elling no more than was needful of the
last adventure of the rapids. Either he or Dick had changed.
Having begun, he persevered, but now without hope to make himself
understood.

"Did ever man have such luck?" grumbled Dick. "You have made
yourself a deserter. You did all you could to earn being shot; you
walked back, and again did all you could to leave Amherst no other
choice but to shoot you. And, again, you blunder into saving half an
army! Have you seen Amherst?"

"He sent for me at La Chine, to reward me."

"You told him all, of course?"

"I did--or almost all!"

"Then, since he has not shot you, I presume you are now restored to
the Forty-sixth, and become the just pride of the regiment?"

Dick's voice had become bitter with a bitterness at which John
wondered; but all his answer was:

"Look at these clothes. They will tell you if I am restored to the
Forty-sixth."

"So that was more than Amherst could bring himself to stomach?"

"On the contrary, he gave me my choice. But I am resigning my
commission."

"Eh? Well, I suppose your monstrous luck with the dispatches had
earned you his leniency. You told him of Fort Frontenac, I presume?"

"I did not tell him of that. But someone else had taken care that he
should learn something of it."

"The girl? You don't mean to tell me that your luck stepped in once
again?"

"Mademoiselle Diane must have guessed that I meant to tell the
General all. She left a sealed letter which he opened in my
presence. As for my luck," continued John--and now it was his turn
to speak bitterly--"you may think how I value it when I tell you how
the letter ended. With the General's help, it said, she was hiding
herself for ever; and as a man of honour I must neither seek her nor
hope for sight of her again."

And Dick's comment finally proved to John that between them these two
years had fixed a gulf impassable. "Well, and you ought to respect
her wishes," he said. "She interfered to save you, if ever a woman
saved a man." He was striding to and fro again on the bank.
"And what will you do now?" he demanded, halting suddenly.

"The General thinks Murray will be the new Governor, and promises to
recommend me to him. There's work to be done in reducing the
outlying French forts and bringing the Indians to reason. Probably I
shall be sent west."

"You mean to live your life out in Canada?"

"I do."

"Tell me at least that you have given up hope of this