biscuit on the
table-cloth. 'I am rather disposed to try the backwoods,' he added.

'The bush!' in accents of amazement. 'The bush! it may do very well
for labourers, but for a gentleman of your pretensions, it would be
misery--wholly unsuitable, sir--wholly unsuitable. No, no, take my
advice, and settle where the advantages of civilisation--the comforts of
life to which you have been accustomed--are accessible. A few thousand
dollars'--

'I regret to say,' Robert interposed, 'that even one thousand is
immensely more than I possess,' turning to the Canadian with a frank
smile, which was by no means reduplicated in the sharp face. And from
the era of that revelation, conversation unaccountably flagged.

'Do you know to whom you talked at table?' asked Hiram Holt afterwards.
He had been sitting some way farther up at the other side. 'One of the
most noted land-jobbers in the country--a man who buys wild lands at
three shillings an acre, to sell them again at ten or fifteen, if he
can; and he never loses an opportunity of driving a trade. His bargain
of a cleared farm is probably some worn-out dilapidated location not
worth half-a-dollar an acre till hundreds have been spent on it.'

'Then I've gained one benefit by being poor,' said Robert; 'nobody can
have a motive for over-reaching me'--which was philosophic consolation.

Mr. Holt's business would not permit him to leave till next evening. And
so the Wynns, continuing to lionize, looked into the vast but dreary
Romish cathedral, which seats ten thousand people in its nine spacious
aisles and seven chapels; clambered to the roof, and viewed the city
from a promenade at an elevation of 120 feet; and then drove to that
special beauty of Montreal--the mountain. This is a hill more than 500
feet in height, and clothed from head to foot with the richest verdure
of woods; among which grow the most delicious apples extant since Paris
selected one as a prize. From the summit a landscape of level country
stretches below westwards; in middle, distant villages; on the horizon,
the Ottawa confluence, bounding Montreal Island and forming others.
Southwards, across the St. Lawrence, the hills of Vermont far away;
nearer, the fertile valley of the Richelieu.

'Let's go off to one of the _habitan_ villages,' said Arthur suddenly.
'Dismiss the caleche, and we will walk back. I'll ask for a drink of
water in one of the cottages just to scrape acquaintance.'

'Furbish up your Frenc