erly from its tower (what is
a man but the tower of a soul?); each new turn of the kaleidoscope,
each new figure crossing the landscape, is bathed in the rosy glow of
morning. Yet he thought of them with a sense of imprisonment and
sadness.

"I have not known till now what I desire; alas! I am nothing."

The Chevalier assisted the Princess to alight, and, kissing her hand,
turned and said--

"Permit me, Madame, to present to your Excellency Monsieur Lecour, of
Repentigny, in Canada."

This was the crucial moment in the history of the merchant's son. As he
heard his name uttered the thought rushed into his mind how baldly and
badly it sounded. There was a second of suspense, soon over. The great
lady, arrayed in all the mountainous spread and shimmering magnificence
of the Court costume, glanced at him with formal smile and impassive
face, drew back, and made the _grande reverence_ of the woman of high
society. He noted it breathlessly, and as he returned it, full of
quick-summoned grace and courage, he heard an inner music beginning to
sound, loud, triumphant, and strange. He became seized of a new-found
confidence that he could sustain his part. Every small doing now
appeared of importance. The five Life Guards stood near. De Bailleul
introduced Germain to Baron de Grancey and went away. Grancey, not
having caught the Canadian's name, amiably asked Germain to repeat it.

He stopped, blushed, and faltered--

"Germain--Lecour----"

"De?" the Baron asked, supposing as a matter of course that a
territorial title was to follow.

Lecour, in his confusion taking the requested "de" to mean merely
"from," proceeded to utter four fatal words--

"De Repentigny en Canada."

The Baron turned to his nearest companion, and again the formula of
introduction fell on Germain's ear--

"Chevalier de Blair, I have the honour of presenting you to _Monsieur de
Repentigny_."

"Monsieur, I have the honour of saluting you," said de Blair.

Before Germain could collect his ideas he had bowed to each of the other
Guards under the name "de Repentigny."

It cannot be said that, once he had recovered his self-possession after
his narrow escape from being announced as a plebeian, any great qualms
for the present overtook him. He reasoned that the title just attributed
to him was not the result of his own seeking. Though destined to bring
on all the serious consequences which form the matter of this story and
to change a lighthearte