p class="p2">"I almost wish," said Amy to her mother, as their train +was speeding away from Wolfville, "that we were going direct to +Halifax."</p> + +<p>"That <i>is</i> a concession," responded Mrs. Redmond, with a smile, +"for if you had been less anxious to see Windsor we should have passed +on without stopping there. Perhaps even yet it is not too late to change +our plans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I am just as anxious as ever to visit King's College, and +Martine and Priscilla, if not enthusiastic, still feel pleased at the +prospect of seeing one more town before we reach Halifax. I've had to +use some persuasion to get them to take this point of view, and it would +be very foolish indeed for me to be the one to change plans now."</p> + +<p>A moment later Martine and Priscilla, who had been looking from the +window on the opposite side of the car, returned to their seats.</p> + +<p>"Would you care to give up Windsor now?" asked Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed; since I realized that Windsor is the old Piziquid of the +Acadians I have been crazy to see it, for I read a story the other day +whose scene was laid there; and besides, I've heard that Windsor has one +of the queerest harbors in the world, with water in it hardly two or +three hours a day, and only red mud the rest of the time."</p> + +<p>"That's nothing very new," interrupted Priscilla; "we've seen enough +of that kind of thing already in Nova Scotia."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but the difference is that the harbor of Windsor is so large +that they say it is very amusing to see so many great vessels stranded +in it I'm quite reconciled now to spending a day or two there; it's only +Priscilla who objects, Mrs. Redmond."</p> + +<p>"I don't really object" responded Priscilla, "but I'm afraid we won't +have all the time we need at Halifax."</p> + +<p>"After all, we shall not be limited in our stay there. Unless those +letters that I expect insist on my return at once I shall be quite +willing to stay away until after the first of September."</p> + +<p>"Who is it then, besides Priscilla, who wishes to cut Windsor?"</p> + +<p>"No one but me, Martine," returned Amy; "and this is only because I +have a little feeling that I can't explain that we might better go +through directly to Halifax. It's the kind of feeling that leads people +sometimes to give up a particular train from fear that some accident +will befall it."</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" and Martine held up her hands in protest. "I never knew +before, Miss Amy Redmond, that you could be superstitious, for that's +what 'having feelings' amounts to."</p> + +<p>"Well, at least I'm strong-minded enough to disregard these +premonitions. In my heart of hearts I believe that we shall not only +escape from Windsor alive, but enjoy our stay there thoroughly."</p> + +<p>Not so very long after leaving Wolfville the travellers were within +sight of Windsor. They had passed through beautiful farming regions with +occasional glimpses of river and marsh; and there across a stretch of +yellowish water they caught sight of the town which the Indians had so +correctly named Piziquid, "the meeting of the waters." This first +glimpse showed a town built up on the sides of leafy hills and +stretching down to the water, bordered with many wharves, at which lay +three-masted schooners and craft of every size.</p> + +<p>Their rooms had been engaged at one of the smaller hotels. It was +delightfully situated on a side street, and within seemed pleasant and +homelike. Already their bags had been taken to the rooms assigned them, +and Martine and Priscilla lingered a moment to speak to the landlady's +little daughter, a child of five or six, who was playing in the +hall.</p> + +<p>"How red her cheeks are! I must kiss her;" and Martine bent down to +suit the action to the word. But the little girl was coquettish, and, +slipping away, stood at some distance, staring at the strange young +ladies. Priscilla looked sharply at the child.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't kiss her," she remonstrated. "Her cheeks are flushed; +they are almost feverish. I believe she's not well."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," rejoined Martine, with a laugh. "Every one down here has +red cheeks;" and she took a few steps forward in pursuit of the +child.</p> + +<p>Priscilla laid her hand on her arm "No, no, she looks just as my +little sister did after she had scarlet fever; promise me you won't kiss +her."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you should care," said Martine; "but you seem so in +earnest that for once I'll do what you wish."</p> + +<p>At this moment Mrs. Redmond approached the girls, in company with the +landlady, who had been showing her her room. She, too, looked keenly at +the little child.</p> + +<p>"Is this your little girl?" she asked her companion.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my only child."</p> + +<p>"Is she,—is she quite well?"</p> + +<p>The woman hesitated for a moment.</p> + +<p>"She has been sick, but she's almost well," she replied.</p> + +<p>"What was the matter with her?" asked Mrs. Redmond, pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"She has had scarlet fever, but—"</p> + +<p>"Girls," said Mrs. Redmond, "have your bags brought from your +rooms."</p> + +<p>Then she turned to the landlady.</p> + +<p>"I can understand now why you can offer us a choice of so many rooms; +the fever, I suppose, drove your guests away. I'm sorry, but we, too, +must look farther."</p> + +<p>In a few moments the four had called a carriage and were on their way +to seek a new abode. Martine saw the ridiculous side of the whole affair +and made the others laugh at her account of the way Priscilla had saved +her from the fatal kiss.</p> + +<p>"It is no laughing matter," protested Mrs. Redmond; "the child was +evidently in that condition when the disease is particularly contagious, +even though she herself is not especially ill. I shall have to watch you +all very carefully, and shall be thankful enough if you do not suffer +from this exposure."</p> + +<p>"There, Amy," cried Priscilla, "the worst is over; your premonitions +are justified, and another time we won't laugh at your superstition. +Though you hadn't scarlet fever in mind, this was the danger which we +were to pass through."</p> + +<p>"I hope that the worst really is over, but it is rather curious that +this particular incident should have happened here after what I +said."</p> + +<p>Under the guidance of their driver the party soon found a +boarding-place in a large wooden house, attractively situated on a +hill.</p> + +<p>On the morning after their arrival Mrs. Redmond advised the girls to +make the most of their time.</p> + +<p>"I'm told that we can visit the college and return in time to take +the afternoon train for Halifax, but perhaps it will be as well to do +things a little more at our leisure and go on to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, far better," said Martine; "it would be so tiresome to go on +to-day; besides<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>" and +here she stopped as if she had almost disclosed something that she +should not speak about.</p> + +<p>Soon after breakfast Martine and Amy strolled off to the grass-grown +ramparts of Fort Edward, the defence that had been built by the English +against the French when Acadia came into their possession. An old +blockhouse was the most interesting thing to be seen from the Fort; +interesting at least from the historical point of view.</p> + +<p>"What makes Windsor seem so very new?" asked Martine. "Every one +speaks of it as such an old town, and it seems to be full of new brick +buildings that look as if they'd been finished hardly a week."</p> + +<p>"It's the fire," replied Amy. "The greater part of Windsor was +destroyed by fire a year or two ago. It used to be much prettier, they +say, with its old wooden buildings and tree-lined streets. The trees and +the old-fashioned dwellings have all been swept away,—at least in +this part of the city. When we go to King's College this afternoon we +shall see what is left of the older section."</p> + +<p>"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, when the two returned, "I'm sorry to +have to reprove you."</p> + +<p>"If any one is to reprove me you are the one, Mrs. Redmond, whom I +should prefer to administer the reproof; but what is the trouble now? Am +I in danger of catching anything new?"</p> + +<p>"No, my child, but see!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond held up before Martine a small chamois bag.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, did I really leave it lying about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Martine, and had any one else found it you might have been put +to considerable trouble to recover your rings."</p> + +<p>Taking the little bag from Mrs. Redmond's hands, Martine emptied its +contents on a table. There they were,—not only the four beautiful +rings, but the diamond star that her father had given her the preceding +Christmas. Ever since Priscilla had expressed her contempt for those who +wore expensive jewelry while travelling, Martine had carried her rings +in the little bag in which she kept the star and one or two other +valuable pins.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said Mrs. Redmond, "that it would have been wiser +to leave these valuable things in Boston."</p> + +<p>"But I always have them with me, and nothing has ever happened."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond hesitated as to what she should say. Although she was +Martine's temporary guardian, she believed that it was not her place to +instruct the young girl on points that would naturally come within the +observation of her parents. If they had established no rules regarding +the times when she should or should not wear jewelry, it was hardly the +duty of another to interfere. Yet she saw that a word or two now might +prevent further complications while she and Martine were travelling +together.</p> + +<p>"It is true," she said, "that people must judge for themselves when +they shall and when they shall not wear jewels. But your rings, I can +see, are all valuable, especially the emerald, and it is so easy to +mislay such things when dressing, or when leaving a boarding-house, that +if I were you I would put them safely away."</p> + +<p>Though she did not express it, her real thought was that in +travelling there is seldom an occasion when a young girl needs to wear +jewelry.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," said Martine, pleasantly. "I am truly +sorry that I brought these things with me, although at home I always +wear my rings without thinking about them. The diamond star I thought +might be worn if we were invited to a party or a reception while away, +but I see now that it would not be the thing for me to wear it at all +this summer. In fact, when papa gave it to me he said that he did not +expect me to wear it often until I was eighteen, but I thought I would +like to have it with me, and it seemed safe enough in this bag."</p> + +<p>"Yes, when you wear the bag around your neck; but if you leave it +carelessly lying about, you'll have only yourself to blame if you lose +it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," responded Martine; "after this I will see +that it is put away."</p> + +<p>Martine had received Mrs. Redmond's words so well that the latter was +more than ever impressed with the young girl's amiability, and she +wondered that between her and Priscilla there could still exist any +antagonism.</p> + +<p>There was no evidence, however, of anything but good feeling when the +four set out for their drive to King's College. Amy had told them that +they were to drive also near the grounds of the old home of that Judge +Haliburton whose other home they had seen at Annapolis, explaining:</p> + +<p>"Some persons call him 'the father of Canadian literature,' because +his 'Sam Slick' and his history were almost the first books written in +Canada to attract the attention of people outside."</p> + +<p>King's College, in a certain way, offered rather less than the girls +had expected, though its chief college building was an imposing +structure, with great columns in front. The grounds were extensive, and +the gently rolling lawns suggested an English landscape.</p> + +<p>"King's is an old college for this part of the world," said Mrs. +Redmond, "and though I cannot remember all I have heard about it, +various old forms and ceremonies are kept up here, I believe, and +commencement is always very interesting."</p> + +<p>"It isn't as old as Harvard, is it?" asked Martine.</p> + +<p>"What a question!" interposed Priscilla. "No college is as old as +Harvard—at least, in this country. Just see how small this is, +too!"</p> + +<p>"Yet you ought to be especially interested in King's College, +Priscilla," said Mrs. Redmond, gently, "for it was founded by exiled +Loyalists almost immediately after the Revolution. Indeed, plans for the +college were made in New York even before the close of the war, when it +was seen that large numbers of educated men and women would probably +have to bring up their children in a new country, where it would take +time to establish even ordinary day schools."</p> + +<p>"After the Revolution! That seems young compared with Harvard. But +come, let us see what there is in this ancient-looking library. The +driver says it's the only building open to visitors now," said Amy, who +had been leading the way.</p> + +<p>There were some entertaining books and portraits in the old library, +and after lingering over them a little while, the girls prepared to +return to the town. They took a last look at the old college before the +carriage drove away.</p> + +<p>"Its surroundings are beautiful," exclaimed Amy, "but it doesn't +compare with Wellesley;" and before her eyes rose a picture of the +College Beautiful, with its lake, its hills and groves, and its many +fine buildings.</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad, however," she added, "that we came here, for I have +got a certain impression from King's College that is quite worth +having."</p> + +<p>"So say we all of us," added Martine. And thus in an amiable frame of +mind the party returned to their boarding-house, pleased with their +sightseeing. Although none of the girls would admit that they were +tired, Mrs. Redmond suggested that all go to bed early.</p> + +<p>"I'll agree," responded Martine, "if you'll come up first to my +room."</p> + +<p>Martine's room was large and pleasant, and even for so short a stay +she had thought it worth while to give it a few homelike touches. +Photographs of her parents and of one or two of her friends in +ornamental frames were on the mantelpiece, and over the mantelpiece +itself she had draped a soft foreign scarf. Her silver toilet articles +occupied the top of the bureau; for in spite of Priscilla's disapproval, +or perhaps because of it, she now carried these things in her suit case. +Slight though these little touches were, Martine had contrived to +relieve the room of its purely boarding-house aspect.</p> + +<p>The house itself was plain, and both inside and out had a certain +aspect of flimsiness. This had been accounted for by some one who had +told Mrs. Redmond that it had been put up very hastily, immediately +after the recent fire. It had been built for a boarding-house and +pretended to be nothing else. It was airy and clean, but neither its +landlady nor the other boarders attracted the travellers sufficiently to +incline them to stay downstairs in the general sitting-room; so the +three girls and Mrs. Redmond sat and chatted in Martine's room, enjoying +the box of chocolates that she had opened for their especial +pleasure.</p> + +<p>"They ought to be good," she said, when Mrs. Redmond praised them. +"They came from Halifax;" and she glanced mischievously at +Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"From Halifax?" repeated Amy. "I suppose that's where most +shopkeepers in Windsor get their goods."</p> + +<p>"Halifax by way of Windsor."</p> + +<p>"No, no," retorted Martine, "not by way of Windsor at all; they came +to me by mail. You know I went down to the post-office the last moment +before we left Wolfville."</p> + +<p>The others made no comment, but Priscilla and Amy exchanged glances, +and Priscilla's seemed to say:</p> + +<p>"I told you so."</p> + +<p>Before, however, anything could be said, Martine rushed to her +bureau.</p> + +<p>"I received a letter, too, at the same time," she cried, "and except +for these chocolates I never should have thought of it again."</p> + +<p>Lifting the cover of the candy box, she took from it a large square +envelope, which for safe keeping, perhaps, she had placed under the lace +paper that lined it.</p> + +<p>"What next?" thought Amy. "If the letter is from either Fritz or +Taps, I wonder if she'll venture to read it."</p> + +<p>Then Martine, with the utmost unconcern, opened the envelope, saying +as she did so:</p> + +<p>"It's from Mrs. Blair; you know she's a cousin of mamma's, and she +often gives me good advice; I suppose this letter is full of it. That's +one reason I left it to read on the train. I knew it would keep till +then; and, after all, I entirely forgot it."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Blair would feel complimented," interposed Amy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she knows me; I never hide my feelings."</p> + +<p>"Do you ever try?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear Mrs. Redmond; I've never dared let you know just how +much I care for you."</p> + +<p>Thus effectually silenced, Mrs. Redmond waited for Martine to read +her letter.</p> + +<p>"You ought to like Mrs. Blair," said Amy, for Martine still held the +opened envelope in her hand without attempting to read its contents.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because she has style, Martine, and you generally put that before +everything else; but read your letter, I would like to hear where they +are, for I am always interested in Edith's doings."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," yet Martine did not take the letter from the envelope; +"but people need something besides style. I get so out of patience with +Mrs. Blair when she and mamma are together. She always has the air of +disapproving of mamma for having married a western man. She makes me +think of the New Yorker who said to a Chicago woman, 'How can you bear +to live so far away?' 'Away? From what?' asked the other. And the New +Yorker couldn't say a word."</p> + +<p>"But that isn't like Mrs. Blair, for she always has a word ready for +everything. Do read your letter, Martine," continued Amy.</p> + +<p>So Martine glanced hastily over the pages, making comments as she +read.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a kind of duty letter. She wants me to think it a great +privilege that you have allowed me to travel with you this summer. She +seems to have an especially high regard for you, Priscilla. I won't +flatter you by reading what she says. Oh, yes, and she wants to give me +some bad news. She has seen mamma at Carlsbad and thinks her looking +very miserable. Well, that's about all, except that she wishes Edith +cared more for Europe."</p> + +<p>"Yes," interposed Amy, "Edith was very anxious to go West this summer +with Philip and Pamela; they're having a fine trip over the Canadian +Rockies."</p> + +<p>Martine evidently was not listening to Amy. Her face wore an +expression of great bewilderment, and then, with an exclamation of +surprise she thrust the letter into Amy's hand:</p> + +<p>"Read it," she cried; "isn't it extraordinary?" and she pointed to +the signature. "'Audrey Balfour Blair!' Did you know that was her +name?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'm not sure," responded Amy. "I never had a letter from Mrs. +Blair."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," responded Martine, "though Edith often writes to me."</p> + +<p>"That's why Balfour and Audrey seem so familiar to me," added +Priscilla, whose family were on rather intimate terms with Mrs. +Blair.</p> + +<p>"I never heard even mamma speak of Mrs. Blair by her first name," +continued Martine. "Of course I must have known that it was Audrey, but +I had never noticed the Balfour before."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Balfour is a family name of Mrs. Blair's it must be of your +mother's also; or at least it probably is."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said Martine, "then Balfour and I may be +cousins."</p> + +<p>"I wish that Eunice and I were cousins." Priscilla's wistful tone was +in contrast to the brighter one in which Martine had spoken.</p> + +<p>"What's in a name?" continued the latter. "I dare say it's only the +merest happening that these names are alike."</p> + +<p>"I was going to suggest," commented Mrs. Redmond, "that it might be +wiser not to build your hopes too high, although I'll admit that there +may be some connection between the two families."</p> + +<p>"What pleases me the most," said Martine, "is to think of Mrs. +Blair's disgust when she hears that her family names belong also to +people in Nova Scotia."</p> + +<p>"And one of them a grocer's clerk," added Amy, whereupon Martine +colored deeply.</p> + +<p>"Balfour's just as good as Philip Blair, and he won't have to leave +college without taking his degree." Then, as if ashamed of her +petulance, she added: "To find out how things really are I suppose that +after this I'll have to take an interest in genealogy. Mrs. Blair +belongs to the Colonial Dames and offered to have mamma's name put +through, and I think she would have consented to this if I hadn't +laughed so at the idea. I dare say the Dames are different from the +Daughters. I hope so at any rate, for the Daughters are always waving +their ancestors in one another's faces, especially at their meetings, +which I am told are like real battles."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," protested Mrs. Redmond, "not always. I've been at some that +were very pleasant."</p> + +<p>"Well, before long," concluded Martine, "you'll find me climbing +family trees in a way that will make you dizzy; in fact, I feel a little +giddy, as the English say, at the very prospect of having—Eunice +for a cousin. Indeed, I believe I'll not sleep a wink to-night in my +effort to settle the question."</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch20"></a>CHAPTER XX</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">fire and flame</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Long after the others had left her Martine sat alone. She +was restless and wide-awake, and any one looking at her would have seen +that her face was far less cheerful than usual. Her thoughts, indeed, +were disturbed, and one or two tears fell as she held her mother's +portrait before her and looked earnestly into the deep blue eyes.</p> + +<p>The portrait was a miniature, painted in the days when her mother was +almost as young in appearance as Martine herself, though in fact she had +been married for several years. The young girl especially valued it +because she could remember perfectly when her mother had been very like +the lady in the picture, and also because this miniature had not been +copied. It was too valuable a thing for Martine to carry with her when +travelling.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Blair's letter, with its mention of her mother's poor health, +had stirred her deeply. She had concealed her feelings in the presence +of Mrs. Redmond and the girls; or rather, for the moment she had been +more impressed by the suggestion that came to her, through Mrs. Blair's +signature, of a connection between her family and the Airtons. Now, +however, she began to dwell on the significance of the news from +Carlsbad, and the conclusion was hard to set aside that her mother's +condition was even worse than her father's brief letters had given her +to understand. Putting away the miniature with a sigh, she drew the last +two letters from the portfolio, reading and re-reading them in a vain +effort to decide whether her father had written briefly merely to +conceal his feelings.</p> + +<p>"It's strange that men always write so little in a letter. Though +papa would always rather telegraph than write, still, when he does +write, I <i>do</i> think that he might say something. Now if it were +mamma, why, she would tell me everything;" and upon this, with the +knowledge that it might be long before her mother could write to her, +Martine burst into tears. As she tossed the letters aside Martine threw +herself on her bed, and then<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span></p> + +<p>How long she had lain there she did not know, although rising with a +start, she realized that she had fallen asleep, and almost as quickly +she perceived a strong smell of smoke in the room.</p> + +<p>Opening her door, she turned toward the ell where Mrs. Redmond and +the two girls had their rooms. The smell of smoke was stronger there, +and in the darkness some one brushed against her, crying, "The house +must be on fire." With a leap Martine reached the top floor where her +friends were. Mrs. Redmond's door opened to her knock, and then she +rapped loudly on the door of the room that Amy and Priscilla occupied +together.</p> + +<p>"Fire, fire!" she called, and in a moment Mrs. Redmond's voice was +added to hers.</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Amy; don't wait to dress. Come, come, don't you +understand? The house is on fire."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, we are dressing."</p> + +<p>"Unlock the door; I can help bring out some of your things."</p> + +<p>The hall was thick with smoke. Mrs. Redmond and Martine knew that the +fire was near. Amy's voice was heard from the room—or was it +Amy?—speaking almost in terror, "I cannot open the door; I have +mislaid the key."</p> + +<p>"Why did you take it from the lock? Oh, Amy!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond uttered no further reproof now. It was a time for +action. "Martine," she cried, "we must go for help." But Martine made no +reply. Already she was far on her way downstairs. All the people in the +house were now evidently aware of the fire. Doors were slamming, and she +heard steps and voices ahead of her. In spite of her difficulty in +making her way through the thick smoke, Martine soon found herself near +the broad front door. Here two or three men were standing.</p> + +<p>"Please help me quickly," cried Martine, breathlessly; "my friends +are in a room in the wing, and cannot open the door. Come, I will show +you."</p> + +<p>Leading the way, Martine was soon at Amy's door again. She could see +no one, for there were no lights in the hall, but she recognized Mrs. +Redmond's voice.</p> + +<p>"I found a pair of large scissors in my valise; perhaps with them the +lock can be pried open."</p> + +<p>One of the men who had come with Martine was already pounding on the +panels of the door to learn where it could most easily be broken in. +After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the other one had +thrown down the scissors that Mrs. Redmond had handed him. Both of these +things had occupied seconds rather than minutes,—seconds that +seemed hours to Martine and Mrs. Redmond,—and then, before further +violence had been done to the door, there was a click, a turn of the +lock, and Amy and Priscilla stood before the four others. Their +appearance showed that they had indeed dressed hastily, but they made no +apologies as they hurried on.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i282"></a> <img src="images/i_f282.jpg" width="351" height="500" +alt="Illustration: After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, +the other one had thrown down the scissors." title="After one +ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the other one had thrown down +the scissors." /> +</div> + +<p>When they reached the street Mrs. Redmond drew a breath of relief. +"Oh, Amy," she cried, "how could you be so careless?"</p> + +<p>"I took the key from the door absent-mindedly, and had set my +travelling-bag on it. I'm thankful enough that I found it, for the door +might have been hard to break in."</p> + +<p>"Look, look!" cried Priscilla, excitedly. "We are out none too +soon."</p> + +<p>As she spoke flames were bursting from the wing of the house that +they had so lately left, and men and women were pouring in and out of +the main building, removing furniture, pictures, and clothes.</p> + +<p>"Let me count you," cried Mrs. Redmond. "I am not sure—"</p> + +<p>"It's Martine, mamma,—she is not with us. Where did she +go?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she has gone back to her room for her things. She had left +everything behind when she came to rouse us."</p> + +<p>"Impossible! She would not be so foolish. The fire is close to her +room. Here are the engines. Why were they so long in coming?"</p> + +<p>"Where is Martine? We must find her."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Amy," and Mrs. Redmond laid her hand on her daughter's +arm.</p> + +<p>"But, mother, if she had not called us<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if she had not called us we might be in there now. She did not +think of herself, and now she has gone to her room for some of her +things."</p> + +<p>"Her diamond perhaps;" and then, as if ashamed of her words, +Priscilla added, "But I can help Amy, Mrs. Redmond. You cannot hurry as +we must."</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Redmond watched Amy and Priscilla running into the house she +wished she had gone with them. Uncertainty was harder to bear than any +effort she might have made. Her suspense, however, was not long, for to +her relief she heard Amy's voice.</p> + +<p>"Here's Martine, mamma. We had barely time to reach her. Look, look!"</p> + +<p>This latter exclamation was called forth by the rapid spread of the +flames. It was a beautiful sight—beautiful yet terrible to those +who so lately had been within the walls that now seemed to be melting in +the heat. Yet even as they gazed Martine began to laugh hysterically. +"You look so—so queer—Priss—Prissie," she cried, and +again she laughed. The light from the fire enabled them to see one +another plainly, and as the others glanced at Priscilla they saw a black +streak across her forehead that altogether changed her expression.</p> + +<p>"It's a case where the pot can't call the kettle black," rejoined +Amy; "your own complexion is not milk-white at the present moment, +Martine."</p> + +<p>"You are the only one who has her hair properly arranged, Miss Amy. +Even your mother has a hasty coiffure, and no collar. Oh, Mrs. Redmond!" +and again Martine laughed nervously.</p> + +<p>"It matters less how we look than how we feel. I wish that you, like +Priscilla, had brought your coat, though I fear there is only one hat +among us."</p> + +<p>"What a noise the engine makes! Can't we get away soon?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so. If we only had a man with us we could send him off for a +carriage. Even Fritz would be useful now."</p> + +<p>From her mother's tone Amy could not judge whether or not she was in +earnest, though in truth the same thought had come to her.</p> + +<p>"After all," cried Martine, holding up her watch, "it is not +half-past eleven. I had begun to think that to-morrow had come. The +flames are not so bright. I believe that the fire is dying down. It +started in so well that I almost hoped that we'd see the house in +ashes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Martine!"</p> + +<p>"But nearly all the furniture has been saved, and the house is +probably insured, an<span style="white-space:nowrap;">d—</span>"</p> + +<p>"You are shivering, Martine. Come, we must make our way through the +crowd. Even if we have to walk down to the large hotel near the station, +that will be better than staying here."</p> + +<p>So they made their way through the crowd. Heaps of household goods +and pieces of furniture were scattered over the lawn, and even on the +sidewalk in front. The engine was still hissing, flames were still +darting from back and sides of the house that had so lately sheltered +them.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the four reached the street when a man's voice called, +"Stop, ladies, for a moment." As they halted, the man, whose outline +they could barely distinguish, overtook them. "You are the American +ladies whose doors I tried to break open a little while ago. I would +have helped you further, but I had to return immediately to my sister, +who has been ill, and who is now in a neighbor's house. I have been +anxious about you, for you are strangers. Have you plans, or will you +permit me to make a suggestion?"</p> + +<p>"We shall be only too happy to hear your suggestion, Mr.—"</p> + +<p>"Taunton," quickly rejoined the stranger, as Mrs. Redmond paused, +adding, "I would suggest that you come with me to the house where I have +taken my sister, and I may say that I have been asked to bring you back +with me. The house is large, and you can all get a good night's +rest."</p> + +<p>It is needless to say that Mr. Taunton's invitation was gratefully +accepted, and soon the four found themselves in a warm room, where a +hospitable little hostess bustled about, offering them tea, and bread +and butter, though after all it wasn't a meal-time.</p> + +<p>"She's very good," murmured Martine to Amy, "not to mention how queer +we look. For my own part, I haven't dared look a mirror in the face, +though there are two in the room. How much has happened in the last +hour!—for it is only a little more than an hour since we knew of +the fire; that is, since I smelled smoke."</p> + +<p>"I hope that it wasn't long enough for you and Priscilla to catch +cold. We shall never forget how chilly the air of an August midnight can +be."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am all right," responded Martine. And then, as if to disprove +her own words, she sneezed violently.</p> + +<p>"Why did you go back to your room, Martine? It was a dangerous thing +to do. You brought nothing out with you but that little bag."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I had barely time to get that. The room was so hot and smoky +that I quite lost my head, yet I got what I especially went for;" and +she opened the little bag and drew from it a small velvet case.</p> + +<p>"Your diamond!" cried Amy. "Ah, Martine, how foolish to have had it +with you!"</p> + +<p>"No, Amy, not my diamond pin;" and snapping a spring she disclosed +the miniature of her mother.</p> + +<p>"That is more to me than ten diamond pins. I had barely time to +snatch it from the bureau and pick up this bag."</p> + +<p>"Then you left the pin behind!"</p> + +<p>"No, child, no; it is safely hung around my neck. But one of my rings +was on the cushion, and it will delight Priscilla's heart to know that I +did not save a single brush or silver-topped bottle. It will be rather +hard for papa, for he'll have to replace them all next Christmas. But I +do wish that I had my hat and my suit case. Until we overtake our trunks +at Halifax we can't make ourselves perfectly respectable."</p> + +<p>"But still," rejoined Amy, "I am thankful that we have a place where +we can sleep to-night—and mamma is beckoning us, so let us +follow."</p> + +<p>It was nine o'clock, and the sun was streaming brightly through their +windows before Mrs. Redmond and the girls left their rooms next morning. +All but Priscilla had slept well, but the latter had tossed about all +night, with her thoughts dwelling more on Martine even than on the +exciting events of the fire. Clearly Martine had acted very generously +in the efforts she had made to awaken the others. She had had ample time +to save all her own possessions, yet quite neglectful of herself, her +one thought had been for others. If Priscilla was sometimes harsh in her +criticisms, she at least wished to be fair. After her night of confused +thoughts, it was not strange, perhaps, that Priscilla awoke heavy-eyed +and dull, thus causing Mrs. Redmond to wonder whether this one +experience might not undo all the good accomplished during their weeks +in Acadia.</p> + +<p>Martine was still inclined to sneeze, but she laughed when caught in +the act.</p> + +<p>"It sounds like hay fever, doesn't it? I have never had a fashionable +ailment before, and if it is hay fever, why, I am in the part of the +world where patients are often sent, and my recovery will be rapid."</p> + +<p>After breakfast Mr. Taunton, their new acquaintance, offered to help +Mrs. Redmond in any way that she might suggest. "You may wish your +luggage or your tickets attended to—or, or your shopping," he +concluded. "My sister and I saved both our trunks, and she is resting so +comfortably this morning that I can put myself at your service."</p> + +<p>"I do not wonder that you speak of shopping. We could hardly go even +as far as the station without buying a few necessary things. If we could +have a carriage in about an hour we could do some errands. We are going +to Halifax by the afternoon train."</p> + +<p>"You have lost more than most of the other boarders, in proportion to +what you had in the house," continued Mr. Taunton. "Our late landlady is +the heaviest loser, but she is a cheerful little body, and consoles +herself with the thought that she is well insured."</p> + +<p>"Don't forget to pay our board bill, mamma; it just occurred to me +that we left so unexpectedly that we forgot even to mention it to her," +interrupted Amy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Taunton laughed heartily at her suggestion, and then began an +earnest plea for his own city, St. John, in contrast with Halifax.</p> + +<p>"If you can visit but one, St. John is the better worth seeing. We +come to Nova Scotia occasionally to rest, but St. John is wide-awake, +and its churches and public buildings will compare favorably with any in +the United States. Then you have heard of our wonderful reversible +falls, that flow with the tide one way and with the river the other, and +the beautiful Kennebecasis<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"You would make a good tourist agent," interrupted their amiable +hostess, Mrs. Andrews, entering the room at this moment. "But if I +should begin to paint the charms of the Citadel, and old St. Paul's, and +the Northwest Arm, and<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>Mr. Taunton laughed. "It's a feud as old as the hills, this rivalry +between St. John and Halifax, and a stranger can settle the matter for +himself only by seeing both places; but if you must give up either, I +honestly believe that you can best spare Halifax."</p> + +<p>Before Mrs. Andrews could protest, a violent ringing of the doorbell +called her from the room. A second later she returned to the +sitting-room, followed by two young men.</p> + +<p>In an instant half a dozen tongues were loudly exclaiming, "Why, +Fritz, how in the world did you find us?" Mrs. Redmond held the hand of +one of the new-comers while she looked affectionately up into his face; +Amy, drawing back a little, appeared far from displeased at this sudden +appearance; and Martine,—Priscilla could hardly believe her +eyes,—yes, Martine had certainly thrown her arms around the neck +of Fritz's companion, who was no other than the Freshman "Taps," of whom +Priscilla had had a passing glimpse on the Yarmouth boat.</p> + +<p>While Priscilla gasped in amazement Mrs. Redmond and Amy could not +conceal their surprise at Martine's demonstrativeness. But they had not +to wait long for the explanation, which Martine herself saw was due +them.</p> + +<p>"There, there, Lucian, don't be too affectionate until I +explain<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Explain what?" asked the so-called "Taps."</p> + +<p>"Wait, listen;" and slipping her arm through that of Fritz's friend, +Martine turned with a bow toward Mrs. Redmond.</p> + +<p>"Let me introduce to you and Amy and Priscilla, as well as to the +rest of the company, my brother, Lucian Stratford, otherwise 'Taps.' +There, Lucian, don't say a word. Let me explain how it was. Of course at +first we didn't mean to make any secret of it, but Lucian and I thought +it would be fun to see whether you could tell whether we were brother +and sister, and he made Fritz—I mean Mr. Tomkins—promise not +to tell you. It seemed rather funny that you hadn't heard. Then when Amy +was so sniffy—excuse me, Amy—about having boys in the party, +why, I had to promise not to tell. It was hard at first, but I got +interested in keeping it up when I found that Priscilla was so +suspicious."</p> + +<p>Priscilla, coloring, looked more and more uncomfortable, Mrs. Redmond +was slowly grasping the situation, and only Amy appeared to be +angry.</p> + +<p>"It's like you, Fritz," she exclaimed, "to go out of your way to play +a practical joke on me, but I did expect something better from +Martine."</p> + +<p>Martine's face grew serious.</p> + +<p>"I can't see that the joke affects you, particularly, Miss Amy +Redmond!" rejoined Fritz. "To be sure, you have had various accidents +that might not have happened had we been with you to protect you, but as +to knowing that 'Taps' was Martine Stratford's brother, why, you could +have found that out for yourself, or at any rate I should have told you +only too gladly had you given me a chance. But when you banished me so +completely<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Come, come, children, no quarrelling. We won't banish you again, +Fritz, and if you feel like going on with us we shall be only too happy +to have your company. Your coming now is certainly most opportune. You +can do so much to help us; we have shopping—But first let me +introduce you to Mr. Taunton, who has been so kind to us, and to Mrs. +Andrews, our hostess, and to the others."</p> + +<p>After the introductions Fritz explained why they had come to +Windsor.</p> + +<p>"Halifax may be slow, but it is reached by telegraph, and the daily +papers contain some news, so when I saw the headlines 'Fire at Windsor,' +I naturally read the whole thing, for, according to the schedule which +Lucian had from his sister, you were due here yesterday, or the day +before, and we had even thought of running up to meet you."</p> + +<p>"Though we decided it would be better sport to take you by surprise +at Halifax," interposed Lucian.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and when we read that some American ladies had barely escaped +with their clothes<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Not all of their clothes," murmured Martine.</p> + +<p>"We thought," continued Fritz, "that we'd risk it by rushing up +here."</p> + +<p>"So we bolted our breakfast," interposed Taps, "and made the 'Yankee' +and<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"We poked among the ruins," added Fritz," and when we didn't find any +remains, we asked a few questions of some others who were poking +there."</p> + +<p>"And here we are," concluded Taps, "and from this on I'm going to +keep my eye on Martine. You didn't set the fire, did you, sister?"</p> + +<p>"There, Lucian, if you tease like that you'll be banished."</p> + +<p>"No more banishment for either of us," cried Fritz, boldly. "You've +all had accidents enough to show you the need of adequate +protection."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you could have prevented the fire," said Amy, with some +sarcasm.</p> + +<p>"I could have prevented your staying at any house but the most +fire-proof hotel in the town, and that I believe is still standing."</p> + +<p>"What did you save?" asked Lucian, in an effort to turn the +conversation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my mother's picture," said Martine, softly. And then, as if +afraid of seeming sentimental, "But I lost an emerald ring and all my +silver brushes, and a pair of slippers, and one of my gloves, and a +dozen postage stamps."</p> + +<p>"Stop, stop, Martine."</p> + +<p>"Well, I saved my best stock, and Mrs. Redmond saved her umbrella, +and we<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Are all clothed and in our right minds, excepting you, Martine, who +seem in danger of losing yours," interrupted Amy. "I believe that +carriage at the door is the one that Mr. Taunton telephoned for; so, if +we are going to Halifax to-day, it is surely time to start on our +shopping expedition."</p> + +<p>Acting on this suggestion, Priscilla and Martine helped Amy gather +together their few remaining possessions, while Mrs. Redmond discussed +her plans with Fritz.</p> + +<p>When at last the moment came for the few words of farewell, Mrs. +Redmond and the girls felt that in bidding good-bye to Mrs. Andrews and +the Tauntons they were parting with friends whom they had known for +weeks instead of hours.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Redmond and the girls drove to the station, where Fritz and +Lucian met them after a brisk walk down town.</p> + +<p>"Fritz," said Amy, as the two stood together in the hotel +sitting-room, "I have a confession to make."</p> + +<p>"Open confession is good for the soul, so out with it at once, fair +lady."</p> + +<p>"It is simply this: I am really glad that you are here to take charge +of things. Even in travelling mamma, you know, hates to attend to +practical details. Now of course we have got on very well, barring one +or two little things."</p> + +<p>"Fires and such." There was a mischievous twinkle in Fritz's eye.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, even that might have been worse; so now, until we reach +Halifax, I do wish that you would take charge of everything."</p> + +<p>"With pleasure," responded Fritz. "Especially will I see that you do +not mislay your keys. But you look tired, Amy. Come, sit down."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Amy sank wearily upon a sofa, only too glad that for the +present her responsibility was shifted to some one else.</p> + +<p>There was a funny side, however, to the zeal displayed by Fritz and +Lucian. They insisted, with an emphasis that no one dared oppose, that +the girls and Mrs. Redmond should rest quietly while they went out to +shop.</p> + +<p>"My dear boys," Mrs. Redmond had protested, "there is hardly a thing +that we shall really need before we reach Halifax. In the parlor cars we +shall be unnoticed and perfectly comfortable, and after we have opened +our trunks we can tell what we most require."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mrs. Redmond, there must be some errands for us to do. Can't you +trust us?"</p> + +<p>Lucian's face was so expressive of disappointment that Mrs. Redmond +was glad that she had made out a small list.</p> + +<p>"Of course there are some things—and we are ever so much +obliged to you and Fritz for your willingness to do errands."</p> + +<p>"You see," continued Lucian, confidentially, and dropping his voice +that his sister might not overhear him, "I didn't ask Martine what she +needed. That would have started her off to suggest no end of +things,—you know what girls are. I can tell pretty well what she +ought to have, so we'll just slip off before she can say anything."</p> + +<p>Fritz had condescended to accept a few suggestions from Amy, and the +two boys rushed off in high spirits. An hour later, when they returned, +their arms filled with packages, followed by a grinning hotel boy who +was dragging a large parcel, Mrs. Redmond lifted her hands in +amazement.</p> + +<p>"Two hats!" she exclaimed, in still greater surprise as they undid +the strings of the larger package, "but only one was really needed. +Martine left hers behind, but Amy<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Now, Mrs. Redmond," said Fritz, "perhaps you didn't observe Amy's. +Why, some one must have turned the hose on it; the flowers were all +bedraggled, and the ribbon—Mrs. Redmond, surely you must have +noticed its condition. But these are so pretty that I couldn't let +Lucian be the only one to buy a hat."</p> + +<p>"It's certainly very thoughtful in you, Fritz, but still my +list<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we've got everything that was on the list, only these little +extras were just to amuse ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Six stocks! you extravagant boy!" Martine, arriving on the scene, +had opened one of her brother's parcels.</p> + +<p>"Six stocks!" he repeated. "Why, that's only one and a half +apiece!"</p> + +<p>"And gloves; well, we could have waited until we reached Halifax. +They are probably better there. I wish I had thought to speak of shirt +waists," continued Martine. "This is hardly respectable."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I thought of that, too," replied Lucian; "at least, I remembered +you hadn't a coat, so I supposed some sort of a wrap would do. Coats +have to be kind of tailor-made and fitted, don't they?" While he spoke +Lucian was undoing the largest package, from which he drew out a Scotch +shawl of brown and yellow plaid.</p> + +<p>"There, that's the thing!" he exclaimed with pride. "It looks as if +it had come straight from Edinburgh. You can throw it over your +shoulders instead of a coat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lucian," cried Martine, "you can't expect me to wrap myself up +like that, especially on a warm August afternoon!"</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't it be all right travelling?" asked Lucian, with less +elation. "You wouldn't have to think about the fit."</p> + +<p>But when he saw that all the others were laughing at him, he walked +off toward the window, murmuring what sounded like "There's no pleasing +some people."</p> + +<p>"Come back, come back," cried Martine, as he turned away; "the shawl +will be very useful if we go yachting at Halifax, and no one but you +would have thought of these delicious boxes of chocolates. We all thank +you very, very much; see, there's a box for you and Priscilla, Amy, as +well as for me."</p> + +<p>Lucian's face brightened under his sister's praise, while Amy and +Priscilla thanked him for their chocolates.</p> + +<p>"You were dreadfully worried, weren't you, Prissie," said Martine, +mischievously, "over the chocolates that I offered you last evening? But +though Lucian was the giver in that case, perhaps you will enjoy these +better, knowing where they came from."</p> + +<p>"Shall I put this magazine in your bag?" asked Priscilla, hoping thus +to divert Martine from further teasing.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied Martine. "Let Lucian help you with the catch. It +is hard to open."</p> + +<p>"The magazines are Fritz's contribution," explained Lucian, as he +worked with the spring of Martine's bag. "There's one for each of the +party. But hello, what's this? Did you think of digging a grave, or +anything of that kind, sister, when you brought this along? It's a +strange thing to have saved from a fire;" and before Martine could +protest Lucian had withdrawn his hand from the bag in which he had been +fumbling, and before the gaze of the whole party held up a queerly +shaped little trowel.</p> + +<p>"I didn't ask you to meddle with things in my bag," cried Martine, +excitedly, after the manner of sisters.</p> + +<p>"Well, what's the matter with the little spade?" asked Lucian, +looking from one to the other.</p> + +<p>No one replied as Amy snatched it from his hand. In fact, Amy was the +only one to recognize it as the Acadian relic that Balfour Airton had +given to Martine.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch21"></a>CHAPTER XXI</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">old chebucto</span></p> + +<p class="p2">So slightly had the travellers really suffered from the +fire that they soon recovered from the effects of that exciting night, +yet they were glad enough to reach Halifax and open their trunks.</p> + +<p>"It seems better than luck that we sent these trunks ahead to +Halifax. If they had been burned<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"We should have had great fun shopping, my dear Miss Amy Redmond," +responded Martine; "as it is, we shall just have to pretend that we need +things when we see any startling bargains in the shop-windows."</p> + +<p>"If you should try to replace what you have lost you could keep +yourself busy for a day or two," rejoined Amy.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you. The things that I lost I can wait for until +Christmas. I have bought some inexpensive brushes, plain enough for +Priscilla to approve; but at Christmas—well, perhaps I can +persuade papa to get tortoise-shell, or something more elaborate than +the simple silver set that melted away at Windsor."</p> + +<p>In this way Martine always turned aside the sympathy that the others +tried to offer her for her losses.</p> + +<p>Fritz and Lucian had taken the travellers to the small Halifax hotel, +where they themselves had been staying for two or three days before +their sudden flight to Windsor. It was a cheerful, homelike place, and +in its little garden the girls spent more or less time resting after the +exertions of their later days in Acadia.</p> + +<p>The fire and the events immediately following it had seemed to bring +Martine and Priscilla more closely together,—at least, for the +time their lack of sympathy was less plainly evident.</p> + +<p>One day the two were sitting in the garden.</p> + +<p>"I almost wish we had been a week longer in Acadia," Priscilla +said.</p> + +<p>"Why, we are in Acadia still!" rejoined Martine. "Don't speak of +Acadia as so far away."</p> + +<p>"Oh," responded Priscilla, "perhaps all Nova Scotia is Acadia; but +really, when we use the word we mean where the French settled. Halifax +is thoroughly English. On that account I do prefer it, though Acadia was +certainly interesting."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said Martine, "but I am going to prove that Halifax also +was settled by the French. Amy laughed at me yesterday when I tried to +prove my case. But listen; it was Amy herself who told me that no one +had thought seriously of making a settlement here until D'Anville's +fleet took refuge here after their defeat near Louisbourg. The ships +were safe enough, but the men died by hundreds, and were buried on the +beach. Well, after they had gone away, some sort of a petition was sent +from Boston to England, asking that a settlement and fortifications be +established to prevent the French from coming into Chebucto again and +interfering with New England ships. The English thought this a good +plan, because the Acadians at Annapolis and other places would be kept +down if there was a strong town on the coast. So, you see, if it hadn't +been for the French, Halifax might never have been settled. Have I +proved my case?"</p> + +<p>Priscilla shook her head. She could not quite tell whether Martine +was in fun or in earnest.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that if Massachusetts men suggested the plan to +England, you could just as easily say that Boston men settled +Halifax."</p> + +<p>"That's just what 'Taps'—I beg his pardon—Lucian said +when I explained my theory to him. But then, he can't be expected to +share my feelings about the Acadians,—at least, not +yet,—although on the whole he is pretty sensible, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>Priscilla found it difficult to answer this question directly, so, to +conceal her embarrassment, she propounded another question.</p> + +<p>"Why do they call your brother 'Taps'?" she asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"For no reason whatever, that I could ever see. But you know how boys +insist on nicknaming one another. Mamma just hates it; and, if you +notice, I always say 'Lucian.'"</p> + +<p>"'Lucian' is such a good name," said Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and don't you think that Lucian himself is a dear?"</p> + +<p>"I like him very much," responded Priscilla, simply. She would hardly +have applied Martine's term to him, but she had found Lucian helpful and +entertaining during their three or four days in Halifax.</p> + +<p>"I believe," continued Martine, "that I might have told you something +about Lucian before, except that I thought you might be prejudiced."</p> + +<p>"Prejudiced!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a month ago you were much narrower-minded than you are now, and +of course you and Amy had heard that Fritz Tomkins had charge of a +Freshman who had been in rather bad company last year; and so if you had +heard that it was Lucian before you had seen him, why, you might have +had the queerest notions about him."</p> + +<p>"You have the funniest way of putting things;" and Priscilla smiled +again.</p> + +<p>"Well, really," continued Martine, "there was nothing wrong with +Lucian, only he is rather too good natured, and papa might as well give +him a smaller allowance. But I heard Fritz Tomkins telling Mrs. Redmond +that Lucian had kept a very good standing last year, but he wanted to +break off with one or two men who were not going just the right way, and +they wanted him to go to Paris and Vienna, and the only way was to plan +some other kind of a trip. But there's really no harm in Lucian."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Priscilla, "I am sure of that; he has such a good +face. It is curious that, with his blond hair and blue eyes, he still +reminds me of you, and you are almost a brunette."</p> + +<p>As Priscilla paused for a moment, the latch of the iron gate clicked +sharply, and as a step sounded on the flagged walk, Martine rose quickly +to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Knight!" she exclaimed, and in a moment Priscilla, too, was +welcoming the new-comer.</p> + +<p>"But we thought you in New Brunswick!"</p> + +<p>"So I was a day or two ago. Certain business has brought me now to +Halifax, and it is rather singular that we should be staying at the same +hotel. I saw your names on the book this morning, and wondered if I +should see you before my departure."</p> + +<p>Mr. Knight's manner was so unaffected that Martine at once reproached +herself inwardly for having imagined that he had run away from Wolfville +to escape Mrs. Redmond's party.</p> + +<p>"I am to be here only a day or two," he continued, "but if there's +anything I can do<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"In the way of rescuing," interrupted Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please," he protested, "don't mention that; it was so +slight."</p> + +<p>"You know," continued Priscilla, "we've been rescued once +more,—at least I have been, for really it was Martine who was the +rescuer." And then, when the young man seemed mystified by their words, +the two had to tell him the story of the Windsor fire, of which, it +seemed, he had not heard.</p> + +<p>After Mr. Knight had congratulated them on their escape and condoled +with them on their losses, he said:</p> + +<p>"In case I have no other chance, I must tell you that my chief regret +in leaving Wolfville so unexpectedly was the fact that I had no chance +to show you through Acadia College, or tell you much about it. I know +that that was one of the things Balfour had in mind when he wrote to me +that I should present Acadia College in the best possible light."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed," responded Martine, with a slight touch of impatience, +"we have heard quantities about it,—that it offers the same +advantages to women as to men; that a great many distinguished college +men in the 'States,' as you say down here, were graduates of Acadia; +that it has a lovely situation, and plenty of time to grow," she +concluded suddenly, for, after all, though truce had been declared, +Martine could not resist the opportunity of teasing Mr. Knight.</p> + +<p>"I saw Balfour Airton," continued Mr. Knight, apparently undisturbed, +"when at Annapolis the other day, and he is to be one of the +distinguished graduates of Acadia."</p> + +<p>"Did he say so?" Martine did not try to conceal her genuine +surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; Balfour thinks of nothing now but hard work, and he's likely +to have his share of it the next few years."</p> + +<p>A little later Mr. Knight excused himself for leaving the two, on the +plea of letters to write, and during the two remaining days of his stay +they saw little of him.</p> + +<p>"He's afraid that he may have to rescue us again," Martine confided +to Amy, though secretly she was a little piqued by his indifference. +Fritz and Lucian, however, pronounced Mr. Knight a brick, and spent one +afternoon with him in a long tramp to a place called Herring Cove, the +description of which filled the girls with envy.</p> + +<p>During their whole stay in Halifax, however, the boys went off on few +excursions by themselves.</p> + +<p>"You have been left too long to your own devices," Fritz would say, +solemnly shaking his head, "and the punishment for your rash deeds is +that you are now to be forever in our care and protection. Until you are +safely back in Boston I hardly dare let you out of my sight, for fear of +fire and flood."</p> + +<p>"Do you consider this sail-boat especially safe just because you are +in it?" asked Priscilla. "If my mother could behold us now she would +think us in the greatest danger. In spite of spending all her summers at +the edge of the sea, she is always afraid of a sail-boat."</p> + +<p>"But I would rather run some risk than miss this sail around the +Northwest Arm. In fact I wouldn't have missed it for the world;" and Amy +glanced gratefully in Fritz's direction, for it was he who had planned +this particular excursion, and had gained Mrs. Redmond's rather +reluctant consent. "This narrow arm of the sea is so picturesque," she +continued, "with its wooded shores, and the harbor is so interesting +with its islands and its shipping."</p> + +<p>"Just like any harbor," cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. One has a sense of its greatness here. No wonder +even the Micmacs called it Chebucto, which I believe is a word of theirs +for 'Great harbor.'"</p> + +<p>"Please, Amy, this is a pleasure trip with no instruction. You +mustn't tell us the size of the dry dock, nor the number of guns mounted +on George's Island or on York Redoubt, or on any other of the harbor +fortifications."</p> + +<p>"Nor the time of day," retorted Amy, looking at her watch, "though +all the same, Captain Fritz, it is time to turn about, for I absolutely +promised that we'd be at home by five o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Your word is law," responded Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Tell me a little history," urged Lucian; but Amy refused to do +anything but enjoy the sail, and Martine, looking at her closely, +wondered if she had taken her words as criticism.</p> + +<p>"There's one bit of harbor history that I shall speak of," said +Lucian, as they turned homeward. "No, Martine, you needn't try to stop +me. Everybody remembers Captain Lawrence and his 'don't give up the +ship.' Well, do you know that he died here in Halifax? The 'Shannon' +brought the 'Chesapeake' as a prize into this very harbor where we are +now sailing. It was the first Sunday in June, 1813, and the town was in +the greatest excitement. The news of their coming went quickly through +the town, and every one who could get hold of a small boat pushed out to +see the ships. The men were swabbing the decks, and the scuppers ran red +with blood."</p> + +<p>"Don't, Lucian," cried Martine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but this is history, and the kind you should remember. The +'Shannon' had set out from Halifax but a short time before, and when the +two ships met in Boston Harbor they fought a fierce duel. The 'Shannon' +had less than a hundred in killed and wounded, and the 'Chesapeake' +nearly two hundred, all in about twenty minutes; so no wonder it's +called one of the bloodiest fights on record. The ships must have been a +sight to the quiet Haligonians. Then," continued Lucian, "Captain +Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow were buried with high honors in the old +English burying-ground here, and there was a great procession from the +King's Wharf, with the coffins covered with our flags, and six British +post captains bearing the pall."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to visit the grave, Amy," said Martine, +mischievously.</p> + +<p>"Can't be done. An American brig with a flag of truce came for the +bodies in August, and they were carried back to their native +country."</p> + +<p>"How in the world did you remember so much?" asked Martine. "I never +realized before that you took an interest in history."</p> + +<p>"This is the result," retorted Lucian, "of travelling with an +intelligent companion," and he pointed to Fritz.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't do it; don't blame me," rejoined Fritz. "He ran across +a history yesterday, or book of annals, or something of that kind, and +naturally the mention of the 'Chesapeake' and the 'Shannon' interested +him."</p> + +<p>"Enough said—in excuse," replied Martine, while Priscilla +added, "I wonder if we shall visit Melville Island before we go. You +know that is where they kept the American prisoners during that war. I +had a great-grand uncle who was taken prisoner, and I've always +remembered that he was at Melville Island, Halifax. My mother has his +diary."</p> + +<p>"Why, that is interesting," said Amy. "Perhaps it may sound like +wishing ill to my forebears, but I'd even be willing to have had a +relative or two imprisoned here, just for the sake of having a closer +association with Halifax."</p> + +<p>"That's a very silly remark, Miss Amy Redmond," cried Fritz, +disapprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Martine; "I might as well wish that some of my French +ancestors had been among the exiled Acadians, so that I could take a +deeper interest in Clare. Not that I need a deeper interest—but +that reminds me," and she turned to her brother. "It's strange, Lucian, +that I hadn't thought to tell you before, but I believe I've found some +new relations in Nova Scotia; at least, I hope so. Do you know whether +we had any Tories in our family?"</p> + +<p>"Tories! I should hope not," and Lucian's voice rang with +patriotism.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are all dead now, so don't excite yourself. But two things +equal to the same thing are sometimes equal to each other. We are +certainly cousins of Mrs. Blair's. You'll admit that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, worse luck to it," grumbled Lucian. "She is such a—such +a<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"You mean so conventional," interposed Martine, sedately; "but that's +very proper for a Bostonian. Well, Mrs. Blair's name is Audrey Balfour +Blair."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked Lucian.</p> + +<p>"Well, we met a girl this summer whose grandmother's name was Audrey +Balfour, and what I want to know is—are we related to her?"</p> + +<p>"To the grandmother?" exclaimed Lucian. "How in the world should I +know? and if we are, what's the difference? Probably the old lady's dead +by this time. Most grandmothers are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lucian, do be serious."</p> + +<p>"You'd better be serious yourself—say, look out for the boom, +or you'll lose your head as well as your temper."</p> + +<p>"I haven't lost my temper. There, I'm glad we're putting in for shore +now, if Lucian is going to be so disagreeable."</p> + +<p>Thus the conversation drifted from Audrey Balfour, and for the +present Martine's question was unanswered.</p> + +<p>This afternoon was only one of several that they spent on the water, +and when the conditions were favorable, sometimes Amy, sometimes +Martine, had a chance to show her skill as skipper, while the boys +approved or made suggestions, and Mrs. Redmond and Priscilla sat back, +trying not to show the timidity that they felt.</p> + +<p>On shore as well as at sea they found much to occupy them, and as +conditions for picture-taking happened for the time to be particularly +favorable, each one added largely to her own collection of photographs. +Each of the girls had a camera with her; but at first Priscilla had been +the only one really zealous for photography.</p> + +<p>When they visited the Citadel Lucian and Fritz had managed to +intimidate them by telling them of the fearful fate that might be theirs +should their cameras be seen in its neighborhood; so the cameras were +hidden until the girls were far from what Martine called "the sacred +precincts," until, indeed, the sight of a redcoat on Barrington Street, +standing where the sun illuminated his whole figure, caused her to shout +in delight:</p> + +<p>"There, my camera, quick, Lucian. Here's my chance to catch one of +those crazy little caps. How do they manage to make them stay on one +ear? Quick, before he moves, or sees us," and then the click of a spring +showed that she had accomplished her aim.</p> + +<p class="center">* * * * *</p> + +<p>One dull afternoon Amy and Priscilla, wandering about, found their +way into the Parliament building, and after admiring the stately old +portraits in the rooms of the historical society, spent an hour or two +over some of the old books and papers in the archives. This was +especially gratifying to Priscilla, because she was thus able to satisfy +her curiosity about the exiled Loyalists. Their sufferings seemed all +the more real when written out in detail in these old manuscript +volumes, and as she read, she sighed. The sigh was not wholly for the +miseries of the past. That very morning she had received a letter from +Eunice that had set her thinking.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"I am so glad [wrote Eunice] that you like Halifax. +But it does seem strange, doesn't it, that I have never been +there—in the capital of our Province? Sometimes it seems as if I +should never go anywhere, though Balfour says that he will send me to +college, that I can depend on that. But that will be only to Acadia, and +I shall have to wait so long, until he has a law practice—and when +will that be? Besides, he thinks now that he may have to stay out of +college a year, if not give it up altogether. It's the mortgage on the +house. There's some kind of trouble about it, and Balfour is determined +not to let it go. It would just break mother's heart. But I oughtn't to +make this a complaining letter, when one of the pleasantest things this +summer—or any summer—has been my acquaintance with +you,—and the others, too, of course, though I didn't know them so +well. Please give them my love, but the most for yourself.</p> + +<p class="quotsig">"Your affectionate<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Eunice</span>."</p> + +<p>Now Eunice was really so fond of Priscilla that nothing was farther +from her thoughts than to make her friend unhappy. Yet such was +Priscilla's sympathy for her Annapolis friend that the remembrance of +the letter made her feel sad, even as she sat with Amy in the old +library.</p> + +<p>"If papa had only lived," she thought, "I could have asked him to do +something, but now,—why, Eunice herself would be surprised to know +how little pocket money I have. Not that Eunice wants anything, but it +would be so delightful to pay off that mortgage, and then make sure that +Balfour could get through college, and then see him put Eunice through +college, and then perhaps she could come up and take post-graduate work +with me at Radcliffe." Then, amused at the rapidity with which her +thoughts were running away with her, for Priscilla had not yet passed +her own finals for college, she laughed aloud. Unexpectedly the clouds +had been chased away.</p> + +<p>"Priscilla," said Amy, "I am delighted to hear you laugh. You have +been altogether too quiet to-day. Surely you are not homesick +again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not homesick, only thinking."</p> + +<p>"Tell me then, so that I may laugh too,—unless it's a +secret."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, it's hardly worth mentioning; besides, it has ended in a +foolish wish—if only I had money like Martine!"</p> + +<p>"Martine cares little for money," responded Amy, with some sharpness. +This was not the first time that she had thought Priscilla too ready to +criticise Martine.</p> + +<p>"I know that. She is surely very generous, only it would be so easy +to do things for others if one had as much money as she has."</p> + +<p>"I know what you think, Priscilla; but still Martine's way of +spending money is not altogether extravagance. She has had more in her +hands than most girls we know, and rich Chicagoans are fonder of +spending than hoarding. It's in the air. Martine does not care for money +in itself, but for what money buys."</p> + +<p>"But she surely throws it around without getting full value."</p> + +<p>"That's a matter of temperament."</p> + +<p>"Yes," but Priscilla's voice sounded as if she were not sure of this. +To herself, indeed, she was saying, "It is strange that Martine has not +talked of making plans for Yvonne. Ah, if I had as much in my power I +certainly wouldn't let Eunice worry about mortgages and going to college +and all that kind of thing."</p> + +<p>"Priscilla, Priscilla, wake up," cried Amy, a moment later. "Look at +the citadel. It's hard to realize that this is the greatest fortress in +America, and that only a few generations ago it was nothing but a +stockade, a defence against the Indians."</p> + +<p>"A few generations ago!" repeated Priscilla. "Why, it must +be<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"A bare hundred and fifty years, my dear child, since the English +ships with their two or three thousand settlers came sailing into the +harbor."</p> + +<p>"A bare hundred and fifty years," echoed Priscilla, "and yet that is +rather a long time, and Halifax isn't a large city yet."</p> + +<p>Before Amy could reply she felt her arm seized from behind. Turning +about, she found herself face to face with Martine, who held a letter in +her disengaged hand. Priscilla, not hearing the steps, had walked on a +little before she discovered that Amy was not with her. But a moment +later she too faced about, and, as her eye fell on Martine, she could +not help seeing that the latter was holding her finger on her lips with +a warning glance at Amy, as if between the two there was some secret +understanding.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch22"></a>CHAPTER XXII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">finding cousins</span></p> + +<p class="p2">In the end it had been much better for Priscilla if she +had at once retraced her steps. Instead, while Amy still had her back to +her, while Martine stood with her finger on her lips, Priscilla, with a +rapid step that was almost a stride, walked farther away from them. +Turning first one corner and then another, she indulged herself in her +unreasonable annoyance with Amy and Martine. For a minute or two she +continued to walk briskly, wondering all the time if the others would +catch up with her. At length, when her curiosity overcame her pride, she +did turn around, only to discover that her friends were nowhere in +sight.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think Amy would have acted so," she said to herself. "Of +course I can't expect much from Martine, but Amy is different."</p> + +<p>Yet if any one else had put the question to Priscilla she would have +found it hard to say wherein Martine was at fault. It was only that in +that fleeting glance she had gained the impression that the two were +trying to hold some secret from her.</p> + +<p>Priscilla had not walked very far when another turn brought her in +front of a small wooden building that reminded her at once of a child's +toy.</p> + +<p>"Is it a school, or a church?" she wondered, and she glanced up at +the little steeple.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Miss Denman;" and Priscilla, lowering her gaze from the +steeple, saw in front of her Martine's brother, Lucian Stratford.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to see you here by yourself," continued Lucian. "I +thought that you girls were off somewhere together."</p> + +<p>"We were," replied Priscilla, "but I just thought I would—do a +little sightseeing alone."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't blame you," rejoined Lucian; "it's sometimes so hard +to get Martine to take an interest in things. It used to be just so in +Europe. We could never depend on her, so I don't blame you for keeping +by yourself."</p> + +<p>Priscilla made no reply. She really had no explanation.</p> + +<p>"This is a funny little church, isn't it?" continued Lucian. "Fritz +and I were over here the other day. Some one had told him about it. It's +a little Dutch church, and almost as old as the city itself. It was +built for the Lutherans, for in the beginning there were a lot of German +settlers here in Halifax."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Priscilla. "You are as good as a guide-book; one +never expects a boy to take an interest in such things."</p> + +<p>"I can't say that I do generally, only you remember that foggy +afternoon when you girls were all so busy writing letters? Well, Fritz +and I got tired of staying indoors browsing over books, so we started +out. We went down to the great dry dock—though I don't suppose +that you girls would care for that,—and we had a chance to go into +old St. Paul's,—that's about as old as the city too, and makes you +think of one of the queer, dingy London churches. It has any number of +interesting tablets and memorials, and we planned to take you girls +there before we go, and then walking about we just chanced on this +little toy building. But I've got a suggestion for to-day," concluded +Lucian. "You see, it's Saturday, and one of the market days, so if you'd +like to go, I'd be happy to take you down there. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, of course I'd like it. You are very kind to think of it." +Priscilla remembered that Amy had spoken of going to the market, and for +a moment she regretted her absence.</p> + +<p>Lucian Stratford, however, proved a surprisingly agreeable guide, and +even before they had reached the Green Market Priscilla was quite +ashamed of the little prejudice that she had once held against him.</p> + +<p>"It's an old custom," Lucian explained, as the two stood in the +middle of the street, "for the country people to drive in with their +produce."</p> + +<p>The market was in Post Office Square, and almost every foot of space +was occupied by some man or woman with something to sell. Indians, +negroes, country people—it was a motley crowd and well worth +seeing. The Indians for the most part sat on the sidewalk, bent over +their wares, though here and there one or two leaned back against a +building.</p> + +<p>"We saw Indians like these at Bear River," said Priscilla, "only a +little better dressed,—perhaps because it was a holiday. But these +baskets are the best I've seen this summer."</p> + +<p>Baskets and sweet grass were the stock in trade of these Indians, and +some of the baskets were of odd designs and really artistic shapes.</p> + +<p>"Do you really like them?" asked Lucian, and almost in the next +breath he had laid three or four of the prettiest in Priscilla's +arms.</p> + +<p>"For Martine?" asked Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"No, no, for you,—if you'll take them. There, let me carry +them. I did not mean to load you down. Only I thought I might see +something else."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing more now, thank you. You are very kind, but these are +really almost too much, and I can carry them myself<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>An old negro at this moment crossed their path, swinging a cane. They +realized his nearness only when a sudden flourish of the stick sent +Priscilla's baskets flying into the street. The negro, apologizing +profusely, hastened to help Lucian collect the baskets, and Priscilla +was pleased that Lucian showed no anger at the man's carelessness. +Instead, he began an animated conversation with the old fellow, and +returned to Priscilla's side smiling broadly.</p> + +<p>"The old man has been praising his son's wife's vegetables so warmly +that we'll just have to go over there to see them. She is the fat darkey +sitting in that cart yonder, and I hope we'll get off without buying her +out."</p> + +<p>The next moment Lucian was laughing and chaffering with the old +negro's son's wife, and Priscilla gasped as she saw him pointing out +turnips, carrots, and even summer squashes. She did not know him well +enough to protest, and she only wondered how he meant to get the things +home.</p> + +<p>"They're all mine," he called to Priscilla, as she waited for him a +short distance from the cart. Then he leaned over toward the old man and +said something, and the negro hobbled off, smiling. In a moment he +returned with a large pail, into which his son's wife heaped Lucian's +purchases.</p> + +<p>"There," said Lucian, as he returned to Priscilla's side, "won't Mrs. +Redmond and the others stare when they behold this load?" and he lifted +the pail that Priscilla might the more readily admire its contents.</p> + +<p>"But you don't intend to carry it through the streets?" There was a +question in Priscilla's tone. Lucian glanced at her curiously. He had +just been thinking how companionable she was, and now this Plymouth girl +was going to show herself as narrow and conventional as others.</p> + +<p>"I needn't carry it," he responded. "Perhaps Sambo here—is your +name Sambo?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, my name's Mr. Malachai Robertson."</p> + +<p>"Oh, excuse me, Sambo—I mean, Mr. Malachai +Robertson—could you find me a good smart boy to carry this +pail?"</p> + +<p>Malachai looked at his stick—symbol of dignity—then at +the young man, but at the same time he probably reflected that a fair +fee was in sight; so he straightened himself up, reached over toward the +pail, and with an "I'll carry it, sah," fell into line behind Lucian and +Priscilla. Before the two, however, were quite ready to turn homeward, +they lingered to watch the shoppers patronizing the Green Market, and +buying supplies of vegetables and fruit.</p> + +<p>"I only wish that Mrs. Redmond had come. It will be too bad if she +misses it altogether—and Amy; the sun has come out so bright that +she ought to be here to photograph some of these groups of colored +people."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the chance is that you will all be here in Halifax next +Wednesday morning. The Market is here twice a week," responded Lucian. +"Just now I suppose we ought to be turning home, as they are horribly +prompt about meals at The Mayflower."</p> + +<p>As the two walked up Hollis Street Priscilla noticed that some whom +they met looked at them curiously. But only after she herself had thrown +a backward glance over her shoulder did she realize the cause, for +straight behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane after the +fashion of a drum-major with his baton, while with the other hand he +supported on his shoulder the pail of vegetables, balancing it with such +a nicety that the carrots and squash and the large bunch of radishes +kept their place on the top, though to the casual observer they seemed +on the point of falling to the ground.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i320"></a> <img src="images/i_f320.jpg" width="347" +height="500" alt="Illustration: Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, +flourishing his cane after the fashion of a drum-major." title="Behind +Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane after the fashion of a +drum-major." /> +</div> + +<p>Had Priscilla been able to see herself she would have discovered that +she, too, added to the gaiety of the group, for her baskets were even +more brilliant in coloring than the vegetables, and as she had to carry +them in her arms they made a rather startling display. Lucian had +offered to take her load, but she had waved him away.</p> + +<p>"No, a boy always finds it much harder to manage clumsy packages. +These are not heavy; it's merely that they look awkward."</p> + +<p>So Lucian had contented himself with buying three or four bouquets of +the brightest flowers,—dahlias and garden asters +chiefly,—and with both hands thus filled he made the procession +more brilliant.</p> + +<p>When they reached the house none of their party happened to be in +sight, so, at Lucian's suggestions, Priscilla left her baskets on the +sitting-room table while she went upstairs to find Mrs. Redmond. Amy's +room adjoined her mother's, and as Priscilla stood there at Mrs. +Redmond's half-open door the sound of voices in the inner room floated +out to her. For a moment she stood there listening, quite unconscious +that she was eavesdropping, until a sentence in Martine's clear voice +came to her.</p> + +<p>"She certainly is a terrible trial, narrow minded and priggish, and I +don't wonder, Amy, that you dislike her."</p> + +<p>When Priscilla grasped this sentence in its entirety she turned about +instantly.</p> + +<p>"Did you find them? Are they coming down?" asked Lucian, cheerfully, +as she rejoined him.</p> + +<p>"I—I didn't; that is, I'm not sure," stammered Priscilla. "If +you don't mind, I'll leave the baskets here. Perhaps you would give them +to the others;" and before Lucian could stop her she had run upstairs +again.</p> + +<p>At the dinner-table Lucian looked anxiously at Priscilla. When she +thought that no one was observing her, he caught her wiping away a +surreptitious drop of moisture. What could be the matter? Lucian racked +his brains to decide if by any mischance he had in word or act offended +Priscilla; but his conscience reassured him. He could not recall +anything that might have annoyed her. On the contrary, up to the moment +of their return to the house they had got along swimmingly—the +latter phrase was his way of putting it.</p> + +<p>"There's no accounting for girls," he said to himself. "I've known +Martine to get dreadfully excited about nothing; but Priscilla Denman +seemed such a sensible girl that I don't quite understand what the +trouble is."</p> + +<p>Before dinner had ended, however, Lucian decided that whatever it was +that had disturbed Priscilla she did not blame him; for she turned to +him with the utmost friendliness when he made some allusion to their +morning walk, and between them they soon had the others at table +laughing at their account of Malachai and the Green Market.</p> + +<p>"I hope you paid the old man well for his trouble," said Martine; +"for it probably was a great favor on his part to walk up Hollis Street +toting a pail."</p> + +<p>"Probably he paid him too well," rejoined Fritz, "unless he has +changed his habits within the week. On our way from Yarmouth I tried to +make Lucian see how demoralizing it would be to the natives to introduce +the habit of tipping here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but one ought to pay for benefits received," said Lucian, "and I +really do try to be prudent."</p> + +<p>When dinner was over Lucian noticed that, as they left the room, +Priscilla seemed to be trying to avoid Martine. She hardly replied to +some question that the latter addressed her, and he saw other evidences +that Priscilla did not care to speak to her.</p> + +<p>After dinner Martine ran up to her brother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lucian," she cried, "here's the most exciting letter from papa! +I can't tell you all that's in it now, for it must be kept secret a +little longer. But aren't you glad that mamma is better? I know you had +a letter from her this morning. To think they'll be home in September! +Oh, Lucian, I'd like to hug you, I'm so happy!"</p> + +<p>"Please, please, not now," begged Lucian; "we couldn't explain to +people that I'm your brother;" and he pointed to several passers-by on +the sidewalk just outside the garden.</p> + +<p>"Then sit here with me in this little arbor. I have several +questions, and this is the first good chance I've had. Did you ever hear +the name 'Balfour' in our family—in mother's family, I mean?"</p> + +<p>Lucian shook his head. "'Balfour'?" he repeated. "I've certainly +heard the name somewhere—lately, too, I should think."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, dear stupid. Balfour Airton; that's the nice boy we +met at Annapolis. Mr. Knight's friend, you know, the one we've talked +about."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course; do you mean to ask if he is in our family? +Strange I never heard of it."</p> + +<p>"There, listen, Lucian; this is what I mean. Mrs. Blair is mother's +cousin, and her name, you know, is Audrey Balfour Blair."</p> + +<p>"Has she a first name, and one so frivolous as 'Audrey'? How did that +happen?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I wish to know. I thought that perhaps you would +remember whether her name was Balfour before her marriage."</p> + +<p>For a few minutes Lucian seemed lost in reflection, then looking up +he exclaimed,<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Martine, I am sure; Mrs. Blair's name was <i>not</i> 'Balfour,' +it was 'Tuck.' I once met a brother of hers. He was visiting Chicago. +But, I'll tell you what—I am pretty sure that her grandmother was +a Balfour. That's where the relationship to mamma comes in. You know +that <i>her</i> grandmother was a Balfour, and that's what makes them +cousins; their grandmothers were sisters."</p> + +<p>"Why, Lucian," cried Martine, jumping to her feet in her excitement, +"that's just what I wanted to know. I don't care anything about Mrs. +Blair's grandmother, but if there's a Balfour in mamma's family, don't +you see how splendid it would be?"</p> + +<p>"Can't say that I do," responded Lucian; "but if it pleases you, it's +probably all right." Lucian had often said confidentially to his friends +that the ways of girls were past finding out, and he did not except his +sister from the general rule.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but can't you see, Lucian, that if I could prove that Balfour +Airton is a cousin to Mrs. Blair, and if mamma is a cousin of Mrs. +Blair's, which<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Which she is, without doubt," said Lucian.</p> + +<p>"Why, then, don't you see—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I see," cried Lucian. "Why, then, you would be cousin to +Balfour Airton and his sister. Well, perhaps there's no harm in that, if +it pleases you; but what is there in it for me? I might not like either +of your prodigies, and so I am not ready to be made a cousin to people I +have never seen."</p> + +<p>Yet a good-humored twinkle in Lucian's eye seemed to say, "If I would +I could tell you something that would please you mightily—and +perhaps I will."</p> + +<p>Now Martine, understanding her brother pretty well, saw that he was +really more sympathetic than he professed to be, so she wisely decided +to wait until he was quite reedy to tell her what she wished to know; +and to change the subject she pulled a letter from her pocket.</p> + +<p>"If you hadn't had a letter from mamma by the same mail I would show +this to you," she said. "It's the most delightful letter papa has ever +written me, though I won't tell why—at least not just now," and +she waved the closely written sheet rather tantalizingly before him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho, child, you cannot tease me at this late day; and besides, I +know why you try. Put your letter away, little sister; I can wait until +you choose to read it to me. But I know what you want, and I am willing +to gratify your curiosity. Yes, there was an Audrey Balfour in mother's +family; but you may be less interested in her when I tell you about her. +She was a Tory."</p> + +<p>Lucian uttered the last word with all the scorn of one who has +studied American history built on the most thoroughgoing anti-British +basis.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing," responded Martine; "at least, Priscilla would +call it nothing. Each of us likes both Acadians and Tories, though I am +supposed to care only for Acadians, and Priscilla for Tories. But how do +you happen to know about this Audrey Balfour?"</p> + +<p>"Through the Colonial Dames, my dear. You see, mamma had to have some +papers filled out last spring. It was while you were at school, and she +asked me to get a genealogist to copy certain things for her. Well, I +found that mother's great-grandfather was a Tory, who was driven from +his home and went to England or to Canada to live. One or two of his +elder children were married before the Revolution, and their husbands +were on the patriot side. One of these was Audrey, who was the +grandmother of Mrs. Blair; another was our great-grandmother Edmonds. +She was Martha Balfour."</p> + +<p>"I see," interrupted Martine. "Our great-grandmother! Then it isn't +so strange that I didn't remember the Balfour in our family; it is so +far away. I think it's just wonderful that you remember it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it only happened so because I had had to have it looked up. I +had the whole line typewritten for my own benefit, and I looked at it +several times this year. I noticed the Tory Thomas and Audrey +especially, and I wondered if they would effect my eligibility to a +patriotic society that I am anxious to join. But I believe that I am all +right because I am the loyal descendant of a Tory ancestor."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" cried Martine, when Lucian had finished this long speech. +"You really sound quite learned! I believe that college has done you +some good after all."</p> + +<p>"After all! If you look up my record you'll find that I took all the +history last year that Harvard allows a Freshman, and it's because I +have a bent that way that I can remember these things."</p> + +<p>"Well, Lucian, you've proved yourself a brick. I hope Priscilla won't +object to this. Sometimes she is a little jealous—but there, don't +repeat it—perhaps jealous is not just the word; but somehow, she +doesn't always approve of me."</p> + +<p>"She's fighting rather shy of you to-day," responded Lucian, "and I +can't help wondering what you've been up to. Miss Denman doesn't seem to +me an unreasonable girl. She and I had a fine time to-day at the market. +I'm afraid that you have been teasing her, Martine."</p> + +<p>But Martine continued to insist that her conscience was quite clear, +so far as Priscilla was concerned, and that Lucian must imagine any +traces of ill-feeling.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, she could but observe that Priscilla seemed to be +avoiding her; for, in the afternoon, when Amy and Fritz went off on +their bicycles for a spin through the Park, Priscilla declined Martine's +invitation to go with her and Lucian to the Public Gardens to hear the +band play.</p> + +<p>"I have letters to write," she said, "and—well, on the whole, I +really can't go."</p> + +<p>"Very well," rejoined Martine, rather shortly, as she left +Priscilla's room to report to Lucian that her invitation had been so +scorned.</p> + +<p>"You must have done something to offend her; think it over carefully, +Martine, and then confess," urged Lucian. Priscilla had made so good an +impression on him that he was unable to consider her wholly in the +wrong.</p> + +<p class="p4 center"><a name="Ch23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">good-bye to halifax</span></p> + +<p class="p2">Lucian's well-meant advice shared the fate of most advice +volunteered by brothers. Martine, unconscious of offence, had no +intention of apologizing to Priscilla for things she had not done. +Instead, she began to feel annoyed with the latter for her unfairness; +for certainly, Priscilla, in giving Lucian the impression that he had +received, must have been unfair.</p> + +<p>"But if she has been unfair," said Martine, "she can just wait for my +news. It's too bad, for when I first read papa's letter it seemed as if +I could hardly wait to go downstairs to tell the others."</p> + +<p>Now Martine, though impulsive, was not naturally vindictive, and it +would have been almost impossible for her to keep her secret from Amy +and Priscilla had she not, immediately after reading her letter, +confided its contents to Mrs. Redmond. Somebody knew; and in the course +of two or three hours that they all passed together on Saturday evening, +Martine more than once changed her seat to have a whispered word or two +with Amy's mother.</p> + +<p>On Sunday they all set out for the Garrison Church. "We make almost +as imposing an array as the troops themselves," said Amy.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we might if we were stretched out in single file. Since the +boys joined us we are really a regiment; but Halifax people are so used +to seeing strangers that I am afraid that they won't take any special +notice of us," responded Martine.</p> + +<p>"I should hope they wouldn't. How well we should have to behave if we +felt that all eyes were upon us," replied Amy.</p> + +<p>After service they pushed their way through the crowd waiting outside +the churchyard to see the troops form in line.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem quite the thing on Sunday, does it?" murmured +Priscilla to Amy; whereat Martine, laughing loudly, cried:</p> + +<p>"But surely it is better for the soldiers to turn out to church in a +body than to sit in their barracks moping."</p> + +<p>"Soldiers moping!" and Fritz laughed.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it isn't the soldiers, but the people crowding to stare at +them, who take away the Sunday feeling," continued Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"That's just what we are doing ourselves," retorted Martine, "and I +don't feel very wicked."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, children, don't quarrel," cried Lucian. "You are both +probably right, and both probably wrong."</p> + +<p>Neither girl replied, for the troops in their brilliant uniforms were +beginning their homeward march to the inspiring music of a fine +band.</p> + +<p>As they walked homeward Martine, slipping her arm through Amy's, drew +her one side.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," she said, "and please don't let the others hear or they +will laugh—is Halifax the capital of Canada?"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear, it—"</p> + +<p>"There, I thought it couldn't be; I knew it must be Montreal. But I +asked Priscilla why that old gray building was called Government House, +and she said because Halifax was the capital. I never expect Priscilla +to make a mistake;" and there was a slight touch of sarcasm in Martine's +tone.</p> + +<p>"She was not wholly wrong," rejoined Amy, "for Halifax is the capital +of Nova Scotia. Canada itself is composed of several provinces, of which +Nova Scotia is one. The provinces are united under a general government +with Ottawa the capital—not Montreal—as you suggested. All +the provinces send representatives to the Parliament that assembles +every year at Ottawa."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see—like our States and Washington."</p> + +<p>"Yes, the general plan of government is much the same, and each +province has its own Parliament. Priscilla and I were in the Parliament +building here the other day. It is really a State House."</p> + +<p>"I've noticed the Parliament building, but what is the Government +House?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is the residence of the Governor of Nova Scotia. His real +title is Lieutenant-Governor, because all Canada has a Governor-General, +who lives at Ottawa."</p> + +<p>Both girls had been so interested in this little conversation that +unconsciously they had lagged, and the others were now far ahead of +them.</p> + +<p>"Martine," said Amy, "as we have a few minutes alone now, do let me +influence you to make up with Priscilla—not that any little +misunderstanding is wholly your fault, but it is so much harder for +Priscilla to give in than it is for you."</p> + +<p>"But honestly, I haven't said or done a thing to offend her,—at +least, not a thing that I know of, though of course for a day or two I +have seen that she was trying to be particularly stiff with me."</p> + +<p>"Well, then I wouldn't notice her stiffness. Just act as if you were +the best friends in the world, and things will soon straighten +themselves out."</p> + +<p>"That certainly would be the most agreeable way, and to please you, +Miss Amy Redmond, I will follow your advice. Besides, I have something +very exciting to tell you and Priscilla, and I really cannot wait longer +than this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Hurry, young ladies, hurry, hurry!"</p> + +<p>It was Lucian calling to them. He had turned to meet them.</p> + +<p>"What kept you so long, Martine? What have you been doing?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, only talking."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that accounts for it. When once Martine begins to talk in +earnest, she takes no heed of time."</p> + +<p>Martine replied lightly to her brother's badinage, and the three +reached the house in great spirits. With Amy's caution before her +Martine avoided collision with Priscilla during the dinner hour. After +dinner, while they were all sitting together in the little +arbor,—Mrs. Redmond as well as the girls,—Martine drew a +letter from her pocket.</p> + +<p>"Listen," she cried; "I have something to read you—no, I can +tell it better in my own words, although it is nearly all in papa's +letter. So listen, Amy; it's for you,—and it's for you, Priscilla, +as well as for me."</p> + +<p>"And for me, too?" asked Lucian, trying to throw great expression +into his voice.</p> + +<p>"No, no, of course not. Mrs. Redmond knows, and she thinks it fine, +so listen. In the first place, papa feels much obliged to every one for +keeping me contented. You know I tried to make a fuss when they wouldn't +take me to Europe, and he says that it's a splendid thing for me to get +so interested in history. This is what he says:<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span></p> + +<p>"'When you get back to Chicago you'll find that there's a lot of +history there that is worth studying—not entirely about the great +fire, and part of the history of Illinois is French.' I never knew that +before," interpolated Martine. Then she continued to read, "'Your mother +and I think that you owe much to the young ladies who are with you, as +well as to Mrs. Redmond, to whom I am also writing this mail. We are +much gratified by what you write about the various young people in whom +you are interested. Although I cannot promise, without knowing more +about her, to launch your special protégée, Yvonne, on a prima donna's +career, it seems right that you should be helped to do something for +her, so I am enclosing a check for three hundred dollars.'"</p> + +<p>Amy started; Priscilla gazed in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"'This,'" Martine continued to read, "'is to be divided into three +parts. Your third is for Yvonne; a second third is for Miss Amy to use +as she sees fit for the little French boy—I forget his name; and +though you haven't said so, I am sure that Miss Priscilla hasn't been +behind her friends in adopting somebody. Perhaps I ought to have sent +more, but it will do for a beginning, and I shall be glad to hear that +the money does some good.'"</p> + +<p>"There's more about mamma's getting better and coming home soon, that +I needn't read. But isn't it splendid? You can't think how hard it was +for me to keep it to myself a whole day."</p> + +<p>Upon this there was a small Babel for a second or two, until, after a +moment of silence, Priscilla, in words that showed some slight +hesitation, spoke,—</p> + +<p>"I must thank you, Martine, as much as your father. You must have +made him think very pleasantly of us all. But I wonder if I ought to +keep the money?"</p> + +<p>"No, my dear Puritan Prissie, you mustn't keep it. It's for you to +give away as quickly as you can to your protégée, and we all know who +that is."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Mrs. Redmond; "you need have no hesitation in using it +for Eunice. Mr. Stratford has written me fully on the subject. He says +that this summer has cost him so much less than Martine's vacations +usually cost, that his gift is only a part of what he has saved."</p> + +<p>"He hasn't heard yet about the Windsor fire," murmured Martine, "or +he might feel differently, though the silver and the jewelry will be a +Christmas matter," she concluded hastily. "Shall I send all the money at +once to Yvonne, Mrs. Redmond?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, my dear; we must talk things over and make careful plans for +Yvonne and Pierre. A little money will go a good way with both of +them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, Mrs. Redmond, whatever you say will be the thing. +That isn't slang is it, Miss Amy Redmond? There's a pained expression at +the corners of your mouth; but never mind, you can't deny that I've +improved this summer—to beat the band;" and with this shot +Martine, darting forward, laid her hand on Amy's arm.</p> + +<p>"As an impartial judge I can say that you all have improved this +summer,—at least, speaking for the three girls," said Mrs. +Redmond. "Although I haven't commented on it, it has pleased me greatly +to observe the rounding off of several sharp corners."</p> + +<p>"'Speaking for the three girls,'" quoted Fritz,—"but where do +we two come in? Didn't we banish ourselves when we were bid, and keep +out of sight, until we heard that you had been almost destroyed by fire? +Our improvement has been quite remarkable, though I don't see any one +paying premiums to us; and if we had protégés whom we wished to protect +we'd have to go deep into our own pockets for the wherewithal."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Lucian, "I was thinking of that myself. It's a good +thing that we haven't found any one to be interested in."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you have, Lucian; at least, I have found some one for you. +Don't you remember our new cousins, the Airtons? How stupid! I haven't +told any one else." And hereupon, without further delay, Martine plunged +into an account of the discovery that she thought that she had +made—that Eunice Airton and her brother were cousins in the third +or fourth degree to her and Lucian.</p> + +<p>"I feel as if we ought to wait until we can make sure, but Lucian +says that he can put his hand on the papers when he returns to +Cambridge—and at any rate mamma will know. I'm awfully sorry, +Prissie dear, that they are not your cousins too; but perhaps we can +find a link somewhere back among the Mayflowers—just large enough +to join you and Eunice."</p> + +<p>Priscilla, not knowing what to reply to Martine's fun, wisely chose +the golden mean of silence. If Martine had not said "Prissie" she might +have thought her wholly in earnest.</p> + +<p>"But oh, dear," reflected Priscilla, "I do wish that Eunice had +turned out to be my cousin instead of Martine's. It doesn't seem fair +that she should have everything." This thought, however, had hardly +shaped itself, when Priscilla put it far from her. Martine had certainly +been generous, and Priscilla, if narrow in some ways, meant never to be +unjust.</p> + +<p>Martine, however, had other things than Priscilla's attitude on her +mind.</p> + +<p>"So you see, Lucian," she concluded, "there is some one for you to +help,—not that Balfour Airton wishes any one to do anything for +him,—but if he's a cousin, you'd naturally want to help him save +his time for study in the summer holidays."</p> + +<p>"I study so diligently myself in the summer," commented Lucian, "that +I'd be a fine one to lay down the law to my new cousin! No, poor fellow, +if I have anything to do with him, I'll certainly not advise him to lay +himself out on summer study."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lucian! If I didn't know that you'd take an interest in Balfour, +I'd try to persuade you; but just think how Mrs. Blair will feel!"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Blair! What in the world has she to do with—anything?" +concluded Amy, vaguely.</p> + +<p>"Why, if Eunice and Balfour are our cousins, then they are her +cousins, and as she doesn't like people who work, it will be great fun +to tell her about Balfour, for probably he'll get through college much +better than Philip did<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"My dear Martine, did Mrs. Blair ever harm you?"</p> + +<p>"No, except to say that what a pity it is that I am not at all like +Edith."</p> + +<p>"There! Eunice Airton reminds me of Edith; that's the resemblance +that puzzled me;" and Amy seemed pleased with her discovery.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if they're at all alike, I won't object to this Eunice as a +cousin, for Edith isn't half bad, and<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>Lucian's speech was cut short by the appearance on the scene of the +little buttons of the hotel, who happened to know Lucian rather better +than the rest of the party.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir," he said, "here's a telegram for one of the +ladies, and I don't know which is which, though her name—it seems +to be Mrs. Redmond," and he handed an envelope to Lucian.</p> + +<p>In an instant Mrs. Redmond had read the despatch, while Amy asked +anxiously, "Is it anything serious, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, my child, far from it. I told you there was a probability +that certain business would call me home a little earlier than we had +planned. Well, the summons has come, and I ought to start +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Priscilla, with an expression of real +delight.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought that you were enjoying yourself."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Redmond, so I am, but I shall be so happy to see mamma +again, and the children. I had a letter from the twins yesterday, and +they miss me dreadfully."</p> + +<p>"Shall we go home through Clare? Shall we have a chance to see +Yvonne?"</p> + +<p>"And Pierre?" added Amy.</p> + +<p>"And Eunice? Of course we could stay over one train at Wolfville," +pleaded Priscilla.</p> + +<p>"My dear children," remonstrated Mrs. Redmond, "I fear that you did +not understand me. I must be in Boston as quickly as possible, and that +means that we must take the direct boat from Halifax."</p> + +<p>"All of us? Then Lucian and I will return to New England with hardly +a glimpse of the real Acadia."</p> + +<p>"I have no control over your movements. You and Lucian must do +whatever seems best for yourselves."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you advise is best," interposed Lucian, gallantly, "but I +am pretty sure that Fritz will agree with me that it would be much +pleasanter for us if you would permit us to return with you."</p> + +<p>"Not only pleasanter, but much safer for some of the members of your +party;" and Fritz assumed an air of importance.</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Lucian, "there's my sister. Suppose she should +accidentally fall overboard, or<span +style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"Or suppose Amy should lose her keys," interrupted Fritz, +"or<span style="white-space:nowrap;">—</span>"</p> + +<p>"There, there, if the girls never suffer greater mishaps than those +that have come to them this summer, they will do very well. We call this +a pretty successful trip."</p> + +<p>"And really," added Martine, "nothing that has happened was anybody's +fault. Those things were simply adventures, and besides, I might easily +have had scarlet fever; so congratulate me on my escape. Even a trip +through Acadia would have been just a little dull without some +mishaps."</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Redmond had left the young people to themselves, they +separated into two groups, Martine and Priscilla and Lucian in one, and +Amy and Fritz in another.</p> + +<p>"Now, Priscilla," cried Martine, "since we are friends again, perhaps +you will not object to telling me why you were annoyed with me +yesterday. Even Lucian noticed it."</p> + +<p>Priscilla, coloring at this abrupt question, glanced shyly at +Lucian.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't mind Lucian," said Martine, noting the direction of +her glance. "He doesn't count."</p> + +<p>Thus Priscilla, feeling less afraid of Lucian's criticism than of his +sister's reckless tongue, admitted that her feelings had been hurt by +the glimpse that she had had of Martine with her finger on her lips.</p> + +<p>"I always have hated secrets," she admitted, "especially when it +seems as if some one is trying to keep something from me. I thought that +if you and Amy didn't wish me to know anything,—I mean, if there +was anything that you didn't wish me to know,—why I wouldn't +intrude; but I realize now how foolish I was, especially as the secret +was something pleasant for me."</p> + +<p>"After all, I didn't tell it to Amy then, so you might as well have +stayed with us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, she mightn't, for then Miss Denman and I wouldn't have had +that visit to the Green Market. You, by the way, will miss it, because +you won't be here next Market Day," interposed Lucian.</p> + +<p>"It certainly was great fun, especially Mr. Malachai Robertson," +added Priscilla, with a smile, "and I have learned one thing—not +to indulge myself in any little jealous feelings, particularly on this +trip."</p> + +<p>"On this trip;" and Martine shook her finger at her friend. "To think +that Puritan Prissie should break forth into slang!" But the only effect +of her ridicule was to make Priscilla smile too, and open her heart a +little wider.</p> + +<p>"I haven't quite finished my confession," she continued. "You know +yesterday morning, when your brother and I came home from the Green +Market, I overheard you talking to Amy about some one who was +'narrow-minded and conventional,' and you didn't wonder she disliked +her, and I thought it was me," concluded poor Priscilla, with an +apparent disregard of grammar.</p> + +<p>"Of course we didn't mean you," responded Martine, "although at this +moment I don't quite—oh, yes, I do remember. It was Miss Belloc, +one of Amy's classmates. Amy was telling me of some priggish things that +Miss Belloc had said, and I did use those very words yesterday. But if +you had listened longer you would have heard Amy say, 'not that I +disliked Miss Belloc, but her narrow views.' Then you would have known +that we didn't mean you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know that you didn't, and I realize now that I have been very +unfair."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, only a little unfair," rejoined Martine, "but 'least said, +soonest mended,' and the most important thing is that now we are both +going to be perfectly fair after this."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Amy and Fritz were discussing various practical +matters.</p> + +<p>"Your mother and I have been talking over this letter of Mr. +Stratford's, and we both agree that you probably will not disagree with +us—in other words, we think it would be wiser for you girls not to +send money to your protégé Pierre, or to Yvonne, or Eunice, until after +we have reached Boston." Fritz had assumed a manner of unwonted dignity, +and with difficulty Amy refrained from laughing at him.</p> + +<p>"Delay will give Martine time to find out if it is best to put part +of the money in the hands of some one to spend for Yvonne in Clare, or +whether it would be better to have her come to Boston to have her eyes +treated. Then, after you have talked with one or two teachers, you can +judge whether Pierre is too young to have a course of manual training. +You don't know what you want yourself yet."</p> + +<p>"Really, Fritz!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, really, Miss Amy Redmond, I think that the poor little beggar +ought to have some fun with his hundred dollars, instead of being ground +down to more education. Then, as to Eunice Airton and her brother, why, +if they really are cousins of Martine's, Priscilla Denman needn't have +them on her mind any longer. Mr. Stratford will come down with something +handsome, so they might have this hundred as an instalment to get some +fun with at once."</p> + +<p>"You don't know Balfour Airton. I shouldn't be surprised if he should +insist on his sister's returning Martine's present."</p> + +<p>"Then the sooner Martine proves her cousinship the better. The money +can wait until that is accomplished. Now a word especially for you, Miss +Amy Redmond. Please admit that Lucian and I are very magnanimous in +making so few reflections upon our banishment. Also admit, please, that +you would have had a much better time if we had been with you."</p> + +<p>"We couldn't have had a better time," averred Amy, stoutly. "We've +enjoyed every minute of it, and I shall return to college a new person. +Why, I've gained ten pounds in these few weeks."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Amy," sighed Fritz, "you are as practical and unsentimental as +ever you were at Rockley. Yet you love old graveyards, and can write +poetry. Here I would have saved you from fire and flood, could have kept +your keys in my care, and still you say that by yourselves you have had +a better time than if we had been with you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I didn't say that, only that we have had so pleasant a time +that it couldn't have been better."</p> + +<p>Here Amy stopped. She saw that she had involved herself in a +contradiction; so with Fritz's laughing voice ringing in her ears she +hastened indoors to talk over with Mrs. Redmond the various arrangements +for their departure from Acadia.</p> + +<p class="p4 center">THE END</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/logo.jpg" + width="182" height="157" alt="Illustration: Little Brown logo" + title="Little Brown logo" /> +</div> + +<h4 class="p4">HELEN LEAH REED'S</h4> +<h3>"BRENDA" BOOKS</h3> + +<hr /> +<hr /> +<p class="p2"><b>BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="smaller"><i>The Boston Herald</i> says: "Miss Reed's girls +have all the impulses and likes of real girls as their characters are +developing, and her record of their thoughts and actions reads like a +chapter snatched from the page of life. It is bright, genial, merry, +wholesome, and full of good characterizations."</p> + +<p class="p2"><b>BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="smaller">A charming picture of vacation life along the famous +North Shore of Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="smaller">The <i>Outlook</i> says: "The author is one of the +best equipped of our writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are +strong, intelligent, and wholesome."</p> + +<p class="p2"><b>BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="smaller">A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college +girl's career, excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" book. +The <i>Providence News</i> says of it: "No better college story has been +written." The author is a graduate of Radcliffe College which she +describes.</p> + +<p class="p2"><b>BRENDA'S BARGAIN</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="smaller">"The fourth and last of the 'Brenda' books," says +<i>The Bookman</i>, "deals with social settlement work, under conditions +with which the author is familiar." The <i>Boston Transcript</i> adds: +"This book is by far the best of the series."</p> + +<hr /> +<hr /> + +<h4>LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, <i>Publishers</i><br /> +254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS</h4> + +<p class="p4 center"><i>A Story for Younger Girls</i></p> + +<h3>IRMA AND NAP</h3> + +<p class="center">By HELEN LEAH REED</p> + +<p class="center">Author of "Amy in Acadia," The "Brenda" Books, +etc.</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25</p> + +<div class="figright"> + <img src="images/i_advert.jpg" + width="189" height="313" alt="Illustration: IrmaAndNap" + title="IrmaAndNap" /> +</div> + +<p class="p2">A brightly written story about children from eleven to +thirteen years of age, who live in a suburban town, and attend a public +grammar school. The book is full of incident of school and home +life.</p> + +<p>The story deals with real life, and is told in the simple and natural +style which characterized Miss Reed's popular "Brenda" +stories.—<i>Washington Post.</i></p> + +<p>There are little people in this sweetly written story with whom all +will feel at once that they have been long acquainted, so real do they +seem, as well as their plans, their play, and their school and home and +everyday life.—<i>Boston Courier.</i></p> + +<p>Her children are real; her style also is natural and +pleasing.—<i>The Outlook</i>, New York.</p> + +<p>Miss Reed's children are perfectly natural and act as real girls +would under the same circumstances. Nap is a lively little dog, who +takes an important part in the development of the +story.—<i>Christian Register</i>, Boston.</p> + +<p>A clever story, not a bit preachy, but with much influence for right +living in evidence throughout.—<i>Chicago Evening Post.</i></p> + +<h4>LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br /> +254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON</h4> + +<h4 class="p4">ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S</h4> + +<h3>"TEDDY" STORIES</h3> + +<hr /> +<hr /> + +<p class="smaller">Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the +best of Miss Alcott's: first, because she has the same genuine sympathy +with boy and girl life; secondly, because she creates real characters, +individual and natural, like the young people one knows, actually +working out the same kind of problems; and, finally, because her style +of writing is equally unaffected and straightforward.—<i>Christian +Register</i>, Boston.</p> + +<hr /> +<p><b>TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen</b><br /> +Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">This bewitching story of "Sweet Sixteen," with its +earnestness, impetuosity, merry pranks, and unconscious love for her +hero, has the same spring-like charm.—<i>Kate +Sanborn.</i></p> + +<p><b>PHEBE: HER PROFESSION. A Sequel to "Teddy: Her +Book"</b><br /> +Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">This is one of the few books written for young people +in which there is to be found the same vigor and grace that one demands +in a good story for older people.—<i>Worcester Spy.</i></p> + +<p><b>TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER<br /> +A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession"</b><br /> +Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">It is a human story, all the characters breathing +life and activity.—<i>Buffalo Times.</i></p> + +<p><b>NATHALIE'S CHUM</b><br /> +Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">Nathalie is the sort of a young girl whom other girls +like to read about.—<i>Hartford Courant.</i></p> + +<p><b>URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum"</b><br /> +Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">The best of a series already the best of its +kind.—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> + +<p><b>NATHALIE'S SISTER. A Sequel to "Ursula's Freshman"</b><br /> +Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50.</p> +<p class="smaller">Peggy, the heroine, is a most original little lady +who says and does all sorts of interesting things. She has pluck and +spirit, and a temper, but she is very lovable, and girls will find her +delightful to read about.—<i>Louisville Evening +Post.</i></p> + +<h3 class="p4">New Illustrated Editions of<br /> +Miss Alcott's Famous Stories</h3> +<hr /> +<hr /> + +<p><b>THE LITTLE WOMEN SERIES</b></p> +<p class="smaller">By <span class="smcap">Louisa M. Alcott</span>. +Illustrated Edition. With eighty-four full-page plates from drawings +especially made for this edition by Reginald B. Birch, Alice Barber +Stephens, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 8 vols. +Crown 8vo. Decorated cloth, gilt, in box, $16.00.</p> + +<p class="center smaller"><b>Separately as follows:</b></p> + +<p><b>1. LITTLE MEN: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 15 full-page illustrations by Reginald B. +Birch. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>2. LITTLE WOMEN: or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 15 full-page illustrations by Alice Barber +Stephens. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>3. AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 12 full-page pictures by Jessie Willcox +Smith. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>4. JO'S BOYS, and How They Turned Out</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">A Sequel to "Little Men." With 10 full-page plates +by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>5. EIGHT COUSINS; or, the Aunt-Hill</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 8 full-page pictures by Harriet Roosevelt +Richards.</span></p> + +<p><b>6. ROSE IN BLOOM</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">A Sequel to "Eight Cousins." With 8 full-page +pictures by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>7. UNDER THE LILACS</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 8 original full-page pictures by Alice Barber +Stephens. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p><b>8. JACK AND JILL</b><br /> +<span class="smaller">With 8 full-page pictures from drawings by Harriet +Roosevelt Richards. $2.00.</span></p> + +<p class="smaller">The artists selected to illustrate have caught the +spirit of the originals and contributed a series of strikingly beautiful +and faithful pictures of the author's characters and +scenes.—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> + +<p class="smaller">Alice Barber Stephens, who is very near the head of +American illustrators, has shown wonderful ability in delineating the +characters and costumes for "Little Women," They are almost startlingly +realistic.—<i>Worcester Spy.</i></p> + +<p class="smaller">Miss Alcott's books have never before had such an +attractive typographical dress as the present. They are printed in large +type on heavy paper, artistically bound, and illustrated with many +full-page drawings.—<i>Philadelphia Press.</i></p> +<hr /> +<hr /> +<p class="center"> +LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY<br /> +<span class="smaller"><i>Publishers</i>, 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, +MASS.</span></p> + +<p class="p4"></p> + +<div class='tnote'> <h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<p>Punctuation has been standardized. Obsolete and alternate spellings +were retained. Regional dialect was retained, e.g. 'tree' instead of +'three.'</p> <p>The remaining changes are indicated by dotted lines +under the text. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text +will <ins title="Original reads 'apprear'"> appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Amy in Acadia, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + +***** This file should be named 35985-h.htm or 35985-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/8/35985/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Amy in Acadia + A Story for Girls + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Katharine Pyle + +Release Date: April 28, 2011 [EBook #35985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + + Amy in Acadia + + + + + [Illustration: "From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small fan." + FRONTISPIECE. _See_ p. 25.] + + Amy in Acadia + + _A Story for Girls_ + + By + Helen Leah Reed + + Author of "The Brenda Books" "Miss Theodora" + "Irma and Nap" + + With Illustrations by Katharine Pyle + + Boston + Little, Brown, and Company + 1905 + + + + + _Copyright, 1905_, + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + _All rights reserved_ + + Published October, 1905 + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. + + + + + TO CONSTANCE + MY NIECE + WHO JOURNEYED WITH ME THROUGH ACADIA + + + + + Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I BANISHED 1 + + II LOST AND FOUND 14 + + III TOWARD METEGHAN 29 + + IV YVONNE 43 + + V NEW PEOPLE 57 + + VI PIERRE AND POINT A L'EGLISE 71 + + VII DIGBY DAYS 89 + + VIII TWO ADVENTURES 105 + + IX OLD PORT ROYAL 119 + + X EXPLORATIONS 134 + + XI A TEA PARTY 147 + + XII IN THE FOG 163 + + XIII LETTERS AND SOME COMMENTS 178 + + XIV AN EXCURSION 191 + + XV WITH PREJUDICE 204 + + XVI EVANGELINE'S COUNTRY 219 + + XVII SAFE AGAIN 236 + + XVIII THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG OF IT 249 + + XIX A DISCOVERY 263 + + XX FIRE AND FLAME 279 + + XXI OLD CHEBUCTO 299 + + XXII FINDING COUSINS 315 + + XXIII GOOD-BYE TO HALIFAX 329 + + + + + List of Illustrations + + + "From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small + fan" _Frontispiece_ + + "'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come to + see me'" _Page_ 71 + + "'Hello! hello!' she shouted" " 170 + + "'Why, what is the matter, child?' she asked + affectionately" " 246 + + "After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the + other one had thrown down the scissors" " 282 + + "Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane + after the fashion of a drum-major" " 320 + + + + + _Amy in Acadia_ + + + + + CHAPTER I + + BANISHED + + +"No, Fritz, I cannot--" + +"You _will_ not." + +"Well, then I _will_ not ask mother to invite you to go on with us." + +Amy spoke decidedly, but Fritz was not ready to give up. + +"Oh, Amy, do be reasonable! I cannot say anything more to your mother, +for you are in an obstinate mood, evidently determined to persuade +yourself that you do not wish us to travel with you." + +"That is true; I do not wish you to go on with us." + +"But you and I are _such_ friends." + +"So we are, and so we shall continue to be. Because we are such friends, +I am sure that you will forgive me for being so--" + +"So unreasonable." + +"No--reasonable. Now just look at the whole thing sensibly. Here we +are--mamma and I and two girls." + +"What do you call yourself? Aren't you a girl?" + +"Don't interrupt; perhaps I should have said two _school_girls. We have +come away partly for rest and change, partly for study. So it would only +upset all our plans to have you and your friend with us. You'd be +dreadfully in the way." + +"In the way! I like that. Why, you could rest, or study all day, for all +we'd care, and we'd afford you the change that you would certainly need +once in a while. Only--if you'll excuse my saying so--who ever heard of +any one's resting or studying on a pleasure-trip? Just look at the funny +side of it yourself, Amy--and smile--please." + +Whereupon, quite against her will, the smile that twitched Amy's lips +extended itself into a laugh, in which Fritz Tomkins joined heartily. + +"Ah, Amy, that laugh makes me think of old times. So now perhaps you'll +condescend to explain why two lonely youths may not visit the historic +Acadia in company with you and your mother, not to mention the other +members of your party." + +Amy made no answer, and Fritz continued: + +"Just think what we shall lose! It always benefits me to be with your +mother, and you are so full of information, Amy, and you so love to +impart what you know, that by the end of the journey I should be a +walking guidebook. To go with you would be better than attending a +summer school." + +"There, Fritz," interrupted Amy, with rising color, "you are getting +back at me for what I have said. But we really mean to make this an +improving trip." + +"So I should judge. Improving only to yourselves." + +"Well, then I'll explain, since you find it so hard to understand. You +surely know that mamma has been overworking, and yet she does not wish +to waste the whole summer. So, after resting a little, she expects to +find good sketching-material in Nova Scotia. Then I need more strength +before the beginning of my Senior year." + +"I'll be a Senior, too, in the autumn," murmured Fritz; but Amy, not +heeding the interruption, continued: + +"Then there's Priscilla; she has been rather low-spirited since her +father died. She is generally in Plymouth in the summer, and this will +be a change. Besides, she is to read a little English with me for her +Radcliffe examinations." + +"_Rest_--and _change_--and _study_, for three of you. Well, I do hope +that the other girl is to get some pleasure out of the trip. Didn't you +tell me that she comes from Chicago?" + +"Oh, Martine finds amusement in everything--even in study. She was at a +boarding-school last year on the Hudson, and she made life there so +entertaining for herself and her classmates that she had to leave. Her +parents then decided to have her visit relatives in Boston this spring. +Next year she's to go to Miss Crawdon's. She's especially in mother's +care, and I do hope she'll enjoy the summer, for she is worried about +her mother, who is ill at some baths in Germany." + +"Thus far, Amy, you haven't offered a single reason for your desire to +banish us from your side. Neither Taps nor I will stand in the way of +your mother's sketches, except to pose for her when she asks. We +certainly won't deprive the air of its invigorating qualities; and we +might even study--" + +"No, Fritz, you'd simply be in the way." + +"I won't admit that, Miss Amy Redmond, and if I should ask your mother, +she would probably say that you are quite wrong in your opinion. In +fact, that's why you won't let me talk with her. However, as you've +extorted a promise from me, Taps and I will go as far away from you as +we can--in Nova Scotia. We'll travel in the opposite direction from +Acadia, for Nova Scotia is large enough to contain us all without a +collision. But mark my words, many a time in the next few weeks you'll +sigh for a manly arm to pull you out of your difficulties. _Then_ you'll +remember me." + +"I'm not afraid. Acadia has no dangers. Even the Micmacs are tamed. The +French and Indian wars are over." + +"That reminds me,--please excuse me for interrupting,--you will find +Digby, where you are going to-morrow, very tame compared with Pubnico." + +"Pubnico?" + +"Yes, Pubnico, a wonderful French village, with Acadians and descendants +of the old noblesse, and with many interesting things that you'll miss +altogether in your misguided course. Then we shall go to the deserted +Loyalist town, Shelburne, which is full of history and haunted houses." + +"You seem to have digested a whole guidebook, Fritz. As Shelburne is on +the opposite side of the peninsula, I suppose that you really have not +intended to travel with us." + +"Oh, I had two strings to my bow, and when I heard of the French +villages, I decided that to visit them would be the next best thing to +do." Then, looking at his watch, "But now I really must say good-bye; +it's past my time for meeting Taps." + +"Good-bye, Fritz." Amy held out her hand amicably. "You are not angry, +are you?" + +"No, not angry, only--I may never forgive you. Certainly I shall not +forget." + +Before Amy could reply, Fritz had wheeled away, and, turning a corner, +was soon lost to sight. As Amy walked a few steps along the hotel +piazza, suddenly she met her mother face to face. + +"Where's Fritz?" asked Mrs. Redmond. "I expected to find him with you." + +"Oh, he's gone. It's settled that the boys are not to come with us." + +"But, my dear, I hope you have not sent him off. Sometimes you are too +abrupt." + +"Why, mother, I thought that you did not wish them to come with us." + +"I was certainly surprised to see Fritz on the boat last evening. But he +is like my own son, and if he has set his heart on going to Digby, we +must not keep him away." + +"Oh, he's going around on the other coast, he and his friend." + +"Did you meet his friend?" + +"No, I heard Fritz call him 'Taps'--a perfectly ridiculous name. Do you +know anything about him?" + +"Only what Fritz told me last evening--that he was a Freshman who had +taken a violent fancy to him. Fritz said that he had agreed to travel +with the boy this summer from a sense of duty." + +"A sense of duty!" + +"Yes; 'Taps,' as he calls him, has been trying to shake off some +undesirable friends. He gave up a trip to Europe that he might avoid +running across them, and Fritz, knowing the circumstances, thought that +he could do no less than agree to take some other trip with him. It was +only on the spur of the moment that they decided to come with us." + +"Fritz was terribly cut up to find that we did not care to have them." + +"Naturally--and indeed, Amy, if I had had a chance to talk frankly with +him, we could have had them with us part of the time. His friend was a +bright, honest-looking lad, hardly more than a schoolboy." + +"Oh, mamma, I thought him so dandified!--just the kind to be a nuisance +in a party that intends to rough it." + +"Do you realize, Amy, that you use much more slang than before you went +to college?" + +"That's another reason for not having Fritz with us; it is not _my_ +college, but _his_, that twists my vocabulary." + +"Possibly, but I only hope that he is not offended. Well! well! Why, +Priscilla, why, Martine, where have you been?" + +As she spoke two young girls came running up the steps, and one of them +with a bound flung herself upon Mrs. Redmond's neck. + +"Oh, isn't it a perfect morning, so cool and salt-smelling! and it's +almost as good as Europe to see a foreign flag floating from the +hotel--even if it is only English. And isn't Yarmouth a dear sleepy old +town, though it's said to be so American! Some one told me that it was +the only place in Nova Scotia where they hustled. My, but I wish they +could see Chicago! Then they'd know what 'hustle' means." + +"Yes, my dear," gasped Mrs. Redmond; "but would you move your arm--just +a little? You almost choke me." + +"Please excuse me, but I feel so excited that I must hug somebody, and +Priscilla and Amy never let me hug them." + +"Why, I'm sure--" began Amy. + +"Oh, no, you haven't said a word, that's quite true, and I've never even +tried to embrace you, yet I'm perfectly sure that you would hate it, and +so Mrs. Redmond--" + +"Is the victim," rejoined Amy. "Well, mamma _is_ amiable. Only, while we +are travelling, do be careful not to squeeze too tightly; it rumples her +stock. Mamma, you'll really have to put on a fresh one before we start +out." + +During this conversation Priscilla had been silent. She was shorter than +Martine, and fairer, and her expression was sad, or querulous,--at first +glance it was hard to say which. Yet her half-mourning costume--the +black skirt, and the black ribbon at her throat--suggested what was +really the case--that Priscilla had had some recent sorrow. + +"What have you been doing, Priscilla?" asked Mrs. Redmond, noticing the +young girl's silence. + +"Doing!" interrupted Martine, before Priscilla could speak. "Only think +how silly she's been. This beautiful morning--and in a new place--she +has spent writing letters. Isn't she a goose?" + +"Oh, Martine!" and Amy shook her head in reproof. + +Priscilla colored deeply as she turned apologetically to Mrs. Redmond. +"I promised mamma to write as soon as I could. She will get my letter +day after to-morrow." + +"You were very considerate to write promptly. Your mother will be +delighted to hear so soon. But where have _you_ been, Martine?" + +"Oh, rambling a little; I just couldn't stay in the house." + +"It's strange, Martine," added Amy, "but a while ago, when I took a +stroll down the road, I saw a boy and a girl wheeling down a side street +together who looked so like you." + +"Which, the boy or the girl?" + +Disregarding Martine's flippancy, Amy continued: "I realized that it +couldn't possibly be you, as you know no one in Yarmouth." + +"And didn't bring my wheel with me," added Martine. "So please, Miss Amy +Redmond, don't see double, or else before I know it you'll have all my +faults magnified to twice their size." + +While Martine was speaking, Priscilla looked at her closely. But +Martine, if she felt Priscilla's eye upon her, showed no embarrassment. +Instead, she burst into a peal of laughter that woke from his slumbers a +quiet old gentleman dozing over his newspaper in a piazza chair. + +Martine's laughter quickly degenerated into a giggle, and with only an +"Excuse me, I can't help it," she rushed into the house. + +"There, mother," said Amy, "I fear that Martine will be a greater care +to us than we expected. If she hadn't run off I was going to suggest +that we all go for a walk, to see what there really is to be seen in the +town. We'll have plenty of time before dinner." + +"I'll get my hat and bring Martine with me;" and Mrs. Redmond left +Priscilla and Amy by themselves. + +A little later the four travellers were walking up the broad street, +partially shaded with trees, through which they had many glimpses of the +blue harbor. + +"Isn't it strange," said Priscilla to Amy, "to think that this time +yesterday we were half-stifled with Boston heat! They said that it was +the hottest day of the season, and it is probably as hot there to-day; +and here we are--" + +"Ready to shiver," interposed Amy. "You should have brought a coat, +Priscilla, for I almost feel an east wind." + +"Oh, the air is soft. There's no danger of catching cold. Do you notice +all the flowers in these little gardens? It's a pleasant air, like the +Shoals, and those hawthorn hedges make me think of England,--at least, +what I've read of it, for I've never been there. We must ask Martine." + +"You are almost as eloquent as Martine herself." Amy turned toward +Priscilla with a smile. "You were so quiet at breakfast, and indeed all +the morning, until now, that I feared you were not enjoying the trip." + +"Well, to be honest, I felt homesick at first. You see, I have never +been away before without any of my family, and then I hadn't got the +motion of the boat out of my head. But now I feel perfectly well, and +perhaps--" but here Priscilla's voice was not quite steady--"perhaps I +shall not be homesick." + +Amy drew Priscilla's hand within her arm. + +"Of course not. Naturally, you will miss your mother and the children. +But you'll go back to them with such red cheeks, and so many interesting +things to tell, that you will be glad you had courage to come away. You +mustn't be homesick." + +"Oh, I won't be," said Priscilla,--"that is, if I can help it; but if I +didn't know you much better than Martine, I think that I'd have to go +home." + +Whereupon Amy, perceiving that Priscilla was not yet herself, strove to +divert her by telling her little incidents of early Nova Scotian +history. Her device was successful, and by the time they had overtaken +Mrs. Redmond and Martine, Priscilla was quite cheerful again. + +In their walk they had turned aside from the main street, and had +reached a point on the outskirts where elevated land gave them a good +view of the water. Mrs. Redmond and Martine had found a large flat rock, +on which they seated themselves, and Mrs. Redmond was already at work +with her sketchbook before her. + +"I'm glad that you've come, Amy,--I mean Miss Redmond," began Martine. +"I've been trying to tell your mother about some kind of a queer stone +that I heard some people talking about at the breakfast-table to-day, +but I haven't it quite clear in my mind, and so I'm waiting for you to +help me out." + +"Oh, the runic stone?" asked Amy. "There isn't so very much to tell +about it, except that it was found more than seventy years ago, and is +thought by some people to be a memorial of the Norsemen." + +"The Norsemen in Nova Scotia? But why didn't they discover the stone +before?" + +"It was found by a Dr. Fletcher in a cove on his own property. The +inscription was on the under side, and showed signs of great age. There, +I believe I have something about it here;" and pulling a small notebook +from her pocket, Amy refreshed her memory. + +"Yes, it weighed about four hundred and fifty pounds, and some +antiquarians have translated the inscription, 'Harki's son addressed the +men.' It seems that there was a man named Harki among those Norsemen who +sailed along the coast of America in 1007." + +"That is certainly worth knowing," said Mrs. Redmond, "and I hope that +we can see the stone before we go." + +"Well, it's only fair," continued Amy, "to tell you that some learned +people do not believe in the Norse theory." + +"Perhaps it's like the inscription on the Dighton rock," interposed +Priscilla, "that they now think was made by Indians." + +"Yes," added Amy, "but the strange thing is that a few years ago a +second stone was found about a mile away from the other, and the +inscription on it was almost the same." + +"Well," exclaimed Martine, "it doesn't matter whether the Norsemen +really were here or not, as long as we can imagine that they may have +been. I like the romantic part of history, if it gives you something +entertaining to think about. It's all the same whether or not it is +true." + +After which heretical sentiment, Priscilla, Plymouth-born Priscilla, +felt herself to be farther away than ever from Martine. + +When Priscilla nestled down beside Mrs. Redmond to watch the growth of +her sketch, Martine became impatient. + +"Let us go back. We've seen everything there is to see in this part of +the town, and perhaps I shall have time for a letter or two before +dinner." + +"I'll go with you," responded Amy. "I have some packing to do." + +"Packing?" + +"Oh, just to rearrange some of my things." + +"Very well," said Mrs. Redmond. "Priscilla and I will wait until this +sketch is finished, and then we'll return by the electric car." + +"Any one would know that you and your mother are from Boston," said +Martine, turning to Amy with a laugh. "I have heard my father say that +Bostonians are the only people in the world who take the trouble to say +'electric cars.'" + +"What do others say?" + +"Why, trolley, of course. They'd laugh at you if you said anything else +in Chicago." + +"You're pretty rapid in Chicago." + +"And you are rather--well, rather slow in Boston." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + LOST AND FOUND + + +Amy's face was flushed, her hat slightly askew, and she felt even more +uncomfortable than she looked. It was all on account of her lost keys. +For ten minutes or more she had been bending over boxes, and poking +among all kinds of things in the shed near the wharf, in the vain hope +that she might find what she had lost. When she had discovered that the +keys were missing, Priscilla volunteered to help her find them. + +As the discovery had been made at the very moment when the carriage was +at the door to take them for an afternoon drive, Amy insisted that the +others should go without her, since it was evidently her duty to search +for the missing. + +"Let me go with you," Priscilla had urged. "When we find the keys we can +go sightseeing by ourselves. It will be just as good fun as driving." +Thus Amy and Priscilla made their way by themselves to the wharf, while +Mrs. Redmond and Martine were driven in the direction of Milton. + +"It wouldn't be so bad if it were only my trunk key," Amy had lamented, +"but there's a key of my mother's on the chain, and several keys of +little boxes--one or two of which I have with me; the others are at +home. I am always losing keys." + +"You probably lost them after your trunk had been examined this morning. +What a fuss about nothing it was! Why, the inspector didn't even lift +the tray from my trunk. But we had all the trouble of unlocking and +opening our trunks, and in that way I suppose the keys were lost." + +Priscilla spoke with more energy than was usual with her. When they +reached the wharf, the dignified Custom-House official and the small +boys congregated there and in the neighborhood of the train knew nothing +about the keys. The inspector remembered seeing them. + +"I noticed your party particularly, and you were swinging your keys by a +long silver chain. Well, they may have slipped through a crack +somewhere, and so the best thing for you is to get a locksmith to fit a +key before you go any farther." + +Overhearing this advice, one or two of the boys lounging about offered +to guide the young ladies to a locksmith. Thus Amy and Priscilla, not in +the best of spirits, with hats askew and shirt-waists somewhat rumpled, +came face to face with Fritz Tomkins. + +"Oh, ho!" he cried mischievously, as the girls drew near. "What a +procession! All you need is a drum and a flag." + +Turning her head, Amy saw six little boys walking behind her in Indian +file. There wasn't much going on at the wharf, and evidently all had +thought that there would be some fun in conducting the American young +ladies to the locksmith's. + +Fritz himself, seated in the shade at a shop-door, looked aggravatingly +comfortable. + +"Why, Fritz!" exclaimed Amy, "I thought you were miles and miles +away,--at Pubnico." + +"Don't, don't show your disappointment too plainly. We thought that we'd +better not start before the train was ready. That will not be for an +hour yet. In the meantime, is there anything that I can do for you? You +look a little like a lady in distress." + +"Well, then, appearances are deceitful." Amy had recovered from her +astonishment at seeing Fritz. + +"I am sure that you are hunting for something." + +"Why are you so sure?" Amy was determined not to tell. + +"She _is_ looking for something, isn't she, Priscilla?" Fritz had seen +more or less of Priscilla in Boston the past winter, and naturally +called her by her first name. + +Priscilla shook her head,--not in dissent, but to show that she had no +intention of disclosing more than Amy herself chose to explain. + +"Very well," continued Fritz, "I am a mind reader. I can tell you all +about it. You are looking for a bunch of keys." + +"How did you know?" For once Amy was off guard. + +"Ah! Then it's true." + +"Very well, since you know so much, where are the keys?" + +Fritz, thrusting his hand in his pocket, drew out a long silver chain, +which he swung around his head in a circle before laying it in Amy's +hand. + +"There, little boys, you--" + +"Don't call them little boys, Amy; remember how I felt when I was ten." + +"Here, young men." As Fritz spoke the boys drew nearer, and Fritz, +drawing from his pocket a handful of silver, laid in each of six palms a +bright ten-cent coin with the Queen's head stamped upon it. + +"But we didn't do anything," one of the six managed to say. + +"No, but you _would_ have helped the young lady find a locksmith, and +besides, you brought her to the particular spot where I was sitting, and +so you found her keys for her." + +This logic was so correct that the six boys, feeling that they had +earned the money, rushed off with a shout of "Thank you," to find the +quickest way of spending it. + +"You might have brought the keys to the hotel," complained Amy. "Then I +needn't have had this dusty walk." + +"After the summary way in which you banished me this morning I certainly +could not put myself in your way again. But I knew that when you came to +dress for the afternoon you would miss your keys, and happen _my_ way. +Surely you can't object to my being here?" + +"Of course not. I am very much obliged to you." + +"Besides, I found the keys only this afternoon. They had slipped under a +board, and when I saw the end of the chain I recognized it at once. May +I walk with you part way up-town? I'm sorry that I can't go all the way. +But Taps and I have an errand to do, and it's now within an hour of +train time. Remember, you have banished us." + +As they walked, Fritz, abandoning frivolity, outlined his plans for the +next week. Priscilla listened with great interest. Nova Scotia was +indeed a new land to her, and as she had rather suddenly decided to +accompany Amy and her mother she had read nothing on the subject of the +province in which they were to spend a few weeks. + +Fritz had known little more than Priscilla until he had stumbled on some +one crossing on the boat the preceding night who had had much to say +about the old Fort La Tour and its neighborhood. + +"Fort La Tour!" Amy exclaimed. "I shouldn't care to discredit your +history, but I am sure that that was on the River St. John across the +Bay, in quite the opposite direction from where you are going." + +"There, there, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, you are just like other people. +Because you know _some_ Acadian history you think that you know it all. +There certainly was a Fort La Tour at St. John, but its remains, I hear, +are altogether invisible now; whereas the first Fort La Tour can still +be seen in outline, at least. There isn't any masonry, I believe, yet +you can trace the outline in the grass. You remember, Amy, it was once +called Fort Lomeron." + +"I'm sorry, Fritz, but I don't remember. You must have taken a special +course in history lately." + +"Yes, this very morning. You see I had time to spare after you sent me +into exile, and Taps and I were to have our dinner at a private +boarding-house, where I thought we ought to stay, since you didn't care +to have us at the hotel. Well, to make a long story short, I found a set +of Parkman there, and it seemed wise to refresh my memory before going +down to Port La Tour." + +"Do tell us what you learned." Amy spoke eagerly. "I'll admit that I've +quite forgotten the first Fort La Tour." + +"I haven't much time now," said Fritz, "but I'll do what I can to make +my knowledge yours,--only you mustn't expect me to be perfectly +accurate. This, however, is the way I figure it out. After that old +rascal, Argall, attacked Port Royal, in 1613, Biencourt, or +Poutrincourt, as he was known after his father's death, wandered for +years in the woods with a few followers, sleeping in the open air, and +living on roots and nuts like an Indian. In some way or other he managed +to get men enough, and material enough, to build a small fort in the +Cape Sable region, that he called Fort Lomeron,--a rocky and foggy +neighborhood. But there was fine fishing and hunting, and he felt that +the Fort was a warning to any enemies who might try to take away the +rest of what his father had left him. Well, among his followers was +young Charles de Saint Etienne de La Tour, who also had come out to +Acadia as a boy. When Biencourt died La Tour claimed that Acadia had +been left to him by his friend. He tried to get Louis XIII. to help him +against the English, and against Sir William Alexander in particular, to +whom James I. had granted Acadia. Now young Charles La Tour began to +have a hard time because his father Claude had married a Maid of Honor +to Queen Henrietta Maria, and had promised Charles I. that he would +drive out the French and establish the English in Nova Scotia. But when +Claude appeared with his two ships before his son's Fort, he could not +persuade him to turn color and become a Baronet of Nova Scotia. The +father made great promises in the name of King Charles if the son would +surrender, but the son withstood the father, and the latter lost English +support because he had not been able to keep his promise; and so he was +nothing but a refugee the rest of his life." + +"Served him right for deserting his country," murmured Priscilla. + +"Well, it's hard to understand just who did what in those days, and why. +Some say that Charles La Tour was no better than his father, and that +he, too, accepted from the English the title 'Baronet of Nova Scotia.' +On account of the conquest of Sir David Kirke, Nova Scotia was English +for a while, and then again it was under the control of the French after +Claude de Razilly brought out an expedition in 1632. Charles de Menou +d'Aunay, by the way, La Tour's great enemy, came with Razilly. But La +Tour made haste to put himself right with the King of France, and, after +a visit to Paris, came back to Nova Scotia 'Lieutenant-General for the +King at Fort Lomeron and its dependencies, and Commander at Cape Sable +for the Colony of New France.' Doesn't that strike you as quite +tremendous, when you think of the rocks and the fogs and the seals, +together with the forests, that chiefly made up his domain?" + +"It's very interesting," said Priscilla. "What became of La Tour?" + +"It's a long story," responded Fritz. "I'm afraid I haven't time to tell +it now." + +"Oh, I know all about his quarrel with D'Aunay," interposed Amy. "It +will come in better when we are at Port Royal--or rather Annapolis. But +I had forgotten this Fort near Cape Sable." + +"You shouldn't have forgotten it." Fritz's tone deepened in reproach. +"For many of La Tour's descendants live near the Fort, and the place +itself is called Port La Tour. I am astonished that you should have left +it out of your plan of travel. You can't go there now, because that is +where Taps and I are bound, and it wouldn't do for us to get in your +way--I mean for you to get in our way. Beyond the tip end of Nova Scotia +there's Sable Island, that used to be haunted by pirates and privateers. +Some of them may be there still, and if Taps and I go there, and if +anything happens to us, you may be sorry that you drove us away. +Good-bye, Amy; even a Nova Scotia train won't wait for me;" and before +the astonished girls could say a word, Fritz, with a touch of his cap, +was walking rapidly away from them. + +"We haven't offended him?" asked Priscilla, timidly. + +"No, indeed. His plans were already made to go among the French +villages. In fact, I thought that he had gone this morning. He started +off soon after breakfast." + +Although Amy spoke thus decidedly, secretly she wished that she had been +less summary with Fritz. It was not strange, indeed, that her conscience +should prick her a little. When she and Fritz were not yet in their +teens they had become acquainted at Rockley, a summer resort on the +North Shore where Fritz spent the summers with his uncle. Rockley was +Amy's home all the year, and as not many boys or girls of her own age +lived near her, she greatly appreciated the companionship of Fritz. The +latter, for his part, knew that he was very fortunate in having the +friendship of Amy and her mother; for, like Amy, he had neither brothers +nor sisters, and although his father was living, his mother had died +when he was a baby. His father spent little time with him, as he was +fond of exploring new countries, and his travels often kept him away +from home two or three years at a time. + +Before entering college Fritz had lived with his father's elder +brother,--a serious, scholarly man. The uncle made little provision for +amusement in his nephew's life, until Mrs. Redmond had shown him that +all work and no play would do Fritz more harm than good. Amy and Fritz, +on the whole, had been very congenial friends, although the latter could +rarely resist an opportunity to tease Amy. Mrs. Redmond often had to act +as peacemaker, and Fritz always took her reproofs good-naturedly. No one +knew him so well as Mrs. Redmond did. There was no one to whose words he +paid quicker attention. He called her his "adopted mother," and +naturally it seemed strange to him that she should agree with Amy that +he and his friend would be in the way on the Nova Scotia tour. Beneath +the jesting tone that he had used with Amy lay something sharper, and +Amy, as he finally turned away, realized this. + +After the departure of Fritz the girls walked on in silence. Suddenly an +exclamation of Priscilla's brought them to a standstill. In the window +of a little shop were two cups and saucers of thickish china, decorated +in a high-colored rose pattern. The cups were of a quaint, flaring +shape, and Priscilla announced that she must have them. There were other +curiosities in the window,--a small cannon-ball, two reddish +short-stemmed pipes, and many things of Indian make. The shop-keeper +proved to be an elderly woman, with a pleasant, soft accent. The cups, +she explained, had belonged to an old couple who had lately died, +leaving no children. At the auction she had bought a few bits of china. + +"I know they are old,--more than a hundred years,--these two cups. I'm +sorry I haven't any more, but people from the States are always looking +for old things, and there's been a good many here this summer." + +Priscilla bought the cups, and Amy inquired about the cannon-ball. + +"It was dug up near Fort St. Louis, as some call it, or Fort La Tour, +and the pipes too. They say there's many a strange thing buried there +under the ground, if people only had the patience to dig." + +Amy decided that it was hardly wise to burden herself with the +cannon-ball, and she didn't care especially for the pipes. + +"There's something else here," said the woman, "if you won't be offended +at my showing it. Some Americans--" + +"How did you know that we were Americans?" interrupted Amy. + +"Oh, as soon as ever a Yankee--there, I beg your pardon--any one from +the States opens her mouth--" + +"She puts her foot in it," returned Amy, with a smile. + +"No, no, I wouldn't say a word against the accent, but I can always tell +it. I have a sister married in the States, and her children speak like +their father. When they come to visit me I tell them that they are +regular Yankees. Not that I have anything against that; I hope I'll live +to see Boston some time." + +"Have you never been there?" asked Priscilla, in surprise. + +"No, Miss; I know that it isn't so far away, but I was born in the Old +Country, and when I take a trip, that's where I'd rather go;" and the +little woman sighed. "But I'll show you the curiosity I spoke of." + +From a drawer behind the counter she drew a small fan, one or two of +whose sticks were broken, while the silk was faded and torn. + +"I bought that from an old lady who said that her grandmother fanned an +officer who was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, while he lay sick +in her house after the battle. Perhaps I oughtn't to speak of it," she +concluded apologetically. + +"Why not? The war's entirely over, and no one has any feeling about it +now." + +"I suppose not." But the woman's voice carried a question. + +"Why, to prove that I have no resentment I'll buy the fan,--even if it +did once soothe the brow of a hated Britisher." Amy smiled at Priscilla +as she spoke. + +The price named came so well within Amy's means that she half doubted +the authenticity of the relic. Of her doubts, however, she gave no hint +to the talkative little Englishwoman. Instead, by what she afterwards +called a genuine inspiration, she asked some question about the French +people at Pubnico. + +"Oh, they are good enough," said the woman, "and spend plenty of money +in Yarmouth; and there's many of the young people working here in our +shops and mills, although many French come from Meteghan and up that +way." + +"Meteghan?" queried Amy. + +"Yes, that's a pretty country up North on St Mary's Bay, and all French. +If you're going to Digby you'd better stop off." + +"But we were going straight through to Digby." + +"Yes, most people go straight through, and don't know what they miss. +You see, the natives up there are Acadians, and it's kind of foreign +like, for they mostly speak only French. My husband and I, we went up +there once and stayed at the hotel, for he had an order for some goods +that he had to see about himself." + +While Mrs. Lufkins was talking the practical Priscilla had taken out her +notebook, in which she wrote the name of the station and other things +that would help them. + +"Do you think that your mother would like to change her plans?" + +"Yes, indeed; she will think this just the thing. Probably there will be +good material for sketching,--scenery, and odd people, and all that kind +of thing. I am sure that she will like it." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Lufkins," said Amy, as they turned away from the +mistress of the little shop; and then in a particularly cheerful tone +she added to Priscilla, "I feel as if I had found a gold-mine. Fritz was +so very sure that he was to have a monopoly of the only French in Nova +Scotia, that it will be great fun to write him about our French people." + +"Then you think you will go there?" + +"Certainly; mother will enjoy it, and it will be great fun for the rest +of us. Wasn't Mrs. Lufkins entertaining? If she were Yarmouth-born, +perhaps she wouldn't speak of us as Yankees. You know the first +permanent settlement here was made about 1761, by Cape Codders. In fact, +the name's from Yarmouth on the Cape, not from the English Yarmouth +directly. I remember the names of two of the first settlers,--Sealed +Landers and Eleshama Eldredge. Don't they sound like real old Puritans?" + +"But how did they come to be English? Why didn't they stay on our side +in the Revolution?" Priscilla's tone contained a whole world of reproach +for Sealed and Eleshama. + +"Oh, that's a long story. I dare say they were on our side--in their +hearts; but they couldn't afford to give up all they had worked for, +after coming here as pioneers. Many of the Yarmouth people were thought +to be in sympathy with the American privateers that were always prowling +about the coast. But the English managed to hold Nova Scotia, and in the +War of 1812 the number of American vessels captured by Yarmouth was +greater than the number of Yarmouth vessels captured by the Americans." + +"When I left home," said Priscilla, "I did not know that there was so +much history down here. I thought that we were just coming for change of +air." + +"Oh, the place is alive with history; only you must let me know if I +bore you with too many stories." + +"You could never bore me." Priscilla laid her hand affectionately on +Amy's. She was an undemonstrative girl, though her likes and dislikes +were well known to herself. But for her fondness for Amy she would +hardly have made one of this summer party. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + TOWARD METEGHAN + + +Amy rested her hand on her bicycle, waiting to mount. + +"I did not think that it would be quite so lonely; but still, you're +sure it's perfectly safe?" + +"Oh, yes, Miss, and not a long way." There was a trace of accent in the +speech of the man who replied to Amy's question. He had just deposited a +pouch of mail in the vehicle in which sat Mrs. Redmond, Priscilla, and +Martine, and had turned to adjust the harness of his meek-looking horse. + +"You are not afraid, are you?" Priscilla's voice was anxious. "I wish +that I had brought my bicycle, and could ride with you." + +"You _do_ look like a maiden all forlorn,--spruce trees to right of you, +spruce trees to left of you. Excuse my smiling;" and Martine's smile +lengthened itself into a decided giggle. + +"Don't," whispered Priscilla. "The driver will think that you are +laughing at him." It always surprised her that Martine should show so +little respect for Amy, who was several years her senior. + +"Amy," interposed Mrs. Redmond, "do you object to our driving away and +leaving you? Doubtless if we tried, we could find some kind of a +conveyance to carry you and the bicycle." + +"Not till after dinner, Madame." Their driver turned toward Mrs. +Redmond, lifting his hat politely,--"Every horse is away now." + +"The only thing for Amy to do is to let you hold her on your lap, +Priscilla, while I take the bicycle on mine." At which absurd suggestion +even Priscilla was forced to laugh; for the vehicle sent down to +Meteghan station for her Majesty's mail was as narrow and shallow as any +carriage could well be that made even a pretence of holding four +persons. But with the deftness that comes with experience the driver had +managed to find room not only for his passengers, but for their suit +case and bags, for several packages that had come by train, and finally +for his great pouch of mail. + +"There must be a perfect cavern under the seat," whispered Martine to +Mrs. Redmond. "I am sure that we could put Amy there." + +But even as she spoke Amy had mounted, and was up the hill ahead before +the driver had taken his seat. Yet although Amy had taken the hill so +well, she was soon out of breath. The road was soft, and the hill +steeper than she had thought, and when a little chubby boy darted +directly toward her, she slipped from her wheel and bent down to talk to +the little fellow. + +To her surprise, at first he did not respond to her "What's your name?" +but hung his head shyly. Then it occurred to her that he did not +understand, and when she repeated her question in French his "Louis, +Mademoiselle," showed that her venture had been right. + +"Does every one here speak French, Monsieur?" she asked, as the carriage +approached. + +"Yes, all," responded the driver, stopping beside her for a moment. + +"And no English?" + +"Oh, many, though some have no English." + +Martine and Priscilla praised the bright eyes of little Louis. Mrs. +Redmond handed him an illustrated paper that she had brought from the +train, and the driver started up his horse. + +"You follow me," he called back to Amy. + +"Yes, yes," cried Amy, laughing, knowing that she could soon pass him; +but while she loitered to talk with the child, the carriage was soon so +far ahead that she could barely discern the fluttering of the long veil +that Martine held out to stream in the wind like a flag. + +After leaving little Louis, Amy pedalled along leisurely. At first she +passed only one or two houses, but each of them offered her something to +think of. In front of one, two or three barefooted children were playing +hop-scotch, with the limits marked out in lines drawn by a stick on the +dusty road. "I should think they'd stub their toes," she thought, as she +watched them, "but they're so well-dressed, except their feet, that I +suppose they prefer to go without shoes." + +In the doorway of a second cottage, set like the other, close to the +road, a mother was standing with a baby in her arms, and a tiny little +girl clinging to her skirts. These children, like all the others she had +seen, had the brightest of black eyes. Beside the door was a well, +boarded in, with a bucket beside it. + +The woman looked so friendly that Amy stopped for a drink of water, and, +making use of her best French, she spent a few minutes talking with the +woman. + +A fine team of oxen hauling an empty hay wagon, beside which walked a +strapping youth in blue jeans and a flapping straw hat, was the next +reminder to Amy that she was indeed in a foreign country. After she had +returned the cheerful _bonjour_ of two or three bareheaded women whom +she met trudging along toward a hayfield, Amy was recalled to herself. +Her mother and the others were out of sight. "The driver will think that +I am not even following;" and making good speed up a long, gradual hill, +she saw the carriage waiting for her some distance ahead. + +"This way, this way," shouted Martine. The driver waved his whip toward +the left, and when Amy caught up, they had changed their direction, and +she could feel the soft fresh breeze blowing in from St. Mary's Bay. + +"Did you ever see such a clear blue sky?" + +"Oh, yes, Martine,"--Amy was thinking of cloudless days on the North +Shore,--"but none bluer, perhaps." + +"But it seems so foreign," interposed Priscilla, in a tone that +expressed some disapproval of foreign things. "I'm not sure that I like +it." + +"It seems different from other places, though I can't tell why." + +"This child is part of the why. Just look at him." Martine pointed to a +little boy of about eight, dressed in black, with deep embroidered +ruffles of white falling about his wrists, and a broad ruffled collar on +his coat. He wore a hat that was something like a tam-o'-shanter, and +something like a mortar-board, and he carried a large slate under his +arm. + +"He's evidently on his way home from school. See the crowd of children +behind him." + +As the children drew nearer, some stood still, the better to see the +party of strangers. Thus the latter had a chance to note various +peculiarities of dress and general appearance. One or two little girls +wore sunbonnets, one or two wore hats, and several had on their heads +black _couvre-chefs_, that made them look like little old women. The +sturdy little boys in blouses were more like other boys, and they indeed +were too busy racing and tumbling over one another to pay attention to +the travellers. + +"Amy," exclaimed Martine, "you should have kept beside us all the way, +we have been hearing such wonderful stories. Down there by the bridge +there are several descendants of the Baron d'Entremont, and other people +whose ancestors came from France hundreds of years ago." + +"The Baron d'Entremont!" Amy felt a thrill of pleasure. Surely that was +one of the names that Fritz had mentioned in connection with Pubnico, +and if she too could come across some of his descendants, how delightful +this would be! + +The houses were now nearer together than they had been. At the right +there was a glimmer of blue water. On the bridge at the foot of the +decline Amy dismounted to watch the men loading with lumber a little +schooner at the wharf near-by. The carriage drew up before the tiny +post-office, where part of the mail was left. A gray-bearded man in the +door of a small shop caught Amy's eye. With his broad-brimmed hat, loose +trousers, and slippers,--yes, slippers,--he reminded her of pictures she +had seen of old Frenchmen. She longed to snap her kodak, to catch him +just as he stood there, leaning on his cane. But she did not dare, there +was something so very venerable and dignified in his appearance. + +Then her eye fell on the name d'Entremont over the shop. Martine and +Priscilla joined her. Martine was in great spirits. + +"Your mother is writing a post-card in the office. So, while we are +waiting, let us go in here and try the d'Entremont brand of ginger ale. +They're sure to have some, and one doesn't often have the chance to +patronize the descendant of a French nobleman." + +Within the dim little shop two or three men were lounging near the +counter, who probably said to themselves, "Oh, those foolish Americans!" + +But their manner showed no disrespect as they moved aside, and the +proprietor made one or two pleasant remarks as he served the trio. + +A few minutes later Amy was again on her bicycle, the others had taken +their places in the carriage, and the little village was behind them. +The large farms that they had seen near Meteghan station gave place to +small gardens. The houses were near together, and they were painted in +colors that drew many exclamations of approval from Martine. "This is +great! I never dreamed that I should see a lavender cottage with green +trimmings,--and what a shade of yellow for a house! Oh, Mrs. Redmond, I +hope that our water-colors will last the trip. I'm afraid that we'll use +them all up, painting the wonders of Meteghan. This is Meteghan, isn't +it?" + +"Yes, Mees," replied the driver. "It was all Meteghan, from the station, +only that was a different name for the other post-office. But there is +our church; this is the true village." + +"Star of the Sea" was an imposing building, but the journey since +leaving Yarmouth had been long, and they were too eager now to reach +their destination to give the church more than a passing glance. + +Amy's quick eye had noted the swinging sign of the little inn not so +very far beyond the church, and, hastening ahead, she was the first to +be welcomed by Madame, wife of their driver, who was also proprietor of +the small hotel. + +Welcomed with ceremonious politeness, they were soon made to feel +perfectly at home. When the question was pressed, they all admitted that +they were very hungry. In the pleasant rooms to which they were shown, +they had barely time to make themselves ready when a loud bell called +them to dinner. As the four entered the dining-room, they saw that there +were several other guests at the long table. One, a stout man with a +fondness for jokes, proved to be the agent for a millinery house in +Halifax. There were one or two others who said so little that even Amy +could not tell whether they were French or English; two middle-aged +ladies near Mrs. Redmond quickly let her know that they were teachers +from Connecticut, now for the first time making a tour of the provinces. +They had sailed from New York to Halifax for the sake of the sea voyage, +and had come down slowly through Windsor, Grand Pre, and Annapolis, and +were enthusiastic about all these places. + +"But if you can," one of them concluded, "you must have a few days at +Little Brook,--Petit Ruisseau, as some call it. It's the centre of +everything interesting in Clare; it's really where the first Acadians +landed after the expulsion, and only a short distance from Point a +l'Eglise." + +Amy listened eagerly. Here evidently was some one who could tell her +much that she wished to hear about this new country, and later, when +they were all outside on the little piazza at the front, she learned +what she wished to know. On consulting her mother, they decided that +after a day at Meteghan they would go on to Little Brook, and spend at +least two or three days there--if possible at the Hotel Paris, which the +teachers recommended. + +Missing Priscilla and Martine, Amy found them in the little +sitting-room. + +"Tell me," whispered Martine, "aren't you disappointed?" + +"Disappointed with what?" + +"Why, in this house--this room especially; it's so--so unforeign." + +Amy glanced around her,--at the bright-flowered carpet; the +marble-topped table, on which was displayed a bouquet of wax-flowers +under a glass globe; on the two machine-made oak rockers; and then on +the pictures. + +"Where do you suppose they found that picture of the Queen with such +very pink cheeks, and a mouth as small as a pin, and those wax-figure +princelings--and those saints? Do you suppose Madame and her children +know the names of them all?" + +At that moment Madame herself entered the door. + +"You like pretty things. Ah, you must see my rugs, if you would care +to." + +"Yes, indeed," Amy replied politely. + +"Then come with me. They are in my room,--the best,--and the American +ladies always admire them." + +So the two girls followed their landlady upstairs, where she proudly +displayed rug after rug of wonderful design and still more wonderful +color. Martine dared not say what she thought,--that it seemed a pity +that so much time had been put into things that could only dazzle rather +than please the average beholder. Amy conscientiously praised those that +could be properly praised,--for here and there was a rug of really +artistic design,--and Priscilla gave an exclamation of delight as she +noticed on the bed a really exquisite spread. + +"You like that?" asked Madame. "It is good work, all by hand; only two +or tree women can now make them. My old aunt who made that is dead, +but--" + +"It is like the finest Marseilles, only I never saw so beautiful a +pattern. I did not know people could make such things by hand." + +"On a loom, surely yes; there are only one or two in Meteghan, but you +can see one work, if you wish, at Alexandre Babet's." + +"There, that will be something to see! Is it far?" cried Martine. + +"Oh, no. You can find it quickly." + +"After we are rested," responded Amy. "The sun is still hot. Your rugs +and the spread are beautiful." + +As the girls sat down on the piazza, Priscilla turned to Amy. "You did +not think those rugs really beautiful?" + +Amy did not resent this slight touch of reproach, even though Priscilla +was so much her junior. + +"Yes, and no. Some of them were beautiful even from my point of view. +They all were from that of their owner, and since she desired to please +us by showing them, it seemed only fair to reward her with a word of +praise." + +"But if every one praises her she will go on using those terrible +aniline colors. They made my head ache just to look at them." + +"Oh, Priscilla, you are so precise I'll call you 'Prim' as well as +'Prissie.'" + +"_No_ one else calls me 'Prissie,' Martine." + +"No one else dares tease you. Probably your little brothers and sisters +are frightened to death of you, and then, because you are the oldest, +you have always been made to think that you are absolutely perfect." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"There, there, I know just how it is. It's so in our family; I have an +elder brother, and he has always been held up as a model, although, +between you and me, he's far from perfect. It just keeps me busy, +showing him his faults. So, Miss Prissie, if you are too old-maidish +I'll have to show you yours." + +Priscilla was helpless under Martine's rapid fire of words. In her +moments of reflection it surprised her that a girl whom six months +before she had not even heard of, should now venture to say things to +her that no one in her own family would dare to say. + +A little later, Amy and Priscilla and Martine set out to see the loom +that made the fine quilts. Priscilla had desired to postpone the visit +until next morning. "It would be better to rest now." + +"I'm tired resting," protested Martine. "Unless we move on, I will go +indoors, and play doleful things on the melodeon. You don't know what I +am when I'm melancholy." + +Unmoved by Martine, when Amy showed that it was better not to spend the +whole afternoon listlessly, Priscilla objected no longer. + +The Babet house was a ten minutes' walk up the street. After mistaking +one or two houses for the one they were seeking, their third trial +brought a tall, long-bearded man to the door who answered to the name of +Alexandre Babet. + +"We hear that some one here--your wife, perhaps,--makes those beautiful +quilts." + +"Oh, yes," responded Alexandre, in fair English. "They are good quilts, +and we have a loom." + +Martine pinched Priscilla's arm. "I'm disappointed; I thought that he'd +speak French." + +"Come in, come in;" and Alexandre showed them into the neatest of +sitting-rooms,--neat, but painfully bare. It was brightened, to be sure, +by one or two gay pictures of saints in brilliant-colored garments, and +by two or three geraniums in flower on the window. But the wooden floor +was unpainted, and on it was only one rug, and there was little +furniture besides the high dresser and a long table. + +Alexandre went off to summon his wife, and soon she came in from the +kitchen, accompanied by another, whom Alexandre introduced as his +sister. The girls soon became embarrassed under the piercing gaze of +their black eyes. The women wore dark calico gowns with little shawls +over their shoulders, and their _couvre-chefs_ were bound closely to +their heads. Neither of them understood English, nor spoke it. But +Alexandre proved as talkative as any two women. Moreover, he +occasionally translated his own words into French, and in the same way +made the women understand what the young American girls said--to the +great amusement of Amy and Martine. Priscilla sat solemnly through the +conversation, as if she found something pathetic in the aspect of the +women. + +During a moment of silence, when the room seemed rather close and +uncomfortable,--for the windows were shut, and the blinds were +drawn,--there came a gentle tapping on the door. Madame Babet sprang to +her feet. + +"No, no, sit still; she can come in." Then turning to the others, +Alexandre added, "It is Yvonne, our little one. Come in, Yvonne," he +called in a louder tone; "here are Americans." + +Upon this the door was pushed open, and a little girl wearing a pink +gingham gown and a white sunbonnet, entered slowly, holding one hand +outstretched, as if not quite sure of herself. Then, walking directly +toward Madame Babet, she slipped to the floor beside her, and laid her +head on her lap. + +The girls looked from her to Alexandre to read an explanation in his +face, and he, understanding, raised his hand to his eyes. + +"Blind!" exclaimed Martine, involuntarily. "Poor little thing!" + +"She understands English," said the man, warningly; "she does not wish +pity." + +"I see much," said Yvonne, proudly, "when the light does not glare. I +see the American ladies. This one is pretty;" and rising, she made her +way carefully to Martine, and laid her hand confidingly in hers. + +Martine's color deepened; she felt a great tenderness toward the girl, +and she raised the little hand to her lips. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + YVONNE + + +"She is adopted," said Alexandre, "but we know no difference. She calls +us her parents. Her mother and father are dead, and she makes her home +with us since she was a baby. When I get my gold out she shall sing, oh, +so beautifully." + +"Your gold out?" queried Amy. + +"Ah, yes! Back here on my farm, which looks all rocks, there is much +gold underneath. I know not how to get it out, but some day I shall find +a miner who knows. See!" + +From a drawer in the dresser he brought out two pieces of quartz, which +he asked the girls to look at carefully. "It is gold underneath, sans +doute, and, Mees, if you know a miner in Boston to study this, he could +have some of my gold when it is dug out, but as for me I know not how to +get it out, and poor Yvonne cannot have her music." + +Gradually the girls gathered that Yvonne had a voice "sweeter than an +angel's," and that Alexandre had set his heart on giving her a musical +education. His plans soared far beyond the Western continent. He would +send her to Paris, to Italy, and she should astonish the world. The most +of this conversation or monologue took place in the little field back of +the house that Alexandre dignified as "my farm." The soil was poor and +rocky, and evidently he had hard work to raise the few patches of +vegetables needed for his family. There was a tiny orchard,--it had not +been an Acadian farm without that. The trees were knotty and scrubby, +and Amy was not surprised that the prospect of a gold-mine offered even +more than the usual attractions to the visionary Alexandre. But Amy, +though she knew nothing of mineralogy, thought it most unlikely that a +gold-mine lay hidden beneath the stony surface in which Alexandre had +dug a deep, deep hole with a vague idea that it was a shaft. Indeed, Amy +felt quite sure that even a mineralogist--for such was the meaning of +his "miner"--would give him little encouragement. Yet as she looked at +the slender figure of Yvonne walking ahead with Martine, she felt deep +sympathy with his ambition. + +Evidently Yvonne, in spite of her infirmity, was the pride of the little +household. Her print gown of a delicate pink cambric was spotlessly +neat, and her white sunbonnet had been laundered with the greatest care. +Though much shorter and slighter than Martine, the latter was surprised +to find that the little Acadienne was hardly a year younger, and that it +was true, as Alexandre said, that she ought soon to have the chance to +study--if--and here was the question--if her voice was what he pictured +it. + +"Miss Amy," murmured Priscilla, half impatiently, "I thought that we +came to see the loom." + +"Indeed we did, but these people have been so interesting that we have +spent too much time out here." Then turning toward their host, who had +fallen back, she asked him to show them the loom. + +"Ah, yes, with the greatest pleasure,--the loom, and the beautiful +quilts that my wife makes, and the lace of Yvonne. The mine did almost +make me forget, but we shall go in quick." + +When they were again in the house he led them up a steep flight of +stairs to an unfinished room, with great rafters overhead and two small +windows admitting little light. + +There at the loom sat his silent wife, and beside her stood the equally +silent sister. So it fell on Alexandre to explain the workings of the +great wooden frame. While he was talking, however, the attention of all +the girls flagged a little. Amy had never been interested in machinery, +and made no pretence of understanding it. Priscilla was impressed by the +quaintness of the scene, but she was weary from her two or three days of +travelling, and her mind wandered while the voluble Frenchman was +talking; and Martine, fully occupied with Yvonne, paid little heed to +any one else. Nevertheless they were all sufficiently impressed with the +skill with which the rather dull-looking wife of Alexandre managed warp +and woof, and produced, even as they were looking at her, a fragment of +pattern. + +While Alexandre was in the midst of one of his speeches Priscilla +whispered to Amy, and Amy, as if at her suggestion, turned to Alexandre. + +"We cannot stay much longer," she said politely, "and we are delighted +to have seen this loom, so that we can understand how these quilts are +made. It's really quite wonderful, your wife is so clever;" and she +paused for a moment to watch the busy fingers now flying in and out +among the threads. "But we came particularly to see some of the quilts." + +"Oh, yes, Mees, certainly, we will show you quick;" then with an eye to +business,--"perhaps you will want to buy." + +"Yes," said Amy, "perhaps we may. Come, Priscilla; come, Martine." + +The two women followed the girls downstairs, and when they were again in +the little front room, from a wooden chest in the corner they brought +out a large quilt of much more beautiful design than any they had seen. + +"I must have that," cried Martine in delight; "it is just what I want." + +Then, when a second was shown, she was equally enthusiastic, and then a +third was laid on top of the pile. + +"The money from the quilts is saved for Yvonne," Alexandre whispered to +Amy, and the latter did not protest when four of the quilts were laid +aside for Martine. Amy also chose one for herself, but Priscilla, +although she praised them, expressed no inclination to buy. Only when +some narrow hand-made lace was brought out from the chest did she become +enthusiastic, or as nearly enthusiastic as was possible for Priscilla, +and Yvonne blushed under her praise. + +"It is an old art," the little blind girl explained; "it was my +grandmother taught me, and her grandmother taught her, and so on back to +the days of old France." + +"But how can she do it? She is blind!" exclaimed Amy. + +"Oh, not all blind, and not always! She can see a little, though +everything is dim, and the lace it is knitted,--not pillow lace, like +some,--and she can make her fingers go, oh, so quickly! Ah, she has much +talent, the little Yvonne, and you must hear her sing." + +So Yvonne sang to them standing there in the middle of the room, without +notes and unaccompanied, and the plaintiveness of the tone and the +richness of the voice drew tears from the eyes of the three American +girls, while father and mother and aunt were lost in admiration as they +gazed at the slender figure in the pale pink gown. + +Hardly had she finished when Martine, jumping up, impulsively threw her +arms about Yvonne's neck. + +"You must go back with me to the hotel. You must sing to me again. There +is a melodeon in the parlor, and I will accompany you. Please, Mr. +Babet, can she go back with us?" + +"It is an honor for Yvonne," he replied politely; "I will ask her +mother." + +"Oh, let me; I will make her say 'Yes'"; and in a few words of rapid +French Martine asked that Yvonne might go to the hotel as her guest, to +stay to tea. The mother at once assented, and both of the silent women +were in a flutter of excitement as they accompanied Yvonne to her +bedroom to make some additions to her dress. + +"Ah," said Alexandre, "she has never been inside the hotel; it will seem +very grand to her." + +Then Yvonne, kissing them all,--the mother, the aunt, and finally the +tall father,--turned her back to the cottage, and with beaming face +leaned on Martine's arm as Amy led the way. + +A little distance down the road they saw a man standing by a gate. + +"Good-day, little one," he called; "where are you going?" + +"To the hotel, Uncle Placide." + +"How happens it?" + +"These American ladies have asked me. I am to have tea." + +"Ah, well, she is a dear little one, and you are good to her." + +The whole party had now halted in front of the gate, and these words +seemed to be particularly addressed to Amy; for, standing directly in +front of her, Placide lifted his hat. "Won't you enter?" he asked +pleasantly. + +"But, uncle," remonstrated Yvonne, "we have no time; we go to the +hotel." + +"Oh, but there is much time; I have been in the States, and I like to +talk to the strangers, so enter my garden at least, ladies, to taste of +my cherries." + +There was nothing to do but enter the garden. At the mention of cherries +Yvonne indeed had seemed more willing to halt on her way to the hotel, +and the others, as Placide thrust upon them liberal handfuls of his +great crimson cherries, did not regret the delay. + +"You are from Boston," he said, after Amy had mentioned her home. "Ah, I +worked in Boston, that is, in Lowell, which was the same, and then I +came home when I had saved enough to buy a house. It is not so gay here +as in Lowell, but it is happier, and I can make a pleasanter living. I +never did like the mill, but the pay was good." + +"What do you do now, Mr. Placide?" asked Amy. + +"Oh, I fish. The sea is good to us Acadians; it is better than the +factory. One gets health here as well as fish, and fish enough to keep +the house fed. So, with my potatoes and my cherries, I am rich." Then, +with an afterthought,--"But I hope sometime that little Yvonne can go to +Boston, where there is much music. She could study and be great singer, +for the voice it needs teaching. I know that, because I have been in the +States where people study so much." + +The girls found it hard to leave Placide, for he was even more fluent +than Alexandre, and his years in the States had given him a certain +amount of information about things American, and he was evidently fond +of displaying what he knew. But at last they managed to say good-bye, +and continued their way down the road. + +"I am tired," sighed Priscilla, as the four stood at the door of the +little hotel. + +"Then let us sit here on the piazza. Would this suit you, Yvonne?" + +Yvonne turned toward Amy with a smile. "I like whatever the other ladies +like; it is all good for me." + +"Oh, yes," added Martine, "it will be great fun to sit here and watch +the passers-by. Things are rushing this afternoon; two persons are +entering that shop across the way, and I can count three ox-carts and +two buggies in sight. Where do you suppose the buggies are going?" + +"Perhaps half a mile up the road; perhaps to Yarmouth. You know there is +a continuous street along St. Mary's Bay, about forty miles from +Yarmouth to Weymouth." + +"One street forty miles long!" Amy's statement roused Priscilla from her +lethargy. + +"The young lady says true," interposed Madame, their landlady, who had +stepped out on the piazza. "Forty miles, and all Acadians! Is it not +marvellous that they have grown to be so much, when the English treated +them so cruelly, long, long ago?" + +"Ah, yes, Evangeline," responded Martine, politely. + +"Evangeline never came back," said the literal Priscilla. + +"That is true," assented the landlady. "But there is more than +Evangeline to tell about. Little Yvonne here knows many tales." + +Yvonne sighed softly. "Ah, yes, very many. But Evangeline lived not in +Meteghan. Her country was Grand Pre, far north. You will go there, +without doubt?" + +"Yes, Yvonne, we shall spend a week there." + +"There are not so many stories about Meteghan, for no one lived here +until after the exile." + +"I remember one," interposed Amy; "the story of Aubrey, who was lost in +the woods. At least, some writers say that he was lost in the Meteghan +woods, others that it all happened near Digby." + +"Tell us the story, Amy, and we can decide for ourselves where it was." + +"How like Martine!" thought Priscilla, "as if a girl could decide where +to place an historic event!" + +"After all," continued Amy, "it's only a little story, but it tells of +something that happened on that first expedition to St. Mary's Bay, when +De Monts brought his vessels here in 1604, and Champlain named this +stretch of water, as he named so many other places. One member of the +expedition was Aubrey, a priest, with an intelligent love of nature. A +small party went off from the vessel to look for ore along the shores of +St. Mary's Bay. The priest was one of the number, but when the boat was +ready to return he could not be found. He had left his sword in the +woods, and had gone back to look for it. For four days the others +searched for him without success, and suspicion fell on one or two +Huguenots in the party, in whose company he was last seen. With one of +them he had had some rather violent discussions on religious matters. To +the credit of all, however, no harm was done to the Huguenots in spite +of the suspicion. After sailing without Aubrey, the party went farther +north, and it was nearly three weeks before they returned to the +neighborhood where he had disappeared." + +"Did they find him?" asked Martine, somewhat impatiently. Amy was to +learn that Martine's temperament led her always to desire the climax +almost before she had heard the story itself. + +"Yes, they found him; for when they were some distance from shore they +saw something that looked like a flag waving. A boat was sent out, and +to the delight of those who went in it, they saw that the flag was a +handkerchief tied to a hat on a stick, that the missing Aubrey was +holding to attract their attention. Looking for his sword, the good +priest had missed his way, and for seventeen days he had wandered in the +woods, living on berries and roots." + +"How delighted he must have been to see his friends!" + +"Not more delighted than they to see him; for had he not been found, the +consequences for the suspected Huguenots might have been serious." + +"It is Yvonne's turn to tell us a story," said Martine, "but we all need +to rest before tea, and I want to tell your mother about the quilts. If +she disapproves of my buying so many--" + +"I suppose that you will send them back;" Amy's tone contradicted her +words. + +"Oh, no; I will not send them back. But I do wonder what I shall do with +them." + +Yvonne and Martine went indoors, and Amy and Priscilla soon followed. +Amy prepared her mother for Yvonne by telling her all that they had +learned about the little girl. + +"I won't discourage Martine's altruism," said Mrs. Redmond. "Her +impulsiveness in the past has sometimes led her into trouble, but +Martine herself will be benefited by having this warm interest in +another. As to the quilts, though we cannot carry them about with us, +they can be easily expressed home, and the duty will not be large." + +After tea the whole party sat in the little parlor, to listen to Yvonne. +Her first two or three songs were without accompaniment. They were +plaintive songs with French words, and unfamiliar to the Americans who +were listening. But a chance question revealed the fact that Yvonne was +also familiar with much music that Amy knew well. Thereupon Martine +suggested that if Amy would improvise some accompaniments Yvonne might +be heard to even better advantage. So Amy, seated there at the melodeon, +played, and Yvonne continued to sing, and some of the music was rendered +with a dramatic power that surprised all who listened. + +"Ah, she will be great some day," said the landlady, listening +enraptured to the bird-like tones. "How it had pleased her poor mother +to know that she was to be a singer!" + +While Yvonne sang, various plans were rushing through Martine's busy +brain. "Yvonne shall have a parlor organ, Yvonne shall have teachers, +Yvonne shall have her eyes examined by a good oculist. Evidently she is +not blind,--not really blind." + +While she was thinking and planning, her eyes never left the face of the +little French girl, held there by the wonderfully happy expression which +lit it. Yvonne's wide, brown eyes, her half-parted lips, the little +brown tendrils curling around her forehead, all combined to make a +picture that impressed itself strongly on all in the room. Moreover, the +gentle and unassuming manner of the young singer, as she received the +praise showered on her, completely won the hearts of all. Or perhaps it +would be more nearly true to say that if Priscilla's heart was not +completely won, she at least had begun to see some reason in Martine's +infatuation. + +"Is it not wonderful?" asked Martine of Mrs. Redmond. + +"She certainly sings remarkably well--for a little girl." + +Martine looked up quickly at Mrs. Redmond. Was the latter able to find +some flaw in what she herself considered altogether perfect? She had no +time just then to question her, for Yvonne herself might overhear the +reply, and besides, the young girl was about to sing again, and Martine +could not spare a note. + +When at last the tall figure of Alexandre Babet appeared in the doorway, +they knew that the music must end, and with a protracted farewell from +Martine, Yvonne and her adopted father started for home before nine +o'clock. + +"Yvonne did not seem as much overcome by the grandeur of the hotel as +Alexandre prophesied," remarked Amy, as the girls went upstairs. + +"Yvonne would never be overpowered by anything," responded Martine; "I +don't believe she'd be surprised by the Auditorium." + +Whereat both Amy and Priscilla laughed loudly. "To compare small things +with great," said Priscilla, "of course she wouldn't be impressed by +this hotel. Why, it's smaller than a summer boarding-house." + +"I wonder what Alexandre meant?" mused Martine. + +"Oh, it was only his way of trying to make you think that you were doing +Yvonne a great favor by asking her here," responded Amy. + +"Yes, the French way of pretending that things are what they are not," +added Priscilla, as if the word "French" comprised the very essence of +deceit. + +"Take care," retorted Martine. "I never dared tell you before, but I had +a French great-great-grandmother." + +Although Priscilla made no reply to this, her inward comment was, "That +accounts for many things that have made me wonder." + +At breakfast the next morning, before Martine had come down to the +table, Amy asked her mother what she really thought of Yvonne's singing. + +"I do not profess to be a judge of that kind of thing, but the child +seems to have a fine natural voice, as well as a musical nature. Yet, +like all other singers, she must have her tones properly placed, and she +is still too young to profit by expensive musical instruction. It is my +own opinion that it would be better for her to sing little for the next +few years. Some of the things that she sang last evening were beyond +her, and there is danger of her forcing her voice, and so injuring it." + +"Have you said this to Martine?" + +"No, for Martine is the type of girl who profits most by finding out +things for herself. She will learn gradually that everything cannot be +done at once for Yvonne." + + + + + CHAPTER V + + NEW PEOPLE + + +"I don't like to." + +"Why not?" + +"It seems strange. They may not care to have us visit them." + +"We can only try. If they turn us away why, that is the worst we need +expect." So, drawing Priscilla's arm within hers, Amy led her up the +narrow flagged walk toward the Convent School. + +A sister wearing a glazed bonnet with a long veil was trimming +rosebushes in the garden bed close to the house. + +"Yes, surely, we are glad to have visitors. The school itself is closed +now, for the girls have their holidays, but you can see all there is. +Excuse me for a moment and I will be with you." + +In a short time she had joined them in the little hallway to which they +had been admitted by another sister. + +"Would the ladies care to see the chapel?" + +"Ladies" had a pleasant sound to Priscilla, and she put aside her +prejudice against entering churches not of her own faith. + +The chapel was simply a large room suitably fitted with altar and seats. +It had no color, but everything was daintily white, with here and there +a touch of gold. + +The neat dormitory, the pleasant schoolroom, and the spotless +cleanliness of the whole house appealed to Priscilla, and to her +surprise she found herself asking the sister questions about her work. + +"We are Sisters of Charity, and our headquarters are in Halifax," the +good sister said gently. "The school is but a little part of our work. +We go in and out among the sick and the troubled. The Acadians are good +to their own, and no one need suffer here; but some will make mistakes, +and some suffer through the fault of others, and often the priest and +the sisters alone can set things right." + +Soon they had seen all that there was to see, and when the sister, +looking at the clock, regretted that she must leave them to visit a sick +woman, both girls asked if they might not walk with her. + +"With pleasure," she replied. "Indeed, I would take you to the house +where I am going, were it not that this woman is too sick to see +visitors." + +"We should like to see another Acadian house," said Amy; "we have +visited only that of Alexandre Babet, and that was so plain." + +"Ah, you have been at Alexandre Babet's. Then you have seen the little +Yvonne. Is she not charming?" + +"Yes, charming and talented. We have heard her sing." + +"Yvonne sings sweetly. We have taught her some music here, but nature +has done the most for her, and she is so patient about her eyes." + +"Do you think that she will be blind?" asked Amy, anxiously. + +"Oh, no, not wholly blind, though it is largely a question of doctors. +This came to her through an illness a few years ago. She did not have +the right care. They did not understand. But there is always hope, and I +think that she is no worse this year or two." + +"We have a friend who has taken a great fancy to Yvonne. She preferred +to go up to Alexandre Babet's this morning rather than to come +sightseeing with us." + +"Yvonne wins the heart of all so quickly, and her good father and +mother, though adopted, would do everything for her if they could. Poor +Alexandre looks for a gold-mine." + +"Yes, we know," and Amy smiled; "but I am glad to know that there is +hope for Yvonne's eyes." + +"Ah, yes, there is hope. Poor child! She has had a strange history." + +At that moment two small girls crossed their path. They looked like +little old women, with their shawls and _couvre-chefs_. The sister laid +her hand on the shoulder of one of them. + +"Where are you going?" + +The girls hung their heads shamefaced, and would not meet the sister's +gaze. + +"Ah, you know; go home and get your hats." + +The children ran off without looking back, and the sister turned with a +smile to Amy and Priscilla. + +"You see they are foolish. When they are at school I tell them they must +wear hats every day; but in holidays they will put on _couvre-chefs_. It +is an old fashion that I think not good. When they are married--ah! it +is too bad--at once they put on the _couvre-chef_, the very girls that I +took such trouble with. It takes long to get the Acadians away from the +old fashions. But they are good people." + +"We should like to see more of them," said Amy. "We should like to see +another Acadian house. That of Alexandre Babet did not seem typical." + +"Then I should be glad to take you to see one. Why, here we are, just +opposite the house of Madame Doucet, who speaks some English, and with +her daughter you would see two excellent Acadians. Would you care to +call there? I will introduce you, though I must go on farther." + +Priscilla looked up in protest, but when Amy expressed pleasure at the +prospect of making the visit, she said nothing in opposition. The +sister, saying a word or two more in praise of Madame Doucet, and +leading them across the street, knocked briskly on the door of a small +pink cottage. + +This was one of the brightest of the brightly painted dwellings that Amy +had noticed when on her wheel the day before,--a pink with pale-green +trimmings. When the sister had introduced them to the heavy-browed young +woman who came to the door, she left them, to go farther on her errand +of mercy. + +The young woman, after welcoming the girls heartily, led them to the +kitchen in the rear, into which the bright morning sunshine was pouring, +while a tiny canary in its cage sang cheerfully. + +In the rocking-chair near a window sat an elderly woman, whom the +daughter introduced as her mother. She was stouter and stronger looking +than Madame Babet, and although she could hardly be called of ruddy +complexion, she was far less sallow. Her face showed signs of age, but +her hair had hardly begun to turn gray, and she welcomed the two girls +so cordially that they were at once at their ease. + +Amy, while the daughter exchanged a few words with her mother, glanced +around the room. Its floor was partially covered with a square of +oilcloth, and the most conspicuous article of furniture was the large, +highly polished range, on which were several bright pans and kettles of +tin. There were religious pictures on the wall, and one or two +rocking-chairs. Evidently it was sitting-room as well as kitchen. A set +of shelves in the corner laden with dishes attracted Amy's attention. +Madame Doucet, observing Amy's interest, for she had stepped toward the +shelves, said to her kindly,-- + +"Ah, go close, eef you please; you may touch them." + +Amy gave an exclamation of delight as she took down a pitcher of copper +lustre shining like burnished gold. + +"How beautiful! I wish I had one like it." + +"Ah, that is not to sell; it is family what you call it?" + +"Heirloom," suggested Priscilla. + +"But yes, that is so, for my grandmere had it long ago. She was daughter +to an exile." + +Amy handled the pitcher carefully as she set it back on the shelf. Few +of the other dishes were china, though one delicate cup and saucer Amy +pronounced older even than the pitcher. + +When Priscilla complimented the two women on their English, they beamed +with pride, and explained that they had made a great effort to learn it +while living in Yarmouth, where the older woman's husband had worked in +a mill. + +"But we see not many English, so we have not much chance to practise. +That how the sister send you here." + +"As a language-lesson," murmured Amy; and even Priscilla smiled in spite +of herself. + +The younger woman was talkative. She took them into her neat bedroom, +with its floor in two colors,--a yellow geometrical design painted on a +brown ground,--and showed them with especial pride her dressing-table, +the frame of which she had fashioned with her own hands and draped with +white muslin. From the window she pointed out her little garden, with +its vegetable patch and tiny strawberry-bed, which she worked herself. + +"I sell some every year," she said. "That helps keep house. We don't +need much, we Acadians; we very lazy." + +"You don't seem lazy to me," remarked Amy; "certainly you are +hard-working." + +"P'raps lazy is not the word--no, it is content. We Acadians are too +content with what we have. We want not too much, and so we make not +money as the Americans." + +With some difficulty Amy brought to a close the visit to the cheerful +mother and daughter. She on her part, and they on theirs, had so many +questions to ask and to answer. + +On their way back to the hotel they stopped for a moment at the +graveyard in front of the great brick church. + +"Let us not go in," urged Priscilla. + +"It may not be open," returned Amy, "though this Stella Maris interests +me because our landlady told me that the whole parish helped build it. +All saved and saved, and gave what they could, and the men, when they +came home tired from fishing, would go some distance where the bricks +were and haul them to the building. But if you don't care to go into the +church, do spend a few minutes in the churchyard,--I have a weakness for +studying old gravestones;" and as she spoke Amy's mind went back to a +day long ago when she and Brenda and Nora and Julia had poked among the +stones in that old burying-ground overlooking Marblehead Harbor. This +thought reminded her of Fritz, who had teased her that day in his boyish +way, and strangely enough these memories took such possession of her +that she could not put her mind on this little churchyard of the +Acadians. + +Moreover there was less of interest here than she had expected. +Inscriptions were few, and these were modern and practical. There was +something pathetic in the general tangle of grass and shrubbery, and in +the plain little wooden crosses that marked the majority of the graves. + +As they approached the hotel a shout greeted them,--"Amy, Amy, Prissie, +Prissie! Where have you been?" + +"How silly Martine is!" Priscilla had barely time to say, when Martine +herself rushed out of a little building near the house. + +"Oh, do come in, Yvonne is with me; I've been buying her a hat." + +"A hat!" + +"Yes, do come and see. There's a man here from Halifax,--a drummer, I +suppose,--and he has the loveliest fall styles. I would get one for +myself if I knew how to carry it." + +"An autumn hat in July! Will you make poor Yvonne wear it now?" + +When they entered the room where the millinery was displayed, they saw +Yvonne standing in rapt admiration before the long double row of hats +that the milliner's man had taken out of his boxes. In her hand she held +a large shaggy felt, trimmed with rosettes of velvet. The little girl +was fingering it lovingly. + +"I have never had a hat," she explained, "only hoods and sunbonnets, but +my new friend, she desires that I have one for the winter, and it will +indeed be a pleasure. I could never wear a _couvre-chef_ like an old +woman. I do not see these plain, but they feel so soft." + +"Put it on, Yvonne, you look so sweet." + +So Yvonne put it on, and after trying one or two others, Martine still +preferred the first one. Accordingly it was packed in a large box, and +Martine carried it to the hotel, where Yvonne was to stay until Mrs. +Redmond and her party should start for Little Brook. + +The afternoon was warm. Mrs. Redmond went down to the edge of the Bay to +finish a sketch that she had begun in the morning. Amy and Priscilla sat +on the piazza, lazily watching the passers-by, and commiserating the men +mowing grass in the meadow across the road that lay between them and the +sea. + +Martine roamed about the house with Yvonne clinging closely to her, and +at last sat down for an hour in the parlor, to hear Yvonne sing some of +her plaintive songs. + +After their early tea Alexandre came to claim Yvonne, and the two girls +fell on each other's necks in a farewell embrace. Though they were less +demonstrative in their expression, Amy and Mrs. Redmond, and Priscilla +too, felt some emotion at parting with their new friend. + +"It isn't a real good-bye," whispered Martine to Yvonne; "I know that +Mrs. Redmond will help me carry out those plans I spoke of. So _au +revoir_." + +From Meteghan to Little Brook they were to drive eight miles,--at least, +all but Amy were to drive, while she, as before, was to wheel beside the +carriage. + +"You will stay in Little Brook a week," said the two Connecticut +teachers, bidding them good-bye. "Don't forget the Hotel Paris. It's +smaller than this," they added, smiling, "but you will find it +entertaining in every way." + +"We can't stay a week," Mrs. Redmond had replied; "already we need our +trunks." + +"And our letters," added Priscilla. + +"Yes, they are waiting for us in Digby. You see this side trip to Clare +was as unexpected as it has been pleasant." + +But the farewells were at last all said, and with only one backward +glance at the landlady and her children, the teachers, and the +commercial traveller, the four turned their faces toward Petit Ruisseau, + + ... "'when brightly the sunset + Lighted the village street.'" + +sang Amy as they rode along. "Don't you remember that in 'Evangeline,' +Priscilla?" she asked, for she was riding close to the carriage. + +"It sounds familiar. We must find time to read Longfellow while we are +at Little Brook." + +"Yes, indeed; but now--" + +Amy did not finish the sentence, for the driver started up his horse, +and to show that she did not intend to be outridden she increased her +own speed, and soon was out of hearing of the others. It was a beautiful +evening. The gaily painted houses of Meteghan, and even those that were +dazzling white, all suggested the toy dwellings of the Christmas shops. +Amy greatly enjoyed the scene as she pedalled along. A girl standing in +one doorway, knitting busily, called out a cheerful salutation, which +Amy returned. + +At one corner was a little shop, where a few men in blue jeans had +gathered to talk after their day's work. Soon Meteghan was far behind, +and Amy had passed the great white church of Saulnierville. As she was +still some distance ahead of the carriage, she dismounted to speak to a +group of children playing some kind of a dancing game, to which they +sang an accompaniment. Making an effort to understand the words that +they sang to the merry air, she discovered that their French was unlike +hers. + +A little farther on she noticed a boy walking along with the help of a +crutch. Her first glance made her think of Fritz, whom a slight accident +had once obliged to limp about in this same way. Something in the boy's +face when she looked at him a second time rather startled her. He +certainly resembled Fritz. + +"I wonder if he is really lame, or if this crutch means only that he has +had some slight accident." This was her thought. + +Dismounting, she turned back to the little boy. + +"How far is it to Little Brook?" + +"Oh, not very far on a wheel." + +"A mile?" again ventured Amy. + +"About a mile--perhaps." + +Amy looked back. The carriage was so far behind that it was hardly worth +while for her to hurry on toward the Hotel Paris. Moreover, if she knew +just where the house was, she would not care to reach it ahead of her +mother and the others; so she walked along with the boy. + +Although less talkative than some of the older Acadians whom she had +met, he was not at all shy, this little Pierre, who, after telling her +his name, confidently asked her hers. + +"You speak good English," Amy said in compliment. + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, we are taught English in school; we must learn it, +we Acadians. One often meets the English." The last was said with a +condescending air, amusing enough in one who was born a subject of the +Queen of England. "But you," continued Pierre, "are not English. You are +American,--is it not so?" + +"Yes, Americans from the United States." + +"Ah! they are strange, the Americans; you are going, perhaps, to the +Hotel Paris?" + +"Yes, but how did you know?" + +"Because it is the only place where Americans stay. So late, you would +be going somewhere. It is a good house, but Madame who keeps it has had +a death there to-day." + +This piece of news disturbed Amy. + +"A death! I must tell my mother. She is behind, in the carriage." + +"You need not wait for it. It will soon overtake you if you walk with +me," said Pierre, sadly, glancing down at his crutch. + +When, however, the carriage did overtake the two, they were not far from +the Hotel Paris. Mrs. Redmond heard what Pierre had to say about the +death of the landlady's sister, and when she learned that it was the +result of an accident received some years before, she felt less concern +than at first about approaching the house. + +"It is unlikely, however, that Madame will wish us to stay there." + +"Oh, she is not so," interposed Pierre; "she will always take money when +it comes to her." + +"But I do not like to stay where there is a death," interrupted Martine. + +Priscilla made no comment. But Mrs. Redmond was undisturbed. It was now +almost dark, and to return to Meteghan would mean a tiresome and +probably cold ride. Pierre asserted that there was no other house where +they could stay in Little Brook, and it was doubtful if there was any +room at Church Point. + +"We must at least see Madame Bourque at the hotel. A message was sent +her last night, asking her to reserve rooms for us, and perhaps she can +help us out of our difficulty," said Mrs. Redmond. + +To the great surprise of all, the Hotel Paris, when they reached it, +proved to be but a small dwelling-house, larger than its neighbors, but +even smaller than the inn at Meteghan, for which "hotel" seemed a +misnomer. As the four sat in the little parlor, Madame Bourque, a +dignified and even elegant appearing woman, in her black gown and black +_couvre-chef_, tried to make them feel comfortable. + +"Ah, but the death, it makes no difference," she said, after assuring +Mrs. Redmond that the rooms were in readiness. "It is my sister who has +been long sick, and was glad to go. Indeed I am sorry that you heard of +it, for the funeral will be before you wake in the morning, and had I +thought it would disturb Madame, why, we might indeed have had it +to-day." + +"Business before pleasure," whispered Martine to Amy, who was trying +valiantly to keep from smiling,--a difficult task, indeed, for any of +the four. + +As they seemed to have no choice in the matter, the girls agreed with +Mrs. Redmond that they could hardly do better than take possession of +the large, pleasant rooms that Madame Bourque showed them. + +In the early morning, a gray morning, before the others were awake, Amy +looked from the window. A sad little procession was setting out from the +door. The plain deal coffin was in an open wagon. Behind it were a dozen +shabby carriages, with mourners, men and women. They were to drive to +the churchyard at Point a l'Eglise, three miles away. She did not waken +the others, but she watched the little procession until it was out of +sight. + + [Illustration: "'Madame Bourque,' she cried, 'I asked him to come + to see me.'"] + + + + + + Chapter VI + + PIERRE AND POINT A L'EGLISE + + +"Ah, why should she wish to see you, the American young lady? You have +much conceit, Pierre." + +The words were French, the voice was Madame Bourque's, and Amy, quickly +translating what she overheard, perceived that Madame Bourque was +throwing obstacles in the way of the little boy's seeing her. + +"Madame Bourque," she cried, stepping out into the hall, "I asked him to +come to see me. It is as he says." + +"Oh, then excuse me, Mademoiselle. I did not understand. I did not know +that you had seen Pierre." + +"Ah, yes, he helped me find my way last evening. He may come in, may he +not?" + +"Ah, surely, since you wish it. Pierre talks much, and I have known +those whom he tired. But enter, Pierre, since you have been invited." + +Then Pierre followed Amy into the little sitting-room, where Priscilla +and Martine were already seated near an open fire; for the gray and damp +early morning had introduced a foggy day, and at present sightseeing was +out of the question. Priscilla had been writing letters, Amy had been +reading a history of the Acadians, and Martine, before Pierre's arrival, +had been looking through "Evangeline." + +"Pierre," Amy asked, not knowing just what to say to the old-fashioned +boy, "do you care for 'Evangeline'?" + +"Surely, yes," he replied, his face lighting up. "Your Longfellow has +sympathy for the Acadians. A lady who stayed here last summer lent me +his poems, but best I understand the 'Evangeline.' + + "'Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. + Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the + wayside, + Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her + tresses!'" + +Pierre recited with much expression. + +"Ah," he continued, "I can say much of that beautiful poem, and indeed +it makes me weep to think how they were treated, those poor Acadians, my +ancestors. The English were most cruel." + +"Amy," half-whispered Martine, "my history is a little rusty, so please +tell me if the Acadians were driven out from Little Brook." + +"No, my dear, Little Brook was founded by some who made their way back +from exile. Pierre," she added in a louder tone, "you are so interested +in your people, can you tell us about those who founded Little Brook?" + +"Yes, Pierre can tell you all the story," interposed Madame Bourque, who +had entered the room to put wood on the fire. "He knows it all from his +grandmother, and he remembers." + +Pierre, thus commended, flushed even more deeply than he had when Amy +made her request; but he remained silent until she spoke again. + +"Perhaps it is not everything that you would wish to hear," he said, +"that I shall tell; but my grandmother told me that it was all forest in +Clare when the Acadians were driven from their homes by the cruel +English. There were no farms here then, and so Petit Ruisseau has no sad +memories of poor people driven from their homes. But you know that +Acadians from Annapolis and Grand Pre and other places farther north +were carried off to the English settlements that are now the States, and +were treated like beggars; for they had no money, and spoke but a +strange tongue. Fathers were separated from children, and brothers and +sisters were not often in the same ship. But all were strong in their +hearts, and determined to come back to their beautiful Acadia. Some +began to come back before the Peace, and walked all the way--hundreds +and hundreds of miles--from Boston and New York, until they reached the +coast of the Bay. When the war was over, and there was a great Peace, +many, many more came, and walked all the way around from New Brunswick +to Nova Scotia to find their homes again." + +"But I thought that all their houses were burned and that they had no +homes to return to." + +"That is true; but some knew not this, and even those who had seen the +fires from the ships did not believe that everything of theirs was +destroyed. So they were very sad when they could find no signs of their +old homes, and saw that everything belonged to the English settlers. It +was a great crime, sending them away, oh, so many; I am proud my +great-great-grandparents were exiles and my great-grandmother was born +in Salem; so perhaps I am half Yankee; that's why I speak some English." + +At that moment Madame Bourque took part in the conversation. "Ah, it is +terrible to think of their sufferings, people of such worth,--it is the +crime of history. Just think of Belliveau; you tell about him, Pierre." + +"Oh, he was very brave, and the first exile to land in Clare. He and his +wife came across the bay in a little boat, bringing their baby too, and +they landed safely on the shore that you can see from the window. They +had a terrible passage--and to think to-day that some people fear to +cross the bay to St. John, even in a steamboat! At first they did have +nothing, but they cut wood, and soon other Acadians joined them who had +walked all the way around on land." + +"Pierre," interposed Amy, "you describe things very well; what do you +intend to be when you grow up?" + +A shadow crossed Pierre's face. "I should like to be a sailor, and then +a great captain, but I am not strong enough, and I shall never grow big; +so I think I may be a teacher, and that is why I take trouble to speak +and write English." + +"You should be here," interrupted Madame Bourque, whose mind still dwelt +on the Acadians, "on the fifteenth of August; that is the day of the +return from exile that all the people in Clare celebrate." + +"We shall hardly be in this part of the country then, Madame Bourque," +responded Amy, "but we shall try to know all we can about the early +Acadians before we leave Little Brook. But, Pierre," added Amy, "you +haven't told us all that you know, have you? Haven't you some stories +that your mother or grandmother has told you?" + +"One about the cane I like much." + +"Then tell it to us." + +"Well, there was one of our family, a great-grand-uncle, I think, who +lived down near Cape Sable before the exile; one time he was very kind +to a shipwrecked captain and took him into his house and gave him +clothes and food; then when my relative was driven from home they took +him to Boston, and he had to wander about, begging his bread, for he +could not speak English. And then he and his three sons with him were +put in jail; then the captain whom he had been kind to heard that these +Frenchmen were in jail, and, remembering the kindness he had had, went +to visit the prisoners. How surprised he was to find his old +acquaintance who had helped him after the shipwreck! My relative was +glad to see him too. Then the captain went to the governor and told him +about the kind Frenchman who was in jail, and the governor said to bring +him before him and perhaps he would pardon him. As my relative had no +clothes fit to wear before the governor, the captain bought him a +beautiful suit and a cane with a large head. Then the governor, when he +saw my grandfather, pardoned him and his three sons, and they stayed in +Boston several years, until the Peace, when they all came back to Nova +Scotia. I know this story is true, because I have seen the cane, which +one of my cousins owns in Pubnico." + +"Do you think that is true?" whispered Priscilla to Martine. + +"Oh, true enough; it certainly is not very exciting. It has been handed +down so long that the point is evidently lost." + +Pierre, once started, continued to tell many stories of the hardships +borne by the early Acadians, beside which the tale of Evangeline seemed +almost cheerful. + +"Now, Priscilla," said Martine, when Pierre paused, "you must admit that +the English don't show themselves in a very good light compared with the +Acadians. Did you ever hear of such cruelty?" + +"There must have been some cause for it," rejoined Priscilla, stoutly; +"we have heard only one side thus far. Perhaps the Acadians themselves +were a little in the wrong." + +"They certainly were not perfect," interposed Amy, taking part in the +discussion, "as you will admit when you have read their history more +carefully. We have not time to go into things more fully now, and I have +thought that Grand Pre would be the best place for our study of the +causes leading to the exile. It's putting the cart before the horse to +talk too much of the effects before we know the causes." + +Had Pierre exactly understood Amy he might have entered into a +discussion with her, but for the moment he had run to the front door to +admit Madame Bourque's little daughters, whom he had seen entering the +yard. When he was again in the room Madame Bourque once more joined the +group. + +"How does it happen, Madame Bourque," asked Martine, mischievously, +"that your hotel is the Hotel Paris? You should have named it 'Acadia' +or 'Evangeline,' or something like that." + +"Ah," responded Madame Bourque, "it is that my husband is a Frenchman, +from Paris, and I like my children not to forget that. Some day, when +they grow up, they shall go to Paris." + +"Have Acadians any real love for France?" asked Amy. "It is certainly a +long, long time since their ancestors left it." + +"Yes, indeed," replied Madame Bourque, "just as the Englishman always +loves England, or the Irishman Ireland; they are still strangers in a +strange land, though they must call the English Queen their queen," she +concluded sentimentally. "Some Acadians go back to France to study, and +some French boys come out to the college at Church Point, and one of +them--ah, it is so romantic!--married an Acadienne a few years ago." + +"Oh, tell us about it," exclaimed Martine; "I love anything romantic." + +"Well, then," said Madame Bourque, "there was such a pretty girl at +Church Point in the convent, and this youth was sent by his parents to +study at the College of St. Anne. He fell in love with the pretty girl +and would marry her, and oh, his father and mother they felt so bad, for +they thought Acadians were something like Indians; and so they hurried +out to Nova Scotia, and when they saw the girl they fell in love with +her too, and knew she was no savage, and say their son can marry her. +But the girl would not leave her people, and as the son would not give +up the girl, the parents decided to come to Acadia to live, for he was +an only son and they were rich. So they have bought much land up beyond +Weymouth, and they call it New France. They have a great mill where they +cut timber, and a railroad of their own twenty miles long, by which they +send it to the sea, and good houses and electric lights--all on account +of a pretty Acadienne." + +"That's just the kind of story I like," cried Martine. "I suppose +history is just as true, but someway I have more interest in things that +are happening to-day." + +Madame Bourque now left the room to make arrangements for the early +dinner. She had foretold that the fog would lift before noon, and +accordingly Priscilla, looking out the window, was not surprised to +catch a fleeting glimpse of the sun through an opening in the veil of +mist. + +"We'll take your word that the sun will shine," exclaimed Amy, "and I'll +run upstairs and ask mamma if she will drive this afternoon. I imagine +that the most there is to be seen is at Church Point, and the sooner we +go there the better." + +Madame Bourque, when asked, promised to have two carriages ready early +in the afternoon, for Amy had not only invited Pierre to dinner, but +intended to take him to drive with her. + +"Mamma," said Amy, as she gave her mother an account of the morning, +"you will find Madame Bourque very amusing. She evidently believes the +Acadians to be the salt of the earth; but though I sympathize with their +sufferings, I do not believe they were quite the superior beings that +she paints them." + +"It might be unkind," replied Mrs. Redmond, "to suggest that this is +part of her stock in trade; the more remarkable she can represent the +old Acadians to have been, the more interested will her guests be in the +places associated with them. They were a good, honest people." + +"But they were peasants, were they not, mamma? You would think to hear +her talk that they were very near nobility." + +"Oh, among the Acadians of to-day are doubtless many descendants of men +of good family in France. Indeed, some of them can claim for ancestors +Charles de la Tour and Baron D'Entremont; but the peasant blood is in +the ascendant, and the strain of nobility must be very slight." + +At the dinner-table Pierre won Mrs. Redmond's heart by the gentleness of +his manner, and she told Martine that Amy's protege would be a close +rival of hers. + +"No, indeed," replied Martine; "no one can rival Yvonne. Just think of +her voice and her little curls and her pink cheeks." + +"I'll admit that Pierre lacks these characteristics, though all in all +they would hardly enhance his value. From what Amy says, however, I +should judge that Pierre, even if he has neither curls nor pink cheeks, +has a voice that is very effective when he uses it in telling stories." + +Fearing that Pierre might overhear these personalities, Mrs. Redmond +changed the conversation. "Amy," she said in a somewhat louder voice, +"where do you suppose Fritz is now?" + +"Oh, if Pubnico is as fascinatingly French as he expected it to be, he +is probably there still. I doubt if he will be better entertained than +we have been." + +"I almost wish he were with us," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "for he is +always a fund of entertainment in himself; I have thought of him many +times this dull morning, and I hope that we shall find a letter from him +awaiting us at Digby." + +If Amy agreed with her mother, she did not so express herself at this +moment; yet if the truth were known, it must be said that more than once +since their parting at Yarmouth she had regretted that she had not at +least given Fritz a chance to join their party. + +When the carriages came to the door in the afternoon Amy recognized them +as having formed part of the funeral procession; they were shabby, with +hard seats, and the horses, as well as the vehicles, looked as if they +had seen better days. It was arranged that Amy and Pierre should go in +the small carriage, as Madame Bourque's husband assured them that the +horse was perfectly safe for a lady to drive. "Ah, he could not run +away!" + +"I should think not," said Amy. "If he manages to carry us even the +three miles to Church Point I shall be surprised; he seems so dispirited +that I imagine the funeral has made more impression on him than on +Madame Bourque herself." + +Mrs. Redmond, Priscilla, and Martine were in the second carriage, and +Madame Bourque was the driver. + +Amy noticed in gardens and windows fewer hollyhocks, oleanders, and +other bright flowers than she had seen at Meteghan. The houses, too, +were painted in less bright colors, and the village street had a less +stirring appearance. + +Pierre was a good cicerone; he pointed out near the edge of the sea the +spot where the first of the returning exiles had landed. He also showed +Amy a little one-story house on a slight elevation, said to be the +oldest in the town, and to date but little later than the landing. + +"It is hard," he said in his precise way, "to imagine that it was all +forest here in those first years, since now there is hardly a tree in +sight except the fruit trees in the orchards. The first comers had large +grants of land from the government; thus the English tried to make up +for the wrong they had done." + +"But the farms are very small now," ventured Amy. "The yards are so +close together." + +"Ah, yes, that is it; each father had many children and divided his land +among his sons, and as every one wanted his house to be on the village +street, they have kept it up, cutting it up into long narrow strips, some +of them running back one or two miles; and away at the end of the strips +there are still forests that are worth money." + +Some time before they reached Church Point, the lighthouse and the +college buildings were seen in imposing outline in the distance. + +Their horse justified Amy's forebodings, and when they overtook Madame +Bourque and her party the latter were standing near a monument before +the large building that Pierre had said was the College of St. Anne. +Amy, though undisturbed by Martine's gibes at the slowness of her steed, +was glad enough to get out of the carriage. Both horses were left in +charge of a boy whom Madame Bourque knew, while the sight-seers started +to walk to the shrines of the Acadians--for by this term did Madame +Bourque describe the burying-ground and site of the early houses. + +"It is not a long walk," the voluble Frenchwoman had explained, "unless +you go out to the lighthouse, for which we have not time to-day." + +Priscilla lingered behind the others to copy the inscription on the +monument. It was in honor of the Abbe Sigogne, to whom the Acadians of +Clare owe more than to any other one person. + +Priscilla, reading the inscription, wondered why she had never before +heard of this man, who evidently had been so much to his own people. +Acadia is not far from Massachusetts, and yet already she realized that +this was a corner of the world of which she knew far too little. Amy, +however, could tell her what she wished to know, and she hurried on to +join the others, who were now far ahead. + +"Amy," she cried, overtaking her friend, "tell me something about the +Abbe Sigogne; I am ashamed to say that I never heard of him before." + +Pierre glanced at the American girl with an expression of absolute +amazement at her ignorance. + +"There is so much to tell," said Amy, "that it would be too long a story +for the time that we have now; yet as we walk along I can give you a +little idea of his work. He was a French priest of good family, who +barely escaped losing his head during the French Revolution. After +fleeing from France he lived a few years in England. When he heard that +the poor Acadians of Clare were without a clergyman, he decided to go to +them, and from that time he made their lot his. This was in 1799, about +thirty years after their return from exile, and though they had cleared +the forest and built houses, they had made little progress in other +ways; they were without schools and almost without religion, but the +good Abbe built them a church, established schools, and made frequent +visits to all the little settlements along St. Mary's Bay, often +travelling along the coast in a small, open boat. He taught them many +things besides religion. He made them firm in their allegiance to Great +Britain, and when he died, in 1844, he was bitterly mourned by all who +knew him, whether English or French." + +When Amy and Priscilla and Pierre caught up with the others, they were +in a large field, looking at a spot of ground on which Madame Bourque +said had stood the very first house at Point a l'Eglise, built after the +exile. Near by was a little old graveyard, where the first generation of +returning exiles had been buried. Only a few graves were marked, and +these with rough stones without inscriptions. A rude arch of whalebone +formed the entrance to this little enclosure. It was not very far from +the point of land on which stood the lighthouse, near which, along the +edge of the sea, a file of black-coated priests was walking. Though they +were indistinctly seen in the distance, their large caps and flapping +surtouts gave them a picturesque appearance. + +A strange structure like a shrine of open slats decorated with spruce +boughs attracted Martine's attention, and she insisted on making a +sketch of it. + +"It is a repository," explained Pierre, politely, "where the priest +stands, as a station for the procession, on festival days." + +When they returned to the College of St. Anne, Madame Bourque grew more +and more eloquent. + +"Is it not wonderful," she said, "that all this great building is +restored since the fire of two years ago? You will come inside, ladies, +and see how pleasant the rooms are." + +"I will stay outside," replied Priscilla, "and watch the horses," she +concluded rather lamely. + +"Nonsense," began Amy, but looking at Priscilla, she saw that the young +girl was in earnest, and so insisted no further. + +"Amy," whispered Priscilla, as her friend drew near her, "I was sorry +afterwards that I went into the convent yesterday, and so I would much +rather not go into a priest's house." + +"I had no idea that you would be so narrow," rejoined Amy. + +"I don't mean to be narrow," responded Priscilla, "but I really don't +feel like going inside." + +So Priscilla sat down on the grass near the monument and all the others +went inside the main building of the College of St. Anne. Not very long +afterwards Mrs. Redmond came out again, with her sketch-book in her +hand. "I thought it a good time now to make a sketch of the church. I +have seen many other schools like this one, for, after all, it's only a +boys' boarding-school. The girls enjoy practising their French with the +Eudist Father, who is taking them about, and it will probably be some +time before they are ready to leave. I think you make a mistake, +Priscilla, in not joining them." + +"It isn't a very old building," said Priscilla, implying that this was +sufficient reason for her staying away from the party. + +"It is certainly not very old," rejoined Mrs. Redmond; "the college has +been established less than ten years. It is a great thing to have +founded it here in the midst of the Acadians, and it has made the boys +of Clare much more ambitious." + +"What good is a college education to them?" asked Priscilla; "fishing +and farming seem to be their chief occupations." + +"This is really only a preparatory school," replied Mrs. Redmond, "and +the boys who are going into the Church or into the professions enter +other colleges in Canada or in France. The Father told us with pride of +the high standing of some of the graduates in their work in other +colleges." + +"If I do not care for the college," said Priscilla, "I love this church +of Abbe Sigogne's; it makes me think of a New England meeting-house, +with its white walls and steeple." + +Mrs. Redmond's sketch was hardly finished when the others came out from +the college. Madame Bourque was in her most talkative mood, as she led +them across the road into the white church. This time Priscilla went +with them and looked with some interest at the paintings on the wall, +and the sacred emblems, and the tablet inscribed to the memory of Abbe +Sigogne. + +Martine, it must be admitted, found something amusing even in this +church, for inside the gallery where the choir boys sat were many +pictures of little boats, and even of full-rigged ships scratched in +deeply with a penknife, presumably by the fingers of mischievous young +singers. + +Pierre, who happened to be with Martine when she made this discovery, +did not laugh with her, but shaking his head solemnly, said, "Ah, those +pictures show what really fills the heart of the Acadian boy." + +Madame Bourque was disappointed that her party of Americans did not care +to visit the girls' school near by, but the hour was late, and the +tired-looking horses were not likely to make speed on the way home. + +"We have really seen so much," said Mrs. Redmond, "that we shall need to +think it all over before seeing more, and you have been so good a guide +that in our one visit to Church Point we have learned as much as most +persons do in two." + +"We have learned a great deal," murmured Priscilla to Amy, "but I always +feel that Madame Bourque paints the Acadians as much more remarkable +than they are. But I should like to have seen Father Sigogne baptizing +Indian pappooses; they say that he used to wipe their faces with his +gown to find a spot where he could kiss them." + +"Yes, and Madame Bourque says that there are people still living who can +remember great crowds of Indians filing through the woods to Church +Point that they might receive Abbe Sigogne's blessing on St Anne's Day." + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + DIGBY DAYS + + +On the way back to Little Brook Amy had a good chance to talk with +little Pierre about his hopes and ambitions. She found that he was +extremely fond of reading, and it was almost impossible for him to get +books such as a boy loves to read. About half a mile from Madame +Bourque's, Pierre pointed out a small cottage which he said was his +home. + +"My mother will be there now," he said, "and I hope you will come in +with me to see her. She does not speak so very good English," he added +apologetically, "but she can understand it." + +Though Madame Robichaud greeted Amy warmly and thanked her for her +kindness to Pierre, there was something pathetic in her manner and +appearance. She was a tall, thin woman, with a delicate, pale face that +was made all the paler by her plain black gown and the _couvre-chef_ +that covered her hair. Her husband, Pierre explained, was lost at sea +when Pierre was five years old, and since that time she had supported +them both wholly by her own labor. + +Madame Robichaud showed Amy with great pride some drawings nailed to the +wall that Pierre himself had made,--simple drawings of ships and houses +that showed draughtsmanship rather than imagination. These suggested to +Amy that Pierre had a talent that might be cultivated to greater +advantage than his ambition for school-teaching. + +She and Pierre parted reluctantly, and Madame Robichaud promised that +the little boy should be at the hotel in the morning before Amy left +Little Brook. + +All the travellers slept soundly that night despite the huge +feather-beds that Madame Bourque had provided, as she thought, for their +comfort. + +In the morning they wrote their names in her visitors' book, on whose +pages were inscribed the names of a number of Americans, some of them +fairly well known, who at one time or another had been guests at the +Hotel Paris. Pierre arrived very soon after breakfast with a great bunch +of hollyhocks or _passe-rose_ for Amy. He had evidently taken a great +fancy to his new friend. + +"She is more beautiful even than my school-teacher," he had said to +Madame Bourque; a compliment which the latter repeated as of especial +value, because hitherto Pierre had considered his teacher the model of +womanly perfection. + +"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, before the carriage arrived, "have you +written to Yvonne?" + +"Oh, no; I meant to, but now I'll wait till we reach Digby." + +"I fear that Yvonne will be disappointed. She probably expected a letter +to-day." + +"I know it; I am ashamed of myself." + +Martine's tone was penitent, but no one who knew Martine ever expected +her to do promptly what she had promised. It was always a little easier +to put off things to another day. Priscilla looked at her scornfully, as +if to say "How fickle!" + +When at last they were ready to start, all felt sad at parting with +Madame Bourque and her family, for in two days they had come to seem +almost like old friends. The two little Bourque girls, as the carriage +drove off, looked with astonishment at the dollar bill that Mrs. Redmond +had put in the hands of the elder to divide with her younger sister. + +Pierre walked on a little way with Amy before she mounted her wheel, and +on saying good-bye at last he knew that the American lady would really +send him the books that she had promised. + +Their train to Digby was not the famous "Flying Bluenose," but a local +that made no pretence of hurrying; it instead gave them ample +opportunity to study the scenery from the windows. + +When at last they reached Digby, they were warm and dust-covered, and +glad enough, too, when they found carriages waiting for them at the +station. + +"It's nothing but a summer resort, this Digby that we have heard so much +about," complained Martine, as they drove along the main street. "Just +look at those boys in golf suits, and that crowd carrying shawls and +wraps as if bound for a sailboat. Why, the town doesn't even look +English. It makes me think of Blue Harbor in Maine, where we spent one +summer." + +"I noticed a great deal of Philadelphia accent while we were waiting for +our trunks at the station." + +"Oh, don't mention it," replied Martine; "Philadelphians flock +everywhere, and they are so cliquey that they just spoil a place for me, +though I'll admit that they know a good thing when they see it." + +"Be careful, Martine," cautioned Amy; "no more slang than you can help +on this trip." + +"'On this trip!' If that isn't slang I'd like to know what is." + +"No matter now; here's the hotel; mail first and rooms afterwards." + +In an instant Amy had hurried to the hotel office, returning to the +others with a bundle of letters, which she gave to Priscilla to +distribute while she went ahead with her mother to look at the rooms +they had engaged. The hotel was like most small summer hotels, and in +spite of their pleasant remembrance of Clare, Mrs. Redmond and the girls +had to admit that it was more comfortable than the little French houses. + +"'Pubnico!' why, of course;" here Amy stopped as she held the letter in +her hand, turning it over once or twice as people will before opening a +letter. + +"Of course; don't hesitate to tell us that it's from Fritz. It would be +very strange indeed if he had not written," cried Martine, +mischievously. + +"'Pubnico,'" said Priscilla, as if the word had just penetrated her +brain; "why, there were two letters with that postmark, were there not?" + +"Oh, no, only one," replied Amy, promptly, "and, as Martine surmises, it +was from Fritz." + +But while Amy was speaking Priscilla looked sharply at Martine, and +Martine, as if uncomfortable under her gaze, suddenly left the room. + +After dinner, as they all sat on the piazza, "Amy," said Mrs. Redmond, +"you haven't told us yet how Fritz is enjoying his journey." + +"Oh, he thinks he has found the only French in Nova Scotia. He describes +their dress and their houses and their great fat oxen, and speaks of the +misfortunes of the exiled Acadians as if he were an original discoverer. +How foolish he will feel when he finds that what he has seen is old news +to us, for his description reads just like a description of Clare." + +"Only I'll warrant that he didn't find any Madame Bourque," and +Priscilla smiled. + +"No, nor an Yvonne," added Martine. + +"Not to speak of Pierre," concluded Amy. + +"My letter from home," said Priscilla, "mentions that this was the +hottest week of the season. Just think, only yesterday we were half +frozen driving home in the fog from Church Point." + +After breakfast, on their second morning at Digby, Mrs. Redmond and the +girls walked the whole length of the tree-lined main street. As Martine +had surmised, they had indeed arrived at a regulation summer resort. The +holiday spirit prevailed on all sides; every one was going somewhere, or +had just been somewhere, on pleasure bent. + +In spite of her professed prejudice against Philadelphians, Martine +almost fell into the arms of a former schoolmate from the Quaker City, +who rushed out to greet her from the garden of a small hotel near the +top of the hill. + +"Isn't the view fine, and the air just perfect? I'm so glad you're here; +there's something to do every hour of the day, and we shall be so glad +to have you join us, you and your friends." And she glanced dubiously at +Priscilla's mourning dress and serious face. + +"Thank you, but I can't make plans just now. There are four in our +party; the other two have walked ahead. We arrived only on Saturday, and +yesterday was so rainy that we stayed indoors until evening, when we all +went to church. Until we really have our bearings I don't think that I +can make any plans. But you must come to see us. There, I haven't +introduced you to Priscilla; you must excuse me. Priscilla, the Rose of +Plymouth, let me introduce you to Peggy Pratt from the quiet city of +Philadelphia." + +"You are the same old Martine," cried Peggy, as they turned away, while +Priscilla, reddening, added as the two walked on, "Oh, Martine, how +silly you can be!" + +Amy was delighted with everything that they saw in the course of that +morning walk, from the beautiful view of the Basin, surrounded by hills +that looked mountains, to the little fish-houses, the quintessence of +neatness, in front of which quantities of cod were drying. As to the +Basin, when she said she felt as though she had seen it before, Mrs. +Redmond reminded her that it resembled closely the harbor of Santiago, +with which she was familiar through pictures. + +"Ah, yes," rejoined Amy, "and that little opening into the Bay of Fundy +that they call 'The Gut' is like the passage where Hobson tried to sink +the Merrimac." + +"It isn't such a very little passage; somebody told me that it is nearly +a mile wide; it was there that the ships of De Monts entered the Basin +in 1604, when they discovered Acadia," Mrs. Redmond added. + +"Sixteen hundred and four!" cried Martine. "Oh, dear, we're going +backwards in our history. It was seventeen hundred and something when +the Acadians were expelled, and I shall never be able to remember +earlier dates." + +"At present we may put dates aside. For a day or two we can merely enjoy +ourselves." + +"I hope we are coming to some English history," said Priscilla; "I am +tired of the French. I always supposed Nova Scotia was a British +province, but this whole week we have heard very little about the +English." + +"I tell you what we'll do, Priscilla," cried Amy; "while mamma and +Martine sit here to make a sketch of something or other, you and I can +set out in search of some English history. Undoubtedly there's an +historic house or two to discover. That's the kind of thing I never let +escape me." + +At first it seemed as if Amy's search would be unsuccessful. One person +after another whom she asked said that there were no historic houses in +Digby. + +"There's an old shop over across the way," one added, "the frame of +which, they say, was brought out from England; I'll point it out to you, +though it doesn't look very old." + +This last statement was true enough, for the old house had been +reshingled and reclapboarded and repainted, so that it retained hardly a +vestige of antiquity in its appearance. To compensate Amy for her +disappointment, the obliging native made a suggestion that in the end +proved valuable. + +"What you ought to do is to see Mrs. Sally Tatem; her house isn't much +to look at, but it's old enough, and she knows more about the history of +Digby than any one else here." + +"Where does she live?" + +"Oh, just a little way up that street and round the next corner and up +the hill and you will see a little cottage at the end of the lane; just +knock at the door, and if she's at home she'll be very obliging." + +So Amy and Priscilla went "up the street and round the next corner and +up the hill," and at "the end of the lane" they saw a small white +cottage almost covered with vines. Amy's knock brought to the door a +little old lady with silvery hair and a tiny ruffled cap, wearing a gray +gown and, most important of all, a pleasant smile. The hesitation that +Amy had felt in explaining the object of their visit disappeared under +the old lady's greeting. + +"Dear child, come right in; I'll tell you all the Digby history I know; +but it isn't so very much." + +As Amy sat down in the little sitting-room, she could not help looking +about, and she was quick to recognize that the two chairs were +Chippendale. + +"They were brought by my grandfather," said Mrs. Tatem, noting the +direction of Amy's glance. "He was a captain in the Queen's Rangers; you +know many Americans were on the King's side in the Revolution." + +A look of surprise crossed Priscilla's face, but she did not venture to +raise a question. + +"Yes," responded Amy, "I know about the Loyalists." + +"Well, my grandfather was a farmer in Westchester County, rich and +prosperous, but he would not take arms against the King. A friend and +neighbor of his was tarred and feathered, and he was in some danger +himself. So he went into the war, and when it was over he couldn't stay +in New York. With other Loyalists he came down here. Of course it was +very hard for him to have all his property taken away, but his wife was +brave and she was willing to suffer." + +"Who sent them away?" asked Priscilla, eagerly. + +"Why, the Yankees,--the Americans, I mean," said Mrs. Tatem. + +"The Patriots," whispered Priscilla. + +"Yes, yes," interposed Amy. + +"But," continued Priscilla, "I didn't know that there were two sides to +the story." And as she said this the old lady smiled. + +"We have no bitterness now. I ought not to have said 'Yankees.' I have +many friends in the States, but it was hard for my mother and aunts to +have to grow up in the wilderness. I used to hear my aunt talk. She was +an older daughter." + +"But how did they live here in those days?" + +"Oh, the King gave a large grant of land and provisions for three years +and some building material. Many who came to settle would not stay, and +it was harder for those who did remain. There was no church even, for a +long time, until good Mr. Viets came; he did everything for the white +settlers, and even held a school for the Blacks." + +"The Blacks?" + +"Oh, yes; you see many people brought their slaves with them." + +"Southerners?" + +"No, New Yorkers. Many Northern people had slaves in those days. I know +that my grandfather had two, but when he died he left them their freedom +in his will. Out at the Joggins' there are still living many descendants +of these slaves, and of the Black Pioneers, a regiment of Blacks that +fought on the English side in the war." + +"What you've told us is almost as romantic as the French Revolution," +said Priscilla. + +"Maybe so," replied the old lady, hesitatingly, "though things probably +did not seem romantic to the first settlers here; but perhaps it's just +as well that our lot was cast in this healthy climate. I hear there's a +great deal of sickness in New York, and it's a great big city where +people care only for money. I'm sorry our young people go off so much to +the States; they could all make a comfortable living if they would only +stay at home." + +Amy could not refrain from admiring the china and all the daintiness of +the little house, plain and unpretending though it was. But the most +interesting thing of all was the old lady with her charming manner and +fund of history. + +"I've heard my mother say," she remarked before they went, "that the +first name of Digby was Conway, and it was only after Admiral Digby had +been here that it was named in his honor." + +"Why didn't the French settle Digby?" asked Priscilla; "they seem to be +everywhere else in Nova Scotia." + +"Probably because there are no marshes; they were attracted by the dyke +lands at Annapolis and Grand Pre." + +The girls bade good-bye to Mrs. Tatem with real regret. Before she +returned to the hotel Amy wandered by herself in a little old churchyard +where lay many of the first settlers, and as she looked at the +weather-beaten stones she saw that many of those who lay buried there +were natives of New York or its neighborhood; closing her eyes for a +moment to shut out the present, she pictured to herself what life in the +wilderness must have been to these refugees who had suffered everything +in a losing cause. + +That afternoon Martine's friend, Peggy, from Philadelphia, invited them +all to join a sailing party; though at first disinclined to go, Amy at +last accepted the invitation. It was a delightful afternoon, with wind +and sea in their favor, and the charm of the surrounding scenery was +increased by a delicate mist that hovered over the North Mountain, as a +reminder of the Bay of Fundy outside. + +For some reason this sail around Digby reminded Amy of some of her +excursions in Marblehead Harbor, especially of a certain day on the +"Balloon," and this in spite of the fact that the "Mary Jane" in no way +compared in equipment with Philip's yacht. No picture of Marblehead +could of course be complete unless Fritz were in it, and almost to her +annoyance Amy now found Fritz occupying a large corner of her mind. +Nevertheless, she was interested in all that was going on around her, +and once or twice lent a hand to the skipper, when a sudden change of +wind occasioned a quick shifting of the sails. Then the Bluenose skipper +complimented the Yankee girl on her skill in handling the ropes, and +Martine and Priscilla and Peggy expressed their astonishment that she +should know so much about a boat. + +For almost the first time since their departure from Boston Priscilla +was now in good spirits; she had overcome her original homesickness, and +her letters from Plymouth had been so cheerful that she was almost ready +to find enjoyment in the new scenes and faces. Between her and Martine +there was less intimacy than between her and Amy. Mrs. Redmond was sorry +to see that, for some reason, Priscilla lacked confidence in Martine. +This was to be accounted for, perhaps, by the fact that the two girls +were so unlike in temperament and education. Though reserved in speech, +Priscilla was uncompromisingly accurate in statement; Martine, on the +other hand, while apparently unreserved, occasionally lacked frankness. +No one could accuse her of being untruthful, and yet her exaggerations +and her occasional concealments were a constant annoyance to the literal +Priscilla. + +On the second day of their stay at Digby, Martine had written a long +letter to Yvonne, and at the same time had sent her a roll of new music, +which she had happened to find in a Digby shop. + +"If I knew just how long we should be here, I really think I would send +for Yvonne to spend a week with us." + +"We shall not be here a week," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "and I am afraid +that Yvonne would rather handicap us if we tried to have her travel +farther." + +On their last morning at Digby, Amy and Martine had a parting walk +around the wharf. The wharf had been a source of much amusement to +Martine, and she had sketched it at high tide when it looked just like +any other wharf, and at low tide when it rose high above the water, its +sides covered with seaweed and barnacles. Indeed the vagaries of the Bay +of Fundy tides were an endless amusement to the party, exposing, as they +did, long, long stretches of reddish mud, and apparently casting up all +kinds of craft high and dry on the land. + +"Now, around by the fish-houses," cried Martine; "how I shall miss the +cod which we meet here at every turn! Fish flakes, in my mind, will +always be the emblem of Digby. Priscilla says that she has seen more on +Cape Cod, but I can hardly believe her. It's strange that no one has +given us a Digby chicken since we came here. Any one would suppose that +the Digby chicken is the only fish that grows here; yet really and truly +we haven't seen one, have we, since our arrival? For it's the cod that's +everywhere, and it's funny to think that they send so much codfish to +the West Indies. People there must be thirsty enough without having cod +sent to tantalize them." + +On their way back to the hotel they did an errand in a corner shop. The +clerk addressed them in rather broken English, and in answer to Amy's +question said that he was a descendant of an Acadian exile. He told them +one or two anecdotes, and when he had to turn to other customers Amy +waited until they were served, hoping to hear more from him. + +"That negro," he explained, as a tall Black went out of the shop, "is a +descendant of one of the slaves of the Revolution." + +"Was that other man a negro, too, who went out with him?" + +"Oh, no, he's an Indian from the Bear River Reservation. If you go that +way, you must be sure to visit it." + +"I hope that we are going there, for I hear that Bear River is a +beautiful place. Though I am not particularly anxious to see the Micmac +on his native heath, it certainly is interesting to have met +representatives of the four race elements in this little shop," said +Amy, as they turned away. + +"Four race elements?" asked Martine, not quite understanding her. + +"Yes, of Nova Scotia Loyalists, Acadians, Indians, and negroes. To be +sure Pre-Loyalists would be more representative than negroes--but the +former did not settle Digby." + +"Let's go up on Cannon Hill for a last look. Your mother just loves it. +We have made some fine sketches of those crooked apple-trees and that +old house." + +"And the cannon? They are certainly unlike any others you will come +across." + +"I have photographed the cannon," replied Martine, with dignity, "and if +I had time, I might sketch them." + +"I love it here," cried Martine, as they stood on the hill. "One gets +such a splendid view of the entrance to the Basin,--I can't bring myself +to say Gut. When I stand here, I just close my eyes, and then fancy how +these steep shores must have looked to the Frenchmen, Champlain and the +others, who came sailing in through the passage that June morning so +long ago. Then when I open my eyes I can actually see them out +there--and if I were a poet, like you, Amy, I would write something +worth while." + +"I a poet! what nonsense! What put that into your head?" + +"As if I didn't know all about you, Miss Amy Redmond," and Martine +quoted a line or two of verse that brought the color to Amy's cheeks. + +"That isn't poetry," she said with a smile. "But you are in a mood that +shows me we ought to go home." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + TWO ADVENTURES + + +"Oh dear," sighed Priscilla three hours later, as she strapped her +valise, "I believe I'd rather stay in one place all summer than move so +often. I shall miss the pier and the barnacles. When we came in from the +boat at low tide the other day, it seemed like one of the caverns of +fairyland--so dark and mysterious." + +"Yes, and you'll miss the codfish, too. Amy and I have been going +through the missing agony this morning. But I have a fish story that +will please you, Puritan Prissie. Though curing codfish is a leading +occupation here six days of the week, on Sunday that man is fined who +even sticks a pitchfork into a helpless cod--except,--and here I am +afraid that this covers a quantity,--that if there has been a week of +wet weather, if Sunday is sunny, then the gentle codfish may be turned +over. This is merely a humane provision for the comfort of the cod, who +otherwise would become unduly weary lying so long on one side." + +"We shall become unduly weary waiting for you," cried Amy, who had +entered the room during the latter part of Martine's speech. "I hope +that you are both ready, for it is almost train time." + +"All aboard then," cried Martine. "If my hat is on straight, nothing +need delay us. Let me help you with your valise, Priscilla. My luggage +has gone on." + +When they reached the station Mrs. Redmond and her party found that +after all they had some time to spare. At five minutes past the hour +they took their seats. "Standard time, Halifax time, hotel time, local +time," hummed Martine. "I wonder which we're starting by." + +Presently the conductor walked along the station platform to the little +waiting-room, and from the open window they heard him speak to some one +inside. + +"Have you made up your minds yet, ladies, about going?" he asked in a +polite tone. + +"Oh, gracious, yes," exclaimed a shrill voice. "We were waiting for the +bell;" and two elderly women hurried toward the train with their +knitting in their hands. Amy had noticed them busily knitting there, in +a corner, when she passed. It seemed, by the conductor's subsequent +explanation, that knowing they were uncertain whether to go by that +train or the next, he had patiently waited for them to decide. + +Bear River was one of the places where Mrs. Redmond had planned to stay. +After a short railroad journey that included a passage over some +wonderful bridges, beyond which was a great extent of water, and after a +drive of five or six miles, they found themselves gazing down at +picturesque Bear River. The beautiful town sloped to a broad stream, its +white houses and spires half hidden by trees. + +"It reminds me of Switzerland," cried Martine. + +"It's a dream," exclaimed Priscilla. + +"I don't believe Fritz has seen anything more beautiful," added Amy. + +"It deserves a more beautiful name," said Mrs. Redmond. + +"But, really, mamma, it's named for Imbert, the explorer, and the name +doesn't seem so bad when we think of that." + +Their day in Bear River proved to be a gala day of the town. They had +arrived at the height of the Cherry Carnival, and games and boat-races +and other festivities had been arranged as part of the celebration. The +girls were up very early that first morning, and soon after breakfast +Martine was out with her camera, taking snapshots in every direction. A +fat old squaw in a red jersey pretended to be afraid of the kodak, and +turned her head; but there was a grin on her face as she looked around, +which Martine quickly caught. Another squaw, also fat, with a little +pappoose in her arms and another clinging to her skirts, begged Martine +to take her. + +"Where you live?" asked Martine, as if talking to a child. + +"Up there," pointing vaguely in the distance. + +"Where?" + +"Reservation; you come see." + +Martine was interested. + +"Is it far?" + +"Oh, no." + +"What's your name?" asked Martine. + +"Marie Brown. You find my house." + +Though the name didn't seem to fit the Indian, Martine was glad that it +was one that she could remember; for all in a moment she had made up her +mind to visit the Reservation. + +During the morning, while she watched the sports and chatted with the +bystanders and ate dozens and dozens of the famous Bear River cherries, +Martine said nothing to the others of her intention of visiting the +Reservation. It would be easy enough to borrow Amy's bicycle and say +that she did not care to drive with the others. + +Everything happened as she planned. + +"Bear River is so hilly," said Mrs. Redmond, "that you will hardly wheel +very far. But yet it's a quiet little place, and there is no risk in +your doing some sight-seeing by yourself." + +Martine soon found herself on a road leading toward the Micmac +Reservation; she had asked her way once or twice, and felt lonely as +houses and shops were left behind; but though she was going in the +direction of the Reservation, she saw nothing to remind her of Indians. + +"Where are the wigwams? Surely with so many Indians around there must be +wigwams somewhere." + +Martine looked about anxiously at trees, bushes, and at one or two small +wooden houses. She had been riding for half an hour, and she felt that +she had not taken the wrong way. There was nothing to do but to inquire +at one of the little houses. As she approached it, she realized that it +was an Indian dwelling; three pappooses were playing in front of it, and +a tall, thin squaw, in a purple calico gown, came out to the door as she +entered the gate. + +"Marie Brown," said the woman; "oh, that far away. Too far for you; you +better go home; it's late." + +Martine knew that this was intended as advice, not as discourtesy, but +Martine was not fond of advice, and she decided that if she could not +see Marie Brown she would visit the chapel, of which she had heard some +one speak at dinner that day. + +When she asked the way, the woman drew her one side to an open space +behind the house, where, on a hill that did not look too remote, she saw +a small, square building with a cross on top for a steeple; so after a +little conversation with the squaw about her people and their way of +living, Martine pushed on toward the hill. She soon found that she must +leave her bicycle behind, as there was no good road and the path was +steep, and finding a spot that was screened by bushes, she left her +wheel there; so on she went on foot until she had come to the enclosure, +in the centre of which stood the Micmac Chapel. + +Seen at close range, it looked like a toy church, built plainly of wood, +absolutely simple and bare on the outside. Martine raised herself on a +ledge of wood so that she could look in through the windows. There was +something almost pathetic in the tawdry attempts at decoration--the +little altar draped with old lace curtains and gold lace and some faded +flowers. On top there was a silver cross within a white canopy, and a +small altar with a canopy in the corner. Walking around the graveyard, +Martine noticed that there were French names on almost all the stones. + +Suddenly she was disturbed by the barking of a dog, and, following the +direction of the sound, she saw a house on a hill high above the chapel. +The dog was running up and down in front of the house, and barking +loudly, as if he detected the presence of a stranger near the church. +Martine remembered that the Indian woman in the cabin below had spoken +of the chief's house near the church, but this did not reassure her. +Perhaps the chief, himself, would object to the presence of a young +American girl, and she began to wonder how she should make her peace +with him if he should interfere; she was less afraid of the possible +chief, however, than of the very real dog, whose barking still +continued. To leave the enclosure by the way she had come would bring +her out in full view of the creature. To avoid this, therefore, with +some difficulty she climbed a fence at the other side, believing that +she was going straight in the direction of the bicycle. But alas for her +miscalculations! She was in a tangled thicket of shrubbery; she tore her +dress and scratched her ankles, and she could not get back to the +bicycle nor even find the cabin from which she had been directed to the +chapel. + +When at last she reached the broad road, she sat down disconsolately by +the side of a fence. + +"Why was I so foolish as to borrow Amy's bicycle?" Had it been her own +wheel, so reckless was Martine's disposition, she would have left it +behind without a qualm. Yet though it was quite possible for her to buy +a new one for Amy, it did not seem quite right to return to the hotel +without it. While she was pondering, without seeing any way out of the +difficulty, she heard a shrill voice crying,-- + +"Hi, lady, hi!" + +Turning about, she saw the tall, thin Indian woman in the purple gown +walking down the hill and guiding the bicycle beside her. + +"Why, how did you know I was here?" asked Martine, after she had thanked +her profusely. + +"Oh, I could see the way you start from the chapel, and I thought you +not find your wheel, so I thought I bring him." + +Martine, thanking the woman warmly, gave her all the silver that she +happened to have in her purse,--not a very large sum from her point of +view, but magnificent from that of the Indian. + +The squaw then walked with her down the hill and into the village, +saying that young ladies should not go so far alone. As they walked, +Martine asked several questions about Indian life, and was told that, in +the summer, many were away selling baskets or fishing; they would be +coming back soon, she said, and even as she spoke Martine looked toward +the river on which two canoes were gliding, each containing two or three +Indians and their numerous belongings. + +"They are coming back for St. Anne's Day," said the woman; "great time +then at the chapel." + +They had not gone very far together when, turning a corner, the two came +suddenly on Priscilla and Amy. + +"Oh, Martine," cried the latter, "where have you been? We have had our +tea, and mother is so worried about you." + +"I hope it was a good tea and that you saved me some," rejoined Martine; +"for now that you mention it, though I hadn't thought of it before, I +realize that I'm half starved." + +"But where have you been?" + +"Oh, I've been a kind of babe in the woods, only there weren't any +berries for me to feed on, and all that I have to show for my adventure +are these tears in my gown." + +"Good-bye, ladies," said the Indian woman, while Martine was talking, +"and I thank you much," she concluded, holding out her hand to Martine. + +In a moment she had disappeared. + +"Is that another protegee?" asked Priscilla, a little sharply. + +Martine did not answer. She had already plunged into a lively account of +her afternoon, omitting nothing, not even her own carelessness in +relation to the bicycle. + +At the hotel Mrs. Redmond spoke to Martine more seriously about the +danger in expeditions by herself. "I had no idea that you thought of +doing anything beyond wheeling around the town," she said; "and if you +had met any real mishap, it would have been very hard for Amy and me, in +whose care your father and mother put you." + +So Martine promised that in the future she would be less thoughtless. +"Although to be honest," she added, "my thoughts are so apt to come +afterwards that it is almost dangerous to promise anything." + +That evening, in the little hotel parlor, when Martine narrated her +adventure, an old gentleman who was a permanent boarder there told her +many anecdotes of the Micmacs. + +"In the early days, as you know, they were very friendly to the French. +They were early baptized and became Roman Catholics, and as they began +to be civilized, they liked to be known by French names, and many +married with the French. The Canadian Government is very good to them, +and provides for them on reservations or encourages them to own land for +themselves. The children all go to school, some in reservation schools, +and some attend the ordinary day schools with white children. While some +of them still prefer to live by hunting, fishing, and Indian +handicrafts, others work in mills and on railroads; and, on the whole, +they compare well with the lower class of white citizens, for they _are_ +citizens with certain voting rights." + +"I thought they'd be more picturesque and like real savages," said +Martine. "I was so disappointed. There's something attractive in the +name 'Micmac,' and I supposed that at least they'd live in wigwams." + +"Considering the way in which you rushed in among them," interposed Mrs. +Redmond, "I should think you would be glad that you met only tame +Indians to-day." + +"Very tame," rejoined Martine. "Only a tall, thin Indian woman in a +purple calico gown." + +"There are certainly not many of the original red men left in Nova +Scotia," said Mr. Dolph, the gentleman who had been talking to them. +"There are some collections of their legends that are interesting to +read, and the names of many Nova Scotia places are of Indian origin." + +"Oh, yes," said Amy; "I came across some lines to-day that I copied," +and she began to recite: + + "'The memory of the Red Man, + How can it pass away? + While their names of music linger, + On each mount and stream and bay? + While Musquodoboit's waters + Roll sparkling to the main, + While falls the laughing sunbeam + On Chegoggin's fields of grain?'" + +The next morning, when they were ready to leave Bear River, Amy decided +to wheel rather than drive to the station. It was hardly five miles, +over a main road, and she felt that she needed exercise. + +"Keep us in sight, Amy." + +"Oh, yes, if I don't pass you," she replied. + +But Amy at first lagged behind,--there were so many lovely points of +view, and she stopped several times to enjoy them to the utmost. What a +curious effect, to look down on the river, or rather to look down from a +hill, and see a ship apparently moored among trees! Of course the +explanation was that the beautiful Bear River lay in a narrow valley, +surrounded by hills that descended sharply to its very margin, with +trees so close together on its banks as to produce the strange effect +that Amy had noted. + +The carriage was out of sight when Amy finally pushed on. Shortly she +realized that pedalling required great effort. At first she ascribed her +difficulty to the hills, but a slight grating of the wheel made her look +at her tires, and, to her dismay, she found a small puncture. What +should she do? She glanced at her watch, and was surprised to see how +much time she had lost. One or two wagons had already passed her on +their way to the train, and she regretted that she had not called for +help. It might have been ignominious--it certainly would have been more +discreet--to make her appearance at the station carried in a wagon +rather than to lose her train altogether, as now appeared probable. She +stopped a boy whom she met walking toward her. + +"How far is it to the station?" she asked. + +"Only a little way," he replied, after the fashion of boys, and she +pushed on hopefully. She heard wheels in the distance, and made up her +mind to humiliate herself to the extent of asking the new-comer to +assist her; but when the vehicle came in sight it proved to be a narrow, +one-seated buggy, and its three passengers seemed more than enough for +it. A little farther on she heard an ominous whistle. The train was +nearing the station. She felt indignant. + +"Why should this particular train be on time on this particular day? +Nova Scotia trains are not noted for hurrying." + +Now she was walking and dragging her bicycle along. She met a number of +persons who evidently had left the train at the Bear River station and +were walking up to their homes. Then she heard the engine whistle again +as the signal for starting on, and she knew that it was useless to go +down to the station itself. She stood still for a moment, half +paralyzed. Of course there was no special danger; her mother and the +others might go on to Annapolis without her, and she could return to +Bear River for the night; but it was all very mortifying. Then a sudden +thought came to her; in fact, it had occurred to her when she first +discovered the punctured wheel. + +"If Fritz were with me, he would have found some way of mending the +puncture; in fact, one man is almost necessary on an excursion." That +was what Fritz himself had said to her. + +She recalled his very words, and the remark with which he had +ended,--"Then you'll remember me." + +But there was no time for reflection now. The train was coming slowly +along the bridges; Amy could see the smoke from the engine. Between her +and the track lay an open space--a slight decline from the point where +she stood on the road--covered with long grass and bushes. A quick +impulse urged her on; at the worst she could only fail; Nova Scotia +conductors were very obliging, and there was more than half a chance +that she might succeed. She lifted her bicycle across her arm, managed +to climb over the low fence, and was pushing her way down the hill as +the train drew near. A man, probably the conductor, was standing on the +platform of a car; she waved her hand violently. The train seemed to +move more slowly; a man thrust his head out of the engine cab; he, too, +had seen her. She was now not far from the track; the train stood still; +the conductor leaped down from his post, plunged into the shrubbery, +relieved her of her wheel, and she followed him without a word; then one +or two passengers pulled her on board the train, the signal was given, +and the engine started on. + +"Lucky it wasn't a flying express," said one of the passengers. + +"I guess they wouldn't do that in the States," said another. + +Red-faced and crestfallen, Amy found herself a moment later in the bosom +of her family. + +"A punctured tire," she began. + +"Yes, yes; don't try to talk." + +Amy sat still. + +Martine fanned her. + +Priscilla brought her a glass of water. + +Her mother asked for no explanation. + +The passengers stared at her; the majority as if amused, though. One or +two talked as if they thought their rights had been infringed. + +"We were sorry," Mrs. Redmond said later, "to go without you, but it was +better for you to be left than for the rest of us to lose the train; we +knew you could go back to Bear River, and we could have telegraphed you +what to do; we knew you would be equal to the occasion." + +"So I was." + +"Well, we hardly expected you to stop a train." + +"Oh, the train stopped me." + +"'All's well that ends well'" + +Later in the day Martine came over to sit beside Amy. + +"I'm afraid, Amy, that I may have punctured your tire yesterday; the +road to the chapel was so very stony." + +"Tires are bound to be punctured," replied Amy, "and if this hadn't +happened when it did, I shouldn't have had the fun of stopping a train." + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + OLD PORT ROYAL + + +At Annapolis, the old Port Royal, Amy and her party were to stay longer +than at any other place. They had engaged rooms at a pleasant house +where there were no other boarders, and when they had unpacked their +trunks, began to feel as if they were really away for the summer. + +"We have a fine view of the river," said Mrs. Redmond to Martine the +morning after their arrival, as they looked from the windows of her +room, which was at the rear of the house. + +"River!" sniffed Martine; "I see nothing but red mud and green marshes; +I wonder where the water is." + +"You won't ask that question at high tide; you'll find water enough to +float a small vessel," she replied, "and if you look a little beyond our +immediate neighborhood, you can see the whole Basin, and far, far away +there in the distance, I suppose, that land is Digby. I am going out to +sketch immediately after breakfast; I've seen several photographs of the +old fort, and I have special reasons for wishing to make a sketch of it; +and you, Martine, will get plenty of inspiration for your water-colors." + +Amy was in her element at Annapolis. She had already given some time to +the history of the old town, and anticipated great pleasure in retracing +the steps of the brave Frenchmen who had made it famous. + +"More French history!" Priscilla exclaimed, when Amy began to talk about +De Monts and Poutrincourt; "when shall we hear about the English?" and +Priscilla, with a wry face, continued, "I'm so tired of the French." + +"All in good time," responded Amy; "but now we must take things in due +order and not skip about as we did. Let us go with the others into the +port to-day, and while they are sketching I'll talk a little about its +history." + +So it was that, while Mrs. Redmond and Martine were making sketches of +the sally-port and old officers' quarters, Amy, seated near them, played +the part of historian and guide. + +"This fort, you know, is from Vauban's plans, with four bastions and +connecting curtains." + +"Do you suppose there's a moat?" interrupted Priscilla; "it looks as if +there should be one here." + +"There used to be a wet ditch in the eighteenth century, and I suppose +that was much the same thing, though it's dry now." + +"Oh, I can tell you something more entertaining than that," interposed +Martine. "They used to have logs on the top of the parapet ready to roll +down on the heads of assailants. But tell me, Amy, I've forgotten; did +Champlain build this fort?" + +"My dear Martine, where is your history? Vauban and Champlain; oh, no. +Champlain's fort is six miles down the river, opposite Goat Island." + +"Then who first built this fort?" + +"Probably D'Aunay first planned it, and it was improved by Brouillan and +Subercase. You must remember that it has suffered twenty attacks and ten +regular sieges. There's little good in talking about it until you know +the history of the times better." + +"Oh, dear," murmured Martine, "of course I knew this was to be an +improving trip, and yet I do think it's hard to have to learn history in +the summer." + +"I'm afraid there's no escape for it," said Amy; "the fog is rolling in, +and this afternoon I will tell you once for all certain things that will +give you great interest in Annapolis during your stay here." + +So, undisturbed by further historical information during the morning, +Martine, under Mrs. Redmond's direction, completed her sketch of the +officers' quarters within the fort,--a quaint old building, with its +thirty-six chimneys and thirty-six fireplaces, every one of which had +probably been needed in the long and cold winters of old Acadia. + +As Amy had prophesied, the afternoon was foggy, and she felt little +compunction in insisting that Martine as well as Priscilla should join +her before her open fire while she talked to them of Port Royal history. + +"Although some French," she said, "may have visited Acadia as early as +1504, our starting point is 1604, when De Monts, who was a nobleman of +the Court of Henry Fourth, and Champlain, and Poutrincourt, and +Pontgrave came out on a voyage of exploration. Poutrincourt seems to +have been the one most anxious to make a permanent settlement here. +Champlain was the geographer and map-maker of the expedition, and was +also on the search for ores. The grant of the land known as Acadia had +been given by Henry Fourth to De Monts. He, as well as Pontgrave had +been on a previous expedition to the New World. At first they were +delighted with Acadia. They saw fine opportunities for fur-trading as +well as for a permanent settlement. But after visiting the shores of the +Annapolis Basin, they made a mistake by going farther south to the St. +Croix River, and they spent their first winter on an island some +distance from its mouth. This proved a bad thing, for the climate was +severe and many of the colonists died; so when the weather permitted +they went back to the neighborhood of Port Royal and set up their houses +and built a small fort on Goat Island. + +"They found the Indians everywhere very friendly, especially the old +chief, Membertou, who was said to be nearly one hundred years old. + +"When their buildings were finished, De Monts sailed back for France, +knowing that he could be spared until after the harvests were gathered. +Pontgrave was left in charge of the colony in his absence, assisted by +Champlain and Champdore. When the spring of 1606 came and De Monts had +not returned, the colonists were alarmed. They needed the supplies that +he had promised to bring them, and they were afraid that something had +happened to him. So, late in July, Pontgrave started off to see if he +could not find some fishing-vessel to take them all back to France. + +"In the meantime, De Monts in France had had trouble in getting people +to interest themselves in the Port Royal Colony. But Poutrincourt, who +had returned with him, proved his best friend, and helped in fitting out +a vessel called the 'Jonas,' and promised to return to Acadia with De +Monts, and take his family with him, to establish a permanent colony. + +"With them came Lescarbot, an advocate of Paris, who afterwards wrote a +full account of his residence in Acadia, from which we learn many +interesting details that, but for him, we would not know. Pontgrave fell +in with a shallop from De Monts' vessel and all returned to Port Royal. +De Monts wasn't perfectly satisfied with Port Royal for a permanent +settlement, and he persuaded Poutrincourt to make a journey farther +south to find a better place; but this expedition ended badly, and +Poutrincourt returned, convinced that he could be better off at Port +Royal than anywhere else in the New World. + +"Unluckily, the merchants in France who had supplied money for this +trading colony sent word that they had decided to give it up. Without +money with which to trade, the colony could not prosper, and so the +majority of the colonists decided to go back to France. Poutrincourt, +however, was determined to come back, and he took home with him +specimens of grain grown in Acadia, and various animal, vegetable, and +mineral products, to show the King what could be raised in Acadia. The +King encouraged him to go back, and ratified the grant of land that De +Monts had given him. + +"So Poutrincourt returned to Acadia, and it is greatly to the credit of +the Indians he had left in charge that all the buildings were unharmed. +A new crop of grain, planted by the Indians, was growing finely, and +Membertou and savages welcomed him very cordially. + +"The King had given him a grant of money to be used for the Church and +he brought with him a Jesuit priest, who baptized the savages by +wholesale. + +"In the summer of 1610, Poutrincourt sent his son, Biencourt, back to +France to report the conversion of the savages and the general +prosperity of the colony. Things in France were not going to be very +favorable now for Poutrincourt. When Biencourt arrived in Paris, it was +not long after the assassination of Henry Fourth. The Jesuits were now +anxious to get control of Acadia, and, to make a long story short, +Madame De Guercheville obtained a grant from the King of the very land +that De Monts had granted to Poutrincourt; Biencourt had to take certain +Jesuits back with him to Acadia; and there was much dissension in the +little colony. But what really proved its downfall was an attack made in +1613 by the Virginian Argall, who killed and captured many of the +inhabitants and burnt all the buildings to the ground. Poutrincourt made +no effort to re-establish Port Royal, but Biencourt, his son, remained +in the woods, living, with a few companions, the life of an Indian." + +"Oh, yes, it was he, was it not," said Priscilla, "who was the friend of +Charles La Tour down at Fort St. Louis?" + +"The very man," replied Amy. "I often think that if Biencourt had left a +record of his wanderings we should have something very interesting. He +and his father made a good fight for New France, but circumstances were +too strong for them." + +"Thank you," said Priscilla. "I understand better than I did before how +the French happened to settle Port Royal." + +"Why," asked Martine, "did that Virginian--Argall, I think you called +him--wish to interfere with the French? Jamestown had been settled only +six years when he came up here and attacked Port Royal, and there wasn't +any Plymouth, then, Priscilla." + +"He had no real right to interfere, but the English, even then, claimed +the whole coast of North America, basing their claims on the discoveries +of the Cabots; Argall himself, however, is considered little more than a +pirate, and no Englishman justifies his destruction of the prosperous +and peaceful colony at Port Royal. + +"The next settlement here was under the auspices of Sir William +Alexander, a friend of James the First. You remember that he made La +Tour a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He had great plans, and his colony was +near Goat Island. I am told that some people here in Annapolis still +speak about the Scotch fort, some trace of which is yet to be seen. + +"War between France and England finally put an end to Sir William +Alexander's colony, and it was Charles La Tour who did more than any one +else to make Acadia of some importance to France. He claimed that +Biencourt, Poutrincourt's son, when he died in 1623, had left all his +claims to Acadia to him, including the position of Governor." + +"Amy," said Martine, yawning slightly, "this is all very interesting, +but unless I have time to digest it I shall forget it entirely. Let us +put history aside until another day and see if we cannot find something +more amusing." + +"I'm going downstairs for a moment," said Priscilla; "I have an idea the +mail has come." + +In a moment she returned with a handful of letters. + +"Boston, Plymouth, two from Shelburne--where's that? I suppose that I +may look at the postmarks?" + +"Give, give," cried Martine, and Priscilla put a couple in her hand. + +"Only one for me," said Amy, "and it's from Fritz; he's at Shelburne. +Did you have one too, mamma?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Redmond, who had just entered the room. + +"Oh, I thought there were two Shelburne postmarks." + +Priscilla noticed Martine's heightened color, and an idea that had come +to her at Yarmouth now returned. As it was a matter in which she had no +real right to meddle, she said nothing. + +"What does Fritz say?" asked Mrs. Redmond, turning to Amy. + +"That he's having the time of his life, that he and Taps have found the +best fishing in the world, and like Nova Scotia so much that they may +bring a party of their own here next summer. What he writes about the +French of Pubnico sounds exactly like Meteghan and Church Point, so I'll +skip all that; Shelburne seems more romantic, and I almost wish it had +lain in our path. He says it has one of the finest harbors he ever saw, +but I will read you a little in his own words. + +"'Shelburne, my dear Amy, is like the ghost of a city, to one who has +imagination. It was planned to be the chief city of Nova Scotia, and +there is something rather tragic in looking at the broad streets that +were meant for a larger city. Hardly one of the fine old houses remains. +They say that twelve thousand Loyalists came here just after the +Revolution, and most of them were rich and influential. The frames of +large houses were brought and set up here; people tried to live as they +would in a great city, with servants and every luxury. With such a great +harbor they expected to have a great seaport; but the trouble was, there +was nothing in the country back of them. There was no farming land, and +no farmers to supply produce for the ships in the harbor to carry away +in exchange for other goods. After a while people found they had used up +the money they had brought with them from New York and other places. +Then those who could left Shelburne. Some went away leaving their houses +fully furnished, and they never came back. They went to Halifax, to +Annapolis, or even back to New York and Boston after the bitter feeling +over the war had gone down. + +"'If you were here, Amy, you'd find plenty of material for poems in +Shelburne, especially on moonlight nights like last night, when Taps and +I wandered up and down the broad streets, trying to imagine what +Shelburne must have been in the days of its greatness. I hope that you +and the others are enjoying yourselves as much as you expected to, +without me or any other masculine disturber of the peace. I haven't a +doubt that your mother thinks we've been pretty badly treated. She +always was an unusually sensible woman, and we'd have been useful to +carry your bags, if nothing more; however, mark my words, before your +journey is over you will sigh for me more than once, and the day will +come when you'll really need me.'" + +"He thinks enough of himself, doesn't he?" said Martine. + +"Oh, he's not really conceited," replied Amy, "and I dare say that he +would liven us up a little; but on the whole things are best as they +are." + +"Aren't you quieter than usual, Martine?" asked Amy that evening. + +"Well, I had a letter from papa to-day," she said, "and he says that +mamma is really very ill, and that they may have to stay abroad all +summer. I have just written him about Yvonne; but of course it will be +some time before I can get an answer." + +"What do you want him to do?" asked Amy,--"to let you adopt her? She's +almost as tall as you are." + +"Well, I'm not sure what I want, but I know that if Yvonne should have +her voice cultivated she'd be a great prima donna, and what a feather in +my cap to have been her discoverer!" + +"I fear that your father would need more than your opinion to enable him +to decide a matter like that. In fact, only an expert musician could +make a safe prophecy about Yvonne." + +"Well, at least, I hope that he will consent to letting her go to Boston +to study next winter. We could find a doctor to help her eyesight." + +"Why not ask your father to invest in Alexander's gold mine?" asked Amy, +with a smile; "then he could do everything for Yvonne himself." + +"That isn't the point. I've really taken a great fancy to Yvonne, and I +want to have her near me. Have you written to Pierre yet?" + +"Oh, yes; I went out this morning and bought him a copy of Longfellow. +He had never owned one himself, and was anxious to have it. I have asked +him to write us so that we shall get the letter at Grand Pre." + +"It's time Priscilla had a protegee," said Martine, "though she doesn't +seem the kind of person to adopt anything very warmly except her own +opinions." + +This was a rather sharp remark for Martine to make, and it convinced Amy +of something that she had tried to doubt--that the two girls were really +rather far apart, "and both such charming girls," she said to herself. + +Martine's letters with the Pubnico and Shelburne postmarks had given +Priscilla considerable concern. Though not a meddler, she yet saw +Martine's lack of frankness about those letters. Priscilla knew that +neither was in the handwriting of Fritz Tomkins, and she was sure that +they were written by the Freshman with him whom she knew only by the +name of "Taps." She was now quite convinced, also, that it really was +Martine whom Amy had seen wheeling through the streets of Yarmouth with +this same youth. That it was no concern of hers she realized perfectly; +and yet, she wondered if it might not be her duty to tell Mrs. Redmond +what she knew. Priscilla was over-conscientious; she was always more +ready to disclose her own faults than to conceal them,--to disclose, at +least, faults that she herself recognized. She did not altogether +realize that a certain form of censoriousness was growing upon her; that +she was too much inclined to measure all people by her own standard. + +Thus many little things that Martine did quite innocently and naturally +seemed to Priscilla bits of affectation. Martine's hand was ever in her +pocket. When it was a question of buying books or fruit or some other +little thing for the traveller, Martine always managed to pay for it, +and Priscilla thought that her readiness to do this came from a desire +to display the size of her allowance. Priscilla herself, on the other +hand, had to be careful about little expenses, and while their present +trip called for no great expenditure, she hated to be obliged so often +to thank Martine for small luxuries. Then, too, Martine had an +extravagant way of talking that disturbed the serious Priscilla. She +could not say that she had ever found Martine in a real untruth. Still, +Martine's way was not her way, and instead of drawing nearer together as +the journey progressed, the two girls were farther apart. + +Martine, on her part, thought Priscilla rather old-fashioned, but +accounted for the seriousness of her dress and her manner by the fact +that she was still in mourning for her father, who had died of fever +contracted in Cuba at the beginning of the late war. + +Perhaps it was because she realized that her prejudices were a little +unreasonable, that Priscilla hesitated about speaking to Amy or Mrs. +Redmond regarding the suspicious postmarks. + +The long "historical disquisition," as Martine called it, that Amy had +given them on their first day at Annapolis, was not immediately followed +by another. Their mornings were spent in sketching in the neighborhood, +and their afternoons in driving. One day they crossed the Grandville +Ferry and went down to the old fort near Goat Island. But though they +all professed to see slight traces of the earthworks, it required +imagination rather than eyesight to discern even a slight trace of +Poutrincourt's fort. + +"It's one of the ironies of history," said Amy, "that tradition should +speak of this as a Scotch fort, for the Scotch were here so short a time +before the French were again in power." + +"What became of the Scotch?" asked Priscilla. + +"It is supposed that most of them went back home, and that the few who +stayed intermarried with the conquering French. Sir William Alexander +and his Baronets of Nova Scotia made little impression on Acadia." + +"Amy," said Martine, "of all the people you've told us about the most +interesting to me is young Biencourt, wandering about in the woods and +living like an Indian; I even dreamt about him the other night. How did +he happen to escape when Argall destroyed the fort?" + +"Oh, he and some of his companions were up there where Annapolis now is, +working in their grain fields; you know they had a mill up there, and +rich fields of grain. The fort itself was not in a good location,--at +least for farming. It is said that Argall and the other Virginians were +not aware of the existence of the mill and the fields, and when they had +destroyed the fort, thought that there was nothing left for the French." + +"You may be pretty sure," said Martine, "they wouldn't have let anything +escape if they'd known; the English are always greedy." + +"They are not a bit worse than the French," retorted Priscilla. "Just +think how cruel the French were during the Reign of Terror." + +"Oh, that's an entirely different kind of thing; the French are never +half as anxious to grab other people's land as the English are." + +"There, there," interposed Amy, "I'll have to be a Board of +International Arbitration; in other words, let us have peace. There's +one thing," she continued, "I feel as if young Biencourt kept alive the +love of the French for Port Royal. Charles La Tour was himself only a +boy like Biencourt when he first came to the New World. The King had +certainly given Poutrincourt rights in Acadia, and he had passed them on +to his son. Poutrincourt was killed at the Siege of Marye in 1610, +scarcely three years before Argall's destruction of Port Royal." + + + + + CHAPTER X + + EXPLORATIONS + + +"How very gay your attire, Martine! Do you think of paying afternoon +visits?" + +"No, my dear Amy, I do not, because I know no one to visit; but I'm +tired of cloth skirts and a shirt-waist, and I thought I would like to +see how it would feel to wear something decent." + +Martine's gown was a pale blue voile, made up over a bright blue lining, +with a delicate white insertion on the waist; her hat, a blue chip, +trimmed with white flowers, and she carried a parasol to match. + +"Is your gown quite suitable for a walk on a dusty road?" + +"Perhaps it isn't," responded Martine, "but sometimes one must live up +to her feelings, and this is how I feel to-day,--like wearing my very +best; besides, this is nothing remarkable, this dress, but it happens to +be the best I have with me." + +"Very well," and Amy sighed; "it's no use to argue with you, and as soon +as Priscilla comes downstairs we'll set off." + +When Priscilla appeared, she, like Amy, had a short cloth skirt and +shirt-waist, but she made no comment on the elegance of Martine's +appearance. + +There was one thing rather incongruous in Martine's aspect,--she carried +a small shovel, which looked as if it had never been used; such, indeed, +was the case, and as she brandished it she said cheerfully, "I hope we +shall go somewhere where we can dig. I hear there's any amount of hidden +treasure around Annapolis, and I am anxious to get some of it for +myself." + +The girls walked a good while before they saw anything likely to reward +an amateur antiquarian. Then, in a field quite outside the town, +Martine's sharp eyes saw something that interested her. In a moment she +was over the fence, with the others following. + +"There," she said excitedly, "you see these very old, gnarled +apple-trees and this clump of willows; I'm perfectly sure that this used +to be an Acadian farm." + +"That's a safe guess," rejoined Amy, "for all the land about here was +once in the hands of the Acadians." + +"Yes, but I think from this little mound and that hollow beside it that +there was a house on this very spot. I noticed what Dr. Gray said when +he was talking to your mother last evening, and that was what decided me +to do some digging for myself." + +"In a blue voile dress," responded Amy, in a tone of disapproval. "Ah, +Martine, you are so absurd!" + +Even while Amy was speaking Martine had begun to dig,--aimlessly, of +course, although in a few minutes she had made a fairly large hole. When +her shovel struck something hard she was delighted, but, digging deeper, +she brought up only a piece of broken brick. Undiscouraged, she dug one +side of the first hole, and presently she held out to Amy what at first +puzzled them both. It looked like a mere bit of rusty iron, but later +they decided that it was probably part of an old lock. + +"Which I shall label 'Exhibit No. 1' in my museum of curiosities," said +Martine. + +"Let me see what I can do," cried Amy; "you must be tired." + +So Martine surrendered her shovel, and in a quarter of an hour Amy +brought up an old bottle, not at all remarkable in shape, but very +valuable from Martine's point of view, because it was undoubtedly an +Acadian trophy. + +Priscilla contented herself with some slips from an ancient willow-tree. + +"It is not the best time of year for making cuttings," she said, "but +these French willows cling to life as closely as the proverbial cat. I +heard of a man who had a walking-stick cut from a willow-tree. It looked +as hard and dry as a bone, but one day he happened to stick it in the +ground near a spring and forgot all about it. Some time afterwards, when +he passed, the walking-stick was sending out little shoots, and in time +it became a full-fledged willow-tree." + +"That's a very good story," commented Martine, "and as we know you never +tell anything but the exact truth, Priscilla, neither Amy nor I would +think of doubting it." + +As the trio were walking back toward town they met Mrs. Redmond, +driving. + +"Come," she cried, "which two of you will drive with me? You slipped off +this afternoon without my realizing that you were going away, and now I +want company." + +"I would rather stroll along," replied Amy, "but I am sure that Martine +and Priscilla would enjoy the drive. Martine is turning antiquarian, and +if your driver can take you to some old grave or Indian mound, she will +be delighted to use her shovel." + +"I don't know what I can promise in the way of graves and mounds, but if +Martine comes with me I can offer her a lovely view." + +"If you please, Mrs. Redmond," said Priscilla, "I would rather walk back +home than drive." + +Although Amy tried to make her change her mind, Priscilla was firm, and +the discussion ended by Amy's getting into the carriage with Martine and +Mrs. Redmond. + +As she walked along the main street, where the houses were still rather +far apart, Priscilla noticed a little graveyard in a corner of a garden. +As the gate was open, she felt at liberty to walk inside. The stones at +which she glanced were of marble, and the inscriptions were well cut. +The names on two or three of them were French, and the men who bore them +had evidently been officers in the English army. This interested her, +and when she saw a girl of about her own age standing at the door of a +cottage near by, she felt emboldened to speak to her. + +"They were not really French," said the girl, in answer to her question, +"but of Huguenot family, who fought for the King in the Revolution. I've +heard my mother say that one of them was a cousin of her grandmother's, +and they all came here together at the close of the war." + +Priscilla was delighted. Here, perhaps, was a person who would tell her +something about the Loyalists of the Revolution. + +"Were your people Loyalists?" she asked. + +"Why, of course," was the reply, as if anything else were unsupposable. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" responded Priscilla. "I've been waiting to hear more +about the Loyalists." + +"You are an American?" questioned the girl. "Americans are not apt to +care about Loyalists; they seem to think only about the Acadians; but my +ancestors were all Loyalists, and if you will just come into the house +my mother would love to talk to you." + +So Priscilla followed her new acquaintance indoors. Outside, the house +looked small, but within she found many rooms opening one into another, +none of them very large, and all of them with low ceilings. + +"My mother's great-grandfather built this house when he first came from +New York. He was an officer in the Loyal American Regiment. There is his +commission; we framed it to hang on the wall." + +"By His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., General and +Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the Colonies lying +on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West Florida inclusive, etc., +etc., etc. + +"By Virtue of the Power and Authority in Me vested, I DO hereby +constitute and appoint You to be Captain of a Company in the Loyal +American Regiment commanded by Colonel Beverly Robinson." + +Priscilla read the whole commission in which the duties of the newly +made captain were defined, to the very end where the signature of Sir +Henry Clinton still stood out clearly. + +While the new acquaintance went to call her mother, Priscilla looked +around the pleasant sitting-room. There was a high, old-fashioned +bookcase filled with books, many of them in dingy calf bindings. The +young girl returned while she was looking at them, expressing her regret +that her mother was not at home. + +"My grandfather brought many of these books from New York," she said; +"he was a nephew of the rector of Trinity Church, and was himself a +graduate of King's College, New York." + +"I don't see how they had the courage to give up everything and come +down here so far away. Even if they did not like the new government, I +should think they would rather have stayed where most of their friends +and relatives were." + +"Oh, it wasn't always a matter of choice," rejoined Eunice, for this, +Priscilla discovered, was her new friend's name; "some had to come, +because they had been too active in the King's cause and the other side +would not forgive them. Even after the Peace many were in danger of +imprisonment; and then a great many had had all their property +confiscated, and thought it would be easier to start over again down +here than to live in poverty among their old friends and neighbors." + +Priscilla looked in amazement at Eunice. She expressed herself so much +more carefully than most girls of her age. + +"Martine would call her quaint," thought Priscilla, looking at her, "and +if she knows as much about other things as she does about history, she +must be a wonder." + +"I wish my mother were here," said Eunice, politely. "She gets quite +worked up when she talks about the Loyalists." + +"I should think she would," responded Priscilla. "They certainly had a +hard time." + +"She thinks that we have been cut off from things that really are our +own, and now, when we have so little money that I can't even afford to +go away to college, she feels more and more indignant at the injustice +of it all." + +Priscilla did not know exactly what to say. In her mind there was a +struggle between her feeling of patriotism and her sense of justice. As +Eunice had put it, it did not seem fair that the Loyalists should have +lost everything, simply because they had had the courage to hold out for +the King. But a phrase came into her mind that she had often heard, and +for the moment it seemed the only sentiment that she could express. + +"After all," she said gently, "I suppose it was the 'fortune of war' +that your people suffered so much." + +"Oh, yes," responded Eunice, "that is what I often say to my mother; and +then I tell her too, that in one hundred and twenty-five years the +family probably would have lost all the property they had before the +Revolution." + +Finding that the subject was getting a little beyond her, Priscilla +ventured a more general remark. + +"There must be many interesting historical incidents connected with +Annapolis; I mean, incidents that are not French," she concluded +hastily. "I am just a little tired, myself, of the Acadians." + +"I don't know of many very entertaining things," responded Eunice, "but +I remember one story that might amuse you. During the Revolution, the +people of Annapolis were awfully afraid of attacks from Privateers. You +see, after the Acadians were driven out a large colony from New England +came down here. They received grants of land from the government, and +were very prosperous when the war began. Many were on the side of the +Yankees, but in the end England was able to hold Nova Scotia. However, +the small privateering vessels were constantly coming into Nova Scotia +ports, and even Annapolis wasn't perfectly safe. One night two rebel +schooners came up to the mouth of the river; they had about eighty men, +and landed them safely, because the sentry at the fort was asleep. They +entered the houses and stirred people up immensely; they seemed more +bent on making mischief than in doing any real violence. There were not +many citizens here in the town then, but one of them, looking from the +window when he heard a noise in the street, saw two of the rebels +disputing over something they had stolen; when they saw him at the +window, they dashed into his house, and a minute or two afterwards +another Annapolis man, only half dressed, rushed excitedly into the room +to tell his friend that the Yankees were plundering the town; this was +unnecessary information, because, as I have said, two rebels were +already in the house. He discovered them with their bayonets pointed at +him just as he had finished telling his story, and he was so surprised +that he fell backward over a cradle, with his feet in the air. His +comical appearance made the rebels laugh so, that he afterwards said +that this saved his life, for before they had recovered he had jumped to +his feet and run away. But later he and all the other able-bodied +citizens were shut up in the fort, while the men from the schooners went +through the houses and carried away everything movable. They allowed the +ladies to keep their shoes, though they first removed the silver +buckles. The schooners disappeared in the morning, when the report was +spread around that the militia of the county were gathering and coming +to Annapolis. That, I believe, was the only attack on Annapolis during +the Revolution. It happened two or three years before the arrival of the +refugees, and the accounts of it that have been handed down always +represented it as a very comical affair." + +"Did you say 'Yankees'?" asked Priscilla. "Did you mean--" + +"Oh, I meant schooners from New England; I've heard they were from Cape +Cod," replied Eunice. + +"It was pretty small business," said Priscilla, almost apologetically. +"I don't believe that the men on the schooners were either soldiers or +sailors. I am sure that Washington wouldn't have approved if he had +known." + +"You don't think that all on your side were good, do you," asked Eunice, +"and that all on ours were bad?" + +Priscilla hardly knew what to reply. She was getting again into deep +water, for she saw that although the war was long over, Eunice was still +a strong partisan. So, as a kind of peace-offering, she asked Eunice if +she would not walk back home with her. + +"I should like to have you meet my friends whom I am travelling with," +she said. "We are going to stay in Annapolis a week or more. Mrs. +Redmond is making some beautiful sketches, and her daughter Amy is just +dear; she is older than Martine and I, but she never makes us feel the +difference in our ages, and she knows more than almost anybody I ever +saw." + +"I should love to walk back with you," said Eunice, "though I cannot +stay very long. What is Martine like?" she asked abruptly. + +"Oh, Martine,--well, Martine is different. She always sees the funny +side of things, and she doesn't care what anything costs if she happens +to want it. She's perfectly devoted to the French, and I'm so terribly +tired of her Acadians that I want to find out what the English did in +Annapolis." + +"I will be glad to do what I can to help you," responded Eunice, "only +you mustn't be too touchy about things; for you see we're still all +English down here." + +As Priscilla walked back to the boarding-house she congratulated herself +on her new friend; for although she had known Eunice so short a time, +she already regarded her as much more than an ordinary acquaintance. + +"I can always tell," she said to herself, "whether any one is going to +wear well. Mother says that that is the only test for real friends, and +I can see that Eunice and I are likely to be more than acquaintances. I +feel as if I had known her a long time. Now it wasn't so with Martine, +and even though we have been together so much this summer, some way I +don't feel perfectly comfortable with her. I'd like to be fair, but +still--" + +Yes, Priscilla meant to be fair, but still--what was the trouble? It is +to be feared that she had not yet learned the real meaning of tolerance. +Martine's point of view was often so unlike hers that Priscilla did not +make enough effort to put herself in her friend's place. While believing +herself just, she certainly permitted herself to be biassed little in +her judgments. Nor did she realize that Martine herself often spoke in +an exaggerated tone, chiefly for the purpose of seeing to what extent +she could impose on Priscilla; for Martine, discovering Priscilla's +attitude toward her, liked to say things to surprise her,--"Puritan +Prissie," as she called her at these times. + +It would not be quite true, perhaps, to say that Priscilla distrusted +Martine's interest in Yvonne, although she had a strong conviction that +it was merely impulse that had led her to promise so much. + +"For the day that we spent at Meteghan, Yvonne was like a new plaything +to her. Had Martine been with Yvonne a week, it would have been the +same; she would have lavished things on her, and would have been ready +to promise her anything. But 'out of sight, out of mind;' I believe that +that is always the way with her. I am not even sure that she is as fond +of Mrs. Redmond and Amy as she seems to be." + +Poor Priscilla! she was really borrowing trouble needlessly, and yet in +more senses than one it was real trouble to her, because she was never +sure just how she ought to respond to the more flippant remarks made by +Martine. They were often so witty that she could not help laughing, even +when she felt the greatest need of preserving her own dignity. + +Another grievance was Martine's way of addressing Amy. Priscilla herself +had begun by trying to say "Miss Redmond;" occasionally she slipped into +"Amy," but more usually "Miss Amy" was her form of address. Martine had +laughed loudly at this, and one day she said, "It is what I call too +servile. Amy is not greatly our superior, but still I'd rather call her +Miss Redmond. I notice that Fritz Tomkins in some of his letters says +'Miss Amy Redmond.' I wonder if that would do for us?" + +"Oh, Amy--that is, Miss Redmond--explained that it was just his way of +making fun of her when he says 'Miss Amy Redmond.'" + +"Probably, but when I can't think of anything else I will say that, +though generally Amy is good enough for me, and here she is, looking as +sweet as a rose." Whereupon, without the slightest regard for the +dignity with which Priscilla would have liked to hedge Amy, Martine had +thrown herself upon the older girl's neck, to the destruction of +something less ideal than her dignity; to wit, the freshness of her +muslin stock. + +Thinking of this scene, Priscilla sighed. "Eunice would never do or say +anything silly." This goes to show that she did indeed regard Eunice as +a kindred spirit. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + A TEA PARTY + + +"Prissie, Prissie," said Martine, in a teasing tone, "you are altogether +too enthusiastic; I don't believe in these perfect people, and your +little Tory must be rather a prig, from what you say." + +When Martine called her "Prissie," Priscilla knew that she meant +mischief, and though in her inmost heart she admitted that Martine's +teasing carried no real sting, she never stood this teasing with very +good grace. + +"She isn't a Tory," she replied rather sharply; "there are no Tories in +these days, and Eunice Airton is not a prig." + +But Martine only laughed; perhaps she retained too firmly in her mind +the remembrance of Priscilla's indifference to Yvonne and was now trying +to pay her back. Priscilla had just given an enthusiastic account of her +new acquaintance, and Mrs. Redmond and Amy had listened with great +attention. Mrs. Redmond, indeed, was pleased that Priscilla had found +something really to interest her. Although away from home not quite two +weeks, Priscilla had begun to show the good effects of the trip in round +and rosier cheeks, and in a slightly more animated manner. Yet it had +seemed to Mrs. Redmond that she was not quite as pleased with things in +general as the other two girls. She was sorry too to note the growing +antagonism between Martine and Priscilla, though its cause was hard to +discover. At first Martine's teasing had proceeded from the merest love +of fun, and she thought that Priscilla took it all too seriously. Amy +had already cautioned her that she could soon disarm Martine, by +receiving everything she said as if said in pure fun. But Priscilla was +sensitive, and she was just conscious enough of certain little foibles +of her own to realize that sometimes Martine was laughing at her. + +"Even if Eunice were a Tory, I shouldn't care," she continued. "I never +heard any one talk as well as she does." + +"Ah, that's just it, my dear Miss Prissie Prunes," retorted Martine; +"I'll warrant that she's just as prim and precise as--" + +Martine did not finish the sentence, but Priscilla realized well that +she meant to say "as prim and precise as you are." + +The day after this conversation Mrs. Airton called on Mrs. Redmond and +the girls. Martine was not at home, but the others were pleased with the +delicate little woman, in rather faded black, who was particularly +cordial and anxious to have them see Annapolis at its best. + +As she talked, it was easy to understand how Eunice came by her precise +manner and language, for there was a certain bookishness in her choice +of words, and correctness of expression, that, although not really +subject to criticism, might become tiresome. Mrs. Airton had heard more +or less about Mrs. Redmond and her party from Dr. Gray, to whose family +Mrs. Redmond had brought an introduction. + +"Now I hope," she said, toward the end of her visit, "that you will give +us the pleasure of spending to-morrow afternoon with us and staying to +tea. I suppose 'tea' has gone out of fashion in the States, but it's +just the height of the strawberry season now, and perhaps you'll accept +high tea in place of a late dinner." + +"We shall be delighted to accept your invitation," Mrs. Redmond replied, +"and as for tea, why, we never have late dinner at home in summer. We +shall enjoy your hospitality." + +Now it happened, unfortunately, that on the morning of Wednesday, the +day for which Mrs. Airton had invited them, Martine and Priscilla had +their first falling out. Like most fallings out, it began in a very +trivial way. Among Martine's belongings was an elaborate toilet set of +silver-mounted brushes and boxes; she had had the good sense not to +carry them in her travelling bag, but at Annapolis, where they were to +stay longer than at some places, she had unpacked them all from her +trunk, and they were spread out in elaborate array on her bureau. Amy +had planned an excursion for the morning to Granville across the +Granville Ferry to a certain picturesque spot on the other side. When +she and Priscilla were ready to start, they knocked at Martine's door, +thinking that she too would be ready. To their surprise, they found her +in a loose dressing-sack, busily engaged in polishing her silver. + +"There, I forgot all about going with you," cried Martine; "the damp air +has blackened my brushes so that I just thought the best thing was to +sit down and polish them." + +"Oh, dear," rejoined Priscilla, "we are late as it is; for if we miss +this ferry-boat, we'll have to wait so long for another that we won't +have any time on the other side." + +"I can't help it," retorted Martine; "you can go without me if you like, +though I'll drop what I'm doing and hurry to get dressed; but if you do +not want to wait, it's all the same to me." + +"Of course we'll wait," said Amy, gently. "I particularly wish you to be +with us, Martine, and though it will shorten our time a little, we must +make the best of it now." + +Priscilla looked at her watch. "We ought to take this next ferry-boat, +and if we wait for Martine we shall lose it. Cleaning silver seems such +a waste of time when we're travelling." + +Priscilla's manner rather than her actual words irritated Martine. + +"I am the best judge of what wastes my own time," she said with unwonted +sharpness, "and as a matter of fact, I'd rather stay here than go with +you." + +Amy, looking at her earnestly, realized that this was not the time for +further argument. + +"Very well," she rejoined. "Priscilla, let us go on. Martine is +certainly the best judge of what she ought to do." + +"I know I shouldn't have criticised Martine," apologized Priscilla, as +they walked along; "but it seems so silly to me that she should carry a +valuable set of silver like that on a trip of this kind. I spoke before +I thought." + +"Martine has always been greatly indulged," said Amy. "At least, I've +been told that she sets no value on money, and so what would seem a +little extravagant to us does not seem so to her." + +"Well, good taste is good taste," rejoined Priscilla, "and if I had ten +times as much money as I have, I'd never carry jewelry about with me +travelling, nor expensive toilet-sets." + +Amy did not reply to this. Her own view was much the same as that of +Priscilla, but she realized that it was not for her to criticise either +girl. + +The trip to Granville proved less satisfactory than she had hoped. The +town itself, though small, was attractively situated, and she identified +one or two historical spots that she had hoped to see; but she missed +the particular road for which she was looking, and on account of their +engagement at Mrs. Airton's, she had to hurry back to Annapolis without +accomplishing what she had set out to do. The mid-day sun was very hot, +and she and Priscilla reached the house dusty and tired, to find Martine +looking tantalizingly cool and comfortable, seated on a rustic bench +under a tree in the orchard, busily working at a water-color sketch. + +After their early dinner, Mrs. Redmond took Amy aside and said rather +anxiously: + +"I wish you could persuade Martine to go with us this afternoon." + +"Go with us?" returned Amy. "Why, of course. Mrs. Airton expects her." + +"I don't quite understand it, but she says that she does not care to go, +and in fact she has engaged a horse for a ride." + +"On horseback! Who is going with her?" + +"No one. She says that it's perfectly safe for her to go alone, and +though I tried to dissuade her, I can see that she is determined to have +her own way." + +"I suppose that's what they mean by Martine's being difficult to manage. +Thus far I had thought her remarkably amiable." + +"There's one thing about it," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "it may be better +to let her have her way this time than to have her take it without our +permission. I have learned that the horse she is to have is perfectly +safe,--so safe in fact, that I fear she'll find it rather a bore,--and +she says that she'll only go over the road where we drove the other +afternoon, every step of which she knows; but I must say that I regret +her discourtesy to Mrs. Airton, for her refusal of her invitation must +seem very strange. Why do you suppose she is unwilling to go?" + +"I'm afraid it's because she and Priscilla had a little disagreement +this morning. It was so slight that I wouldn't have attached any +importance to it, but apparently Martine has taken it more to heart." + +When Priscilla learned of Martine's change of plan, she made no comment, +believing in her inmost heart that Martine had taken this way to show +her real distaste to those whom she called Priscilla's "Tory friends." +When Mrs. Redmond and the other girls reached Mrs. Airton's early in the +afternoon, they found their friend Mrs. Gray there, and one or two young +girls of the neighborhood. For a while they sat in the low-studded +sitting-room where Priscilla had looked at the commission signed by Sir +Henry Clinton. Their conversation did not concern itself entirely with +the past, but there were many questions about the present, of Nova +Scotia in general and Annapolis in particular, that the Americans were +anxious to ask and the others glad to answer. + +Later, however, they got back to the subject in which Priscilla was +especially interested,--the Loyalist refugees and the hard times they +experienced. Eunice had shown her, among other things, her +great-great-grandfather's silver breastplate, with his monogram and a +crown finely engraved upon it, and one or two of his letters, the paper +yellow with age and the ink faded. + +"Since you are interested in such things," said Mrs. Airton, "perhaps +you would like to see some other letters. You might show her, Eunice, +that one that we have that is a copy of the one that my great-grand-aunt +Hester wrote to Sir Guy Carlton, when she was trying to arrange to leave +New York. You know, my dear," she continued in explanation, "in those +days people almost always made copies of their letters, and we have a +good many that are really very interesting. I believe this letter +contained a request from Hester and her sister, Anne, whose husbands had +both been killed toward the close of the war." + +So Amy, taking up the paper, read without difficulty the clear, round +handwriting: + + "'The Memorial of Hester Danforth, widow of Benjamin + Danforth, late captain of the Prince of Wales' American + Regiment and Anne Dutton, widow of Josiah Dutton, Lt. in + said Regt. + Humbly sheweth + That your Memorialist, Hester Danforth + has two sons, one fourteen and the other twelve years old, + and Anne Dutton three children, oldest son fourteen, + youngest son seven and her daughter ten years old--That as + they purpose to go to Nova Scotia with their children-- + + They wish to go on the ship with Dr. Peter Brown, who is + about going with a company of refugees to St. Johns River. + + That they may be indulged with drawing the land's Government + may allow them in that quarter and with the company that + goes under the direction of Dr. Brown or such other company + of refugees as may appear to your Memorialists more + eligible. + + That they may be indulged with the liberty of taking with + each of them a man and woman servant and allowances of + provisions, clothing, etc. as to your Excellency may seem + meet. + + That, should your Excellency graciously order six months + advance upon their pensions to be paid previous to their + sailing, it will be very thankfully received as indeed their + circumstances are such as they cannot go with reasonable + Comfort and Decency without it. + + As your Memorialists sufferings have been very long and + great--They humbly ask as many Favours and Indulgences as to + your Excellency shall appear anyways reasonable and fit, and + as in duty bound they will ever pray etc. + + HESTER DANFORTH + ANNE DUTTON + + NEW YORK, _June 2, 1783_.'" + +"I always think that an interesting letter," said Mrs. Airton, "because +both of those ladies who signed it were brought up in the greatest +luxury; their father had one of the large estates on the Hudson and +their mother was of English birth and an heiress; but the family saved +not a single shred of their fortune and it is rather touching to read +behind the lines of this letter and to see that both these young women, +for they were under thirty-five, had for some time been suffering for +the necessities of life." + +"'The fortune of war,'" commented Priscilla, in the very words that she +had used on her first visit to Eunice. + +"I hope," added Amy, "that they found life comfortable after they came +here." + +"Ah," said Mrs. Airton, shaking her head, "at first life here could +hardly be called comfortable. Imagine twenty-five hundred people crowded +into this little town, which had not rooms for one tenth the number. +Often a whole family had to content itself with one room, and delicately +reared women and children had to spend at least a part of that first +winter in tents. Several hundred, it is said, were herded together in +the church. Of course, after a few months they began to distribute +themselves through the country. Sometimes they had great trouble in +taking possession of the land granted them, because it was already in +the possession of the New Englanders who had settled on the farms of the +Acadians twenty years before. Usually these pre-Loyalist settlers had a +rightful title to the land they claimed; then the refugees had to apply +for other lands. Many of these refugees were professional men or +merchants from New York City, and they found it hard in middle life to +become farmers; but, as you say, my dear, it was the fortune of war, and +in time they adapted themselves to the new conditions. In the course of +a few years some went back to New York, others sailed over to St. John, +where, from the beginning, city life prevailed, and those who stayed +here in Nova Scotia seemed to be contented with their lot; although I +for one feel very bitter when I think of all that my family in its +various branches lost. I feel it the more because I'm able to do so +little for my children, and they are reaching an age when a little money +would mean so much." + +"Ah, yes, mamma," interposed Eunice, "but if the money had stayed in the +family after the Revolution it might all have been lost before this, and +besides, Balfour and I do not care half as much for wealth as--" and +here she stopped, for at this point Mrs. Gray interrupted her. + +"Indeed, I think it a greater privilege to have grown up in Annapolis +than to have lived in the finest city of the United States. Why, I can +assure you, Mrs. Redmond," turning to the latter, "that few places of +its size have had so many distinguished residents. When the fort was +garrisoned, it was quite like an English town, and I've heard my +grandmother speak of the parties that were given here when she was +young; not to mention the Duke of Kent, who was here before her day, +there have been such men in the garrison as Sir Colin Campbell, +afterwards Lord Clyde, while Sir Fenwick Williams, the defender of Kars, +was a native of the town, and surely no literary man in America has a +wider reputation than Judge Haliburton, whose house was just down there +beyond the hotel. I often think of the lines by Oliver Goldsmith, who +lived here,--a grand-nephew, my dear," laying her hand on Amy's, "of the +great English poet, who himself wrote 'The Rising Village,' describing +Annapolis." + +"Oh, can't you recite a part of it?" asked Amy. She had already +discovered a vein of sentimentality in Mrs. Gray, and she was right in +judging that the request would please her. + +"I'm sorry to say," replied Mrs. Gray, "that my memory is not what it +used to be, and the only lines I recall do not touch on the social so +much as the natural charms of Annapolis." + +"Oh, but please do say them." This time it was Priscilla, and Mrs. Gray +began:-- + + "'Here the broad marsh extends its open plain, + Until its limits touch the distant main; + There verdant meads along the uplands spring, + And grateful odours to the breezes fling. + Here crops of grain in rich luxuriance rise, + And wave their golden riches to the skies; + There smiling orchards interrupt the scene, + Or gardens, bounded by some hedge of green; + The farmer's cottage bosomed 'mong the trees, + Whose spreading branches shelter from the breeze; + The winding stream that turns the busy mill, + Whose clacking echoes o'er the distant hill; + The neat, white church, beside whose walls are spread, + The grass-clad hillocks of the sacred dead.'" + +"It sounds like 'The Deserted Village,'" said Priscilla, politely; "that +was one of the poems that we studied at school last year; you recite +this beautifully." + +"Ah, well, I'm aware that the first Oliver Goldsmith's poem is greater +poetry, but here in Annapolis people were very fond of Oliver the +younger, and if ever you've time to read the whole poem, you will find +that he thoroughly appreciated Acadia." + +But all the hours of that pleasant afternoon were not spent in +historical conversation. Priscilla and Eunice, arm in arm, wandered out +in the pleasant orchard, and, swinging together in the hammock, talked +about all kinds of things, more frivolous than serious, such as girls +care to talk about. In appearance the two girls were not unlike, though +Eunice was a little the taller, despite the fact that she was a few +months younger; her eyes were the same gray-blue and her hair the same +pale brown as Priscilla's; not quite fair enough to be called golden, +and hardly dark enough to be called brown. + +"It is strange," Amy had said to her mother, after Eunice had first +called on them, "that Eunice Airton reminds me of some one I have known; +I cannot say just who, but it is one of those resemblances that worry +one; you feel as if you must decide whom it is she resembles, yet try as +I can I cannot think." + +While the girls were in the orchard, Eunice pointed out to Priscilla the +various additions that had been made to the house. Little ells and rooms +had been added, some of them only one story high, and the original +house, built by her Loyalist ancestor, was the very smallest part of the +present dwelling. + +"I thought it strange," said Priscilla, "when you said that this house +was built just after the Revolution, that it should have been so large, +but now I understand." + +"Oh, there's been an ell added for nearly every generation. To tell you +the truth," she concluded, "although my mother speaks so despondingly +now, the family have seen better days, even in Annapolis. My grandfather +Balfour was a very successful lawyer, and in spite of the +Revolution"--here she smiled--"we might have been rich to-day if he had +not sunk his money in unlucky speculation." + +"Balfour?" queried Priscilla. "Where have I heard that name?" + +"Oh, the name itself is not so very uncommon. There must be many of the +name somewhere, although our family was the only one down here." + +A little later the girls were looking over some of the old books on the +bookshelves; they were chiefly history and poetry. There was Robertson's +"Charles Fifth," a fine set of Pope's Complete Works, and Dodsley's +"Miscellany," with the gilding on its calf binding not yet quite worn +off. Priscilla looked at these books with less interest than Amy showed +for them; she was not as ardent a lover of things ancient, although her +respect for Eunice increased when the young girl told her that she had +read nearly every book in the house. + +"We have long winter evenings," she said, "and fewer amusements, I +suppose, than you have in the cities; and really I would rather read +than do anything else." + +"But these books are so very old-fashioned, and Pope's poetry, don't you +find it pretty dull? I didn't care so very much for 'The Rape of the +Lock,' though some people call it amusing." + +"I prefer Tennyson," replied Eunice, in a judicial tone, "but I feel +there are certain things one must read some time, and mother says that I +might as well read them now, while I have the books. Some time," and +here she sighed, "we may have to break up our home, and that might mean +packing away all our books; so it's well to 'make hay while the sun +shines,'" she concluded with a bright smile that was in marked contrast +with the sigh of a moment before. + +In the meantime Amy, in looking over some of the books, gave an +exclamation of surprise; she had opened a large Bible, on the fly-leaf +of which was written "Audrey Balfour, Her book." + +"There is something very familiar in that name," she cried, "Audrey +Balfour, and yet for the moment I can't recall any one to whom it +belongs." + +"It's a family name," said Eunice, "and I've always wished that it had +been given to me, for there has always been an Audrey in the family for +each generation until now." + +At last supper was announced, and if any of the party had lacked +appetite, the sight of the long table, with its delicate china and +old-fashioned silver and glass, would have been an inspiration. The +silver spoons, to be sure, were very, very thin, and the cups and +saucers were not without cracks, and here and there showed other +imperfections; but these things only emphasized the fact that silver and +china were really old; and the large silver dish, heaped with great +strawberries, was of a style that Mrs. Redmond said would make it almost +worth its weight in gold to a collector. + +"I am so sorry," said Mrs. Airton, politely, "that Miss Martine is not +with you. I have seen her passing two or three times, and she is a +particularly attractive girl." + +"She is indeed very attractive," responded Mrs. Redmond, "and on this +account we regret her occasional wilfulness; she had planned a ride to +the Bay Shore and we could not induce her to give it up. But she wished +me to thank you for her invitation, and she said that if she possibly +could, she would be here in time for tea; but it seems now as if she has +been unable to carry out this part of her plan." + +"Oh, if she really goes to the shore," interposed Mrs. Gray, "I am sure +she will hardly be back in Annapolis before dark. It's a long ride, and +I only hope she doesn't find the road too hard." + +"Martine is a good horsewoman; her father told us that we might trust +her on any horse, and had I not known this, I should have hesitated to +let her go." + +"She did not go alone, I hope," said Mrs. Airton, anxiously. + +"Oh, no; she consented rather reluctantly to an escort, and from the +stable they sent a Mr. Frazer, an elderly man, who promised to look +after her." + +"Mr. Frazer!" Eunice laughed as she uttered the name. "Well, if he's on +his own horse and if Miss Martine keeps beside him, she'll certainly +have a slow, safe ride." + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + IN THE FOG + + +In the meantime, where was Martine? When Mr. Frazer and his staid sorrel +steed appeared in front of the hotel, Martine had smiled inwardly. + +"His horse certainly looks safe, and the man himself,--well, he may be a +good guide, as they say, and perhaps he can tell me about everything we +see in passing; but if he proves a bore, as I am perfectly sure he will, +I'll contrive some way to rid myself of his company." + +It was a perfect afternoon for a ride, mild and windless, with just +enough sun to relieve the landscape of the monotony by creating artistic +effects of light and shade. Martine was in great spirits, for, like most +persons from the inland cities, she loved the sea even more deeply than +those who dwell beside it. + +"The Annapolis basin is tame," she had said the day before. "I am tired +of the still, blue water and the red mud and the marshes and the +meadows, and I long for a breath of the real ocean." + +"We're some distance still from the ocean," Amy had rejoined. "The +nearest to it is the Bay of Fundy." + +"Well, from all I've heard, the Bay of Fundy is fiercer than the ocean +itself, and I must see it; for I've been tracing our route on the map, +and it seems to me that we've left out the Bay of Fundy altogether; we +are curving away from it all the time." + +"Perhaps we can have a picnic on the Bay Shore before we leave." + +"Oh, no, my dear Miss Amy Redmond; we won't have many days, and 'a bird +in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Just as soon as I can manage it, +I'm going to the Bay Shore myself." + +So Martine had "managed it" by giving up the afternoon at Mrs. Airton's, +and now, as she rode along toward the North Mountain, she had a certain +feeling of triumph. + +At first she and her guide kept very close together. He felt it +incumbent on him to give her as much information as he could about the +country and its history. Even when his tale concerned the Loyalists, +Martine did not assume the air of indifference that was always hers when +Priscilla touched on the same subject. + +"It's a pity," said Mr. Frazer, "that there is nothing to be seen now of +all the wonders that old General Ruggles did in his time. He had one of +the largest grants of land hereabouts, away up over the top of a +mountain, and though he was past seventy when the war ended, he set to +work clearing forests and laying out his grounds like a young man. He +imported all kinds of trees from Massachusetts, and his place was a +model for the whole county. He found a deep gulch on his land that was +sheltered from the winds and yet sunny, and there he planted some rare +trees,--black walnut and peach and other things that generally grow only +in the far south." + +"Was he an English general?" asked Martine, listlessly. + +"Oh, I've heard," replied Mr. Frazer, "that though he was bred a lawyer +in Massachusetts, he became a colonel in the wars that the Americans +fought against the French, and was high in command at Ticonderoga and +Crown Point; it was in that war that he got his title of Brigadier +General, and so he might be called an American officer." + +"Then what was he doing down here in Nova Scotia?" + +"Oh, when the Revolutionary troubles began he wasn't in favor of +breaking off from the mother country; he was a Chief Justice of Common +Pleas, and he wrote and spoke against separation. So at last he and his +family had to give up everything and take refuge with the British in +Boston. He doesn't seem to have been a fighter against his countrymen, +but he preferred exile to sacrificing his principles. I've always been +interested in the old general," added Mr. Frazer, apologetically, +"though I don't just know why, for he was dead long before my father +even was born. But I've read a lot about him, and people here still tell +many stories of him, and altogether he seems something like those heroes +we hear of, working so energetically to keep his spirits up." + +"Yes," said Martine, "I agree with you that it does seem rather heroic, +only it's a pity that he was on the wrong side." Then, lest Mr. Frazer +should be inclined to argue with her, she quickly changed the subject. + +"This road over the mountain is pleasanter than I thought it would be; I +mean, everything looks so cultivated and prosperous." + +"Oh, there isn't a better section anywhere than this," he replied. "The +orchards and farms all pay well; why, there's a place up beyond," he +continued, "that they call Paradise; and if it wasn't for winter, which +I suppose they don't have in heaven, I should say that the name just +fitted." + +Mr. Frazer was so pleased with his own wit that he chuckled softly, and +so far forgot himself as to urge his horse forward. + +"Let's stop here," cried Martine, "for a moment; I never saw so many +beehives." + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Frazer, timidly, "as it's hardly safe; +sometimes, when they're swarming, they are apt to sting if you go too +near them." + +But Martine was already off her horse and over the low fence, and Mr. +Frazer could only follow her example. The farm was situated at the +junction of two roads. Martine had taken the precaution to tether her +horse to a hitching-post, but Mr. Frazer, trusting too implicitly to the +sedateness of his steed, had left it unfettered to nibble the grass by +the roadside. The hives that had attracted Martine's attention proved as +harmless as she had prophesied, so she wandered on toward an +old-fashioned garden, blazing with mid-summer blossoms. Now Jill, the +sorrel that Mr. Frazer had ridden so proudly, proved less reliable than +might have been expected from the character of its owner; for, in the +course of its nibbling, it wandered down the road, passing back of the +farm, and Mr. Frazer was so intent upon telling Martine all that he knew +about bees and flowers that he quite forgot to keep his eye on his +horse. Thus it happened that the animal found itself near some hives +whose occupants were changing habitations. Then, at the very moment when +Mr. Frazer bethought him of Jill, to his horror and great surprise he +saw her starting on a run down this back road. He did not wait to +explain matters to Martine; he knew by the cloud of bees in the distance +that the horse had undoubtedly been stung. "Wait until I come back," he +shouted, as he started in pursuit of his horse. + +Martine smiled as he leaped over a fence, his coat tails flying in the +air. + +"Unseemly haste," she murmured, "for so dignified a person. I wonder how +long he can keep it up." + +For five or ten minutes Martine continued to wait in the old-fashioned +garden; then she looked at her watch. It was later than she supposed; +the sun was less bright, and a slight chill in the air warned her of +approaching fog. + +"I didn't promise to wait," she said to herself, "and after all the +bother of arranging it I can't be cheated out of my sight of the Bay. +It's a straight road and perfectly safe, and my horse hasn't shown a +sign of a trick; so in five minutes, if my guide hasn't returned, I +shall go on alone." + +At the end of five minutes Mr. Frazer had not appeared, and Martine, +remounting her horse, resumed her way toward the Bay Shore. She set off +at a speed that would have quite shaken the breath out of Mr. Frazer, +and she was really surprised to discover how much life her animal had. +Thus it happened that in spite of the delay she really had a glimpse of +the Bay of Fundy before the fog had hidden it. It is true that already +there was a thin veil of mist floating about her and permitting her to +see rather dimly the rocky shore, and the scattered hamlet that lay at +her feet. + +Martine felt most uncomfortable. Her situation was certainly lonely, and +she would gladly have borne the rather tiresome conversation of her late +guide for the sake of his protection. But though she waited as long as +she dared, he did not appear; nor did she meet him as she turned about +toward Annapolis. + +Toward Annapolis--but where was Annapolis? For all at once she seemed to +be riding through a cloud, and she recalled a day when she and a party +of friends had thought themselves lost on one of the highest of the +White Mountains, pushing their way vaguely through the cloud that +enshrouded them. Of one thing, however, she now felt sure. When she +reached the crossroads and the farm where the beehives were, she would +have no difficulty in continuing her way. + +But, alas for all calculations! how it happened she never knew, but soon +she realized that she was on a road quite different from the one by +which she had travelled to the shore. In the fog she had turned +somewhere, and the new road was lonely in the extreme. There were no +houses near; at least, she judged there were not, for the road itself +was rough, more like a forest road, and both sides seemed to be lined +with trees. For a short time she went on cautiously; then a line of +verse came into her mind that she had heard Amy quote only the day +before,-- + + "'When once a man hath missed the right way, + The farther he doth go, the farther doth he stray.'" + +So she brought herself to a full stop and, slipping from her horse, +stood beside him, gently stroking his side. + +"Good old fellow," she said gently, "if I'd leave you to yourself, I +dare say you'd carry me home safely. Perhaps in a few minutes we can +turn round and make a fresh start; but now I want to think." + +So she stood for five minutes or more, and among the many thoughts that +flew across her brain was one that, if shaped into words, would have +been: "I wish that I had gone with the others to Mrs. Airton's." But she +could not remain inactive. + +"Whatever happens, I won't be lost on the mountain," cried Martine, +emphatically. "It's always better to go on than to stand still, and +especially as the fog is so thick that I'm likely to be drenched to the +skin if I stay here much longer." + +At this moment the surrounding stillness was broken by a sound; she +listened intently, and in a very short time realized that what she heard +was really the noise of approaching wheels. She drew her horse close to +the side of the road; a vehicle of some kind was near her. + +"Hello, hello," she shouted, picturing herself at the moment as a +stranded mariner on a shipwrecked vessel. The vehicle was close upon +her; the driver drew up his horse; Martine approached him. + +"What on earth--" he began. + +"Yes, on earth," responded Martine. "I shouldn't like to be at sea, lost +in the fog." + +"So you're lost, are you?" replied the driver of the wagon, in a brisk, +cheerful voice. "Well, there's one thing, you needn't stay lost." + +Martine looked at the speaker, who had now jumped down from his seat and +was standing beside her. He was a tall youth, with reddish brown hair +and a frank, pleasant face, and she judged that he was two or three +years her senior. + +"It's fortunate," he said, "that we happened to have an order for some +groceries up beyond at the Jones farm. I don't come this way once a +month, and there is very little passing any day; so if you had waited +for some one to rescue you, you would have had to wait a long time." + +Martine was not sure that she liked the word "rescue." All her life she +had prided herself on her independence, and it irritated her to realize +that she had put herself in a position that obliged her to depend on a +stranger. + + [Illustration: "'Hello! hello!' she shouted."] + +"Perhaps I shouldn't have said 'lost,'" she responded; "I've only just +missed my way a little, and if the fog should lift I could easily find +my way back to my friends." + +"If the fog should lift!" The boy laughed heartily. "Are you acquainted +with the habits of fogs? Or perhaps it behaves differently in the +States; but in this part of the world, when it sets in late in the +afternoon, it generally stays all night. But come," he continued more +gently, "you'll catch cold if you stay here much longer. I'm on my way +to Annapolis myself, and I'll very gladly take you there. Come," he +continued, holding out his hand; "you'd better get into the wagon here, +and I have a rope by which we can lead the horse behind." + +"Oh, no," said Martine; "I can ride just as well. I don't mind the fog, +if you will let me follow your wagon." + +"Nonsense!" protested the boy; "you can't go fast enough to keep warm, +and your horse might make a misstep; and besides," he concluded, "I have +a sister about your age and I know what's best for girls. Come, jump +in." + +To her own great surprise Martine found herself obeying the strange +youth; perhaps, after all, she felt that there would be more comfort for +her in his covered wagon than in picking her way through the fog, over +the rough road. When she was seated, he handed her a carriage robe which +he bade her wrap around her; then he tied his rope to the horse's +bridle, saying as he did so: + +"I know this animal well, and he'll follow us like a tame cat." + +Then he took his seat beside Martine and they drove along slowly. After +a turn or two they came to the place that Martine called "the beehive +farm." Already she had related the story of Mr. Frazer's adventure, and +her acquaintance had laughed heartily at her account of the good man's +flight after the recreant Jill. + +"I didn't suppose even a swarm of bees could put any speed into Jill, +but Frazer himself is so conscientious that I wonder that he isn't +sitting here on the fence waiting for your return." + +As they talked Martine wondered and wondered who her rescuer could be. +Both his language and his subjects of conversation were not what she +would have expected from a grocer's boy, for that was what he called +himself once or twice, and in the back of the wagon there was a large +kerosene can, with one or two empty boxes, as well as some packages that +certainly looked like groceries. But she did not waste much time in +speculating, because she found so many things to ask that she had never +thought to ask any one else before. + +"Didn't realize that the first mill on the Continent was built at +Annapolis?"--said her companion, "and you from Chicago, where people are +supposed to think and dream about flour and grain? I am surprised. And +you didn't know that Membertou, that old Indian, is reckoned the first +convert made in America? Dear me, where have you been brought up?" + +"Oh, I'm learning," responded Martine. "I'd never heard about the +Acadians until we came down here. But now I think they're just great; +don't you?" + +"I should hardly call them great," returned the other, with a smile, +"although there's any amount of interesting history connected with them; +but I've always taken more interest myself in the early days of Port +Royal than in the exile of the Acadians. I wish they'd change the name +of Goat Island back to Biencourtville, for that's what it's called on +Lescarbot's map." + +"Oh," replied Martine, not knowing what else to say. + +She knew nothing about Lescarbot and less about his map, but she didn't +wish to display her ignorance. + +"I remember Biencourt," she added meekly; "he had a very hard time, +hadn't he?" + +The face of the other brightened. + +"Oh, I'm glad you remember him; he's my idea of a hero. I believe if he +had lived Port Royal would have fared much better. Charles La Tour was +not at all the same kind of man. But Madame La Tour, ah, she was the +right sort! Perhaps you know her story." + +"No," replied Martine, meekly, "I do not, but probably Amy does." + +"Who is this paragon, this 'Amy'? You've spoken of her several times; +she seems to know everything." + +"I really think she does," replied Martine--"know almost everything. But +I wish you could tell me about Madame La Tour." + +"There won't be time now, but I could lend you a book, if you stay here +longer. She doesn't exactly belong to Annapolis; it was the fort at the +mouth of the St. John that she defended. But here we are fairly in the +town, and you can consider yourself saved," he concluded with a smile. + +"Why, there's Mrs. Airton's house!" exclaimed Martine in surprise; "I +didn't know you were coming this way." + +The boy looked at her curiously. + +"Do you know Mrs. Airton?" + +"Well, not exactly, for I was out when she called, but she was kind +enough to ask me to tea to-day, only I thought I'd like to ride instead. +I thought that perhaps I'd be back in time for tea." + +"You were right in that," rejoined her companion, pulling up his horse. +"I'm sure they're not through tea yet; I can leave you and take your +horse on to the stable. Here, jump out." + +But Martine hesitated, and for the moment she was annoyed at her +rescuer. If Priscilla or Amy should look from a window, how mortifying +it would be to be seen driving in a grocer's cart with a riderless steed +tagging on behind. + +"No, thank you," she said; "I would rather go on to my boarding-house; +please drive on." + +She never knew whether her new acquaintance would have heeded her +request or not, for hardly had she spoken when from a side door Eunice +Airton and Priscilla rushed toward the wagon. + +"Where's Martine?" cried Priscilla, excitedly; "we recognized the +horse." + +"Oh, Balfour," began Eunice, "what--" + +Without further ado Martine jumped down from the seat. The girls had +approached the wagon from the rear, and at first had not seen her. Her +sudden appearance surprised them. By this time Amy had reached the +group. + +"What happened?" and she looked on Martine for an explanation. + +"Nothing, nothing," replied Martine, "only I was caught in the fog." + +Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm. + +"Your clothes are damp; you may take cold." + +"Come into the house," added Eunice; "we are not yet through tea." + +Martine saw that protest could not avail. As a matter of fact, she was +not only cold but hungry, and the prospect of something to eat was one +that she could not resist. + +"You said that you might come to tea," remarked Amy, "and so Mrs. Airton +will not be altogether surprised." + +Had any one but Amy said this, Martine would have suspected her of +sarcasm; but even if Amy would inwardly smile at her ignominious return, +Martine could bear ridicule from her better than from any one else. + +When Martine had replaced her waist with a drier one belonging to +Eunice, Eunice led her to the dining-room, where the others had resumed +their seats. Mrs. Redmond and Mrs. Airton made little comment on her +misadventure, and never did hot biscuit, and strawberries, and +chocolate, and cookies seem more appetizing to Martine than they did on +this occasion. Later, when Amy and Priscilla were helping Eunice clear +the table, Mrs. Airton sat down beside Martine. + +"I am glad it was Balfour who found you," she said, "though I am sorry +that he could not come in to tea with you. It is his night at the store, +and he usually waits for his tea until late in the evening." + +"Balfour?" asked Martine; "who is Balfour? Of course I know he drove me +home, but who is he?" + +"Balfour," replied Mrs. Airton, "why, Balfour is my son and Eunice's +brother." + +"Ah," cried Martine, "I did not realize that; now I understand." + +But what she understood she did not then explain. + +Not long after tea Mr. Frazer rushed excitedly into Mrs. Airton's +sitting-room. + +"I'm so glad the young lady's safe," he cried, "though indeed I thought +she'd wait for me; but the sorrel led me a long chase, and when I got +back to the farm she wasn't there. But I never thought of her going to +the Bay Shore with the fog rolling in so thick, and when I found she +wasn't at the house, I went back again to the farm, thinking she'd taken +a wrong turn somewhere. At last I met some one who had seen her driving +with Balfour; then I knew she was safe. So I must apologize again for +the behavior of my sorrel, though it was all the fault of the bees." + +Martine forgave the sorrel as readily as she forgave Mr. Frazer, for her +adventure had ended so pleasantly that there was no occasion for blaming +any one. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + LETTERS AND SOME COMMENTS + + +"Do you realize that we have only a day or two longer in Annapolis?" +asked Amy, one soft afternoon in July, as she sat with Martine and +Priscilla within the walls of the old fort. + +Mrs. Redmond, seated some distance from them, was sketching a bit of +far-off shore that came within her range of view. Martine had her hands +folded idly in her lap, though the sketching-block and materials that +lay beside her showed that at least she had made some pretence of work +that day. + +"Yes, I realize it all too well," she responded. "I wish we could stay +here all summer." + +"It has been so much pleasanter since we knew the Airtons that we shall +find it very hard to go," added Priscilla. + +"Of course we might stay here the rest of the summer," replied Amy, +"only, since we had a definite route planned out it would be a pity not +to follow it." + +"The other places may be very stupid," murmured Martine. + +"Not Grand Pre," rejoined Priscilla. "You'll probably enjoy that far +better than Annapolis; you seem to forget that it is full of memories of +the expelled Acadians." + +"Oh, yes, the Acadians; but do you know they don't seem half so +important to me as they did when we were in Clare. I've really grown +tremendously interested in those first Frenchmen, who had such an +unlucky time here at Port Royal. Annapolis has memories enough for me." + +"What a fickle creature you are, Martine! Surely you haven't forgotten +Yvonne." + +"No, no," and Martine sprang to her feet. "I'm only waiting for a letter +from my father and then you shall know what is going to happen to +Yvonne. Why, I've written her three times since I left Meteghan; I +thought you knew that, Amy." + +"Yes, but don't excite yourself unduly, child; only, when you expressed +your indifference to Acadians I wondered whom you included. Nothing +would make me forget little Pierre. Here's a letter that I received from +him to-day." + +Amy drew from her pocket a half-sheet of paper and read its contents to +her friends:-- + + "'MY DEAR MADEMOISELLE, AMY REDMOND,--It gives me great + pleasure to think that you and your beautiful mother and the + charming young ladies like so well our historic Annapolis. I + once it visited with my uncle, to view the fort that was + built in the days of the greatness of Acadia; it was sad to + me to know that now it belongs to the cruel English, who + drove my ancestors from their happy homes. When I am a + learned man, I shall teach history in a great school, and I + will write books to make all know the truth; but now I am + only a little boy, and I thank you for your letter and the + book you sent me that will ever keep your lovely face fresh + in my mind. So with her best duty from my mother, I + subscribe myself, + + "'Your humble friend, + "'PIERRE ROBICHAUD. + + "'P. S. Please write soon again.'" + +Martine and Priscilla smiled at the quaint letter, with its curious +mingling of pride and humility and its touch of French gallantry. + +"Pierre seems quite sure of his own future,"--and Amy replaced the sheet +in her pocket. "With his aim so firmly in view, it's quite probable that +he'll attain his ambition." + +"'Best duty,'" observed Priscilla, "isn't that a strange expression?" + +"It certainly isn't French; he has picked it up from some of the 'cruel' +English." + +"He probably had an old-fashioned school-teacher at some time. I hope +that we'll see both Pierre and Yvonne before we return home; but now we +must keep our minds on Annapolis. I'm so afraid that you haven't got all +you might of its history." + +"Oh, my dear Amy, Priscilla is just brimful of the Loyalists and their +sufferings; you ought to hear some of the stories that she has gathered +up. Show her your note-book, Priscilla." + +Priscilla reddened and shook her head, while Martine continued: + +"And as for me, I'm so charged with historical associations that I feel +as if I'd give them out in electric sparks if any one should rub me the +right way. Of course I know that this is not the original French fort, +but when one is dreaming, she needn't be so very particular about facts; +so if I shut my eyes, here on this very spot," and Martine suited the +action to the word, "I can see Poutrincourt and Lescarbot and all the +others who were here that long winter when De Monts had gone back to +France, leaving Pontgrave in charge. I just imagine that the old +barracks over there is the great hall where they used to have their +feasts, and I can see them all marching in with the fifteen gentlemen at +the head who sat at Poutrincourt's table, the Grand Master strutting in +front, with his staff of office in his hand and his napkin over his +shoulder. L'Ordre de Bon Temps--that was a capital idea of Lescarbot's, +to keep them all in good spirits and make each man think himself of +supreme importance for a day." + +"Tell me about it," said Priscilla. "If I ever knew, I believe I've +forgotten what it was." + +"That's it, my dear; you have been so very full of the much less +important English history of Annapolis that you've overlooked the more +romantic French." Then pointing toward the Basin, Martine chanted: + + "'Sing on, wild sea, your sad refrain, + For all the gallant sons of France + Whose songs and sufferings enhance + The romance of the western main.'" + +"Well, if this is a wild sea I wonder what you'd call the Bay of Fundy," +said Amy, laughing. + +"Oh, dear! You are so very practical; but I can't argue with you now, +for I must make Priscilla understand just what 'The Order of the Good +Time' was. During the long winter Lescarbot suggested that each of the +fifteen gentlemen of greatest importance in the settlement should be +appointed caterer for a day at a time; so they took turns, and each one +tried to outdo the others in providing as many delicacies as possible. +The steward of the day was called the Grand Master, and fish and game +were so abundant here that often the table was supplied with food that +the King of France might have envied. In order to keep up their dignity, +they all observed a very formal ceremony, entering the hall at each meal +just as I told you a little while ago. At the close of the day, after +grace, the Grand Master removed his collar and placed it on the neck of +the one who was to do duty the next day, while they drank each other's +health in wine and recited appropriate verses. No wonder the Indians +thought it great sport to watch the white men dine, for they crowded the +hall at every meal, and Membertou, their Chief, was often at the +Governor's table." + +"I hope the other Indians had something to eat." + +"Oh, yes indeed; they were always well fed by the French, and well +treated; so that from the very beginning the French and Indians were on +the very friendliest terms." + +"You must have done a deal of reading, Martine, you know your subject so +well," said Amy, quizzically. + +"Oh, I haven't read so much," she began. + +"No, it's all Balfour Airton," interposed Priscilla. "He talks like a +book, and he's discovered that he can make Martine listen to him." + +"Any one would like to listen to him," rejoined Martine, "and I'm glad +to say that though he is of English descent, he doesn't consider the +English absolutely perfect." + +"There, there," said Amy, throwing oil on the waters, "our acquaintance +with the Airtons has certainly added to the pleasure of us all. Balfour +seems a plucky fellow, for it can't be particularly pleasant to him to +serve as a grocer's clerk in the summer holidays." + +"But he needs the money." + +"Oh, yes, Martine; but I know boys who would remain idle rather than do +work that they thought a little beneath them." + +"To tell you the truth," added Priscilla, "I'm afraid that the Airtons +have very little money indeed. Eunice says that there's a mortgage on +their house, and that they may have to give it up before long. Balfour +has offered to stay out of college and look for work in Halifax, but his +mother will not listen to this; she wishes him to be a lawyer like his +grandfather." + +"He has a scholarship at college, and he earns more or less money all +the year, so that really his education costs his family nothing." + +"I fear our conversation is too personal," interrupted Amy, "though it +has certainly been a pleasure to meet two people so free from +self-consciousness as Eunice and Balfour. That reminds me," concluded +Amy, "that I had a letter to-day from my friend Brenda, Mrs. Weston. She +is surprised that we find so much to interest us in Nova Scotia. She +made a trip this way one summer with her parents, but they travelled +rather hurriedly through the province and made their longest stay at +Halifax." + +"Oh, Halifax," interrupted Martine. "Nothing but English; only fancy," +with a true English accent, and she raised her hand toward her eye as if +holding a monocle. "If there's anything in the world I dislike, it's the +real English. Excuse me, Priscilla; I did not mean to hurt your +feelings." + +"My feelings? Why, I'm no more English than you are, Martine. You won't +deny that you have some English blood in your veins?" + +"Unluckily, I can't deny it; but I'm glad that they named me Martine; +that at least is un-English." + +"It certainly is a queer name." + +"Not queer at all, Priscilla. My grandfather was Martin, and Martine is +the French feminine for it. If I'd been a boy, I would have been named +Martin. Unluckily I wasn't, and so Martine was the best that could be +done. My elder brother had been named for my father; Lucian, you know, +is his name. I never heard any one else call 'Martine' a queer name;" +and the Chicago girl turned away petulantly. + +Noting again the signs of a coming storm, already too frequent on this +trip, Amy hastened to change the subject. + +"I don't know why I should have so many letters in my pocket to-day, but +since I brought my mail with me, let me read you a little from Brenda's +letter; you know her, Priscilla?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"Oh, Brenda,--Mrs. Weston," cried Martine, eagerly, all trace of +annoyance disappearing from her face and voice. "I've never talked with +her, but I've seen her several times; I think she's just fine. She isn't +a bit prim and stiff like most Bostonians. Why, she has as much style as +a Chicago girl." + +"My dear," interposed Amy, "remember that Priscilla and I are from the +neighborhood of Boston." + +"Oh, yes, but you don't set up for style--there, I don't mean that, of +course; I only mean--" + +But Martine was getting herself into deep water, and her floundering +amused Amy, although she maintained a grave face, as she said: + +"Style is not confined to dress; other things are considered just as +important by the true critic. However, I'm glad that you admire Brenda, +for you'll be the more interested in her letter. + + "'Your account of what you have seen in Nova Scotia is + perfectly fascinating. But you haven't told me how you like + those funny little brown fish that they call Digby chickens, + that have a flavor made up of smoked ham and salt cod; you + can fancy how surprised I was when I ordered them, for I + thought they'd be real chickens. We didn't see any French in + Nova Scotia; I can't imagine where you found them. Are they + the real thing? or do they speak with a Stratford atte Bow + accent? + + "'How different this summer is from last, when we were all + so worried about Arthur and the Spanish War,--at least, I + was. It is just a year since I was so very ill, and now I am + perfectly happy. I feel quite ridiculous when they ask me to + chaperone parties of girls who are older than I until I + remember that I am really an old married woman and quite + settled. + + "'It is all I can do to prevent Arthur's going to the + Philippines; he really has the war fever, and I wonder what + will come of it all. Next month he is to make an address at + some reunion of Spanish War Veterans; doesn't it seem absurd + to call him a veteran? Tim McSorley is at Manila. Maggie is + down here at Rockley with us this summer, and you haven't an + idea how useful she is. My mother says that the way she does + things is recommendation enough for the Mansion School, and + that if Julia needed to earn money she would make a small + fortune training girls. + + "'I had a letter yesterday from Happy Hill,--you know that's + the name of the farm where she has the girls this summer. + They are nearly all new girls, who do not interest me as + much as the others who were there my year. Norah is with + Julia this summer; but there, I'm telling you things that + are no news to you, and in fact I have very little news of + any kind to write; but I hope you'll give my love to your + mother and Priscilla, and Miss Stratford and I only hope + that you are as strict with them as you can be some times, + when you want people to get all the information they can out + of a trip. + + "'Oh, that reminds me. I hear that Fritz Tomkins is in Nova + Scotia; you do not mention him in your letter, but you must + be delighted to have him with you. Of course four women can + get along perfectly well, but if anything should happen, it + is so much better to have a man in your party; and Fritz is + so like a brother that I'm sure you can make him very + useful. With love to all, + + "'Sincerely, + "'BRENDA WESTON.'" + +Amy had read the whole letter aloud without realizing how personal it +was, for her original intention had been only to read that part relating +to Nova Scotia. + +"That sounds just like Brenda," she said to the girls, "and I'm glad +that she's so happy, for last summer was a miserable one for her." + +"It was for all of us," murmured Priscilla. + +And then Amy suddenly realized that the Spanish War was a subject too +sore for her to touch on in Priscilla's presence. + +"Come," she said, "one last look at old Port Royal. We shall have +several farewell calls to pay to-day and to-morrow, and we may not have +time to return to the Fort." + +"Amy," said Martine, "I know I'm very stupid, but I'd really like to +know where Port Royal ends and Fort Anne begins. Some one told me that +this is really Fort Anne, but you always speak of it as Port Royal; so +just to gratify my curiosity I'm willing to listen to a little more +history." + +"Then I'll give you as much, or rather as little, as I can to make you +understand some of the happenings at this Fort in the early days. I am +sorry that I cannot go at all into details about the many sieges and +expeditions against the Fort in the seventeenth century. The quarrels of +D'Aunay and Charles de La Tour form a most exciting series of episodes, +and you must read them at length in Parkman or some other history. +Although theirs was not warfare between French and English, La Tour was +a Huguenot, and in a general way the English were on his side. In fact, +he once came down to Boston and interested Winthrop and others in his +cause. In the end I suppose La Tour may be considered to have been the +conqueror; at least, he survived D'Aunay, and later married for his +second wife D'Aunay's widow. Port Royal was captured by Cromwell's fleet +in 1654, and a few years later, in the reign of Charles II, was given +back to France. In 1690, when England and France were again at war, De +Menneval, the governor of the Fort, had to surrender to Sir William +Phipps, and the account of this expedition you will surely read +sometime, for Phipps was a New Englander and his career most +interesting." + +"The New Englanders seem to have had a special spite against Acadia," +said Martine; "so it isn't strange, Priscilla, that you have inherited +part of it." + +"Oh, no, I haven't; only if I must choose I naturally prefer what is +English to what is French." + +"After all that Phipps thought he had accomplished," continued Amy, +"Acadia was again handed back to France; but I will pass over other +attacks to remind you of what you have doubtless read many times in your +school histories, that, when the Treaty of Utrecht settled the wars +between Queen Anne and Louis XIV, Acadia was given to the English. Since +that time the fort has been Fort Anne and the town Annapolis." + +"It's no wonder," said Martine, "that the Acadians hardly knew whom to +obey, when they'd been handed over from one side to another so often." + +"This does account for much of the misunderstanding that finally led to +their deportation. They trusted too implicitly in the French King, and +for a long time vainly hoped that he would conquer the English and make +them again his subjects." + +Hardly had Amy finished when a boyish voice was heard crying, +"Good-morning, good-morning. Is it really true that you're starting +North to-day?" + +"No, not to-day; we have still a day or two left before we set out for +Grand Pre; we are going over to see your mother this afternoon." + +"I'm glad of that," responded Balfour, "for I'm to have a day off, or +rather an afternoon, and I wanted to be sure of your plans." + +Balfour did not explain that he had asked for this special holiday in +order to have some time with his new friends. + +"You won't spend the whole afternoon with my mother," he began +awkwardly,--"at least, not all of you,--and so I thought that perhaps +some of you would go for a drive with me." + +"I am going to stay with Eunice," said Priscilla; "it will be our last +day together." + +Martine said nothing. + +Then Balfour turned to Amy: + +"Would not you and Miss Martine drive with me? I can take you to one or +two out-of-the-way places that you probably haven't visited." + +"Surely," responded Amy, "that will be delightful. I can go, and with +pleasure. As for Martine, she must speak for herself." + +Amy had no doubt as to Martine's desire, so that it was hardly necessary +for her to await a reply. + +"Why, of course," replied Martine; "there's nothing I'd like so well." + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + AN EXCURSION + + +Balfour, when the three started on their afternoon expedition, was in a +particularly happy frame of mind. + +"There's one advantage in working all summer--a half holiday seems ten +times more valuable now than usually. Not that I'm working hard this +summer, only my days are not my own, and I can seldom make plans; +besides, I do begrudge the time that I have to take from study." + +"Then you will probably think to-day wasted." + +"No, indeed; besides, we are going to study nature, and--" + +"A little French history," interposed Martine. "Did you not say that you +would take us to an old battleground?" + +"Yes, I hope to, for my steed is not like Jill. We can depend on getting +somewhere with Lion, whereas Jill--" + +"Mr. Frazer would say that she went fast enough the day he rode her in +my company." + +"It's a great thing for a horse to know when to stop, as well as when to +go on. Whoa, Lion! There, we can leave him standing while we go up that +little hill. It's said to be the site of an ancient French church. It +may interest you." + +Amy and Martine loudly praised the beauty of the scenery as they stood +on the elevated land above the narrow, winding river. + +"They say that a church stood here in the earliest French days, with a +set of silver bells that rang out most musically over the water. Then, +when the church fell to pieces, the bells sank into the earth, and are +hidden somewhere underground,--and any one who likes may dig for them." + +Martine began to prod in the earth with her parasol. + +"Come, my dear, we won't have time to-day, and you need a crowbar rather +than that tiny stick. If you found them they would be rather too clumsy +to carry home;" and Amy laid her hand on Martine's arm. + +"I'd rather look for Apostle spoons," replied Martine. "I heard of a +woman who dug up two in her garden, and when she saw how dirty they +were, threw them into a kettle of lye that she happened to have boiling +for soap, or something of that kind. She almost lost her head when the +ugly lead things came out looking like gold, for they were silver washed +with gilt. If she found such things, why not I, for it's a true story, +isn't it?" turning to Balfour. + +"Oh, yes, fairly true, and there's always a chance of finding something +by digging long enough. But I would never waste my time digging, except +with hoe and spade, for fruit and vegetables. There's good money," he +concluded, "in strawberries here in Nova Scotia. In Annapolis I know a +man who has several acres, and in good seasons he gets two thousand +boxes a day." + +"Strawberries! Aren't apples the prize crop here?" + +"Yes, and more certain than anything else. A man can get $300 an acre +from a good orchard. If money were the only thing I'd rather be a farmer +than a lawyer down here." + +"That's better than some gold mines," said Amy, as they turned and +walked down the hill to the carriage. + +"When I was a small shaver," continued Balfour, "and had plenty of time +to spare, I used to walk there along the top of the dykes of Annapolis. +From the base of seven or eight feet it narrows to hardly a foot at the +top, and I can tell you that it was ticklish work keeping a footing." + +"Why didn't I know of that before?" cried Martine. "I certainly should +have tried it. I love to walk on railroad tracks, and dyke-walking must +be almost the same." + +"You can't try anything of that kind while you are in my care," +interposed Amy. "The river is probably deeper than it looks, and if you +should go too near the edge--" + +"Oh, I can swim, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, though, to put your careful +soul at ease, I'll promise not to go near the water. All the same, I +wish that I were an Indian, at this very moment gliding down from Minas +to Digby. Didn't you tell me that this was one of their favorite +routes?" and she turned to Balfour for a reply. + +"Why, yes," he replied, "from any point outside Minas they used to glide +over to French Cross, then by a portage of four miles to Aylesford, and +they would be borne on by the current down the Annapolis River, +sometimes as far even as Digby." + +"French Cross?" asked Amy. "What have I heard of French Cross?" + +"Perhaps of the awful winter there that some of the Acadians passed +through, just after the deportation." + +"Tell me about it," cried Martine, eagerly. "I never heard of it." + +"Well, after the Acadians had been put aboard the ships at Grand Pre, +some friendly Micmacs hurried down secretly to warn the French at the +eastern end of Annapolis. When they heard the news, about sixty Acadians +decided on flight, and with a Micmac guide began to make their way +north. They hoped to reach a point on the shore where the English would +not see them, from which they could cross over to New Brunswick, and +then get the protection of the French at Quebec. But when they reached +Aylesford they did not dare try to cross. Their food was poor, sickness +broke out among them, many died, and were buried in the soft Aylesford +sand. The others went on to French Cross, but still did not dare cross +the Bay. During the bitter cold of December, while they were suffering +everything, they saw the last of the transports pass down the Bay, +carrying their countrymen to the southern colonies. Many died during the +winter, and when spring came the friendly Indians made birch-bark canoes +for the remainder, who then crossed in safety to the New Brunswick +shore." + +"Man's inhumanity to man," sighed Amy, sentimentally. + +"What wretches the English were!" exclaimed Martine, more energetically. + +"Remember, please, that I am English;" and Balfour raised his hand in +remonstrance. "Besides, the persecutors of the Acadians were not +English, but your fellow New Englanders, who took the whole matter on +themselves, without asking leave of any one else." + +"But I am no New Englander," objected Martine. + +"Oh, it's all the same. Some of your ancestors were from New England +undoubtedly, unless you are different from most Chicagoans. But if you +repudiate New England, you cannot object to my arousing your sympathies +for some of those exiled Loyalists who suffered quite as much as the +over-pitied Acadians." + +"It's a shame Priscilla is not here," murmured Martine. + +Now Balfour was not likely to speak idly, and in a moment he had begun +his recital. + +"The old lady who told this story to my mother was visiting Annapolis +from Fredericton, and her mother, the daughter of an officer in a New +Jersey regiment, experienced all the hardships that she described. The +vessels with these New Jersey officers and soldiers and their families +went up the St. John River in early October, and landed at a place +called St. Ann's, that later became Fredericton, the capital of the +Province. It was a wet, cold season, and the people had no shelter but +tents, that they tried to cover with spruce boughs. Their floor was the +ground, and when snow fell in early November the old lady's mother said +that her family tried to shut it out by putting their one rug against +the opening. Often a part of the family had to sit up all night to keep +the others from freezing. When everything else failed they would heat +boards at the fire, and hold them over the children to give them needed +warmth." + +"A likely story!" and Martine smiled. + +"Indeed, it is perfectly true," rejoined Balfour, gravely. "Many men and +women died of exposure and lack of food that terrible winter. Their +graves were dug with pickaxe and shovel, in the hard ground not far from +the tents. Like the Acadians at French Cross, they had no clergyman to +pay the last rites. They had been used to comfortable and pleasant +homes, and many of them had had wealth; so it was doubly hard to have to +live in Indian fashion on fish, and moose, and berries. In the spring +they made maple sugar, and killed pigeons. There was great rejoicing +when the first vessels came with corn and rye. They were in constant +fear of the Indians, and it was long before they could live even half +decently." + +"I have always sympathized with the Loyalists," said Amy, quietly. + +"Oh, well, it's all over now," returned Balfour, bitterly. "But it must +have been hard for many of them to remember that their houses and lands, +and even their personal property, had been passed over to people who to +them seemed to have no shadow of right to it." + +"Do you care now?" asked Martine, gently. + +"Oh, no;" but Balfour's tone belied his words. "My family did not suffer +so much as some, though we had to start here in Annapolis with little +besides the land that the King granted." + +"Back to the soil is a good thing sometimes." + +"Oh, yes, and Nova Scotia was very hospitable to the poor Loyalists; but +still--to tell the truth, sometimes I wish that I had grown up on the +other side of the line. There seems to be more chance in many ways;" and +Balfour sighed. + +Amy looked at Balfour in surprise. He was evidently considerably her +junior, yet he talked like one much older. + +"I should like to see him and Fritz together," she thought. "I believe +that Fritz would appear five years younger, for he always persists in +talking like an overgrown boy." + +"There," concluded Balfour, "I have said too much. On the whole, I am +contented, and the Province offers more than many corners of the world +to an ambitious young man, so enough said. Now, just see, I was so +absorbed in harrowing your feelings over the Loyalists that I have taken +a wrong turn, and we are now so far from the battleground that we'll +have to give it up this afternoon." + +"'All roads are alike to me,'" hummed Amy, while Martine added, "But the +scenery here is lovely. Just see how the North Mountain stands out, with +that little fringe of mist hanging about the top, and I've never seen so +many fine orchards. Oh, I wouldn't have missed this particular drive for +anything;" and her flushed cheeks and beaming eyes showed that she had +meant what she said. + +"The drive has been full of pictures, too," added Martine. "I've seen a +great many things even that you have not spoken of, and whenever I look +over there toward the woods I fancy I see an Indian creeping along; not +an unfriendly savage, but one with a smile on his face, hoping perhaps +to be asked by Lescarbot to stay to dinner at the Fort." + +"Yes," rejoined Balfour, "one of those jolly fellows who objected to the +wording of the Lord's Prayer in asking for bread, saying that bread +alone wouldn't do for him, as he needed moose, and fish besides." + +"Yes, and some of the French dishes that they favored him with +occasionally." + +"Well, I have heard many things that make me believe that the Indians of +Acadia were jokers. Some of the stories would shock you, I am afraid;" +and Balfour hesitated. + +"Oh, we are not so easily shocked. Tell us, do." + +"Very likely you've heard this particular thing. But it is said that one +of the men in that first expedition of the French undertook to make a +dictionary, and when he tried to get some of the natives to give him the +Micmac for various sacred names, the Indian gave him words that were +just the contrary,--almost profane, in fact,--so that the Frenchman made +himself very ridiculous when he tried to make use of his new +vocabulary." + +"Which shows," said Martine, "that the Micmac Indian was not such a +serious and solemn creature as those that used to appear in our school +histories bewailing the advance of the white man. I always thought I'd +like to meet one of them." + +"Why, Martine?" + +"Yes, just for the pleasure of sticking a pin in him. He would never +have had spirit enough to turn his tomahawk against me. But these +Micmacs knew how to enjoy life. The dictionary maker was probably a +prim, conceited fellow, who deserved to be laughed at. Of course, in a +general way," she concluded hastily, "I am always on the side of the +French, and I love to remember that the old Fort once belonged to them." + + "'When from Port Royal's rude-built walls + Gleamed o'er the hills afar, + The golden lilies on the shield + Of Henry of Navarre. + + "'A gay and gallant company, + Those voyagers of old, + Whose life in the Acadian Fort + Lescarbot's verse has told,'" + +recited Balfour, as they turned into St. George's Street, "and here we +are in sight of Fort Anne, and it pleases my soul that the flag floating +above is the flag of Great Britain." + +"We won't quarrel about that now," said Martine, "for you have given us +the very pleasantest afternoon we've had." + +"Yes," added Amy, "it has certainly been delightful, and so it is all +the harder to remember that this is probably our last excursion around +Annapolis,--at least, for the present." + +"You are very good to appreciate our old town so, and I hope that you +will find Wolfville almost as attractive. I am sorry enough, however, +that you are going away. We shall miss you all;" and though emphasizing +"all," Balfour looked directly at Martine as he spoke. "My sister has +grown so fond of Miss Priscilla that she has forgotten her inborn hatred +for New Englanders, and I hope you'll understand that we all appreciate +your interest in Acadian history. I only trust I haven't bored you and +Miss Martine by my facts and reminiscences. I fear that I've been almost +garrulous." + +"Oh, no, indeed, far from that;" and Martine's emphasis showed how +deeply she meant what she said. + +At this moment they had reached their own door and the last good-byes +had to be said. + +"I cannot come again this evening," Balfour explained, "but I'll see you +for a moment at the train." + +Then, thrusting his hand into his pocket, with an exclamation he drew +out a small object that he held toward Martine. "I had almost forgotten, +but if you would take this," he cried, "for your collection, I would be +so pleased. It's in a better condition than most things they dig up;" +and as Martine took it, she saw that it was a small trowel, remarkably +bright, yet of a curious shape. + +"Another Acadian relic. How kind you are!" + +"This fork is for you, Miss Redmond. Even if you have not a collection, +it will interest you. The trowel," Balfour continued, "was almost as +bright as this when it was dug up, it had been buried so deep, and the +fork is of an odd shape. Of course they haven't any great value," he +concluded, "only they are genuine relics, as I know, for I dug them up +myself. I might have brought you a gridiron with a long handle and four +feet, but you would have found some difficulty in carrying it about, and +the little spade can be carried in your travelling-bag for use in +mending a broken dyke, or shaping bricks, if you happen to wish to mend +or build on the way. That at least was its original use, and the +fork--well, you can find many uses for it;" and he turned from Martine +to Amy. + +Both girls found it hard to bid good-bye to Balfour. In spite of the +shortness of their acquaintance he was already an old friend, one whose +friendship they particularly valued. + +"How sensible he is," sighed Martine, as they went indoors, "and to +think that he's only a year older than Taps!" + +"A year older than--who?" asked Amy, thinking that she must have +misunderstood. "What did you say?" + +"Oh, nothing--really nothing," replied Martine, hastily, with a +heightened color. "I was only thinking that Balfour Airton seems so very +much older than most boys of his age, and he knows so much more than +most students." Martine's words were hurried and nervous, and Amy +decided that she was more disturbed than she had expected her to be at +parting with her Annapolis friends. + +But if Amy only suspected Martine's feelings, she had no difficulty in +deciding how Priscilla felt. She and Eunice had formed a most romantic +attachment for each other, and made no effort to hide the tears that +fell freely as they bade good-bye at the station. At the final parting +each threw her arms around the other's neck, and the bystanders tried +not to laugh when Eunice in her emotion knocked off Priscilla's hat and +entangled the cord of her eyeglasses in Priscilla's belt. But the +bystanders, if amused, were sympathetic, consisting as they did chiefly +of Dr. and Mrs. Gray, Balfour, and Mrs. Airton, and one or two other +friends whom the travellers had met during their weeks in Annapolis. + +"Your tears, my dear Eunice," said Dr. Gray, "exactly express the +feelings of all the rest of us; and while we wish you, Mrs. Redmond, a +safe journey, it is perhaps not too selfish to hope that you and the +young ladies may look back to Annapolis as the brightest spot on the map +of your travels." + +"Indeed, we shall," said Mrs. Redmond, cordially, "and--" + +"All aboard!" called the conductor; "Good-bye," shouted Balfour; "Write +soon," sighed Eunice. + +"Come back next summer," cried Dr. Gray. + +"Perhaps sooner," responded Amy, and with a puff and a shriek the +"Flying Bluenose" glided off toward the real land of Evangeline. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + WITH PREJUDICE + + +"Priscilla," said Amy, as they finished breakfast on their first morning +at Wolfville, "you are no longer homesick." + +"Did I say I was homesick?" + +"Perhaps not in words, though you have looked it a great many times. But +I noticed a change during our last week in Annapolis; you have seemed +perfectly cheerful ever since." + +"Oh, I'm sorry," responded the over-conscientious Priscilla, "if I +seemed less than cheerful before; it was really very wrong in me, for +you and your mother have been so kind, and Martine is so very--" here +she hesitated for a moment--"so very lively." + +Amy smiled at Priscilla's earnestness. + +"To most persons you would have seemed perfectly cheerful, but little +things have shown me that your heart was not wholly with us." + +"That was only because I had never before been altogether away from my +family. But if there has been any change lately, it has been on account +of Eunice. She seems to me the most sensible person I have ever known, +and I hope that she can carry out her plan of going to college. If papa +had lived I could have done something for her, but now I can't make any +promises for the future, because mamma says that we shall have to be +very careful about spending for a few years." + +"I'm glad, however," responded Amy, "that you have this interest in +Eunice, even if you cannot do all that you would like to do for her; it +is rather curious that each of us should have found a protege in the +course of our travels; Yvonne, Pierre, and Eunice, each one so unlike +the others, and yet all of them rather interesting." + +"Martine, of course, can accomplish the most," and Priscilla sighed. "I +imagine that her father and mother never say 'no' to her." + +"Money isn't everything," replied Amy, "and you and I can do more or +less for Eunice and Pierre in spite of the fact that time and thought +are the most we can give. I have often noticed that the person who has a +real interest in the welfare of some one else can really accomplish +things in better ways than by spending money." + +"Balfour wouldn't let any one spend much money on Eunice; he is so very +independent, and wishes always to stand on his own feet. I never saw any +one just like him." + +"I agree with you, Priscilla, and I feel that we owe much to him for all +he did for us in Annapolis; besides, he has given mother one or two +letters to people in Wolfville, so that I fancy we shall be somewhat +indebted to him here." + +A few moments later Amy, in her little bedroom, reread a letter received +from Fritz that morning. Its tone was so cheerful that it ought to have +had an exhilarating effect on her; on the contrary, she was now less +happy than before she received it. Fritz and his friend had already +reached Chester on the east coast, and he wrote most enthusiastically of +the charms of this little watering-place. Not one word of regret did he +utter now over his separation from Mrs. Redmond's party. His time was +apparently fully occupied with boating and driving excursions and other +pleasures of the conventional summer resort. One sentence only, at the +end, suggested that he had not forgotten what he had previously said to +Amy. + +"I am surprised that you have travelled so comfortably, with not a +single accident to interfere with your pleasure; but if anything +disagreeable should happen, then perhaps you will wish that you had some +stronger person to help you out of your difficulty." + +With a sigh Amy laid the letter in her bureau drawer, and as she did so +her eye fell on an envelope addressed to Martine. Evidently she had +picked it up with her own letters when she had brought them upstairs. +The envelope was empty and hardly worth returning, but as she took it to +drop into the waste basket, she looked, as one will, at the postmark. To +her surprise, it was the same, "Chester," as on her own letter from +Fritz. Then her mind flew back to the morning at Yarmouth, when she +thought she had seen Martine wheeling down the side street with an +unknown youth. The inference was now plain--in some way Martine had made +the acquaintance of Fritz's friend, and was keeping up a correspondence +with him. There was nothing very wrong in this in itself, except that it +implied on Martine's part a certain amount of deception. "Taps," as +Fritz called him, might have been a perfectly desirable friend for all +the girls, and Fritz himself might have introduced him to Martine. She +had had no opportunity to meet him on the boat. Yet even had he been an +old friend of hers, there seemed to be no reason why she should not +speak frankly about him. The discovery of this envelope reconciled Amy +completely to Fritz's banishment. It was just as well that he and his +friend had been sent off by themselves. + +As to Martine, Amy decided that at present it was hardly well to speak +to her of the letter, or even mention it to Mrs. Redmond. But for the +rest of the day she was less cordial than usual toward Martine, and the +young girl felt the change. + +When Amy returned to the piazza, where she had left the others, she +found only her mother and Martine. In a moment Priscilla joined them, +looking bright and happy, and with unusual color in her fair cheeks. + +"I've been down the street," she said, "and the town is so attractive +that you must all come with me on an exploring tour; I can't tell why, +but I feel more at home here than in most places. Wolfville seems less +English than Annapolis; in fact, it is more like one of our own New +England towns." + +"That, I dare say," rejoined Mrs. Redmond, "is partly because it is a +college town, but more likely because it was settled by Americans. I +have an idea that hardly a Loyalist came here after the Revolution." + +"Settled by Americans?" cried Martine. "Wasn't this all French country +through here?" + +"Yes--once--my dear. You remember, however, that after the French were +deported, their lands were granted to colonists from New England. Those +who came to this part of Nova Scotia were chiefly from Connecticut, and +Wolfville is named for a well-known family of these colonists, named De +Wolfe." + +"Then this isn't Grand Pre?" + +"Oh, no; there is still a Grand Pre two or three miles to the west, with +relics and memories without end, of Evangeline and Basil." + +"Let us go there, then, as soon as we can," cried Martine. + +"Not yet, my dear. We would better first see something nearer at hand; +Mr. Knight, Balfour's friend, has offered to drive us to Grand Pre this +afternoon, and if this suits you all, I will send him a reply at once." + +The three girls, agreeing that they should enjoy the afternoon drive, +fell in with Mrs. Redmond's suggestion for a morning walk. + +"I have been advised," said Mrs. Redmond, "to take a road behind the +college, leading to the top of the ridge, where we can get a fine view +of the Gaspereau Valley." + +Though it was a steep hill, the view from the summit repaid them by its +surpassing beauty. The deep valley, bordered with trees of varying +shades of green, the blue river flowing between, and toward its mouths +winding in and out among the marshes, formed a scene long to be +remembered. + +"If we could see to the very mouth," said Mrs. Redmond, "and bring our +imagination into full play, we could picture the poor Acadians gathered +in forlorn groups waiting to be dragged away to the English transports. +Their pleasant homes were found all along the sides of this valley, as +well as at Grand Pre. Undoubtedly it is Longfellow's poem that has given +the latter place its greater prominence." + +Some distance along the ridge the four Americans continued to walk, +until they reached a point from which they had a wider view; then for +the first time their eyes fell on the clear waters of Minas Basin. On +its farther shore rose a high, red bluff. + +"Bluff," at least, was what Martine called it, but Priscilla, repeating +her words, exclaimed: + +"No, no, it's a mountain; it must be." + +Mrs. Redmond smiled at the emphasis that each girl threw into her words. + +"My dear children," she exclaimed, "I should think that you'd at once +know Blomidon; surely you must often have seen it pictured. Blomidon, +you remember, was the home of Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs, and +Minas Basin was his beaver pond. Poets and painters have been inspired +by Blomidon, and I imagine, Martine, that you and I will even make some +attempt to reproduce its beauty." + +"Ah," sighed Martine, "but we could never give the effect of that light +and shade on the side of the mountain, for it really is a mountain, as +Priscilla says; and there's something quite wonderful in that deep red +that stands out so between the sky and the water." + +"From Grand Pre we'll have an even better view, I'm told, of Blomidon. +You are so fond of jewels, Martine, that you'll be tempted to cross the +Basin to hunt for amethysts." + +"That reminds me," said Amy, "of something I read the other day; when De +Monts visited the Basin, he called Blomidon, 'Cap d'Or.' Among the +amethysts that he found on an island near by was one of extraordinary +size, which he took back to France and presented to the King and Queen, +who had it set among the crown jewels." + +"We cannot linger here much longer," said Mrs. Redmond; "if we take this +lower road, it will probably bring us into the business section, and +then we can walk back home, along the main street." + +When they had done their errands and were perhaps half-way home, Mrs. +Redmond, who was ahead, looked back for a moment. + +"Here, Amy, is something especially for you." + +Amy hurried on and found herself at the entrance of a little graveyard. + +"Oh, mamma, you are laughing at me." + +There was a suspicious smile on Mrs. Redmond's lips as she said: + +"Every one, my dear child, knows your _penchant_ for old graveyards, and +this one is so bright and cheerful that you might have missed it had I +not called your attention to it." + +Following Mrs. Redmond and Amy, the others entered the enclosure. It +was, as Mrs. Redmond had said, "bright and cheerful," with neatly kept +walks, and a little fountain playing in the centre. Evidently it was no +longer a place of burial. Many of the stones were more than a hundred +years old, and marked the resting-place of the first Connecticut +settlers. + +"How far away they were," said Amy, "from their real home. After all, in +spite of the rich dyke-lands given them here, I wonder if many of them +did not regret the homes they had left." + +"That reminds me," said Priscilla, "of some lines I copied from a poem +the other day; Eunice had the book," and she turned over the leaves of +her note-book. + +"Read them, please," said Mrs. Redmond. So Priscilla began rather +timidly, "The poem is 'The Resettlement of Acadia,' but I copied only +parts of it," and then she read with expression: + + "'But the simple Norman peasant-folk shall till the land no more, + For the vessels from Connecticut have anchored by the shore, + And many a sturdy Puritan, his mind with Scripture stored, + Rejoices he has found at last "the garden of the Lord." + + * * * * * + + They come as Puritans, but who shall say their hearts are blind + To the subtle charms of nature, and the love of humankind? + + * * * * * + + And tears fall fast from many an eye, long time unused to weep, + For o'er the fields lay whitening the bones of cow and sheep.'" + +"I know that you'll think me frightfully stupid," was Martine's comment, +as Priscilla finished reading. "That is delightful poetry, but it isn't +clear in my mind who the Connecticut Puritans were. Were they exiles, +too, like the Acadians and the Loyalists?" + +"Only by their own will. But you are not stupid in failing to understand +about the resettling of Acadia. Many Nova Scotians know very little +about it. After the French had been deported in 1755, this fertile +Province would have been of little service to England without +inhabitants. The simplest way to repeople the land was to attract +colonists from the older colonies. So Governor Lawrence sent a +proclamation to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, stating +the terms on which the Government would grant land to settlers. As a +result three separate groups of settlers were formed. The Massachusetts +families came to Annapolis; the Rhode Islanders to the country North of +Grand Pre, where there is now a Newport; and the Connecticut settlers, +as Priscilla has just read, to Grand Pre. These people were of the +highest character. Many of them had considerable property of their own, +and they came down here in the spirit that took so many sturdy New +Englanders West a generation or two ago." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond; I am glad to know that they didn't drive the +French out." + +"Oh, no, many of them had undoubtedly seen the fertility of Nova Scotia +during the long French and Indian Wars, in which they had fought; the +richness of the country was pretty well understood. But they themselves +had nothing to do with deporting the Acadians. Dr. Gray explained all +this at Annapolis. But come, girls! You can copy these inscriptions some +other day, Priscilla. We must rest a little now, if we expect to enjoy +the afternoon." + +When Mr. Knight called for them that afternoon the girls were surprised +at his appearance. Mrs. Redmond had forgotten to say that he was an +extremely young man, whose youth seemed all the greater because he tried +to assume the manners and aspect of a much older person. He had been +graduated from Acadia College a few years before, the youngest of his +class by more than a year. He was now a teacher in the neighboring +school that fitted boys for Acadia, and on this account perhaps felt the +need of maintaining a dignity of demeanor that should make them forget +his youth. + +His friendship for Balfour and his sincere admiration of the whole +Airton family ought to have saved him from Martine's ridicule. But from +the moment that her eye took in the details of his costume,--his +high-standing collar, his round-headed walking-stick, his monocle, and +his hair neatly parted in the middle (though this was hardly a detail of +costume), she was convulsed with laughter. The carriage that Mr. Knight +had brought was two-seated, but each seat was wide enough for three, and +the pair of horses looked capable of travelling many miles without +fatigue. + +Martine and Priscilla begged for the front seat with the driver, and Mr. +Knight, accordingly, sat on the back seat with Amy and Mrs. Redmond. + +The party was soon outside the more closely built streets, on a broad +road that for the time offered little outlook. Mr. Knight, with the +evident intention of doing his full duty by Balfour's friend kept up a +monologue whose steady current afforded great amusement to Martine. + +"Talk of babbling brooks," she murmured; "did you ever hear anything +like it?" and she gave Priscilla's arm a gentle pinch that made her +squirm. + +"He's taking any amount of trouble to make history clear," rejoined +Priscilla, who, as usual, was not ready to accept Martine's point of +view. + +"Yes, but he's beginning at the wrong end. We know all about Champlain, +and De Monts, and the Scotch Fort, and all that; what we want is how the +Acadians were treated at Grand Pre, and where--" + +"Oh, he'll get there." + +"Yes, if we give him time. But I am going to make him change the +subject." So, leaning back, Martine turned to Mr. Knight, "You are a +great friend of Mr. Airton's, I believe." + +"Oh, yes, indeed; that is--but of course you know--well, Mr. Airton +is--ah, not exactly a contemporary of mine--that is, he is--I am older." + +Mr. Knight, as he spoke, grew rather red in the face. There seemed to be +no excuse for his embarrassment, except the one that Mrs. Redmond gave +later, that he regarded Martine's question and her way of putting it +much in the light of a question from an _enfant terrible_. + +Realizing, however, that he had not said just the right thing, the poor +young man next began to stammer in his effort to explain himself. + +"Balfour certainly is a great friend of mine, and one of the finest boys +I know." + +This ought to have been sufficient to please even the critical Martine, +and had Mr. Knight not used the word "boy" she might have been quite +content. As it was, this word happened to irritate her, and she +responded in a tone that disturbed Amy: + +"Oh, did you say that Mr. Airton is younger than you? Isn't he +considerably taller?" + +If Mr. Knight's face had been red before, it now became almost a deep, +deep crimson. Amy, rejoicing that her mother's seat was so far from +Martine's that she had not heard this remark, resolved at the earliest +opportunity to have a word alone with Martine. + +The opportunity, however, did not come for some time, and meanwhile Mr. +Knight talked enthusiastically of the apple crops of Cornwallis, and of +the fortune that any man might gather who would deal intelligently with +the Gravenstein. + +"The Cornwallis Valley," he said, "is one of the finest farming regions +in the world. You will see what I mean when you go to the Look-off, as +you will while you are here. But now--" + +"Oh, is this an old French church?" asked Martine, excitedly, as they +approached an ancient wooden structure half hidden by Lombardy poplars. + +If Mr. Knight heard her, he did not reply, but he jumped to the ground, +even before the driver had fairly pulled up his horses, and then, when +the carriage came to a full stop, offered to assist Mrs. Redmond to the +ground. + +"This," he began, "is sometimes incorrectly called an Acadian church." + +"Does he mean to snub me?" whispered Martine to Priscilla. + +"Yet it is merely an old Scotch church," continued Mr. Knight, "built +about a hundred years ago. A service is held here two or three times a +year, but the building receives no great care, and, as you can see, even +some of its windows have been broken by mischievous boys." + +"Such as Balfour Airton?" suggested Martine. But Mr. Knight took no +notice of her flippant criticism of his previous remark about Balfour. + +"It is like a New England meeting-house," said Amy, with a tinge of +disappointment, as they looked inside the old building, noting its high +pews, and sounding-board, and unadorned walls. Then, as she saw Martine +standing apart from the others, she remembered the words that she had +meant to say to her. So, drawing near, she took the young girl's hand in +hers. Martine looked up at her with a smile. + +"I know that you have a scolding tucked away somewhere, but I just won't +let you give it to me. It won't do me the least little bit of good, and +you wouldn't waste even a scolding, would you?" + +"Oh, Martine, you are incorrigible; you surely realize that you need at +least a reproof. Mother would give it to you if she had heard." + +"Mrs. Redmond is too sensible to overhear disagreeable things." + +"Very well, Martine; but tell me honestly, wouldn't you prefer to sit +with mamma? She always has a soothing effect on you." + +"That would bring me beside Mr. Knight. No, thanks. Surely, Amy, you +realize how ridiculous he is, talking in that patronizing way of +Balfour, who is a whole head taller than he." + +"You forget, my dear child, that if he were not a great friend of +Balfour's we should not have had the pleasure of his escort this +afternoon. He is certainly most kind in taking all this trouble." + +"I'll admit that he is very kind, though I dare say that we could have +found our way around without him. But he is ridiculous, isn't he, with +his walking-stick, and his English accent in an out-of-the-way place +like this?" + +"As Wolfville has always been his home, Mr. Knight probably feels that +he has the right to a walking-stick or an English accent. If he had a +French accent you would perhaps make greater allowances for him. But for +the sake of peace, if you don't object, I'll have Priscilla change +places with you. If you overhear anything you dislike, you may vent your +anger on me. I do not wish Priscilla to be a victim." + +"A victim! She doesn't realize that she is a victim now. Just look at +her. She is hanging on every word that Mr. Knight utters--and it's all +on account of his English accent." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + EVANGELINE'S COUNTRY + + +"I will admit that what he is saying is perfectly true." + +"And absolutely necessary, Martine, to our understanding properly this +land of Evangeline." + +"But he needn't talk so conceitedly, as if he were the only one in the +world who knows that there was no real Basil, nor Gabriel, and that +Evangeline herself was somebody else. Why, even in Chicago, where we are +farther away from Acadia than you are in Massachusetts, we know that. +But just listen,"--and as Martine and Amy stood there in silence a few +feet from the willows, they heard Mr. Knight's rather shrill voice +saying: + +"I am aware that you Americans have mapped out almost every inch of +Grand Pre, and that you can point out the site of Basil's smithy, and +Gabriel's house, and the old church, although as a matter of fact only +the last is at all certain. It is quite natural that you should accept +your Longfellow as real history, but--" + +Here Martine could restrain herself no longer. Stepping forward she +faced Mr. Knight, who stopped talking in his surprise at her sudden +appearance from the background; and in a clear voice she began to +recite: + + "'with a summons sonorous + Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat. + Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in the churchyard, + Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the headstones + Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the forest. + Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among them + Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant clangor + Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and casement.' + +Isn't that history," she asked gravely, "as well as Longfellow?" + +"Why, yes, in a general way," responded Mr. Knight, with an amused +smile. "As to details, why, I am not quite so sure, though I can assure +you I have no intention of questioning Mr. Longfellow's accuracy. Far +from it. His picture of the deportation is wonderfully complete." + +"Yet you were criticising him." + +"Oh, no, only the tendency of some tourists to connect everything in the +neighborhood of Grand Pre with something mentioned by Longfellow." + +"But if it makes the place more interesting," began Martine. + +"Oh, certainly, that is one of the uses of poetry, and really, Miss +Stratford, I intended no criticism of 'Evangeline,' only--" and again +that smile of amusement--"you will pardon me when I say that these are +not Evangeline's willows, as some call them, except in the poetic +sense." + +"They are very picturesque," said Amy, in an effort to turn the +conversation. "Until I came to Nova Scotia I had never thought of +willows as so strong and sturdy. In fact, I had in mind only the weeping +variety." + +The line of willows, a dozen or so beside the rail fence, with two or +three cows grazing in their shade, formed a picture so tempting that +Priscilla turned her camera upon it, and with a wave of her hand pointed +to something beyond. In a minute or two Mrs. Redmond and Amy were beside +her, with Mr. Knight and Martine but a step behind. + +"Shall you object if we call this Evangeline's well?" asked Martine, +with a touch of scorn in her voice. + +"Ah, call it what you please, Miss Stratford. It is certainly an old +French well. Evangeline may have drunk from it." + +"Is it quite safe to drink from an old well?" + +"Oh, mamma, you are not usually so anxious." + +"I can assure you, Mrs. Redmond, that this is pure water. The wall was +built a few years ago, and you will find the water deliciously cold. +This well, by the way, is probably near the site of the priest's house;" +and involuntarily he glanced toward Martine. + +"Oh," she rejoined, as if in answer to his glance, "I thought that there +was no priest--except in the poem." + +"Ah, surely there had been a priest, though not Father Felician; and +indeed at the time of the deportation the priest was away from Grand +Pre, a prisoner at Halifax, and so he could not exhort the people. But +these are mere matters of detail. Undoubtedly we are now standing very +near the site of the church." + +"I wonder if the bells are hidden in the earth like those we heard of at +Annapolis," and Amy turned to Martine with a smile, hoping to divert her +from quizzing Mr. Knight. + +"Ah, the bells!" exclaimed the offending young man. "There is a +story--if you should care for it." + +"By all means," replied Mrs. Redmond; and under the embarrassing gaze of +four pairs of eyes Mr. Knight told his tale. + +"It isn't a remarkable story in any way, only they say that when the +Acadians saw that they were prisoners, some of them managed to take down +the bell and wall it up in one of the vaults under the church, while the +church treasure was put in the other. Years afterwards, in the days of +the English settlers, a strange vessel was seen in the Basin one night. +People who passed this way thought they heard queer noises during the +night, and in the morning the ground near the site of the old church was +disturbed. Some people said that in the night they had heard a bell +ringing. That night there came a terrible storm, and soon bits of +wreckage drifted in that must have come from the strange vessel. In this +way every one believed that the theft had been avenged--if the strangers +stole the bell and the treasure. It is only fair to say," continued Mr. +Knight, "that some believe that the bell was taken by returning Acadians +who wished to set it up in an Acadian chapel on the Gaspe coast. At any +rate, there are people still living who have heard their parents say +that at certain times they can hear the distant ringing of this Grand +Pre bell." + +"How weird!" cried Martine. "Are there any more stories like that? I +love them." + +"Oh, there are some others connected with buried treasures, but an evil +fate was usually supposed to attend those who grew suddenly rich by +unearthing Acadian treasure; and there are tales of ghostly fires on St. +John's eve; and other stories used to trouble me very much when I was +small and had to pass lonely places in the night." + +"Oho," thought Martine, though she said nothing, "then it is as I +thought; he is easily scared." + +"At the time of the deportation," said Mr. Knight, as they took their +places again in the carriage, "the water came much nearer the village. +Since the days of the Acadians thousands of acres of dyke-lands have +been reclaimed. When the Connecticut settlers came they found many dykes +broken, through which the sea was rolling in, and they might have had a +hard time repairing them if they had not found a few Acadians still left +in the country, who had managed to escape the English and were lurking +in the neighborhood of their old homes." + +"That reminds me," said Priscilla; "who were the Acadians, that is, +where did they come from in the first place? I have never thought of +this before." + +"Why, Priscilla, they were--" then Amy stopped, not feeling quite sure +of her ground. + +"Oh, they were French, from--" and Martine could get no farther. + +"Of course they were French, but why did they know so much about dykes +and such things?" + +When no one else seemed inclined to answer the question, Mr. Knight +undertook to reply. + +"The Acadians of Grand Pre, like the Acadians of Annapolis, were nearly +all descended from a group of peasants from Rochelle, Pictou, and +Saintonge, who came out with D'Aunay and Razilly about 1630. They came +from a region of marshes, and they brought with them the art of building +dykes. The _aboiteaux_ that they built were marvels, and before you go +we must try to show you one of the dykes at low tide, when all the +wonderful method of building will be displayed. Pierre Terriau, by the +way, was the name of the first Acadian to settle in the Grand Pre +region. He came to the shores of the Habitant in 1671. Others soon +joined him. The people at Minas were so shut off from Port Royal that +they grew very independent. Indeed, this desire to escape the close +observation of those at the Fort was what sent Acadians from Port Royal +to this new region. In time there were three parishes in Minas,--St. +Joseph, St. Charles, and Grand Pre,--and the people were like one great +family, constantly inter-marrying, and always ready to help one another. + + "'Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows; + But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners; + There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance,' + +as your Longfellow says;" and Martine, had she been inclined, might have +taken this as an apology for the disrespect she had imagined cast on her +poet a little earlier. + +But there was no time now to discuss either Longfellow or the Acadians. +Before the party stretched the broad dyke-lands, where already many +farmers were cutting hay, while here and there were mammoth haystacks. + +Priscilla snapped her camera at a hay wagon with a larger load than any +she had ever seen, drawn by two of the heaviest, sleekest oxen; Amy made +a few notes in her diary; Mrs. Redmond sighed for her palette and +sketch-book; and Martine exclaimed loudly on the richness of color, the +vivid green of the marshes, the unclouded blue of the sky, and the +richer blue of the water, with a glimpse here and there of reddish +shores, and above all Blomidon, the magnificent, showing up in the +distance, like a veritable giant. + +"Have you seen all that you care to see at Grand Pre?" asked Mr. Knight, +politely, with a "Here, driver, draw up for a last look at Blomidon +before we turn toward Avonport." + +"How dark it looks now!" exclaimed Amy, pointing to the promontory. + +"That is because the sun no longer shines on it," replied Mr. Knight +"Listen to one of our poets: + + "'This is that black bastion, based in surge, + Pregnant with agate and with amethyst, + Whose foot the tides of storied Minas scourge, + Whose top austere withdraws into its mist. + + * * * * * + + "'Yonder, across these reeling fields of foam, + Came the sad threat of the avenging ships. + What profit now to know if just the doom, + Though harsh. The streaming eyes, the praying lips, + The shadow of inextinguishable pain, + The poet's deathless music, these remain.'" + +"Have we seen all that we can see?" interrupted Martine, untouched by +the poetical tribute to her Acadians. She was determined to show no +appreciation of anything said by Mr. Knight. + +"Have we seen all that we can see?" repeated Martine, adding with some +sharpness, "I thought that there would be much more." + +"Well, I am sure--" and Mr. Knight hesitated, "I am sorry--but there +isn't so very much--you know all the Acadian houses were burnt, and it's +just a modern village--the old Covenanter Church is perhaps the oldest +thing--and you've seen the old well and the willows and the things that +we point out to Americans." + +"There it is!" thought Martine, "that same patronizing tone when he +speaks of Americans." + +"Oh, there is one thing," continued the unhappy young man, conscious +now, as at all times, of Martine's disapproval, "I should have shown you +the little ridge near the station where Colonel Noble and one of his +soldiers were buried, after that terrible fight in 1747. You remember +the French had only seven killed to the one hundred English who were +slaughtered." + +"That was a cowardly attack," said Amy, warmly. + +"But it was the real French, and not the Acadians, who were +responsible," interposed Martine. + +"Yet the Acadians helped--at least as guides." + +"This pleasant country has certainly witnessed a great deal of tragedy." +Mrs. Redmond's voice was that of the peacemaker. + +"Yet through it all Blomidon has remained there calm and placid." Up to +this time Priscilla had had little to say. + +"But Glooscap, the deity of the Micmacs," responded Mrs. Redmond,--"you +remember that after the white men came to Minas, displeased with their +teachings, he fled away, and has never been seen since. + + "'You can see yourself Five Islands Glooscap flung at him that day, + When from Blomidon to Sharp he tore the Beaver's dam away. + Cleared the channel, and the waters thundered out into the Bay. + Here he left us--see the orchards, red and gold in every tree! + All the land from Gaspereau to Portapique and Cheverie, + All the garden lands of Minas and a passage out to sea.'" + +"Why, mamma, I never heard you quote poetry--at such length." + +"Perhaps you thought that I couldn't, but this is a Canadian poet, and +later you must read more of the myths grouped around Glooscap." + +"Oh, I know that Blomidon was his home, and Minas his beaver-pond, and +Spencer Island used to be his kettle that he tipped upside down when he +deserted Acadia, and two rocks there in the Bay were once his dogs that +he turned to stone at the same time. He never was cruel, never grew old, +and was never to die, and so I suppose that the Indians are looking +constantly for him to come back and restore their own to them." + +"As to that," said the serious Mr. Knight, "the Indians in Nova Scotia +are much better off than in the days of Glooscap. They may sit side by +side with white children in almost all the schools of the country. Many +of them live on land of their own, and raise live stock--though +unluckily they prefer ponies to heifers, and in every way the government +is fitting them for the full responsibilities of citizenship." + +"Oh, dear," sighed Martine, laying her hand on Amy's and leaning forward +so that those on the back seat might not hear. "What a regular +schoolmaster he is! He is more improving even than you, Miss Amy +Redmond. But listen--how much more appreciative is our dear Priscilla." + +In spite of herself Amy could but smile as Priscilla's gentle voice came +to her. "Thank you, Mr. Knight; the present condition of the Indians +interests me very much, and I have made a note of what you have said to +report at one of our Indian Aid Association meetings when I return +home," whereat the driver of their vehicle laughed, chuckled, and shook +his head. + +"I'd like to show her some specimen Micmacs," he said to Martine, "that +come round here oftener than once in a while, and have some distance to +travel before they are fully fitted for the responsibilities of +citizenship." + +"Now, ladies, a last look at Blomidon," cried Mr. Knight, as the +carriage took a sharp turn, and then, after one long, backward look, +they pressed on and drove westward toward Avonport. + +"Dear Prissie," said Martine, when at last they stood on the broad +beach, "you have been a very good girl to-day." Priscilla, reddening at +her words, made no reply. + +"Yes, you have been very good," continued Martine, "and when Mr. Knight +recalls this afternoon he will remember with pleasure the close +attention that you have given to his every word." + +"Oh, Martine, how absurd you are; I never heard you talk so pompously +before." + +"This is the effect of a few hours spent with an eloquent guide, +philosopher, and friend. Poor Amy is under the spell now; he seems to be +teaching her geology." + +Looking in the direction of the spot where they had left Mrs. Redmond +and Amy, Priscilla saw that Mr. Knight was pointing at the stones with +his walking-stick, as if they were diagrams on a blackboard. + +"He is probably explaining the rock formation," said Priscilla, +solemnly. "My guidebook says that the region has great geological +interest." + +"Then let us go off by ourselves somewhere, for if he gets the chance he +will try to teach us all he knows, and really, I could not stand any +more instruction to-day. Come, Prissie." + +At first Priscilla hesitated. + +"Do come; we'll have such a good chance to study those rocks and crags +by ourselves." + +"I'd rather wait for the others, but still--" + +"That's a good girl;" and, half dragging Priscilla by the arm, Martine +set off rapidly toward the bold cliffs that promised them more +entertainment than they had had that afternoon. + +"There are sure to be shells," said Martine, "and perhaps curious +seaweeds in some of the little pools. The tide is so high that +undoubtedly there are many strange things washed up here." + +Martine was correct in her surmises, and for half an hour the two felt +like explorers as they picked their way from stone to stone, filling +their hands with trophies. + +"Isn't it fun?" cried Martine. "I feel as if we were quite alone in the +world. We can just enjoy ourselves without thinking of history or +geology, or anything else." + +"I wonder if the others will be worried," said Priscilla, who herself +was not quite sure that she enjoyed this sensation of being quite alone +in the world, with nobody near but Martine. + +"Of course they won't be worried. We shall be back before they even miss +us. Besides, I'd like to worry Mr. Knight." + +Priscilla looked at her watch. "I think that we ought to return now; we +have been gone more than half an hour." + +"Oh, not yet--but listen; some one is calling. It is Mr. Knight. 'Young +ladies, young ladies,'" and Martine mimicked the tones that now were +borne quite clearly to their ears. "I just won't have him find us, and +lead us back as if we were two children who had done something that we +shouldn't; let us hide behind these rocks until he passes." + +Somewhat against her will Priscilla allowed herself to be led into a +rocky nook where a jutting ledge hid them effectually from any +passer-by. + +So Mr. Knight, walking along the cliffs above them, even had he peered +down to the lower level, could hardly have seen them. His "Young ladies, +young ladies, we're starting home now," grew feebler and feebler, and +when Martine had assured herself that he was really a safe distance +away, she came out from her hiding-place with a cry of "Danger past." + +"We mustn't stay here too long," remonstrated Priscilla; "Mrs. Redmond +will be worried." + +"I am perfectly willing to go now," replied Martine, "since Mr. Knight +won't lead me by the nose. We had a hard climb to this grotto, but it +will be much easier going down." + +Hardly had Martine spoken when Priscilla, who was a few steps ahead of +her, turned back with a cry of alarm. + +"Look, Martine; what shall we do?" + +Stepping up beside her friend, Martine too exclaimed in surprise. + +"Do you suppose it will come any higher? I have heard of the rapid rise +of the tide, but this has just rushed in." + +Even in that first quick glance both girls realized that they were in a +critical position. In going up to the "grotto," as Martine called it, +they had taken no notice of tide-water marks, such as both of them might +have observed. The rocky arms by which they had ascended were now +covered by water, and an incoming wave dashed over Priscilla's feet as +they stood there, uncertain what to do. + +"Will it come all the way in? We shall be drenched if it does." + +"No," said Martine, turning about and inspecting the nook where they had +been standing when they heard Mr. Knight's voice. + +"You can see that if the last high tide had come in lately as far as +that little hollow, there would be some water there now. Instead, it is +perfectly dry. You can prove that for yourself." + +"Yes, yes, you are right; by standing back here we can at least keep +dry, but oh, dear, when shall we get out?" + +"Probably not until Mr. Knight rescues us," replied Martine, cheerfully, +"and even he will hardly come to our relief until low tide, which is +probably some hours away." + +Whatever the real danger, Priscilla and Martine saw at once that they +were in a very disagreeable predicament. The little niche in which alone +they could have a dry footing on three sides had steep walls, whose +height at the lowest was surely twenty feet. Martine scanned the sides +carefully, but the stone surface was perfectly smooth. Nowhere was there +a projection that offered the least foothold. It was in no way possible +for either girl to climb to the top. Toward them flowed the advancing +tide. It had entirely cut them off from the path by which they had +reached the grotto, and though it might not be dangerously deep at every +point of the beach and rocks that it now covered, neither girl had +courage to venture into the water. + +Martine indeed had proposed to wade as far as it seemed safe, and then, +if necessary, swim to some point where she might get a footing. + +"No, no," Priscilla had remonstrated, "you might in some way miss the +others, and if you had to wait around for some time in your wet clothes +you would be really worse off than you are now--and besides, I should +hate to be left here all alone." + +"It might be a waste of energy," replied Martine, "for surely the tide +cannot come up to this little hollow; so it is only a question of time +when we shall get out of this. But it does seem to me that so unusually +clever a person as that Mr. Knight thinks himself might have found us +before this." + +"You aren't quite fair, Martine, for he certainly was just above us +here, calling with all his might. I dare say that he even looked over +the edge. You hid yourself so completely, and made me hide too, so that +when he looked he could not see us. He must think that we went in +exactly the opposite direction, and he and the others are probably a +mile away now, searching for us." + +"I do not care how much bother Mr. Knight has, but I do regret putting +Mrs. Redmond and Amy to such trouble. Why did you come with me, +Priscilla? If you had refused we shouldn't have got into this scrape." + +"Oh, Martine, when you fairly dragged me here! Surely you are unjust." + +Martine knew that she was unjust but like many persons who realize their +own foolishness, she experienced a certain relief for the present in +blaming some one else. + +"It will be hours," she grumbled, "before the tide will be low enough to +let us out for it is still coming in, and we shall be kept here for some +time after it turns." + +"If we get out before dark I shall be thankful. It will be terribly +disagreeable to find ourselves alone here in the dark." + +"Oh, it won't be as bad as that!" Martine's voice became suddenly +cheerful. Self-reproach had taken hold of her. What if Priscilla should +really suffer from this escapade? As if in answer to her thoughts, +Priscilla coughed once or twice. + +"There it is," thought Martine; "Priscilla is away for her health, and I +may undo all the good of the summer. It will be a great disappointment +to Mrs. Redmond, as well as to Priscilla's mother. They both expected so +much from this trip." Which reflections showed that Martine was +certainly not a villain of the deepest dye. Had she been hardened in +perversity she could not so soon have reached a state of repentance. + +But repentance without works avails little, and when Priscilla coughed +for a fourth time Martine became quite feverish with anxiety. + +Two large clouds in the distance seemed to her to indicate a coming +storm. Wretched enough would their condition be if they should be caught +by a heavy rain while they were in this exposed position. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + SAFE AGAIN + + +Time passes slowly when one has nothing to do, and although the fact +that their situation was equally disagreeable to both should have drawn +Martine and Priscilla closely together, they now found even less than +usual to talk about. Yet strangely enough, without blaming the other +each was heaping mental reproaches on herself,--Martine saw her own +folly in running away from the others, and Priscilla was conscious that +she had been too easily led. + +"We might help time pass by reciting poetry," said Martine. + +"Or discussing history," rejoined Priscilla. + +"This might be a good time to settle the respective merits of the +Loyalists and the Acadians." + +"With the tide coming in so fast I should hardly dare get into a +discussion; there'd be no one to help pull us in if we fell out. But +listen, isn't that some one calling?" + +"I believe it is, although the sound doesn't come from above. Don't you +hear it?" + +"Yes, I do; it's some one calling 'halloo, halloo.' Perhaps--" + +"Yes, it may be some one searching for us." + +Any doubts that Martine may have had were soon removed by the sight of a +small dory gliding into their field of vision some distance below them. +There were two men in the dory, both hatless and in their shirt-sleeves. +In an instant both girls were on their feet, waving their handkerchiefs. +In the same instant the men in the boat caught sight of them, and one of +them lifted his oar and flourished it two or three times in the air. + +"How will they get here?" asked Martine. + +"Oh, probably the water isn't very deep; they can push up part way, and +then wade." + +"If they can wade, we might have ventured." + +"It would not have been safe for us. See, they are pushing the boat up +all the way." + +The water, indeed, was deep enough to let the boat come up into the +hollow--now filled with water--between the two arms of rock, whereby the +two girls had climbed to their present position. While the boat was +still some distance away Priscilla and Martine had recognized the +immaculate Mr. Knight as the man who was steering. Mr. Knight, however, +was immaculate no longer; he was hatless and coatless, his hair somewhat +tumbled, and his face very red from the unwonted exertion. + +From the moment of recognizing him until the moment when the side of the +boat grazed the ledge was a very short time indeed. + +"We thought we'd find you somewhere near here; at least, we hoped so," +said Mr. Knight, looking from one girl to the other as if to decide +which was the real culprit. "But how in the world did you get here?" + +"Walked," replied Martine, laconically; "hadn't time to swim." + +"But if you walked why didn't I see you when I looked an hour or two +ago? I remember standing above this particular place and calling. +Perhaps you weren't here then." + +Martine said nothing. If it should be necessary to confess she could +attend to this later. At present she had enough to think about. + +"Is Mrs. Redmond worried?" asked Priscilla, anxiously. + +"Yes and no," replied Mr. Knight, "though she'll be glad enough to see +you." + +"Must we go in the boat?" Priscilla spoke as if she dreaded the +experiment, and she added, "It looks so very wobbly." + +"Oh, that boat, she's as steady as a setting hen," exclaimed Mr. +Knight's companion. "Just you look out, though, and don't wet your +feet." + +"I'll go first, Priscilla, and if I survive, why, then you can follow." + +But before Martine had attempted to take her place Mr. Knight turned to +Priscilla, "Of course, if you would rather not go in the dory we could +wait here until the tide ebbs. I could stay with you while Mr. Sands +rows back to report to Mrs. Redmond. But the boat is perfectly safe, I +can assure you." + +"Of course it is perfectly safe," exclaimed Martine, angrily; "I never +heard such a silly idea." But whether she meant to apply "silly" to +Priscilla's timidity or to Mr. Knight's suggestion she did not deign to +explain, and the young man, after one curious glance in her direction, +did not address her again. + +It was but the work of a minute or two to get the girls aboard the dory, +and soon they were at a landing-place from which they could reach Mrs. +Redmond and Amy. + +"You ain't the first people that's got caught in that way on the rocks," +said Mr. Sands as they rowed along, "only generally it's some romantic +couple that rather likes to stay there till the tide goes out. But your +ma was afraid that if you was there you might try to wade, and so catch +your death of cold, and besides, she wasn't sure you were anywhere, as +long as Mr. Knight couldn't find you; so when they all seemed so +concerned the only thing was to haul out the dory, though it wouldn't +have hurt you a mite if you'd had to stay." + +"I would as soon have stayed," said Martine, coldly; "it was a good +view, and I rather enjoyed sitting there in that little grotto." + +"Grotto," Mr. Sands laughed loudly, and Martine fancied that a smile +flickered at the corners of Mr. Knight's lips. "Grotto," repeated Mr. +Sands. "Well, I never heard that name used before in these parts. I +thought a grotto was foreign, but you've said something now that I won't +forget. Here, Mr. Knight, you help the young ladies out, while I steady +the boat," and in a second the two girls were running up the beach, +where Mrs. Redmond and Amy greeted them with open arms. + +It was now after sunset, and all were hungry and cold. In aspect they +were wholly unlike the party that had set out from Wolfville that +afternoon. All seemed quiet and subdued,--Martine and Priscilla, because +they had really been more fatigued by their little adventure than at the +time they had realized; Mrs. Redmond and Amy, because they had been most +anxious at the prolonged absence of the girls, and Mr. Knight--well, +perhaps inwardly he was blaming "those Americans" for giving him much +more trouble than was his due. Whatever his thoughts, however, he made +no criticism, and any perturbation that he may have felt was shown only +by his silence. + +What was most to the point, however, the horses and the driver were in +good spirits, and set out for Wolfville at a fine rate. While the others +had been looking and waiting, man and beast had had food and drink, and +this accounted for their energy. + +"Grotto," cried Mr. Sands, as the party drove away, "well, that does +beat all." + +Once on the way back to Wolfville they stopped before a house, after Mr. +Knight had had a word with the driver. Then the young man, excusing +himself, went within, returning soon with a small package. This he +opened after he had resumed his seat, and distributed to each of the +party a bread and butter sandwich and two or three cookies. "I might +have brought more," he explained, "but it would be a pity to take away +all your appetite for your supper at Wolfville." + +The sandwiches and the cakes seemed to promote conversation, and in the +remaining half hour the party was as bright and cheerful as a party of +young persons ought to be after a summer excursion. When they reached +the house Mr. Knight declined the invitation that Mrs. Redmond gave him +to stay to tea, though he promised to call on her the next day. + +"While we are in Wolfville," said Mrs. Redmond, as he turned away, "we +may not be able to show you how thoroughly we enjoyed the delightful +afternoon you have given us, but if you come to Boston we will do our +best to make a return." + +"I can assure you that the pleasure has been altogether on my side," +responded Mr. Knight. + +"And I can assure you," added Martine, who had now fully recovered her +spirits, "that Priscilla was an unwilling accomplice of mine this +afternoon, and that you were very good to rescue me as well as +her--everything considered." + +"Oh, but I can assure you," began Mr. Knight, "that I didn't mean--that +is, I--" and here realizing that the more he tried to say the more he +might blunder, the poor young man backed down the steps with a polite +bow and a single "good-night." + +"Priscilla," said Amy, that evening, as she handed the former her mail, +"here's a funny little package for you, half open at one end, and a +letter directed in the same handwriting. Excuse my noticing that the +letter is post-marked 'Meteghan.'" + +"Why shouldn't you?" responded Priscilla. "We all have acquired the +habit of looking at one another's post-marks." + +"Open the parcel," cried Amy; "I'm curious to see what it is." Priscilla +glanced at Martine, who was deep in a letter from one of her +boarding-school friends. Then she cut the string, and, loosening the +paper, handed the package to Amy while she glanced over the Meteghan +letter. + +"Why, it looks like Yvonne's lace," cried Amy, and at the word "Yvonne" +Martine joined the group. + +"Why, it is Yvonne's lace," she exclaimed. "How did you get it?" + +"I sent for some," replied Priscilla. "I thought that it might help her +if I should buy it. I could not buy much, but it has pleased her to sell +it. Read her letter." + +Tears came into Martine's eyes as she read the simple letter of thanks +that seemed to come straight from the heart of the little French girl. +"She remembers us all, though she doesn't spell the names just right, +and she sends the best love of Uncle Alexandre, Uncle Placide, and aunts +Mathilde and Marie. Well, we must have made an impression." Then, after +glancing at the letter a second time, Martine continued: "But you are a +brick, Priscilla. How did you happen to think of sending for the lace? I +had forgotten all about it, though I was anxious to help Yvonne." + +"She writes a good letter, considering that she sees so dimly;" and Amy +called Martine's attention to the clear, round hand. "The convent +sisters have certainly done a great deal for the child." + +When all had admired the strip of lace, Priscilla folded it up neatly +and laid it with her letters. She was relieved that Martine had not +taken offence at her writing for it. Though Priscilla had not intended +this to be a silent reproof to Martine, it had somewhat this effect, for +too frequently in Martine's life "out of sight" meant "out of mind," and +though she had no desire to break the promises that she had made so +freely when in Meteghan, still, but for Priscilla's reminder she might +have been long in keeping them. At the same time it is but fair to say +that already without Priscilla's knowledge she had taken steps toward +carrying out the larger plan that she had conceived regarding Yvonne's +future. + +"Mamma," said Amy, after she had shown Mrs. Redmond Yvonne's letter, "I +have just had a letter from Julia." + +"Ah, that is delightful," said Mrs. Redmond. "I am always so pleased to +hear from Julia." + +Julia Bourne, the cousin of Amy's friend Brenda,--Mrs. Weston--was +little older than Amy or the other girls in Brenda's group. Julia, on +being graduated from Radcliffe, had decided to spend most of her time +and a fair share of her income on a Domestic Science School for girls. + +The experiment carried on in the Mansion, a stately West End house +belonging to her former teacher, Miss South, during its two years of +existence, had proved most successful. The work at the Mansion had been +in the nature of social settlement work, and Amy, with little money to +give, had been glad to enroll herself as a voluntary teacher. + +But for the Nova Scotia trip Amy would have been one of Julia's +assistants this very summer at Happy Hill. Often, indeed, in the course +of her travels she had thought of the work going on there, and had +indulged in a little self-reproach that she should be spending her own +holidays in idleness. Most persons, even those inclined to be critical, +would have said that Amy had really enough work on her hands in the five +or six hours of tutoring that she tried to give Priscilla every week. + +Yet even granting that her time was not sufficiently occupied, there is +a kind of idleness that in the end is more beneficial to the individual +than any amount of work. Although Amy had not been in danger, perhaps, +of breaking down during the past season, still, Mrs. Redmond realized +that she had been working up to the limit of her strength, and she had +planned the Nova Scotia trip in such a way that Amy should be unable to +withstand going. That Amy would need all her strength for her senior +year at Wellesley had been Mrs. Redmond's strongest plea. Every day of +this summer had been a proof to Amy of her mother's wisdom. + + "Of course we miss you [wrote Julia], and I am glad to say + that no one else can exactly take your place. But I honestly + believe that in a certain way you can do almost as much good + in Acadia as here; for it will be a great thing to inspire + Priscilla with more confidence in herself, and tone down + Martine a little. + + "Here at Happy Hill we have two or three of the girls who + were at the Mansion its first year. We have been able, I am + glad to say, to imbue them with some sense of + responsibility. Each of them in turn is called housekeeper + for a week, and although things are not really altogether in + her hands, the effect on her is really the same, and we + older people merely act as a check to prevent matters from + going too far out of line. + + "It is very amusing to see these older girls take charge of + the younger, and instruct them in all the details of country + life. They have some gardening to do, and they make butter + and cheese, and each one is shown how to drive, and is + permitted at intervals to drive down to the village. Then + they have open-air gymnastics in addition to the very + considerable amount of exercise that goes with their + housework, and they have just enough study from books every + day to prevent their growing altogether rusty. + + "Mr. and Mrs. Elton--it doesn't seem quite natural yet to + speak of Miss South as Mrs. Elton--are now, I suppose, in + Norway. They sent the girls a box of unmounted photographs + last week, showing the most picturesque scenery in Greece + and Italy, where they were in the early spring. Nora is to + be with me part of the summer, and Anstiss Rowe, as perhaps + you know, is giving all her time to Happy Hill. Brenda + undoubtedly keeps you informed about affairs at Rockley. She + is perfectly happy, and altogether different from the Brenda + of a year ago. + + "When your Acadia days are over, I hope that you will have a + week to spare for Happy Hill before Wellesley opens again. + With my best regards to your mother and the girls, + + "JULIA." + + +When Amy had finished this letter Mrs. Redmond glanced through it. + +"I should like to go up to Happy Hill for at least a week," said Amy. + +"It is altogether probable that you can. We shall be at home by the +first of September. Why, what has become of Martine?" + +Amy looked toward the chair where Martine had been sitting a few minutes +before. It was certainly empty. + +"I'll run up to her room;" and, suiting her action to her word, in a +moment Amy was knocking at Martine's door. + +In answer to a feeble "Come in" she entered, only to find Martine lying +face downward on the bed. + +"Why, what is the matter, child?" she asked, affectionately stroking +Martine's hair. + +"Oh, nothing," came in muffled tones from the prostrate Martine, "only +this has been such a long day." + +"You are tired," responded Amy, "and probably you were more excited than +you realized when you and Priscilla were lost." + +"We weren't lost"--Martine threw considerable spirit into her voice,--"I +knew just where we were." + +"But we did not--" Amy, though amused, tried not to show her +amusement--"we were rather alarmed, so really my mother and I ought to +be the persons to collapse. Come, Martine, even if you are tired, you +must cheer up, and go to bed." + + [Illustration: "'Why, what is the matter, child?' she asked + affectionately."] + +"It isn't because I'm tired," and Martine's tears flowed afresh, "but I +thought that to-night there would be a letter from my mother. There must +be a mail in, and I have counted up the time from New York. There ought +to be a letter to-night. I am sure that she's worse." + +"Nonsense, child. Probably she does not feel quite well enough to write, +and your father has overlooked the mail. You know how apt men are to +forget." + +So Amy tried to pacify Martine, and at last succeeded in getting her to +look at things more cheerfully. She had never before seen Martine in low +spirits, and she felt quite sure that fatigue, even more than +disappointment, had caused the tears. + +"I will admit," she said, "that this has been a trying day, beginning +with--" + +"Beginning with Mr. Knight,"--and now Martine was smiling. "Wasn't he +funny, with his 'you Americans,' as if we were some strange species?" + +"But in the end don't you think that Mr. Knight did pretty well? I think +that he more than redeemed himself by his kindness." + +"Well, as he is a friend of Balfour Airton's I suppose that I ought not +to criticise him. There, don't shake your head, Amy. Yes, I do think +that he was very kind--in the end. But the day has been fearfully long. +We ought not to have taken that walk this morning." + +When at last Martine went to bed Amy sat beside her until she fell +asleep. There was a strange mingling of childishness and womanliness in +this little Chicagoan to which Amy could not accustom herself. Her +worldly wisdom and grown-up air of womanliness were quite as hard to +understand as the extreme childishness in which she sometimes indulged. +The more equable Priscilla was much easier to comprehend, and yet Amy +was not altogether sure that Priscilla, under stress of circumstances, +would be the easier to manage. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG OF IT + + +"For my own part," said Martine, "I am just as firmly on the side of the +Acadians as ever. They may have been stupid about the oath, and probably +they were too easily influenced by Le Loutre, but they had been handed +from England to France and from France to England so often that I don't +see how they could consider themselves English when really they were +French." + +"You must have had Irish ancestors as well as French," said Amy, with a +laugh. "Your remark sounds almost like a bull." + +"Well, I mean to take the bull by the horns," replied Martine; "you can +blame any one else for the deportation, but not the poor Acadians. They +certainly did not in the least know who they were. But I am glad," she +concluded, "that you have taken so much trouble to explain it all to me, +Miss Amy Redmond, for I have never before understood why the English +were so cruel." + +"It is surely a fact"--Amy spoke decidedly--"that the English Government +would have preferred to keep the Acadians their subjects. They needed +them to supply provisions, and to man their garrisons. With their +knowledge of woodcraft, and of the Indians, the Acadians would have been +invaluable on the English side." + +"But you couldn't expect them to fight against the French, who were +their own flesh and blood!" and Martine cast a glance of reproach at her +friend. + +"That, of course, was the chief point in the dispute. The Acadians +claimed to be neutrals, when really they were sending their produce to +Louisbourg, or to the French in other places, to help them continue +their war with the English. Yet they expected the protection of the +English when in trouble, and they always had it, although their only tax +was the tithe that they spent for the support of their own church." + +Amy and Martine were sitting on the broad sands of Evangeline's beach, +looking toward Blomidon, and waiting for Priscilla, who had strolled +some distance away. They had driven over from Wolfville in the omnibus, +and were to have an hour or two at the edge of the Basin before they +need return. In the midst of the discussion Priscilla rejoined them. + +"More Acadians!" she cried with a smile. "Let me ask you a favor--" + +"To say no more about them?" + +"No, not that. When we leave the neighborhood of Wolfville we shall +think of other things; so, once for all I, for one, should be glad to +have the whole story straightened out. We know what happened after the +expulsion, for we've been at Clare, and we know about the earliest +French; we heard all that at Annapolis. But now, my dear Miss Amy +Redmond, you have been looking into this thing thoroughly, and if--" + +"Yes," urged Martine, "if you'll please tell us what happened in the +years between, it will save our reading, and you will make it much +clearer to us than any book." + +"Down with your flattery," rejoined Amy; "yet as there's no time like +the present, I will tell the story briefly. We might as well pass over +the various transfers of Acadia from France to England, and from England +to France, before 1710. But the conquest of Annapolis by General +Nicholson in that year gave Acadia finally to England. The change of +Government was confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and all +Acadians who did not wish to be subject to England were given time to +leave. Those who remained were required to take an oath of fidelity to +King George, and England on her part agreed to let them exercise their +own religion under their own priests. In spite of these arrangements +many of these simple-minded Acadians still considered themselves +subjects of the King of France, even up to the time of the expulsion. +Perhaps the priests encouraged them in this and delayed their taking the +oath of allegiance. By 1730, however, nearly all had signed the oath, +and if war had not broken out later between France and England there +might have been no further trouble. But when it was found that many of +the Acadians, instead of remaining neutral, were joining with French and +Indians in attacks on the English, Lord Cornwallis, the Governor at +Halifax, required them to take the oath again. This was necessary +because a new generation had grown up who had been encouraged by the +priests and politicians in enmity to England. Most of them would not +take the new oath, because it required them to defend Acadia against the +enemies of England, and this, they said, would oblige them to fight +against the French, their kinsmen. In 1751 there was a large immigration +of Acadians to Ile St. Jean, then in the hands of the French. These +exiles suffered much, but they were encouraged to hope that when France +reconquered Acadia they could go back to their deserted homes. + +"Cornwallis continued firm, and at last the Acadians were informed that +all who would not take the oath must leave Nova Scotia. In the very +beginning deputies from the Acadian villages had gone to Halifax to say +that it would be impossible to take the oath and ask permission to +dispose of their farms and leave the country." + +"Why didn't they go? It would have been so much better in the end." + +"It is hard to say, Martine. Friends of the Acadians claim that the +English put all kinds of obstacles in their way, first refusing them +transportation in English vessels, then preventing their buying rigging +at Louisbourg for vessels of their own. But, as I have said, more than a +thousand did eventually pass over to the Ile St. Jean, and some of these +took part in the defence of Beausejour." + +"Well, they were surely very conscientious," said Martine, "for they +knew that by taking the oath and becoming British subjects they could +live in comfort on their farms. It was very brave in them to choose +poverty and exile." + +"It might seem braver, if behind it all they had not had the feeling +that the time was near when the French would drive the British from Nova +Scotia and so restore them to their own." + +"It was all that Le Loutre, I suppose," commented Priscilla; "he was +responsible for so much." + +"Whether he was really as bad as some represent him would be hard to +say; but this missionary to the Micmacs had great influence, and it was +all used against the English. We pity the Acadians, but we ought to pity +the innocent English settlers on the outskirts of Halifax, and at other +places, who were tortured and murdered by the Indians whom Le Loutre and +other French had stirred up. Now, to keep to our story without making it +too long, the Acadians dallied and dallied. They did not take the oath +of allegiance, and they did not seem to be preparing to leave the +country. At last Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence gave them only a short +time to decide. + +"Well, the French and Indian War continued, and the English were +generally more successful than the French. At last Beausejour was +captured, chiefly by the help of a body of troops commanded by Colonel +Winslow. These men were New Englanders,--sturdy, conscientious men from +country towns, a large number of whom had been farmers and small +tradesmen. + +"Beausejour fell the middle of June, and it may interest you, Priscilla, +to know that Le Loutre, rather than fall into the hands of the English, +fled to Quebec, where he was coldly received. Later he went to France, +and died in obscurity. + +"In July, 1755, a memorial was sent to Lieutenant-Governor Lawrence, +signed by twenty-five leading Acadians, on the subject of the oath, and +requesting the return of their guns that the Government had obliged them +to give up on account of their sympathy with the French. When Governor +Lawrence sent for the signers to come to Halifax, fifteen appeared +before them. He pointed out the insincerity of their memorial, and when +he desired them to sign the oath they flatly refused. Finally, on the +twenty-eighth of July, these deputies and others from Annapolis appeared +before the Governor and Council, and although warned that the +consequences would be serious, they declined to take any oath differing +from that taken under Governor Phillips; that is, they were unwilling to +bear arms for the English against the French." + +"That, I must say, seems noble to me, since they knew what risks they +were running," cried Martine. + +"That is to an extent a matter of opinion. But their refusal decided +Governor Lawrence what to do. He immediately wrote to Colonel Monckton +that enough transports had been ordered up the Bay for the Acadians, and +that he must remove them. He was told that all the property of the +Acadians was now forfeited to the Crown, and that they would be allowed +to take on board ship only their money and their household goods." + +"It is a wonder he left them anything," said Martine, sarcastically. + +"He wasn't absolutely heartless, and he gave careful directions for +provisioning the transports for their long journey." + +"I am sorry that it was a New Englander who had to carry out these cruel +orders," said Priscilla. + +"Yes, it fell on Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, and a detachment of those +New England troops that had fought at Beausejour to attend to the +deportation at Grand Pre. It was Tuesday, the second of September, when +he ordered all the male inhabitants from ten years upwards to assemble +on the following Friday in the church at Grand Pre, to hear what his +Majesty had to say to them. Then--but really I think one gets the story +better from Longfellow. It is from this point that we have our +sympathies so deeply touched, and we are willing to forget that the +simple-minded Acadians had brought much of their trouble on themselves." + +"It doesn't make their sufferings less, even if they were to blame," +interposed Martine. + +"That is true. They may have been less peaceable and amiable than they +have been represented by the poet, and their homes and their ways of +living may have been less--less--" + +"AEsthetic," suggested Priscilla, with a smile. + +"Well, aesthetic, then. But all this does not alter the fact that they +deserved the greatest pity. Many of them, indeed, honestly believed that +they were still the subjects of Louis XV, and that to take the oath +required by the English would be a great crime." + +"What they needed was a really good and disinterested man to advise +them; some one like Paul Mascarene, who was partly French, and yet could +get the English point of view," said Priscilla. "Some way I can't feel +that the English were altogether disinterested--although," she concluded +hastily, "I am more on the English side than the French,--and I am very +sorry that it was a man of Plymouth descent who carried away the +Acadians from Grand Pre." + +This, in view of Priscilla's previous prejudice against the Acadians, +was really a very liberal statement, as the others realized. + +"It should console you, then, to remember that Colonel Winslow was +simply a soldier acting under orders, and we have no reason to think +that he used needless cruelty. 'It hurts me to hear their weeping and +wailing,' he said in his journal, and this shows that he had a tender +heart." + +"But I can't see why families were separated, and why all these Acadians +couldn't have been sent up to Upper Canada to the other French;" and +Martine sighed deeply. + +"You forget that France and England were still at war, and to have put +so many able-bodied men at the service of France would indeed have been +madness. Governor Lawrence explained all this in letters to the +governors of the different colonies to whom he sent the Acadians. They +were sent to as many different colonies as possible, and broken up into +small groups, so that they could not unite in any plan for return." + +"I suppose that Governor Lawrence thought it better for them to become +public charges,--people who had always been perfectly independent." + +"Oh, well, there is a bright side. Many of them never lost hope for a +minute, and even those who went to the French West Indies soon began to +plan to get back to Acadia. In the end, after the Peace, they began to +take the oath, and receive their new grants of land, and since then +England has had no more devoted subjects--as we saw for ourselves in +Clare." + +"All the same," said Martine, "this must be a haunted region around +here, and I can tell you I should hate to walk through Grand Pre alone +after dark, or even drive through." + +"Speaking of haunted regions," said Priscilla, "though I don't know why +I think of him just now, what do you suppose has happened to Mr. Knight? +No one has seen him since our adventure." + +"_We_ haven't seen him," responded Amy, "but I sincerely hope that he is +in the land of the living. I must have forgotten to tell you that mamma +had a letter from him the day after our drive, telling us that he had +been suddenly called to New Brunswick, and expressing his regret that +probably he should not see us again." + +"That must have been a great relief to him," murmured Martine, "that +call to New Brunswick. Otherwise he might have had to see us again." + +"Oh, he expressed great regret at having to go without doing so." + +"That was kind in him, even if it wasn't quite sincere. It is my own +opinion that he went away on purpose. He couldn't bear to see us again +when he remembered how his hair was tumbled--not a sign of the +parting--and his cuffs wet. But _we_ remember, don't we, and I hardly +blame him for running away." + +"Martine, my dear child, you are very absurd. No man could possibly be +so vain." + +"Especially, my dear Miss Amy Redmond, one whose business is the +instruction of youth," rejoined Martine, flippantly. + +"I had a letter from Eunice this morning," interposed Priscilla, "and +she said that Balfour had had a letter from Mr. Knight, who thanked him +for the introduction he had given him to us. She said that he had +written about our trip to Grand Pre, and was surprised to find Americans +so much interested in Acadian history." + +"That is all very well. People always write that way after a letter of +introduction; they feel that they must. You cannot persuade me that Mr. +Knight had any other reason for running to New Brunswick except to avoid +us." + +"Perhaps he wished to escape our thanks for the rescue." + +"Rescue!" Martine's tone was scornful enough. "We weren't in the least +little bit of danger." + +"We weren't exactly comfortable," responded Priscilla. "I was thankful +enough, I can tell you, when Mr. Knight and the dory came in sight. Why, +we might have had to stay there for hours." + +"Oh, no; there would have been some way. The tide goes out as rapidly as +it flows in." + +"Well, leaving out individuals, who certainly have been very kind to +us," interposed Amy, "considering that in their hearts many of them +think of us as 'those Yankees,' Wolfville has been fairly worth while." + +"Yes," replied Martine, "though I haven't been able to paint Blomidon, I +have captured the Grand Pre willows. The subject may be trite, but I've +managed to give it a touch of individuality by adding a tree or two and +lopping off a branch or so, here and there, and this will set some +persons guessing as to what my view is." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"But the artistic reputation of the party is kept up by your mother's +sketches. That one of the marshes is simply perfect. No one who had not +seen the colors could believe that nature up here in the north is so +brilliant. The water is so blue,--and she has caught it exactly,--and +the bright red of the shore at low tide, and the vivid green of the dyke +grass, varied here and there with clumps of yellow--" + +"Stop, stop; you make me fairly dizzy." + +"But it's a true picture, isn't it? and your mother has reproduced it to +perfection, and if she doesn't sell it before Christmas I shall get papa +to buy it for me." + +So the three friends sat and chatted on this their last afternoon in +Evangeline's land, half regretting that the time was near when they must +bid good-bye to Acadia. + +Though they had not tried to do all the things possible for the tourist, +they had gone to the Look-off, the highest part of the Blomidon ridge, +and from this spot had had a magnificent view of the Annapolis and +Cornwallis valleys, and the six rivers flowing into Minas, and the +hundreds of fertile farms and the picturesque seaports lying almost at +their feet; and they had made also several side trips. + +Priscilla had slaked her thirst for information by setting down in her +note-books many facts about the productiveness of the region, and +declared that in future if she should meet a boy anxious to become a +farmer she would send him to Nova Scotia rather than to the unknown +West. + +"Ah, but there's no government land for him to take up here, and farms +don't go for a song. Every inch is cultivated," rejoined Amy. + +Thus at last, when Amy with her mother and her friends were ready to +leave Wolfville and Grand Pre and their neighborhood, their minds were +filled not only with the history of Acadia and the memories of the past, +but with pictures of the present that seemed likely to be lasting. + +Mrs. Redmond, moreover, in balancing her accounts,--not a reckoning of +money, but of something more precious--counted as the greatest gain the +improvement in health made by Priscilla and the improvement in +disposition made by Martine. + +Priscilla's gain was easily recognized. Even she herself could see it +when she looked in the glass, and she was daily growing more and more +conscious of it. But Martine's gain,--perhaps she herself did not +realize it. Perhaps she had not known in the beginning how much she +needed improving. Yet Mrs. Redmond, realizing it, had observed with +pleasure that Martine was not nearly as self-willed, was not nearly as +ready to ridicule the foibles of others as at the beginning of the trip. +Just as the angles of Priscilla's disposition were rounding off to a +certain degree, so Martine was much less likely than formerly to fly off +in a tangent. Although it could hardly be said that the two girls +understood each other perfectly, it was yet the fact that wishes +collided far less often than in the past. When Priscilla yielded, she +did so with a smaller show of helpless resignation than had been her +wont, and Martine no longer thought it clever to laugh at every +suggestion made by Priscilla. + +As to Amy, her mother saw with pleasure that to her the summer had been +one of real refreshment. If she had been absolutely idle she could not +have been half as happy as now, with the sense of responsibility that +was hers in having the care, or at least the partial care, of Martine +and Priscilla; moreover the trip itself, opening as it did to her a +country of which previously she had known so little, was in every way a +delight to her. It had shown to her a world of history and poetry with +which she had not been familiar, even though she had known something +about it, and this in itself was worth much to her. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + A DISCOVERY + + +"I almost wish," said Amy to her mother, as their train was speeding +away from Wolfville, "that we were going direct to Halifax." + +"That _is_ a concession," responded Mrs. Redmond, with a smile, "for if +you had been less anxious to see Windsor we should have passed on +without stopping there. Perhaps even yet it is not too late to change +our plans." + +"Oh, no; I am just as anxious as ever to visit King's College, and +Martine and Priscilla, if not enthusiastic, still feel pleased at the +prospect of seeing one more town before we reach Halifax. I've had to +use some persuasion to get them to take this point of view, and it would +be very foolish indeed for me to be the one to change plans now." + +A moment later Martine and Priscilla, who had been looking from the +window on the opposite side of the car, returned to their seats. + +"Would you care to give up Windsor now?" asked Mrs. Redmond. + +"No, indeed; since I realized that Windsor is the old Piziquid of the +Acadians I have been crazy to see it, for I read a story the other day +whose scene was laid there; and besides, I've heard that Windsor has one +of the queerest harbors in the world, with water in it hardly two or +three hours a day, and only red mud the rest of the time." + +"That's nothing very new," interrupted Priscilla; "we've seen enough of +that kind of thing already in Nova Scotia." + +"Oh, but the difference is that the harbor of Windsor is so large that +they say it is very amusing to see so many great vessels stranded in it +I'm quite reconciled now to spending a day or two there; it's only +Priscilla who objects, Mrs. Redmond." + +"I don't really object" responded Priscilla, "but I'm afraid we won't +have all the time we need at Halifax." + +"After all, we shall not be limited in our stay there. Unless those +letters that I expect insist on my return at once I shall be quite +willing to stay away until after the first of September." + +"Who is it then, besides Priscilla, who wishes to cut Windsor?" + +"No one but me, Martine," returned Amy; "and this is only because I have +a little feeling that I can't explain that we might better go through +directly to Halifax. It's the kind of feeling that leads people +sometimes to give up a particular train from fear that some accident +will befall it." + +"Ugh!" and Martine held up her hands in protest. "I never knew before, +Miss Amy Redmond, that you could be superstitious, for that's what +'having feelings' amounts to." + +"Well, at least I'm strong-minded enough to disregard these +premonitions. In my heart of hearts I believe that we shall not only +escape from Windsor alive, but enjoy our stay there thoroughly." + +Not so very long after leaving Wolfville the travellers were within +sight of Windsor. They had passed through beautiful farming regions with +occasional glimpses of river and marsh; and there across a stretch of +yellowish water they caught sight of the town which the Indians had so +correctly named Piziquid, "the meeting of the waters." This first +glimpse showed a town built up on the sides of leafy hills and +stretching down to the water, bordered with many wharves, at which lay +three-masted schooners and craft of every size. + +Their rooms had been engaged at one of the smaller hotels. It was +delightfully situated on a side street, and within seemed pleasant and +homelike. Already their bags had been taken to the rooms assigned them, +and Martine and Priscilla lingered a moment to speak to the landlady's +little daughter, a child of five or six, who was playing in the hall. + +"How red her cheeks are! I must kiss her;" and Martine bent down to suit +the action to the word. But the little girl was coquettish, and, +slipping away, stood at some distance, staring at the strange young +ladies. Priscilla looked sharply at the child. + +"I wouldn't kiss her," she remonstrated. "Her cheeks are flushed; they +are almost feverish. I believe she's not well." + +"Nonsense," rejoined Martine, with a laugh. "Every one down here has red +cheeks;" and she took a few steps forward in pursuit of the child. + +Priscilla laid her hand on her arm "No, no, she looks just as my little +sister did after she had scarlet fever; promise me you won't kiss her." + +"I don't see why you should care," said Martine; "but you seem so in +earnest that for once I'll do what you wish." + +At this moment Mrs. Redmond approached the girls, in company with the +landlady, who had been showing her her room. She, too, looked keenly at +the little child. + +"Is this your little girl?" she asked her companion. + +"Yes, my only child." + +"Is she,--is she quite well?" + +The woman hesitated for a moment. + +"She has been sick, but she's almost well," she replied. + +"What was the matter with her?" asked Mrs. Redmond, pleasantly. + +"She has had scarlet fever, but--" + +"Girls," said Mrs. Redmond, "have your bags brought from your rooms." + +Then she turned to the landlady. + +"I can understand now why you can offer us a choice of so many rooms; +the fever, I suppose, drove your guests away. I'm sorry, but we, too, +must look farther." + +In a few moments the four had called a carriage and were on their way to +seek a new abode. Martine saw the ridiculous side of the whole affair +and made the others laugh at her account of the way Priscilla had saved +her from the fatal kiss. + +"It is no laughing matter," protested Mrs. Redmond; "the child was +evidently in that condition when the disease is particularly contagious, +even though she herself is not especially ill. I shall have to watch you +all very carefully, and shall be thankful enough if you do not suffer +from this exposure." + +"There, Amy," cried Priscilla, "the worst is over; your premonitions are +justified, and another time we won't laugh at your superstition. Though +you hadn't scarlet fever in mind, this was the danger which we were to +pass through." + +"I hope that the worst really is over, but it is rather curious that +this particular incident should have happened here after what I said." + +Under the guidance of their driver the party soon found a boarding-place +in a large wooden house, attractively situated on a hill. + +On the morning after their arrival Mrs. Redmond advised the girls to +make the most of their time. + +"I'm told that we can visit the college and return in time to take the +afternoon train for Halifax, but perhaps it will be as well to do things +a little more at our leisure and go on to-morrow." + +"Oh, far better," said Martine; "it would be so tiresome to go on +to-day; besides--" and here she stopped as if she had almost disclosed +something that she should not speak about. + +Soon after breakfast Martine and Amy strolled off to the grass-grown +ramparts of Fort Edward, the defence that had been built by the English +against the French when Acadia came into their possession. An old +blockhouse was the most interesting thing to be seen from the Fort; +interesting at least from the historical point of view. + +"What makes Windsor seem so very new?" asked Martine. "Every one speaks +of it as such an old town, and it seems to be full of new brick +buildings that look as if they'd been finished hardly a week." + +"It's the fire," replied Amy. "The greater part of Windsor was destroyed +by fire a year or two ago. It used to be much prettier, they say, with +its old wooden buildings and tree-lined streets. The trees and the +old-fashioned dwellings have all been swept away,--at least in this part +of the city. When we go to King's College this afternoon we shall see +what is left of the older section." + +"Martine," said Mrs. Redmond, when the two returned, "I'm sorry to have +to reprove you." + +"If any one is to reprove me you are the one, Mrs. Redmond, whom I +should prefer to administer the reproof; but what is the trouble now? Am +I in danger of catching anything new?" + +"No, my child, but see!" + +Mrs. Redmond held up before Martine a small chamois bag. + +"Oh, dear, did I really leave it lying about?" + +"Yes, Martine, and had any one else found it you might have been put to +considerable trouble to recover your rings." + +Taking the little bag from Mrs. Redmond's hands, Martine emptied its +contents on a table. There they were,--not only the four beautiful +rings, but the diamond star that her father had given her the preceding +Christmas. Ever since Priscilla had expressed her contempt for those who +wore expensive jewelry while travelling, Martine had carried her rings +in the little bag in which she kept the star and one or two other +valuable pins. + +"It seems to me," said Mrs. Redmond, "that it would have been wiser to +leave these valuable things in Boston." + +"But I always have them with me, and nothing has ever happened." + +Mrs. Redmond hesitated as to what she should say. Although she was +Martine's temporary guardian, she believed that it was not her place to +instruct the young girl on points that would naturally come within the +observation of her parents. If they had established no rules regarding +the times when she should or should not wear jewelry, it was hardly the +duty of another to interfere. Yet she saw that a word or two now might +prevent further complications while she and Martine were travelling +together. + +"It is true," she said, "that people must judge for themselves when they +shall and when they shall not wear jewels. But your rings, I can see, +are all valuable, especially the emerald, and it is so easy to mislay +such things when dressing, or when leaving a boarding-house, that if I +were you I would put them safely away." + +Though she did not express it, her real thought was that in travelling +there is seldom an occasion when a young girl needs to wear jewelry. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," said Martine, pleasantly. "I am truly sorry +that I brought these things with me, although at home I always wear my +rings without thinking about them. The diamond star I thought might be +worn if we were invited to a party or a reception while away, but I see +now that it would not be the thing for me to wear it at all this summer. +In fact, when papa gave it to me he said that he did not expect me to +wear it often until I was eighteen, but I thought I would like to have +it with me, and it seemed safe enough in this bag." + +"Yes, when you wear the bag around your neck; but if you leave it +carelessly lying about, you'll have only yourself to blame if you lose +it." + +"Thank you, Mrs. Redmond," responded Martine; "after this I will see +that it is put away." + +Martine had received Mrs. Redmond's words so well that the latter was +more than ever impressed with the young girl's amiability, and she +wondered that between her and Priscilla there could still exist any +antagonism. + +There was no evidence, however, of anything but good feeling when the +four set out for their drive to King's College. Amy had told them that +they were to drive also near the grounds of the old home of that Judge +Haliburton whose other home they had seen at Annapolis, explaining: + +"Some persons call him 'the father of Canadian literature,' because his +'Sam Slick' and his history were almost the first books written in +Canada to attract the attention of people outside." + +King's College, in a certain way, offered rather less than the girls had +expected, though its chief college building was an imposing structure, +with great columns in front. The grounds were extensive, and the gently +rolling lawns suggested an English landscape. + +"King's is an old college for this part of the world," said Mrs. +Redmond, "and though I cannot remember all I have heard about it, +various old forms and ceremonies are kept up here, I believe, and +commencement is always very interesting." + +"It isn't as old as Harvard, is it?" asked Martine. + +"What a question!" interposed Priscilla. "No college is as old as +Harvard--at least, in this country. Just see how small this is, too!" + +"Yet you ought to be especially interested in King's College, +Priscilla," said Mrs. Redmond, gently, "for it was founded by exiled +Loyalists almost immediately after the Revolution. Indeed, plans for the +college were made in New York even before the close of the war, when it +was seen that large numbers of educated men and women would probably +have to bring up their children in a new country, where it would take +time to establish even ordinary day schools." + +"After the Revolution! That seems young compared with Harvard. But come, +let us see what there is in this ancient-looking library. The driver +says it's the only building open to visitors now," said Amy, who had +been leading the way. + +There were some entertaining books and portraits in the old library, and +after lingering over them a little while, the girls prepared to return +to the town. They took a last look at the old college before the +carriage drove away. + +"Its surroundings are beautiful," exclaimed Amy, "but it doesn't compare +with Wellesley;" and before her eyes rose a picture of the College +Beautiful, with its lake, its hills and groves, and its many fine +buildings. + +"I'm very glad, however," she added, "that we came here, for I have got +a certain impression from King's College that is quite worth having." + +"So say we all of us," added Martine. And thus in an amiable frame of +mind the party returned to their boarding-house, pleased with their +sightseeing. Although none of the girls would admit that they were +tired, Mrs. Redmond suggested that all go to bed early. + +"I'll agree," responded Martine, "if you'll come up first to my room." + +Martine's room was large and pleasant, and even for so short a stay she +had thought it worth while to give it a few homelike touches. +Photographs of her parents and of one or two of her friends in +ornamental frames were on the mantelpiece, and over the mantelpiece +itself she had draped a soft foreign scarf. Her silver toilet articles +occupied the top of the bureau; for in spite of Priscilla's disapproval, +or perhaps because of it, she now carried these things in her suit case. +Slight though these little touches were, Martine had contrived to +relieve the room of its purely boarding-house aspect. + +The house itself was plain, and both inside and out had a certain aspect +of flimsiness. This had been accounted for by some one who had told Mrs. +Redmond that it had been put up very hastily, immediately after the +recent fire. It had been built for a boarding-house and pretended to be +nothing else. It was airy and clean, but neither its landlady nor the +other boarders attracted the travellers sufficiently to incline them to +stay downstairs in the general sitting-room; so the three girls and Mrs. +Redmond sat and chatted in Martine's room, enjoying the box of +chocolates that she had opened for their especial pleasure. + +"They ought to be good," she said, when Mrs. Redmond praised them. "They +came from Halifax;" and she glanced mischievously at Priscilla. + +"From Halifax?" repeated Amy. "I suppose that's where most shopkeepers +in Windsor get their goods." + +"Halifax by way of Windsor." + +"No, no," retorted Martine, "not by way of Windsor at all; they came to +me by mail. You know I went down to the post-office the last moment +before we left Wolfville." + +The others made no comment, but Priscilla and Amy exchanged glances, and +Priscilla's seemed to say: + +"I told you so." + +Before, however, anything could be said, Martine rushed to her bureau. + +"I received a letter, too, at the same time," she cried, "and except for +these chocolates I never should have thought of it again." + +Lifting the cover of the candy box, she took from it a large square +envelope, which for safe keeping, perhaps, she had placed under the lace +paper that lined it. + +"What next?" thought Amy. "If the letter is from either Fritz or Taps, I +wonder if she'll venture to read it." + +Then Martine, with the utmost unconcern, opened the envelope, saying as +she did so: + +"It's from Mrs. Blair; you know she's a cousin of mamma's, and she often +gives me good advice; I suppose this letter is full of it. That's one +reason I left it to read on the train. I knew it would keep till then; +and, after all, I entirely forgot it." + +"Mrs. Blair would feel complimented," interposed Amy. + +"Oh, she knows me; I never hide my feelings." + +"Do you ever try?" + +"Yes, my dear Mrs. Redmond; I've never dared let you know just how much +I care for you." + +Thus effectually silenced, Mrs. Redmond waited for Martine to read her +letter. + +"You ought to like Mrs. Blair," said Amy, for Martine still held the +opened envelope in her hand without attempting to read its contents. + +"Why?" + +"Because she has style, Martine, and you generally put that before +everything else; but read your letter, I would like to hear where they +are, for I am always interested in Edith's doings." + +"Yes, yes," yet Martine did not take the letter from the envelope; "but +people need something besides style. I get so out of patience with Mrs. +Blair when she and mamma are together. She always has the air of +disapproving of mamma for having married a western man. She makes me +think of the New Yorker who said to a Chicago woman, 'How can you bear +to live so far away?' 'Away? From what?' asked the other. And the New +Yorker couldn't say a word." + +"But that isn't like Mrs. Blair, for she always has a word ready for +everything. Do read your letter, Martine," continued Amy. + +So Martine glanced hastily over the pages, making comments as she read. + +"Oh, it's a kind of duty letter. She wants me to think it a great +privilege that you have allowed me to travel with you this summer. She +seems to have an especially high regard for you, Priscilla. I won't +flatter you by reading what she says. Oh, yes, and she wants to give me +some bad news. She has seen mamma at Carlsbad and thinks her looking +very miserable. Well, that's about all, except that she wishes Edith +cared more for Europe." + +"Yes," interposed Amy, "Edith was very anxious to go West this summer +with Philip and Pamela; they're having a fine trip over the Canadian +Rockies." + +Martine evidently was not listening to Amy. Her face wore an expression +of great bewilderment, and then, with an exclamation of surprise she +thrust the letter into Amy's hand: + +"Read it," she cried; "isn't it extraordinary?" and she pointed to the +signature. "'Audrey Balfour Blair!' Did you know that was her name?" + +"Why, I'm not sure," responded Amy. "I never had a letter from Mrs. +Blair." + +"Nor I," responded Martine, "though Edith often writes to me." + +"That's why Balfour and Audrey seem so familiar to me," added Priscilla, +whose family were on rather intimate terms with Mrs. Blair. + +"I never heard even mamma speak of Mrs. Blair by her first name," +continued Martine. "Of course I must have known that it was Audrey, but +I had never noticed the Balfour before." + +"Well, if Balfour is a family name of Mrs. Blair's it must be of your +mother's also; or at least it probably is." + +"In that case," said Martine, "then Balfour and I may be cousins." + +"I wish that Eunice and I were cousins." Priscilla's wistful tone was in +contrast to the brighter one in which Martine had spoken. + +"What's in a name?" continued the latter. "I dare say it's only the +merest happening that these names are alike." + +"I was going to suggest," commented Mrs. Redmond, "that it might be +wiser not to build your hopes too high, although I'll admit that there +may be some connection between the two families." + +"What pleases me the most," said Martine, "is to think of Mrs. Blair's +disgust when she hears that her family names belong also to people in +Nova Scotia." + +"And one of them a grocer's clerk," added Amy, whereupon Martine colored +deeply. + +"Balfour's just as good as Philip Blair, and he won't have to leave +college without taking his degree." Then, as if ashamed of her +petulance, she added: "To find out how things really are I suppose that +after this I'll have to take an interest in genealogy. Mrs. Blair +belongs to the Colonial Dames and offered to have mamma's name put +through, and I think she would have consented to this if I hadn't +laughed so at the idea. I dare say the Dames are different from the +Daughters. I hope so at any rate, for the Daughters are always waving +their ancestors in one another's faces, especially at their meetings, +which I am told are like real battles." + +"Oh, no," protested Mrs. Redmond, "not always. I've been at some that +were very pleasant." + +"Well, before long," concluded Martine, "you'll find me climbing family +trees in a way that will make you dizzy; in fact, I feel a little giddy, +as the English say, at the very prospect of having--Eunice for a cousin. +Indeed, I believe I'll not sleep a wink to-night in my effort to settle +the question." + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + FIRE AND FLAME + + +Long after the others had left her Martine sat alone. She was restless +and wide-awake, and any one looking at her would have seen that her face +was far less cheerful than usual. Her thoughts, indeed, were disturbed, +and one or two tears fell as she held her mother's portrait before her +and looked earnestly into the deep blue eyes. + +The portrait was a miniature, painted in the days when her mother was +almost as young in appearance as Martine herself, though in fact she had +been married for several years. The young girl especially valued it +because she could remember perfectly when her mother had been very like +the lady in the picture, and also because this miniature had not been +copied. It was too valuable a thing for Martine to carry with her when +travelling. + +Mrs. Blair's letter, with its mention of her mother's poor health, had +stirred her deeply. She had concealed her feelings in the presence of +Mrs. Redmond and the girls; or rather, for the moment she had been more +impressed by the suggestion that came to her, through Mrs. Blair's +signature, of a connection between her family and the Airtons. Now, +however, she began to dwell on the significance of the news from +Carlsbad, and the conclusion was hard to set aside that her mother's +condition was even worse than her father's brief letters had given her +to understand. Putting away the miniature with a sigh, she drew the last +two letters from the portfolio, reading and re-reading them in a vain +effort to decide whether her father had written briefly merely to +conceal his feelings. + +"It's strange that men always write so little in a letter. Though papa +would always rather telegraph than write, still, when he does write, I +_do_ think that he might say something. Now if it were mamma, why, she +would tell me everything;" and upon this, with the knowledge that it +might be long before her mother could write to her, Martine burst into +tears. As she tossed the letters aside Martine threw herself on her bed, +and then-- + +How long she had lain there she did not know, although rising with a +start, she realized that she had fallen asleep, and almost as quickly +she perceived a strong smell of smoke in the room. + +Opening her door, she turned toward the ell where Mrs. Redmond and the +two girls had their rooms. The smell of smoke was stronger there, and in +the darkness some one brushed against her, crying, "The house must be on +fire." With a leap Martine reached the top floor where her friends were. +Mrs. Redmond's door opened to her knock, and then she rapped loudly on +the door of the room that Amy and Priscilla occupied together. + +"Fire, fire!" she called, and in a moment Mrs. Redmond's voice was added +to hers. + +"Open the door, Amy; don't wait to dress. Come, come, don't you +understand? The house is on fire." + +"Yes, yes, we are dressing." + +"Unlock the door; I can help bring out some of your things." + +The hall was thick with smoke. Mrs. Redmond and Martine knew that the +fire was near. Amy's voice was heard from the room--or was it +Amy?--speaking almost in terror, "I cannot open the door; I have mislaid +the key." + +"Why did you take it from the lock? Oh, Amy!" + +Mrs. Redmond uttered no further reproof now. It was a time for action. +"Martine," she cried, "we must go for help." But Martine made no reply. +Already she was far on her way downstairs. All the people in the house +were now evidently aware of the fire. Doors were slamming, and she heard +steps and voices ahead of her. In spite of her difficulty in making her +way through the thick smoke, Martine soon found herself near the broad +front door. Here two or three men were standing. + +"Please help me quickly," cried Martine, breathlessly; "my friends are +in a room in the wing, and cannot open the door. Come, I will show you." + +Leading the way, Martine was soon at Amy's door again. She could see no +one, for there were no lights in the hall, but she recognized Mrs. +Redmond's voice. + +"I found a pair of large scissors in my valise; perhaps with them the +lock can be pried open." + +One of the men who had come with Martine was already pounding on the +panels of the door to learn where it could most easily be broken in. +After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, the other one had +thrown down the scissors that Mrs. Redmond had handed him. Both of these +things had occupied seconds rather than minutes,--seconds that seemed +hours to Martine and Mrs. Redmond,--and then, before further violence +had been done to the door, there was a click, a turn of the lock, and +Amy and Priscilla stood before the four others. Their appearance showed +that they had indeed dressed hastily, but they made no apologies as they +hurried on. + +When they reached the street Mrs. Redmond drew a breath of relief. "Oh, +Amy," she cried, "how could you be so careless?" + +"I took the key from the door absent-mindedly, and had set my +travelling-bag on it. I'm thankful enough that I found it, for the door +might have been hard to break in." + +"Look, look!" cried Priscilla, excitedly. "We are out none too soon." + +As she spoke flames were bursting from the wing of the house that they +had so lately left, and men and women were pouring in and out of the +main building, removing furniture, pictures, and clothes. + +"Let me count you," cried Mrs. Redmond. "I am not sure--" + +"It's Martine, mamma,--she is not with us. Where did she go?" + + [Illustration: "After one ineffectual effort to pry open the lock, + the other one had thrown down the scissors."] + +"Perhaps she has gone back to her room for her things. She had left +everything behind when she came to rouse us." + +"Impossible! She would not be so foolish. The fire is close to her room. +Here are the engines. Why were they so long in coming?" + +"Where is Martine? We must find her." + +"No, no, Amy," and Mrs. Redmond laid her hand on her daughter's arm. + +"But, mother, if she had not called us--" + +"Yes, if she had not called us we might be in there now. She did not +think of herself, and now she has gone to her room for some of her +things." + +"Her diamond perhaps;" and then, as if ashamed of her words, Priscilla +added, "But I can help Amy, Mrs. Redmond. You cannot hurry as we must." + +As Mrs. Redmond watched Amy and Priscilla running into the house she +wished she had gone with them. Uncertainty was harder to bear than any +effort she might have made. Her suspense, however, was not long, for to +her relief she heard Amy's voice. + +"Here's Martine, mamma. We had barely time to reach her. Look, look!" + +This latter exclamation was called forth by the rapid spread of the +flames. It was a beautiful sight--beautiful yet terrible to those who so +lately had been within the walls that now seemed to be melting in the +heat. Yet even as they gazed Martine began to laugh hysterically. "You +look so--so queer--Priss--Prissie," she cried, and again she laughed. +The light from the fire enabled them to see one another plainly, and as +the others glanced at Priscilla they saw a black streak across her +forehead that altogether changed her expression. + +"It's a case where the pot can't call the kettle black," rejoined Amy; +"your own complexion is not milk-white at the present moment, Martine." + +"You are the only one who has her hair properly arranged, Miss Amy. Even +your mother has a hasty coiffure, and no collar. Oh, Mrs. Redmond!" and +again Martine laughed nervously. + +"It matters less how we look than how we feel. I wish that you, like +Priscilla, had brought your coat, though I fear there is only one hat +among us." + +"What a noise the engine makes! Can't we get away soon?" + +"I hope so. If we only had a man with us we could send him off for a +carriage. Even Fritz would be useful now." + +From her mother's tone Amy could not judge whether or not she was in +earnest, though in truth the same thought had come to her. + +"After all," cried Martine, holding up her watch, "it is not half-past +eleven. I had begun to think that to-morrow had come. The flames are not +so bright. I believe that the fire is dying down. It started in so well +that I almost hoped that we'd see the house in ashes." + +"Oh, Martine!" + +"But nearly all the furniture has been saved, and the house is probably +insured, and--" + +"You are shivering, Martine. Come, we must make our way through the +crowd. Even if we have to walk down to the large hotel near the station, +that will be better than staying here." + +So they made their way through the crowd. Heaps of household goods and +pieces of furniture were scattered over the lawn, and even on the +sidewalk in front. The engine was still hissing, flames were still +darting from back and sides of the house that had so lately sheltered +them. + +Hardly had the four reached the street when a man's voice called, "Stop, +ladies, for a moment." As they halted, the man, whose outline they could +barely distinguish, overtook them. "You are the American ladies whose +doors I tried to break open a little while ago. I would have helped you +further, but I had to return immediately to my sister, who has been ill, +and who is now in a neighbor's house. I have been anxious about you, for +you are strangers. Have you plans, or will you permit me to make a +suggestion?" + +"We shall be only too happy to hear your suggestion, Mr.--" + +"Taunton," quickly rejoined the stranger, as Mrs. Redmond paused, +adding, "I would suggest that you come with me to the house where I have +taken my sister, and I may say that I have been asked to bring you back +with me. The house is large, and you can all get a good night's rest." + +It is needless to say that Mr. Taunton's invitation was gratefully +accepted, and soon the four found themselves in a warm room, where a +hospitable little hostess bustled about, offering them tea, and bread +and butter, though after all it wasn't a meal-time. + +"She's very good," murmured Martine to Amy, "not to mention how queer we +look. For my own part, I haven't dared look a mirror in the face, though +there are two in the room. How much has happened in the last hour!--for +it is only a little more than an hour since we knew of the fire; that +is, since I smelled smoke." + +"I hope that it wasn't long enough for you and Priscilla to catch cold. +We shall never forget how chilly the air of an August midnight can be." + +"Oh, I am all right," responded Martine. And then, as if to disprove her +own words, she sneezed violently. + +"Why did you go back to your room, Martine? It was a dangerous thing to +do. You brought nothing out with you but that little bag." + +"Oh, I had barely time to get that. The room was so hot and smoky that I +quite lost my head, yet I got what I especially went for;" and she +opened the little bag and drew from it a small velvet case. + +"Your diamond!" cried Amy. "Ah, Martine, how foolish to have had it with +you!" + +"No, Amy, not my diamond pin;" and snapping a spring she disclosed the +miniature of her mother. + +"That is more to me than ten diamond pins. I had barely time to snatch +it from the bureau and pick up this bag." + +"Then you left the pin behind!" + +"No, child, no; it is safely hung around my neck. But one of my rings +was on the cushion, and it will delight Priscilla's heart to know that I +did not save a single brush or silver-topped bottle. It will be rather +hard for papa, for he'll have to replace them all next Christmas. But I +do wish that I had my hat and my suit case. Until we overtake our trunks +at Halifax we can't make ourselves perfectly respectable." + +"But still," rejoined Amy, "I am thankful that we have a place where we +can sleep to-night--and mamma is beckoning us, so let us follow." + +It was nine o'clock, and the sun was streaming brightly through their +windows before Mrs. Redmond and the girls left their rooms next morning. +All but Priscilla had slept well, but the latter had tossed about all +night, with her thoughts dwelling more on Martine even than on the +exciting events of the fire. Clearly Martine had acted very generously +in the efforts she had made to awaken the others. She had had ample time +to save all her own possessions, yet quite neglectful of herself, her +one thought had been for others. If Priscilla was sometimes harsh in her +criticisms, she at least wished to be fair. After her night of confused +thoughts, it was not strange, perhaps, that Priscilla awoke heavy-eyed +and dull, thus causing Mrs. Redmond to wonder whether this one +experience might not undo all the good accomplished during their weeks +in Acadia. + +Martine was still inclined to sneeze, but she laughed when caught in the +act. + +"It sounds like hay fever, doesn't it? I have never had a fashionable +ailment before, and if it is hay fever, why, I am in the part of the +world where patients are often sent, and my recovery will be rapid." + +After breakfast Mr. Taunton, their new acquaintance, offered to help +Mrs. Redmond in any way that she might suggest. "You may wish your +luggage or your tickets attended to--or, or your shopping," he +concluded. "My sister and I saved both our trunks, and she is resting so +comfortably this morning that I can put myself at your service." + +"I do not wonder that you speak of shopping. We could hardly go even as +far as the station without buying a few necessary things. If we could +have a carriage in about an hour we could do some errands. We are going +to Halifax by the afternoon train." + +"You have lost more than most of the other boarders, in proportion to +what you had in the house," continued Mr. Taunton. "Our late landlady is +the heaviest loser, but she is a cheerful little body, and consoles +herself with the thought that she is well insured." + +"Don't forget to pay our board bill, mamma; it just occurred to me that +we left so unexpectedly that we forgot even to mention it to her," +interrupted Amy. + +Mr. Taunton laughed heartily at her suggestion, and then began an +earnest plea for his own city, St. John, in contrast with Halifax. + +"If you can visit but one, St. John is the better worth seeing. We come +to Nova Scotia occasionally to rest, but St. John is wide-awake, and its +churches and public buildings will compare favorably with any in the +United States. Then you have heard of our wonderful reversible falls, +that flow with the tide one way and with the river the other, and the +beautiful Kennebecasis--" + +"You would make a good tourist agent," interrupted their amiable +hostess, Mrs. Andrews, entering the room at this moment. "But if I +should begin to paint the charms of the Citadel, and old St. Paul's, and +the Northwest Arm, and--" + +Mr. Taunton laughed. "It's a feud as old as the hills, this rivalry +between St. John and Halifax, and a stranger can settle the matter for +himself only by seeing both places; but if you must give up either, I +honestly believe that you can best spare Halifax." + +Before Mrs. Andrews could protest, a violent ringing of the doorbell +called her from the room. A second later she returned to the +sitting-room, followed by two young men. + +In an instant half a dozen tongues were loudly exclaiming, "Why, Fritz, +how in the world did you find us?" Mrs. Redmond held the hand of one of +the new-comers while she looked affectionately up into his face; Amy, +drawing back a little, appeared far from displeased at this sudden +appearance; and Martine,--Priscilla could hardly believe her eyes,--yes, +Martine had certainly thrown her arms around the neck of Fritz's +companion, who was no other than the Freshman "Taps," of whom Priscilla +had had a passing glimpse on the Yarmouth boat. + +While Priscilla gasped in amazement Mrs. Redmond and Amy could not +conceal their surprise at Martine's demonstrativeness. But they had not +to wait long for the explanation, which Martine herself saw was due +them. + +"There, there, Lucian, don't be too affectionate until I explain--" + +"Explain what?" asked the so-called "Taps." + +"Wait, listen;" and slipping her arm through that of Fritz's friend, +Martine turned with a bow toward Mrs. Redmond. + +"Let me introduce to you and Amy and Priscilla, as well as to the rest +of the company, my brother, Lucian Stratford, otherwise 'Taps.' There, +Lucian, don't say a word. Let me explain how it was. Of course at first +we didn't mean to make any secret of it, but Lucian and I thought it +would be fun to see whether you could tell whether we were brother and +sister, and he made Fritz--I mean Mr. Tomkins--promise not to tell you. +It seemed rather funny that you hadn't heard. Then when Amy was so +sniffy--excuse me, Amy--about having boys in the party, why, I had to +promise not to tell. It was hard at first, but I got interested in +keeping it up when I found that Priscilla was so suspicious." + +Priscilla, coloring, looked more and more uncomfortable, Mrs. Redmond +was slowly grasping the situation, and only Amy appeared to be angry. + +"It's like you, Fritz," she exclaimed, "to go out of your way to play a +practical joke on me, but I did expect something better from Martine." + +Martine's face grew serious. + +"I can't see that the joke affects you, particularly, Miss Amy Redmond!" +rejoined Fritz. "To be sure, you have had various accidents that might +not have happened had we been with you to protect you, but as to knowing +that 'Taps' was Martine Stratford's brother, why, you could have found +that out for yourself, or at any rate I should have told you only too +gladly had you given me a chance. But when you banished me so +completely--" + +"Come, come, children, no quarrelling. We won't banish you again, Fritz, +and if you feel like going on with us we shall be only too happy to have +your company. Your coming now is certainly most opportune. You can do so +much to help us; we have shopping--But first let me introduce you to Mr. +Taunton, who has been so kind to us, and to Mrs. Andrews, our hostess, +and to the others." + +After the introductions Fritz explained why they had come to Windsor. + +"Halifax may be slow, but it is reached by telegraph, and the daily +papers contain some news, so when I saw the headlines 'Fire at Windsor,' +I naturally read the whole thing, for, according to the schedule which +Lucian had from his sister, you were due here yesterday, or the day +before, and we had even thought of running up to meet you." + +"Though we decided it would be better sport to take you by surprise at +Halifax," interposed Lucian. + +"Yes, and when we read that some American ladies had barely escaped with +their clothes--" + +"Not all of their clothes," murmured Martine. + +"We thought," continued Fritz, "that we'd risk it by rushing up here." + +"So we bolted our breakfast," interposed Taps, "and made the 'Yankee' +and--" + +"We poked among the ruins," added Fritz," and when we didn't find any +remains, we asked a few questions of some others who were poking there." + +"And here we are," concluded Taps, "and from this on I'm going to keep +my eye on Martine. You didn't set the fire, did you, sister?" + +"There, Lucian, if you tease like that you'll be banished." + +"No more banishment for either of us," cried Fritz, boldly. "You've all +had accidents enough to show you the need of adequate protection." + +"Perhaps you could have prevented the fire," said Amy, with some +sarcasm. + +"I could have prevented your staying at any house but the most +fire-proof hotel in the town, and that I believe is still standing." + +"What did you save?" asked Lucian, in an effort to turn the +conversation. + +"Oh, my mother's picture," said Martine, softly. And then, as if afraid +of seeming sentimental, "But I lost an emerald ring and all my silver +brushes, and a pair of slippers, and one of my gloves, and a dozen +postage stamps." + +"Stop, stop, Martine." + +"Well, I saved my best stock, and Mrs. Redmond saved her umbrella, and +we--" + +"Are all clothed and in our right minds, excepting you, Martine, who +seem in danger of losing yours," interrupted Amy. "I believe that +carriage at the door is the one that Mr. Taunton telephoned for; so, if +we are going to Halifax to-day, it is surely time to start on our +shopping expedition." + +Acting on this suggestion, Priscilla and Martine helped Amy gather +together their few remaining possessions, while Mrs. Redmond discussed +her plans with Fritz. + +When at last the moment came for the few words of farewell, Mrs. Redmond +and the girls felt that in bidding good-bye to Mrs. Andrews and the +Tauntons they were parting with friends whom they had known for weeks +instead of hours. + +Mrs. Redmond and the girls drove to the station, where Fritz and Lucian +met them after a brisk walk down town. + +"Fritz," said Amy, as the two stood together in the hotel sitting-room, +"I have a confession to make." + +"Open confession is good for the soul, so out with it at once, fair +lady." + +"It is simply this: I am really glad that you are here to take charge of +things. Even in travelling mamma, you know, hates to attend to practical +details. Now of course we have got on very well, barring one or two +little things." + +"Fires and such." There was a mischievous twinkle in Fritz's eye. + +"Oh, well, even that might have been worse; so now, until we reach +Halifax, I do wish that you would take charge of everything." + +"With pleasure," responded Fritz. "Especially will I see that you do not +mislay your keys. But you look tired, Amy. Come, sit down." + +Whereupon Amy sank wearily upon a sofa, only too glad that for the +present her responsibility was shifted to some one else. + +There was a funny side, however, to the zeal displayed by Fritz and +Lucian. They insisted, with an emphasis that no one dared oppose, that +the girls and Mrs. Redmond should rest quietly while they went out to +shop. + +"My dear boys," Mrs. Redmond had protested, "there is hardly a thing +that we shall really need before we reach Halifax. In the parlor cars we +shall be unnoticed and perfectly comfortable, and after we have opened +our trunks we can tell what we most require." + +"Oh, Mrs. Redmond, there must be some errands for us to do. Can't you +trust us?" + +Lucian's face was so expressive of disappointment that Mrs. Redmond was +glad that she had made out a small list. + +"Of course there are some things--and we are ever so much obliged to you +and Fritz for your willingness to do errands." + +"You see," continued Lucian, confidentially, and dropping his voice that +his sister might not overhear him, "I didn't ask Martine what she +needed. That would have started her off to suggest no end of +things,--you know what girls are. I can tell pretty well what she ought +to have, so we'll just slip off before she can say anything." + +Fritz had condescended to accept a few suggestions from Amy, and the two +boys rushed off in high spirits. An hour later, when they returned, +their arms filled with packages, followed by a grinning hotel boy who +was dragging a large parcel, Mrs. Redmond lifted her hands in amazement. + +"Two hats!" she exclaimed, in still greater surprise as they undid the +strings of the larger package, "but only one was really needed. Martine +left hers behind, but Amy--" + +"Now, Mrs. Redmond," said Fritz, "perhaps you didn't observe Amy's. Why, +some one must have turned the hose on it; the flowers were all +bedraggled, and the ribbon--Mrs. Redmond, surely you must have noticed +its condition. But these are so pretty that I couldn't let Lucian be the +only one to buy a hat." + +"It's certainly very thoughtful in you, Fritz, but still my list--" + +"Oh, we've got everything that was on the list, only these little extras +were just to amuse ourselves." + +"Six stocks! you extravagant boy!" Martine, arriving on the scene, had +opened one of her brother's parcels. + +"Six stocks!" he repeated. "Why, that's only one and a half apiece!" + +"And gloves; well, we could have waited until we reached Halifax. They +are probably better there. I wish I had thought to speak of shirt +waists," continued Martine. "This is hardly respectable." + +"Oh, I thought of that, too," replied Lucian; "at least, I remembered +you hadn't a coat, so I supposed some sort of a wrap would do. Coats +have to be kind of tailor-made and fitted, don't they?" While he spoke +Lucian was undoing the largest package, from which he drew out a Scotch +shawl of brown and yellow plaid. + +"There, that's the thing!" he exclaimed with pride. "It looks as if it +had come straight from Edinburgh. You can throw it over your shoulders +instead of a coat." + +"Oh, Lucian," cried Martine, "you can't expect me to wrap myself up like +that, especially on a warm August afternoon!" + +"Why shouldn't it be all right travelling?" asked Lucian, with less +elation. "You wouldn't have to think about the fit." + +But when he saw that all the others were laughing at him, he walked off +toward the window, murmuring what sounded like "There's no pleasing some +people." + +"Come back, come back," cried Martine, as he turned away; "the shawl +will be very useful if we go yachting at Halifax, and no one but you +would have thought of these delicious boxes of chocolates. We all thank +you very, very much; see, there's a box for you and Priscilla, Amy, as +well as for me." + +Lucian's face brightened under his sister's praise, while Amy and +Priscilla thanked him for their chocolates. + +"You were dreadfully worried, weren't you, Prissie," said Martine, +mischievously, "over the chocolates that I offered you last evening? But +though Lucian was the giver in that case, perhaps you will enjoy these +better, knowing where they came from." + +"Shall I put this magazine in your bag?" asked Priscilla, hoping thus to +divert Martine from further teasing. + +"Certainly," replied Martine. "Let Lucian help you with the catch. It is +hard to open." + +"The magazines are Fritz's contribution," explained Lucian, as he worked +with the spring of Martine's bag. "There's one for each of the party. +But hello, what's this? Did you think of digging a grave, or anything of +that kind, sister, when you brought this along? It's a strange thing to +have saved from a fire;" and before Martine could protest Lucian had +withdrawn his hand from the bag in which he had been fumbling, and +before the gaze of the whole party held up a queerly shaped little +trowel. + +"I didn't ask you to meddle with things in my bag," cried Martine, +excitedly, after the manner of sisters. + +"Well, what's the matter with the little spade?" asked Lucian, looking +from one to the other. + +No one replied as Amy snatched it from his hand. In fact, Amy was the +only one to recognize it as the Acadian relic that Balfour Airton had +given to Martine. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + OLD CHEBUCTO + + +So slightly had the travellers really suffered from the fire that they +soon recovered from the effects of that exciting night, yet they were +glad enough to reach Halifax and open their trunks. + +"It seems better than luck that we sent these trunks ahead to Halifax. +If they had been burned--" + +"We should have had great fun shopping, my dear Miss Amy Redmond," +responded Martine; "as it is, we shall just have to pretend that we need +things when we see any startling bargains in the shop-windows." + +"If you should try to replace what you have lost you could keep yourself +busy for a day or two," rejoined Amy. + +"No, thank you. The things that I lost I can wait for until Christmas. I +have bought some inexpensive brushes, plain enough for Priscilla to +approve; but at Christmas--well, perhaps I can persuade papa to get +tortoise-shell, or something more elaborate than the simple silver set +that melted away at Windsor." + +In this way Martine always turned aside the sympathy that the others +tried to offer her for her losses. + +Fritz and Lucian had taken the travellers to the small Halifax hotel, +where they themselves had been staying for two or three days before +their sudden flight to Windsor. It was a cheerful, homelike place, and +in its little garden the girls spent more or less time resting after the +exertions of their later days in Acadia. + +The fire and the events immediately following it had seemed to bring +Martine and Priscilla more closely together,--at least, for the time +their lack of sympathy was less plainly evident. + +One day the two were sitting in the garden. + +"I almost wish we had been a week longer in Acadia," Priscilla said. + +"Why, we are in Acadia still!" rejoined Martine. "Don't speak of Acadia +as so far away." + +"Oh," responded Priscilla, "perhaps all Nova Scotia is Acadia; but +really, when we use the word we mean where the French settled. Halifax +is thoroughly English. On that account I do prefer it, though Acadia was +certainly interesting." + +"Thanks!" said Martine, "but I am going to prove that Halifax also was +settled by the French. Amy laughed at me yesterday when I tried to prove +my case. But listen; it was Amy herself who told me that no one had +thought seriously of making a settlement here until D'Anville's fleet +took refuge here after their defeat near Louisbourg. The ships were safe +enough, but the men died by hundreds, and were buried on the beach. +Well, after they had gone away, some sort of a petition was sent from +Boston to England, asking that a settlement and fortifications be +established to prevent the French from coming into Chebucto again and +interfering with New England ships. The English thought this a good +plan, because the Acadians at Annapolis and other places would be kept +down if there was a strong town on the coast. So, you see, if it hadn't +been for the French, Halifax might never have been settled. Have I +proved my case?" + +Priscilla shook her head. She could not quite tell whether Martine was +in fun or in earnest. + +"It seems to me that if Massachusetts men suggested the plan to England, +you could just as easily say that Boston men settled Halifax." + +"That's just what 'Taps'--I beg his pardon--Lucian said when I explained +my theory to him. But then, he can't be expected to share my feelings +about the Acadians,--at least, not yet,--although on the whole he is +pretty sensible, isn't he?" + +Priscilla found it difficult to answer this question directly, so, to +conceal her embarrassment, she propounded another question. + +"Why do they call your brother 'Taps'?" she asked abruptly. + +"For no reason whatever, that I could ever see. But you know how boys +insist on nicknaming one another. Mamma just hates it; and, if you +notice, I always say 'Lucian.'" + +"'Lucian' is such a good name," said Priscilla. + +"Yes, and don't you think that Lucian himself is a dear?" + +"I like him very much," responded Priscilla, simply. She would hardly +have applied Martine's term to him, but she had found Lucian helpful and +entertaining during their three or four days in Halifax. + +"I believe," continued Martine, "that I might have told you something +about Lucian before, except that I thought you might be prejudiced." + +"Prejudiced!" + +"Yes, a month ago you were much narrower-minded than you are now, and of +course you and Amy had heard that Fritz Tomkins had charge of a Freshman +who had been in rather bad company last year; and so if you had heard +that it was Lucian before you had seen him, why, you might have had the +queerest notions about him." + +"You have the funniest way of putting things;" and Priscilla smiled +again. + +"Well, really," continued Martine, "there was nothing wrong with Lucian, +only he is rather too good natured, and papa might as well give him a +smaller allowance. But I heard Fritz Tomkins telling Mrs. Redmond that +Lucian had kept a very good standing last year, but he wanted to break +off with one or two men who were not going just the right way, and they +wanted him to go to Paris and Vienna, and the only way was to plan some +other kind of a trip. But there's really no harm in Lucian." + +"Oh, no," said Priscilla, "I am sure of that; he has such a good face. +It is curious that, with his blond hair and blue eyes, he still reminds +me of you, and you are almost a brunette." + +As Priscilla paused for a moment, the latch of the iron gate clicked +sharply, and as a step sounded on the flagged walk, Martine rose quickly +to her feet. + +"Why, Mr. Knight!" she exclaimed, and in a moment Priscilla, too, was +welcoming the new-comer. + +"But we thought you in New Brunswick!" + +"So I was a day or two ago. Certain business has brought me now to +Halifax, and it is rather singular that we should be staying at the same +hotel. I saw your names on the book this morning, and wondered if I +should see you before my departure." + +Mr. Knight's manner was so unaffected that Martine at once reproached +herself inwardly for having imagined that he had run away from Wolfville +to escape Mrs. Redmond's party. + +"I am to be here only a day or two," he continued, "but if there's +anything I can do--" + +"In the way of rescuing," interrupted Martine. + +"Oh, please," he protested, "don't mention that; it was so slight." + +"You know," continued Priscilla, "we've been rescued once more,--at +least I have been, for really it was Martine who was the rescuer." And +then, when the young man seemed mystified by their words, the two had to +tell him the story of the Windsor fire, of which, it seemed, he had not +heard. + +After Mr. Knight had congratulated them on their escape and condoled +with them on their losses, he said: + +"In case I have no other chance, I must tell you that my chief regret in +leaving Wolfville so unexpectedly was the fact that I had no chance to +show you through Acadia College, or tell you much about it. I know that +that was one of the things Balfour had in mind when he wrote to me that +I should present Acadia College in the best possible light." + +"Oh, indeed," responded Martine, with a slight touch of impatience, "we +have heard quantities about it,--that it offers the same advantages to +women as to men; that a great many distinguished college men in the +'States,' as you say down here, were graduates of Acadia; that it has a +lovely situation, and plenty of time to grow," she concluded suddenly, +for, after all, though truce had been declared, Martine could not resist +the opportunity of teasing Mr. Knight. + +"I saw Balfour Airton," continued Mr. Knight, apparently undisturbed, +"when at Annapolis the other day, and he is to be one of the +distinguished graduates of Acadia." + +"Did he say so?" Martine did not try to conceal her genuine surprise. + +"Oh, no; Balfour thinks of nothing now but hard work, and he's likely to +have his share of it the next few years." + +A little later Mr. Knight excused himself for leaving the two, on the +plea of letters to write, and during the two remaining days of his stay +they saw little of him. + +"He's afraid that he may have to rescue us again," Martine confided to +Amy, though secretly she was a little piqued by his indifference. Fritz +and Lucian, however, pronounced Mr. Knight a brick, and spent one +afternoon with him in a long tramp to a place called Herring Cove, the +description of which filled the girls with envy. + +During their whole stay in Halifax, however, the boys went off on few +excursions by themselves. + +"You have been left too long to your own devices," Fritz would say, +solemnly shaking his head, "and the punishment for your rash deeds is +that you are now to be forever in our care and protection. Until you are +safely back in Boston I hardly dare let you out of my sight, for fear of +fire and flood." + +"Do you consider this sail-boat especially safe just because you are in +it?" asked Priscilla. "If my mother could behold us now she would think +us in the greatest danger. In spite of spending all her summers at the +edge of the sea, she is always afraid of a sail-boat." + +"But I would rather run some risk than miss this sail around the +Northwest Arm. In fact I wouldn't have missed it for the world;" and Amy +glanced gratefully in Fritz's direction, for it was he who had planned +this particular excursion, and had gained Mrs. Redmond's rather +reluctant consent. "This narrow arm of the sea is so picturesque," she +continued, "with its wooded shores, and the harbor is so interesting +with its islands and its shipping." + +"Just like any harbor," cried Martine. + +"Oh, I don't know. One has a sense of its greatness here. No wonder even +the Micmacs called it Chebucto, which I believe is a word of theirs for +'Great harbor.'" + +"Please, Amy, this is a pleasure trip with no instruction. You mustn't +tell us the size of the dry dock, nor the number of guns mounted on +George's Island or on York Redoubt, or on any other of the harbor +fortifications." + +"Nor the time of day," retorted Amy, looking at her watch, "though all +the same, Captain Fritz, it is time to turn about, for I absolutely +promised that we'd be at home by five o'clock." + +"Your word is law," responded Fritz. + +"Tell me a little history," urged Lucian; but Amy refused to do anything +but enjoy the sail, and Martine, looking at her closely, wondered if she +had taken her words as criticism. + +"There's one bit of harbor history that I shall speak of," said Lucian, +as they turned homeward. "No, Martine, you needn't try to stop me. +Everybody remembers Captain Lawrence and his 'don't give up the ship.' +Well, do you know that he died here in Halifax? The 'Shannon' brought +the 'Chesapeake' as a prize into this very harbor where we are now +sailing. It was the first Sunday in June, 1813, and the town was in the +greatest excitement. The news of their coming went quickly through the +town, and every one who could get hold of a small boat pushed out to see +the ships. The men were swabbing the decks, and the scuppers ran red +with blood." + +"Don't, Lucian," cried Martine. + +"Oh, but this is history, and the kind you should remember. The +'Shannon' had set out from Halifax but a short time before, and when the +two ships met in Boston Harbor they fought a fierce duel. The 'Shannon' +had less than a hundred in killed and wounded, and the 'Chesapeake' +nearly two hundred, all in about twenty minutes; so no wonder it's +called one of the bloodiest fights on record. The ships must have been a +sight to the quiet Haligonians. Then," continued Lucian, "Captain +Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow were buried with high honors in the old +English burying-ground here, and there was a great procession from the +King's Wharf, with the coffins covered with our flags, and six British +post captains bearing the pall." + +"You'll have to visit the grave, Amy," said Martine, mischievously. + +"Can't be done. An American brig with a flag of truce came for the +bodies in August, and they were carried back to their native country." + +"How in the world did you remember so much?" asked Martine. "I never +realized before that you took an interest in history." + +"This is the result," retorted Lucian, "of travelling with an +intelligent companion," and he pointed to Fritz. + +"No, I didn't do it; don't blame me," rejoined Fritz. "He ran across a +history yesterday, or book of annals, or something of that kind, and +naturally the mention of the 'Chesapeake' and the 'Shannon' interested +him." + +"Enough said--in excuse," replied Martine, while Priscilla added, "I +wonder if we shall visit Melville Island before we go. You know that is +where they kept the American prisoners during that war. I had a +great-grand uncle who was taken prisoner, and I've always remembered +that he was at Melville Island, Halifax. My mother has his diary." + +"Why, that is interesting," said Amy. "Perhaps it may sound like wishing +ill to my forebears, but I'd even be willing to have had a relative or +two imprisoned here, just for the sake of having a closer association +with Halifax." + +"That's a very silly remark, Miss Amy Redmond," cried Fritz, +disapprovingly. + +"Yes," added Martine; "I might as well wish that some of my French +ancestors had been among the exiled Acadians, so that I could take a +deeper interest in Clare. Not that I need a deeper interest--but that +reminds me," and she turned to her brother. "It's strange, Lucian, that +I hadn't thought to tell you before, but I believe I've found some new +relations in Nova Scotia; at least, I hope so. Do you know whether we +had any Tories in our family?" + +"Tories! I should hope not," and Lucian's voice rang with patriotism. + +"Oh, they are all dead now, so don't excite yourself. But two things +equal to the same thing are sometimes equal to each other. We are +certainly cousins of Mrs. Blair's. You'll admit that?" + +"Yes, worse luck to it," grumbled Lucian. "She is such a--such a--" + +"You mean so conventional," interposed Martine, sedately; "but that's +very proper for a Bostonian. Well, Mrs. Blair's name is Audrey Balfour +Blair." + +"Why not?" asked Lucian. + +"Well, we met a girl this summer whose grandmother's name was Audrey +Balfour, and what I want to know is--are we related to her?" + +"To the grandmother?" exclaimed Lucian. "How in the world should I know? +and if we are, what's the difference? Probably the old lady's dead by +this time. Most grandmothers are." + +"Oh, Lucian, do be serious." + +"You'd better be serious yourself--say, look out for the boom, or you'll +lose your head as well as your temper." + +"I haven't lost my temper. There, I'm glad we're putting in for shore +now, if Lucian is going to be so disagreeable." + +Thus the conversation drifted from Audrey Balfour, and for the present +Martine's question was unanswered. + +This afternoon was only one of several that they spent on the water, and +when the conditions were favorable, sometimes Amy, sometimes Martine, +had a chance to show her skill as skipper, while the boys approved or +made suggestions, and Mrs. Redmond and Priscilla sat back, trying not to +show the timidity that they felt. + +On shore as well as at sea they found much to occupy them, and as +conditions for picture-taking happened for the time to be particularly +favorable, each one added largely to her own collection of photographs. +Each of the girls had a camera with her; but at first Priscilla had been +the only one really zealous for photography. + +When they visited the Citadel Lucian and Fritz had managed to intimidate +them by telling them of the fearful fate that might be theirs should +their cameras be seen in its neighborhood; so the cameras were hidden +until the girls were far from what Martine called "the sacred +precincts," until, indeed, the sight of a redcoat on Barrington Street, +standing where the sun illuminated his whole figure, caused her to shout +in delight: + +"There, my camera, quick, Lucian. Here's my chance to catch one of those +crazy little caps. How do they manage to make them stay on one ear? +Quick, before he moves, or sees us," and then the click of a spring +showed that she had accomplished her aim. + + * * * * * + +One dull afternoon Amy and Priscilla, wandering about, found their way +into the Parliament building, and after admiring the stately old +portraits in the rooms of the historical society, spent an hour or two +over some of the old books and papers in the archives. This was +especially gratifying to Priscilla, because she was thus able to satisfy +her curiosity about the exiled Loyalists. Their sufferings seemed all +the more real when written out in detail in these old manuscript +volumes, and as she read, she sighed. The sigh was not wholly for the +miseries of the past. That very morning she had received a letter from +Eunice that had set her thinking. + + "I am so glad [wrote Eunice] that you like Halifax. But it + there--in the capital of our Province? Sometimes it seems as + if I should never go anywhere, though Balfour says that he + will send me to college, that I can depend on that. But that + will be only to Acadia, and I shall have to wait so long, + until he has a law practice--and when will that be? Besides, + he thinks now that he may have to stay out of college a + year, if not give it up altogether. It's the mortgage on the + house. There's some kind of trouble about it, and Balfour is + determined not to let it go. It would just break mother's + heart. But I oughtn't to make this a complaining letter, + when one of the pleasantest things this summer--or any + summer--has been my acquaintance with you,--and the others, + too, of course, though I didn't know them so well. Please + give them my love, but the most for yourself. + + "Your affectionate + "EUNICE." + +Now Eunice was really so fond of Priscilla that nothing was farther from +her thoughts than to make her friend unhappy. Yet such was Priscilla's +sympathy for her Annapolis friend that the remembrance of the letter +made her feel sad, even as she sat with Amy in the old library. + +"If papa had only lived," she thought, "I could have asked him to do +something, but now,--why, Eunice herself would be surprised to know how +little pocket money I have. Not that Eunice wants anything, but it would +be so delightful to pay off that mortgage, and then make sure that +Balfour could get through college, and then see him put Eunice through +college, and then perhaps she could come up and take post-graduate work +with me at Radcliffe." Then, amused at the rapidity with which her +thoughts were running away with her, for Priscilla had not yet passed +her own finals for college, she laughed aloud. Unexpectedly the clouds +had been chased away. + +"Priscilla," said Amy, "I am delighted to hear you laugh. You have been +altogether too quiet to-day. Surely you are not homesick again." + +"Oh, no, not homesick, only thinking." + +"Tell me then, so that I may laugh too,--unless it's a secret." + +"Oh, no, it's hardly worth mentioning; besides, it has ended in a +foolish wish--if only I had money like Martine!" + +"Martine cares little for money," responded Amy, with some sharpness. +This was not the first time that she had thought Priscilla too ready to +criticise Martine. + +"I know that. She is surely very generous, only it would be so easy to +do things for others if one had as much money as she has." + +"I know what you think, Priscilla; but still Martine's way of spending +money is not altogether extravagance. She has had more in her hands than +most girls we know, and rich Chicagoans are fonder of spending than +hoarding. It's in the air. Martine does not care for money in itself, +but for what money buys." + +"But she surely throws it around without getting full value." + +"That's a matter of temperament." + +"Yes," but Priscilla's voice sounded as if she were not sure of this. To +herself, indeed, she was saying, "It is strange that Martine has not +talked of making plans for Yvonne. Ah, if I had as much in my power I +certainly wouldn't let Eunice worry about mortgages and going to college +and all that kind of thing." + +"Priscilla, Priscilla, wake up," cried Amy, a moment later. "Look at the +citadel. It's hard to realize that this is the greatest fortress in +America, and that only a few generations ago it was nothing but a +stockade, a defence against the Indians." + +"A few generations ago!" repeated Priscilla. "Why, it must be--" + +"A bare hundred and fifty years, my dear child, since the English ships +with their two or three thousand settlers came sailing into the harbor." + +"A bare hundred and fifty years," echoed Priscilla, "and yet that is +rather a long time, and Halifax isn't a large city yet." + +Before Amy could reply she felt her arm seized from behind. Turning +about, she found herself face to face with Martine, who held a letter in +her disengaged hand. Priscilla, not hearing the steps, had walked on a +little before she discovered that Amy was not with her. But a moment +later she too faced about, and, as her eye fell on Martine, she could +not help seeing that the latter was holding her finger on her lips with +a warning glance at Amy, as if between the two there was some secret +understanding. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + FINDING COUSINS + + +In the end it had been much better for Priscilla if she had at once +retraced her steps. Instead, while Amy still had her back to her, while +Martine stood with her finger on her lips, Priscilla, with a rapid step +that was almost a stride, walked farther away from them. Turning first +one corner and then another, she indulged herself in her unreasonable +annoyance with Amy and Martine. For a minute or two she continued to +walk briskly, wondering all the time if the others would catch up with +her. At length, when her curiosity overcame her pride, she did turn +around, only to discover that her friends were nowhere in sight. + +"I shouldn't think Amy would have acted so," she said to herself. "Of +course I can't expect much from Martine, but Amy is different." + +Yet if any one else had put the question to Priscilla she would have +found it hard to say wherein Martine was at fault. It was only that in +that fleeting glance she had gained the impression that the two were +trying to hold some secret from her. + +Priscilla had not walked very far when another turn brought her in front +of a small wooden building that reminded her at once of a child's toy. + +"Is it a school, or a church?" she wondered, and she glanced up at the +little steeple. + +"Hello, Miss Denman;" and Priscilla, lowering her gaze from the steeple, +saw in front of her Martine's brother, Lucian Stratford. + +"I didn't expect to see you here by yourself," continued Lucian. "I +thought that you girls were off somewhere together." + +"We were," replied Priscilla, "but I just thought I would--do a little +sightseeing alone." + +"Well, I don't blame you," rejoined Lucian; "it's sometimes so hard to +get Martine to take an interest in things. It used to be just so in +Europe. We could never depend on her, so I don't blame you for keeping +by yourself." + +Priscilla made no reply. She really had no explanation. + +"This is a funny little church, isn't it?" continued Lucian. "Fritz and +I were over here the other day. Some one had told him about it. It's a +little Dutch church, and almost as old as the city itself. It was built +for the Lutherans, for in the beginning there were a lot of German +settlers here in Halifax." + +"Thank you," said Priscilla. "You are as good as a guide-book; one never +expects a boy to take an interest in such things." + +"I can't say that I do generally, only you remember that foggy afternoon +when you girls were all so busy writing letters? Well, Fritz and I got +tired of staying indoors browsing over books, so we started out. We went +down to the great dry dock--though I don't suppose that you girls would +care for that,--and we had a chance to go into old St. Paul's,--that's +about as old as the city too, and makes you think of one of the queer, +dingy London churches. It has any number of interesting tablets and +memorials, and we planned to take you girls there before we go, and then +walking about we just chanced on this little toy building. But I've got +a suggestion for to-day," concluded Lucian. "You see, it's Saturday, and +one of the market days, so if you'd like to go, I'd be happy to take you +down there. What do you say?" + +"Why, yes, of course I'd like it. You are very kind to think of it." +Priscilla remembered that Amy had spoken of going to the market, and for +a moment she regretted her absence. + +Lucian Stratford, however, proved a surprisingly agreeable guide, and +even before they had reached the Green Market Priscilla was quite +ashamed of the little prejudice that she had once held against him. + +"It's an old custom," Lucian explained, as the two stood in the middle +of the street, "for the country people to drive in with their produce." + +The market was in Post Office Square, and almost every foot of space was +occupied by some man or woman with something to sell. Indians, negroes, +country people--it was a motley crowd and well worth seeing. The Indians +for the most part sat on the sidewalk, bent over their wares, though +here and there one or two leaned back against a building. + +"We saw Indians like these at Bear River," said Priscilla, "only a +little better dressed,--perhaps because it was a holiday. But these +baskets are the best I've seen this summer." + +Baskets and sweet grass were the stock in trade of these Indians, and +some of the baskets were of odd designs and really artistic shapes. + +"Do you really like them?" asked Lucian, and almost in the next breath +he had laid three or four of the prettiest in Priscilla's arms. + +"For Martine?" asked Priscilla. + +"No, no, for you,--if you'll take them. There, let me carry them. I did +not mean to load you down. Only I thought I might see something else." + +"Oh, nothing more now, thank you. You are very kind, but these are +really almost too much, and I can carry them myself--" + +An old negro at this moment crossed their path, swinging a cane. They +realized his nearness only when a sudden flourish of the stick sent +Priscilla's baskets flying into the street. The negro, apologizing +profusely, hastened to help Lucian collect the baskets, and Priscilla +was pleased that Lucian showed no anger at the man's carelessness. +Instead, he began an animated conversation with the old fellow, and +returned to Priscilla's side smiling broadly. + +"The old man has been praising his son's wife's vegetables so warmly +that we'll just have to go over there to see them. She is the fat darkey +sitting in that cart yonder, and I hope we'll get off without buying her +out." + +The next moment Lucian was laughing and chaffering with the old negro's +son's wife, and Priscilla gasped as she saw him pointing out turnips, +carrots, and even summer squashes. She did not know him well enough to +protest, and she only wondered how he meant to get the things home. + +"They're all mine," he called to Priscilla, as she waited for him a +short distance from the cart. Then he leaned over toward the old man and +said something, and the negro hobbled off, smiling. In a moment he +returned with a large pail, into which his son's wife heaped Lucian's +purchases. + +"There," said Lucian, as he returned to Priscilla's side, "won't Mrs. +Redmond and the others stare when they behold this load?" and he lifted +the pail that Priscilla might the more readily admire its contents. + +"But you don't intend to carry it through the streets?" There was a +question in Priscilla's tone. Lucian glanced at her curiously. He had +just been thinking how companionable she was, and now this Plymouth girl +was going to show herself as narrow and conventional as others. + +"I needn't carry it," he responded. "Perhaps Sambo here--is your name +Sambo?" + +"No, sir, my name's Mr. Malachai Robertson." + +"Oh, excuse me, Sambo--I mean, Mr. Malachai Robertson--could you find me +a good smart boy to carry this pail?" + +Malachai looked at his stick--symbol of dignity--then at the young man, +but at the same time he probably reflected that a fair fee was in sight; +so he straightened himself up, reached over toward the pail, and with an +"I'll carry it, sah," fell into line behind Lucian and Priscilla. Before +the two, however, were quite ready to turn homeward, they lingered to +watch the shoppers patronizing the Green Market, and buying supplies of +vegetables and fruit. + +"I only wish that Mrs. Redmond had come. It will be too bad if she +misses it altogether--and Amy; the sun has come out so bright that she +ought to be here to photograph some of these groups of colored people." + +"Oh, the chance is that you will all be here in Halifax next Wednesday +morning. The Market is here twice a week," responded Lucian. "Just now I +suppose we ought to be turning home, as they are horribly prompt about +meals at The Mayflower." + +As the two walked up Hollis Street Priscilla noticed that some whom they +met looked at them curiously. But only after she herself had thrown a +backward glance over her shoulder did she realize the cause, for +straight behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane after the +fashion of a drum-major with his baton, while with the other hand he +supported on his shoulder the pail of vegetables, balancing it with such +a nicety that the carrots and squash and the large bunch of radishes +kept their place on the top, though to the casual observer they seemed +on the point of falling to the ground. + + [Illustration: "Behind Lucian stalked Malachai, flourishing his cane + after the fashion of a drum-major."] + +Had Priscilla been able to see herself she would have discovered that +she, too, added to the gaiety of the group, for her baskets were even +more brilliant in coloring than the vegetables, and as she had to carry +them in her arms they made a rather startling display. Lucian had +offered to take her load, but she had waved him away. + +"No, a boy always finds it much harder to manage clumsy packages. These +are not heavy; it's merely that they look awkward." + +So Lucian had contented himself with buying three or four bouquets of +the brightest flowers,--dahlias and garden asters chiefly,--and with +both hands thus filled he made the procession more brilliant. + +When they reached the house none of their party happened to be in sight, +so, at Lucian's suggestions, Priscilla left her baskets on the +sitting-room table while she went upstairs to find Mrs. Redmond. Amy's +room adjoined her mother's, and as Priscilla stood there at Mrs. +Redmond's half-open door the sound of voices in the inner room floated +out to her. For a moment she stood there listening, quite unconscious +that she was eavesdropping, until a sentence in Martine's clear voice +came to her. + +"She certainly is a terrible trial, narrow minded and priggish, and I +don't wonder, Amy, that you dislike her." + +When Priscilla grasped this sentence in its entirety she turned about +instantly. + +"Did you find them? Are they coming down?" asked Lucian, cheerfully, as +she rejoined him. + +"I--I didn't; that is, I'm not sure," stammered Priscilla. "If you don't +mind, I'll leave the baskets here. Perhaps you would give them to the +others;" and before Lucian could stop her she had run upstairs again. + +At the dinner-table Lucian looked anxiously at Priscilla. When she +thought that no one was observing her, he caught her wiping away a +surreptitious drop of moisture. What could be the matter? Lucian racked +his brains to decide if by any mischance he had in word or act offended +Priscilla; but his conscience reassured him. He could not recall +anything that might have annoyed her. On the contrary, up to the moment +of their return to the house they had got along swimmingly--the latter +phrase was his way of putting it. + +"There's no accounting for girls," he said to himself. "I've known +Martine to get dreadfully excited about nothing; but Priscilla Denman +seemed such a sensible girl that I don't quite understand what the +trouble is." + +Before dinner had ended, however, Lucian decided that whatever it was +that had disturbed Priscilla she did not blame him; for she turned to +him with the utmost friendliness when he made some allusion to their +morning walk, and between them they soon had the others at table +laughing at their account of Malachai and the Green Market. + +"I hope you paid the old man well for his trouble," said Martine; "for +it probably was a great favor on his part to walk up Hollis Street +toting a pail." + +"Probably he paid him too well," rejoined Fritz, "unless he has changed +his habits within the week. On our way from Yarmouth I tried to make +Lucian see how demoralizing it would be to the natives to introduce the +habit of tipping here." + +"Oh, but one ought to pay for benefits received," said Lucian, "and I +really do try to be prudent." + +When dinner was over Lucian noticed that, as they left the room, +Priscilla seemed to be trying to avoid Martine. She hardly replied to +some question that the latter addressed her, and he saw other evidences +that Priscilla did not care to speak to her. + +After dinner Martine ran up to her brother. + +"Oh, Lucian," she cried, "here's the most exciting letter from papa! I +can't tell you all that's in it now, for it must be kept secret a little +longer. But aren't you glad that mamma is better? I know you had a +letter from her this morning. To think they'll be home in September! Oh, +Lucian, I'd like to hug you, I'm so happy!" + +"Please, please, not now," begged Lucian; "we couldn't explain to people +that I'm your brother;" and he pointed to several passers-by on the +sidewalk just outside the garden. + +"Then sit here with me in this little arbor. I have several questions, +and this is the first good chance I've had. Did you ever hear the name +'Balfour' in our family--in mother's family, I mean?" + +Lucian shook his head. "'Balfour'?" he repeated. "I've certainly heard +the name somewhere--lately, too, I should think." + +"Yes, of course, dear stupid. Balfour Airton; that's the nice boy we met +at Annapolis. Mr. Knight's friend, you know, the one we've talked +about." + +"Oh, yes, of course; do you mean to ask if he is in our family? Strange +I never heard of it." + +"There, listen, Lucian; this is what I mean. Mrs. Blair is mother's +cousin, and her name, you know, is Audrey Balfour Blair." + +"Has she a first name, and one so frivolous as 'Audrey'? How did that +happen?" + +"That's just what I wish to know. I thought that perhaps you would +remember whether her name was Balfour before her marriage." + +For a few minutes Lucian seemed lost in reflection, then looking up he +exclaimed,-- + +"Yes, Martine, I am sure; Mrs. Blair's name was _not_ 'Balfour,' it was +'Tuck.' I once met a brother of hers. He was visiting Chicago. But, I'll +tell you what--I am pretty sure that her grandmother was a Balfour. +That's where the relationship to mamma comes in. You know that _her_ +grandmother was a Balfour, and that's what makes them cousins; their +grandmothers were sisters." + +"Why, Lucian," cried Martine, jumping to her feet in her excitement, +"that's just what I wanted to know. I don't care anything about Mrs. +Blair's grandmother, but if there's a Balfour in mamma's family, don't +you see how splendid it would be?" + +"Can't say that I do," responded Lucian; "but if it pleases you, it's +probably all right." Lucian had often said confidentially to his friends +that the ways of girls were past finding out, and he did not except his +sister from the general rule. + +"Oh, but can't you see, Lucian, that if I could prove that Balfour +Airton is a cousin to Mrs. Blair, and if mamma is a cousin of Mrs. +Blair's, which--" + +"Which she is, without doubt," said Lucian. + +"Why, then, don't you see--" + +"Oh, yes, I see," cried Lucian. "Why, then, you would be cousin to +Balfour Airton and his sister. Well, perhaps there's no harm in that, if +it pleases you; but what is there in it for me? I might not like either +of your prodigies, and so I am not ready to be made a cousin to people I +have never seen." + +Yet a good-humored twinkle in Lucian's eye seemed to say, "If I would I +could tell you something that would please you mightily--and perhaps I +will." + +Now Martine, understanding her brother pretty well, saw that he was +really more sympathetic than he professed to be, so she wisely decided +to wait until he was quite reedy to tell her what she wished to know; +and to change the subject she pulled a letter from her pocket. + +"If you hadn't had a letter from mamma by the same mail I would show +this to you," she said. "It's the most delightful letter papa has ever +written me, though I won't tell why--at least not just now," and she +waved the closely written sheet rather tantalizingly before him. + +"Oh, ho, child, you cannot tease me at this late day; and besides, I +know why you try. Put your letter away, little sister; I can wait until +you choose to read it to me. But I know what you want, and I am willing +to gratify your curiosity. Yes, there was an Audrey Balfour in mother's +family; but you may be less interested in her when I tell you about her. +She was a Tory." + +Lucian uttered the last word with all the scorn of one who has studied +American history built on the most thoroughgoing anti-British basis. + +"Oh, that's nothing," responded Martine; "at least, Priscilla would call +it nothing. Each of us likes both Acadians and Tories, though I am +supposed to care only for Acadians, and Priscilla for Tories. But how do +you happen to know about this Audrey Balfour?" + +"Through the Colonial Dames, my dear. You see, mamma had to have some +papers filled out last spring. It was while you were at school, and she +asked me to get a genealogist to copy certain things for her. Well, I +found that mother's great-grandfather was a Tory, who was driven from +his home and went to England or to Canada to live. One or two of his +elder children were married before the Revolution, and their husbands +were on the patriot side. One of these was Audrey, who was the +grandmother of Mrs. Blair; another was our great-grandmother Edmonds. +She was Martha Balfour." + +"I see," interrupted Martine. "Our great-grandmother! Then it isn't so +strange that I didn't remember the Balfour in our family; it is so far +away. I think it's just wonderful that you remember it." + +"Oh, it only happened so because I had had to have it looked up. I had +the whole line typewritten for my own benefit, and I looked at it +several times this year. I noticed the Tory Thomas and Audrey +especially, and I wondered if they would effect my eligibility to a +patriotic society that I am anxious to join. But I believe that I am all +right because I am the loyal descendant of a Tory ancestor." + +"Dear me!" cried Martine, when Lucian had finished this long speech. +"You really sound quite learned! I believe that college has done you +some good after all." + +"After all! If you look up my record you'll find that I took all the +history last year that Harvard allows a Freshman, and it's because I +have a bent that way that I can remember these things." + +"Well, Lucian, you've proved yourself a brick. I hope Priscilla won't +object to this. Sometimes she is a little jealous--but there, don't +repeat it--perhaps jealous is not just the word; but somehow, she +doesn't always approve of me." + +"She's fighting rather shy of you to-day," responded Lucian, "and I +can't help wondering what you've been up to. Miss Denman doesn't seem to +me an unreasonable girl. She and I had a fine time to-day at the market. +I'm afraid that you have been teasing her, Martine." + +But Martine continued to insist that her conscience was quite clear, so +far as Priscilla was concerned, and that Lucian must imagine any traces +of ill-feeling. + +Nevertheless, she could but observe that Priscilla seemed to be avoiding +her; for, in the afternoon, when Amy and Fritz went off on their +bicycles for a spin through the Park, Priscilla declined Martine's +invitation to go with her and Lucian to the Public Gardens to hear the +band play. + +"I have letters to write," she said, "and--well, on the whole, I really +can't go." + +"Very well," rejoined Martine, rather shortly, as she left Priscilla's +room to report to Lucian that her invitation had been so scorned. + +"You must have done something to offend her; think it over carefully, +Martine, and then confess," urged Lucian. Priscilla had made so good an +impression on him that he was unable to consider her wholly in the +wrong. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + GOOD-BYE TO HALIFAX + + +Lucian's well-meant advice shared the fate of most advice volunteered by +brothers. Martine, unconscious of offence, had no intention of +apologizing to Priscilla for things she had not done. Instead, she began +to feel annoyed with the latter for her unfairness; for certainly, +Priscilla, in giving Lucian the impression that he had received, must +have been unfair. + +"But if she has been unfair," said Martine, "she can just wait for my +news. It's too bad, for when I first read papa's letter it seemed as if +I could hardly wait to go downstairs to tell the others." + +Now Martine, though impulsive, was not naturally vindictive, and it +would have been almost impossible for her to keep her secret from Amy +and Priscilla had she not, immediately after reading her letter, +confided its contents to Mrs. Redmond. Somebody knew; and in the course +of two or three hours that they all passed together on Saturday evening, +Martine more than once changed her seat to have a whispered word or two +with Amy's mother. + +On Sunday they all set out for the Garrison Church. "We make almost as +imposing an array as the troops themselves," said Amy. + +"Perhaps we might if we were stretched out in single file. Since the +boys joined us we are really a regiment; but Halifax people are so used +to seeing strangers that I am afraid that they won't take any special +notice of us," responded Martine. + +"I should hope they wouldn't. How well we should have to behave if we +felt that all eyes were upon us," replied Amy. + +After service they pushed their way through the crowd waiting outside +the churchyard to see the troops form in line. + +"It doesn't seem quite the thing on Sunday, does it?" murmured Priscilla +to Amy; whereat Martine, laughing loudly, cried: + +"But surely it is better for the soldiers to turn out to church in a +body than to sit in their barracks moping." + +"Soldiers moping!" and Fritz laughed. + +"Perhaps it isn't the soldiers, but the people crowding to stare at +them, who take away the Sunday feeling," continued Priscilla. + +"That's just what we are doing ourselves," retorted Martine, "and I +don't feel very wicked." + +"Come, come, children, don't quarrel," cried Lucian. "You are both +probably right, and both probably wrong." + +Neither girl replied, for the troops in their brilliant uniforms were +beginning their homeward march to the inspiring music of a fine band. + +As they walked homeward Martine, slipping her arm through Amy's, drew +her one side. + +"Tell me," she said, "and please don't let the others hear or they will +laugh--is Halifax the capital of Canada?" + +"No, my dear, it--" + +"There, I thought it couldn't be; I knew it must be Montreal. But I +asked Priscilla why that old gray building was called Government House, +and she said because Halifax was the capital. I never expect Priscilla +to make a mistake;" and there was a slight touch of sarcasm in Martine's +tone. + +"She was not wholly wrong," rejoined Amy, "for Halifax is the capital of +Nova Scotia. Canada itself is composed of several provinces, of which +Nova Scotia is one. The provinces are united under a general government +with Ottawa the capital--not Montreal--as you suggested. All the +provinces send representatives to the Parliament that assembles every +year at Ottawa." + +"Oh, I see--like our States and Washington." + +"Yes, the general plan of government is much the same, and each province +has its own Parliament. Priscilla and I were in the Parliament building +here the other day. It is really a State House." + +"I've noticed the Parliament building, but what is the Government +House?" + +"Oh, that is the residence of the Governor of Nova Scotia. His real +title is Lieutenant-Governor, because all Canada has a Governor-General, +who lives at Ottawa." + +Both girls had been so interested in this little conversation that +unconsciously they had lagged, and the others were now far ahead of +them. + +"Martine," said Amy, "as we have a few minutes alone now, do let me +influence you to make up with Priscilla--not that any little +misunderstanding is wholly your fault, but it is so much harder for +Priscilla to give in than it is for you." + +"But honestly, I haven't said or done a thing to offend her,--at least, +not a thing that I know of, though of course for a day or two I have +seen that she was trying to be particularly stiff with me." + +"Well, then I wouldn't notice her stiffness. Just act as if you were the +best friends in the world, and things will soon straighten themselves +out." + +"That certainly would be the most agreeable way, and to please you, Miss +Amy Redmond, I will follow your advice. Besides, I have something very +exciting to tell you and Priscilla, and I really cannot wait longer than +this afternoon." + +"Hurry, young ladies, hurry, hurry!" + +It was Lucian calling to them. He had turned to meet them. + +"What kept you so long, Martine? What have you been doing?" + +"Nothing, only talking." + +"Oh, that accounts for it. When once Martine begins to talk in earnest, +she takes no heed of time." + +Martine replied lightly to her brother's badinage, and the three reached +the house in great spirits. With Amy's caution before her Martine +avoided collision with Priscilla during the dinner hour. After dinner, +while they were all sitting together in the little arbor,--Mrs. Redmond +as well as the girls,--Martine drew a letter from her pocket. + +"Listen," she cried; "I have something to read you--no, I can tell it +better in my own words, although it is nearly all in papa's letter. So +listen, Amy; it's for you,--and it's for you, Priscilla, as well as for +me." + +"And for me, too?" asked Lucian, trying to throw great expression into +his voice. + +"No, no, of course not. Mrs. Redmond knows, and she thinks it fine, so +listen. In the first place, papa feels much obliged to every one for +keeping me contented. You know I tried to make a fuss when they wouldn't +take me to Europe, and he says that it's a splendid thing for me to get +so interested in history. This is what he says:-- + +"'When you get back to Chicago you'll find that there's a lot of history +there that is worth studying--not entirely about the great fire, and +part of the history of Illinois is French.' I never knew that before," +interpolated Martine. Then she continued to read, "'Your mother and I +think that you owe much to the young ladies who are with you, as well as +to Mrs. Redmond, to whom I am also writing this mail. We are much +gratified by what you write about the various young people in whom you +are interested. Although I cannot promise, without knowing more about +her, to launch your special protegee, Yvonne, on a prima donna's career, +it seems right that you should be helped to do something for her, so I +am enclosing a check for three hundred dollars.'" + +Amy started; Priscilla gazed in astonishment. + +"'This,'" Martine continued to read, "'is to be divided into three +parts. Your third is for Yvonne; a second third is for Miss Amy to use +as she sees fit for the little French boy--I forget his name; and though +you haven't said so, I am sure that Miss Priscilla hasn't been behind +her friends in adopting somebody. Perhaps I ought to have sent more, but +it will do for a beginning, and I shall be glad to hear that the money +does some good.'" + +"There's more about mamma's getting better and coming home soon, that I +needn't read. But isn't it splendid? You can't think how hard it was for +me to keep it to myself a whole day." + +Upon this there was a small Babel for a second or two, until, after a +moment of silence, Priscilla, in words that showed some slight +hesitation, spoke,-- + +"I must thank you, Martine, as much as your father. You must have made +him think very pleasantly of us all. But I wonder if I ought to keep the +money?" + +"No, my dear Puritan Prissie, you mustn't keep it. It's for you to give +away as quickly as you can to your protegee, and we all know who that +is." + +"Yes," added Mrs. Redmond; "you need have no hesitation in using it for +Eunice. Mr. Stratford has written me fully on the subject. He says that +this summer has cost him so much less than Martine's vacations usually +cost, that his gift is only a part of what he has saved." + +"He hasn't heard yet about the Windsor fire," murmured Martine, "or he +might feel differently, though the silver and the jewelry will be a +Christmas matter," she concluded hastily. "Shall I send all the money at +once to Yvonne, Mrs. Redmond?" + +"Oh, no, my dear; we must talk things over and make careful plans for +Yvonne and Pierre. A little money will go a good way with both of them." + +"Oh, of course, Mrs. Redmond, whatever you say will be the thing. That +isn't slang is it, Miss Amy Redmond? There's a pained expression at the +corners of your mouth; but never mind, you can't deny that I've improved +this summer--to beat the band;" and with this shot Martine, darting +forward, laid her hand on Amy's arm. + +"As an impartial judge I can say that you all have improved this +summer,--at least, speaking for the three girls," said Mrs. Redmond. +"Although I haven't commented on it, it has pleased me greatly to +observe the rounding off of several sharp corners." + +"'Speaking for the three girls,'" quoted Fritz,--"but where do we two +come in? Didn't we banish ourselves when we were bid, and keep out of +sight, until we heard that you had been almost destroyed by fire? Our +improvement has been quite remarkable, though I don't see any one paying +premiums to us; and if we had proteges whom we wished to protect we'd +have to go deep into our own pockets for the wherewithal." + +"Yes," added Lucian, "I was thinking of that myself. It's a good thing +that we haven't found any one to be interested in." + +"Oh, but you have, Lucian; at least, I have found some one for you. +Don't you remember our new cousins, the Airtons? How stupid! I haven't +told any one else." And hereupon, without further delay, Martine plunged +into an account of the discovery that she thought that she had +made--that Eunice Airton and her brother were cousins in the third or +fourth degree to her and Lucian. + +"I feel as if we ought to wait until we can make sure, but Lucian says +that he can put his hand on the papers when he returns to Cambridge--and +at any rate mamma will know. I'm awfully sorry, Prissie dear, that they +are not your cousins too; but perhaps we can find a link somewhere back +among the Mayflowers--just large enough to join you and Eunice." + +Priscilla, not knowing what to reply to Martine's fun, wisely chose the +golden mean of silence. If Martine had not said "Prissie" she might have +thought her wholly in earnest. + +"But oh, dear," reflected Priscilla, "I do wish that Eunice had turned +out to be my cousin instead of Martine's. It doesn't seem fair that she +should have everything." This thought, however, had hardly shaped +itself, when Priscilla put it far from her. Martine had certainly been +generous, and Priscilla, if narrow in some ways, meant never to be +unjust. + +Martine, however, had other things than Priscilla's attitude on her +mind. + +"So you see, Lucian," she concluded, "there is some one for you to +help,--not that Balfour Airton wishes any one to do anything for +him,--but if he's a cousin, you'd naturally want to help him save his +time for study in the summer holidays." + +"I study so diligently myself in the summer," commented Lucian, "that +I'd be a fine one to lay down the law to my new cousin! No, poor fellow, +if I have anything to do with him, I'll certainly not advise him to lay +himself out on summer study." + +"Oh, Lucian! If I didn't know that you'd take an interest in Balfour, +I'd try to persuade you; but just think how Mrs. Blair will feel!" + +"Mrs. Blair! What in the world has she to do with--anything?" concluded +Amy, vaguely. + +"Why, if Eunice and Balfour are our cousins, then they are her cousins, +and as she doesn't like people who work, it will be great fun to tell +her about Balfour, for probably he'll get through college much better +than Philip did--" + +"My dear Martine, did Mrs. Blair ever harm you?" + +"No, except to say that what a pity it is that I am not at all like +Edith." + +"There! Eunice Airton reminds me of Edith; that's the resemblance that +puzzled me;" and Amy seemed pleased with her discovery. + +"Oh, if they're at all alike, I won't object to this Eunice as a cousin, +for Edith isn't half bad, and--" + +Lucian's speech was cut short by the appearance on the scene of the +little buttons of the hotel, who happened to know Lucian rather better +than the rest of the party. + +"If you please, sir," he said, "here's a telegram for one of the ladies, +and I don't know which is which, though her name--it seems to be Mrs. +Redmond," and he handed an envelope to Lucian. + +In an instant Mrs. Redmond had read the despatch, while Amy asked +anxiously, "Is it anything serious, mamma?" + +"No, no, my child, far from it. I told you there was a probability that +certain business would call me home a little earlier than we had +planned. Well, the summons has come, and I ought to start to-morrow." + +"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Priscilla, with an expression of real +delight. + +"Why, I thought that you were enjoying yourself." + +"Yes, Mrs. Redmond, so I am, but I shall be so happy to see mamma again, +and the children. I had a letter from the twins yesterday, and they miss +me dreadfully." + +"Shall we go home through Clare? Shall we have a chance to see Yvonne?" + +"And Pierre?" added Amy. + +"And Eunice? Of course we could stay over one train at Wolfville," +pleaded Priscilla. + +"My dear children," remonstrated Mrs. Redmond, "I fear that you did not +understand me. I must be in Boston as quickly as possible, and that +means that we must take the direct boat from Halifax." + +"All of us? Then Lucian and I will return to New England with hardly a +glimpse of the real Acadia." + +"I have no control over your movements. You and Lucian must do whatever +seems best for yourselves." + +"Whatever you advise is best," interposed Lucian, gallantly, "but I am +pretty sure that Fritz will agree with me that it would be much +pleasanter for us if you would permit us to return with you." + +"Not only pleasanter, but much safer for some of the members of your +party;" and Fritz assumed an air of importance. + +"Yes," added Lucian, "there's my sister. Suppose she should accidentally +fall overboard, or--" + +"Or suppose Amy should lose her keys," interrupted Fritz, "or--" + +"There, there, if the girls never suffer greater mishaps than those that +have come to them this summer, they will do very well. We call this a +pretty successful trip." + +"And really," added Martine, "nothing that has happened was anybody's +fault. Those things were simply adventures, and besides, I might easily +have had scarlet fever; so congratulate me on my escape. Even a trip +through Acadia would have been just a little dull without some mishaps." + +When Mrs. Redmond had left the young people to themselves, they +separated into two groups, Martine and Priscilla and Lucian in one, and +Amy and Fritz in another. + +"Now, Priscilla," cried Martine, "since we are friends again, perhaps +you will not object to telling me why you were annoyed with me +yesterday. Even Lucian noticed it." + +Priscilla, coloring at this abrupt question, glanced shyly at Lucian. + +"Oh, you needn't mind Lucian," said Martine, noting the direction of her +glance. "He doesn't count." + +Thus Priscilla, feeling less afraid of Lucian's criticism than of his +sister's reckless tongue, admitted that her feelings had been hurt by +the glimpse that she had had of Martine with her finger on her lips. + +"I always have hated secrets," she admitted, "especially when it seems +as if some one is trying to keep something from me. I thought that if +you and Amy didn't wish me to know anything,--I mean, if there was +anything that you didn't wish me to know,--why I wouldn't intrude; but I +realize now how foolish I was, especially as the secret was something +pleasant for me." + +"After all, I didn't tell it to Amy then, so you might as well have +stayed with us." + +"Oh, no, she mightn't, for then Miss Denman and I wouldn't have had that +visit to the Green Market. You, by the way, will miss it, because you +won't be here next Market Day," interposed Lucian. + +"It certainly was great fun, especially Mr. Malachai Robertson," added +Priscilla, with a smile, "and I have learned one thing--not to indulge +myself in any little jealous feelings, particularly on this trip." + +"On this trip;" and Martine shook her finger at her friend. "To think +that Puritan Prissie should break forth into slang!" But the only effect +of her ridicule was to make Priscilla smile too, and open her heart a +little wider. + +"I haven't quite finished my confession," she continued. "You know +yesterday morning, when your brother and I came home from the Green +Market, I overheard you talking to Amy about some one who was +'narrow-minded and conventional,' and you didn't wonder she disliked +her, and I thought it was me," concluded poor Priscilla, with an +apparent disregard of grammar. + +"Of course we didn't mean you," responded Martine, "although at this +moment I don't quite--oh, yes, I do remember. It was Miss Belloc, one of +Amy's classmates. Amy was telling me of some priggish things that Miss +Belloc had said, and I did use those very words yesterday. But if you +had listened longer you would have heard Amy say, 'not that I disliked +Miss Belloc, but her narrow views.' Then you would have known that we +didn't mean you." + +"Oh, I know that you didn't, and I realize now that I have been very +unfair." + +"Oh, no, only a little unfair," rejoined Martine, "but 'least said, +soonest mended,' and the most important thing is that now we are both +going to be perfectly fair after this." + +Meanwhile Amy and Fritz were discussing various practical matters. + +"Your mother and I have been talking over this letter of Mr. +Stratford's, and we both agree that you probably will not disagree with +us--in other words, we think it would be wiser for you girls not to send +money to your protege Pierre, or to Yvonne, or Eunice, until after we +have reached Boston." Fritz had assumed a manner of unwonted dignity, +and with difficulty Amy refrained from laughing at him. + +"Delay will give Martine time to find out if it is best to put part of +the money in the hands of some one to spend for Yvonne in Clare, or +whether it would be better to have her come to Boston to have her eyes +treated. Then, after you have talked with one or two teachers, you can +judge whether Pierre is too young to have a course of manual training. +You don't know what you want yourself yet." + +"Really, Fritz!" + +"Yes, really, Miss Amy Redmond, I think that the poor little beggar +ought to have some fun with his hundred dollars, instead of being ground +down to more education. Then, as to Eunice Airton and her brother, why, +if they really are cousins of Martine's, Priscilla Denman needn't have +them on her mind any longer. Mr. Stratford will come down with something +handsome, so they might have this hundred as an instalment to get some +fun with at once." + +"You don't know Balfour Airton. I shouldn't be surprised if he should +insist on his sister's returning Martine's present." + +"Then the sooner Martine proves her cousinship the better. The money can +wait until that is accomplished. Now a word especially for you, Miss Amy +Redmond. Please admit that Lucian and I are very magnanimous in making +so few reflections upon our banishment. Also admit, please, that you +would have had a much better time if we had been with you." + +"We couldn't have had a better time," averred Amy, stoutly. "We've +enjoyed every minute of it, and I shall return to college a new person. +Why, I've gained ten pounds in these few weeks." + +"Ah, Amy," sighed Fritz, "you are as practical and unsentimental as ever +you were at Rockley. Yet you love old graveyards, and can write poetry. +Here I would have saved you from fire and flood, could have kept your +keys in my care, and still you say that by yourselves you have had a +better time than if we had been with you!" + +"Oh, no, I didn't say that, only that we have had so pleasant a time +that it couldn't have been better." + +Here Amy stopped. She saw that she had involved herself in a +contradiction; so with Fritz's laughing voice ringing in her ears she +hastened indoors to talk over with Mrs. Redmond the various arrangements +for their departure from Acadia. + + + THE END + + [Illustration] + + + + + HELEN LEAH REED'S + "BRENDA" BOOKS + + + BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB + + Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + + _The Boston Herald_ says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the + impulses and likes of real girls as their characters are + developing, and her record of their thoughts and actions + reads like a chapter snatched from the page of life. It is + bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good + characterizations." + + + BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY + + Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50. + + A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North + Shore of Massachusetts. + + The _Outlook_ says: "The author is one of the best equipped + of our writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are + strong, intelligent, and wholesome." + + + BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE + + Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50. + + A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's + career, excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" + book. The _Providence News_ says of it: "No better college + story has been written." The author is a graduate of + Radcliffe College which she describes. + + + BRENDA'S BARGAIN + + Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50. + + "The fourth and last of the 'Brenda' books," says _The + Bookman_, "deals with social settlement work, under + conditions with which the author is familiar." The _Boston + Transcript_ adds: "This book is by far the best of the + series." + + + LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, _Publishers_ + 254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS + + + + + _A Story for Younger Girls_ + + IRMA AND NAP + + By HELEN LEAH REED + + Author of "Amy in Acadia," The "Brenda" Books, etc. + + Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25 + + + A brightly written story about children from eleven to + thirteen years of age, who live in a suburban town, and + attend a public grammar school. The book is full of incident + of school and home life. + + [Illustration:] + + The story deals with real life, and is told in the simple + and natural style which characterized Miss Reed's popular + "Brenda" stories.--_Washington Post._ + + There are little people in this sweetly written story with + whom all will feel at once that they have been long + acquainted, so real do they seem, as well as their plans, + their play, and their school and home and everyday + life.--_Boston Courier._ + + Her children are real; her style also is natural and + pleasing.--_The Outlook_, New York. + + Miss Reed's children are perfectly natural and act as real + girls would under the same circumstances. Nap is a lively + little dog, who takes an important part in the development + of the story.--_Christian Register_, Boston. + + A clever story, not a bit preachy, but with much influence + for right living in evidence throughout.--_Chicago Evening + Post._ + + + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON + + + + + ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S + + "TEDDY" STORIES + + + Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the best of + Miss Alcott's: first, because she has the same genuine + sympathy with boy and girl life; secondly, because she + creates real characters, individual and natural, like the + young people one knows, actually working out the same kind + of problems; and, finally, because her style of writing is + equally unaffected and straightforward.--_Christian + Register_, Boston. + + + TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen + + Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50. + + This bewitching story of "Sweet Sixteen," with its + earnestness, impetuosity, merry pranks, and unconscious love + for her hero, has the same spring-like charm.--_Kate + Sanborn._ + + + PHEBE: HER PROFESSION. A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book" + + Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50. + + This is one of the few books written for young people in + which there is to be found the same vigor and grace that one + demands in a good story for older people.--_Worcester Spy._ + + + TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER + + A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession" + + Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50. + + It is a human story, all the characters breathing life and + activity.--_Buffalo Times._ + + + NATHALIE'S CHUM + + Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.50. + + Nathalie is the sort of a young girl whom other girls like + to read about.--_Hartford Courant._ + + + URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum" + + Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.50. + + The best of a series already the best of its kind.--_Boston + Herald._ + + + NATHALIE'S SISTER. A Sequel to "Ursula's Freshman" + + Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50. + + Peggy, the heroine, is a most original little lady who says + and does all sorts of interesting things. She has pluck and + spirit, and a temper, but she is very lovable, and girls + will find her delightful to read about.--_Louisville Evening + Post._ + + + + + New Illustrated Editions of + Miss Alcott's Famous Stories + + + THE LITTLE WOMEN SERIES + + By LOUISA M. ALCOTT. Illustrated Edition. With eighty-four + full-page plates from drawings especially made for this + edition by Reginald B. Birch, Alice Barber Stephens, Jessie + Willcox Smith, and Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 8 vols. Crown + 8vo. Decorated cloth, gilt, in box, $16.00. + + + Separately as follows: + + 1. LITTLE MEN: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys + With 15 full-page illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. $2.00. + + 2. LITTLE WOMEN: or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy + With 15 full-page illustrations by Alice Barber Stephens. $2.00. + + 3. AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL + With 12 full-page pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith. $2.00. + + 4. JO'S BOYS, and How They Turned Out + A Sequel to "Little Men." With 10 full-page plates by Ellen Wetherald + Ahrens. $2.00. + + 5. EIGHT COUSINS; or, the Aunt-Hill + With 8 full-page pictures by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. + + 6. ROSE IN BLOOM + A Sequel to "Eight Cousins." With 8 full-page pictures by Harriet + Roosevelt Richards. $2.00. + + 7. UNDER THE LILACS + With 8 original full-page pictures by Alice Barber Stephens. $2.00. + + 8. JACK AND JILL + With 8 full-page pictures from drawings by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. + $2.00. + + The artists selected to illustrate have caught the spirit of + the originals and contributed a series of strikingly + beautiful and faithful pictures of the author's characters + and scenes.--_Boston Herald._ + + Alice Barber Stephens, who is very near the head of American + illustrators, has shown wonderful ability in delineating the + characters and costumes for "Little Women," They are almost + startlingly realistic.--_Worcester Spy._ + + Miss Alcott's books have never before had such an attractive + typographical dress as the present. They are printed in + large type on heavy paper, artistically bound, and + illustrated with many full-page drawings.--_Philadelphia + Press_. + + + LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY + _Publishers_, 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Obsolete and alternate spellings were retained. + Punctuation was standardized. + Regional dialect was retained, e.g. 'tree' instead of 'three' + 'hat' changed to 'that' ... think that she is no worse ... + 'yo'd' changed to 'you'd' ... if you'd had to stay ... + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Amy in Acadia, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMY IN ACADIA *** + +***** This file should be named 35985.txt or 35985.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/8/35985/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Sharon Joiner, Carol Ann Brown, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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