u
couldn't conquer a whole garrison, you know!" And herewith Mr. Harry
blushed very much.

"See the women, how disappointed they are!" says Lambert. "Mrs. Lambert,
you bloodthirsty woman, own that you are balked of a battle; and look at
Hetty, quite angry because Mr. George did not shoot the commandant."

"You wished he was hung yourself, papa!" cries Miss Hetty, "and I am
sure I wish anything my papa wishes."

"Nay, ladies," says George, turning a little red, "to wink at a
prisoner's escape was not a very monstrous crime; and to take money?
Sure other folks besides Frenchmen have condescended to a bribe before
now. Although Monsieur Museau set me free, I am inclined, for my part,
to forgive him. Will it please you to hear how that business was done?
You see, Miss Hetty, I cannot help being alive to tell it."

"Oh, George!--that is, I mean, Mr. Warrington!--that is, I mean, I beg
your pardon!" cries Hester.

"No pardon, my dear! I never was angry yet or surprised that any one
should like my Harry better than me. He deserves all the liking that
any man or woman can give him. See, it is his turn to blush now," says
George.

"Go on, Georgy, and tell them about the escape out of Duquesne!" cries
Harry, and he said to Mrs. Lambert afterwards in confidence, "You know
he is always going on saying that he ought never to have come to life
again, and declaring that I am better than he is. The idea of my being
better than George, Mrs. Lambert! a poor, extravagant fellow like me!
It's absurd!"

CHAPTER LII. Intentique Ora tenebant

"We continued for months our weary life at the fort, and the commandant
and I had our quarrels and reconciliations, our greasy games at cards,
our dismal duets with his asthmatic flute and my cracked guitar. The
poor Fawn took her beatings and her cans of liquor as her lord and
master chose to administer them; and she nursed her papoose, or her
master in the gout, or her prisoner in the ague; and so matters went on
until the beginning of the fall of last year, when we were visited by a
hunter who had important news to deliver to the commandant, and such as
set the little garrison in no little excitement. The Marquis de Montcalm
had sent a considerable detachment to garrison the forts already in the
French hands, and to take up further positions in the enemy's--that is,
in the British--possessions. The troops had left Quebec and Montreal,
and were coming up the St. Lawrence and the lakes