e in beside Alixe. It was Mademoiselle Lotbiniere, who
immediately was followed by her mother. I leaned forward, perfectly
hidden, and listened to the singsong voices of the priests, the musical
note of the responses, heard the Kyrie Eleison, the clanging of the
belfry bell as the host was raised by the trembling bishop. The silence
which followed the mournful voluntary played by the organ was most
painful to me.

At that moment a figure stepped from behind a pillar, and gave Alixe a
deep, scrutinizing look. It was Doltaire. He was graver than I had ever
seen him, and was dressed scrupulously in black, with a little white
lace showing at the wrists and neck. A handsomer figure it would be hard
to see; and I hated him for it, and wondered what new devilry was in his
mind. He seemed to sweep the church with a glance. Nothing could have
escaped that swift, searching look. His eyes were even raised to where
I was, so that I involuntarily drew back, though I knew he could not see
me.

I was arrested suddenly by a curious disdainful, even sneering smile
which played upon his face as he looked at Vaudreuil and Bigot. There
was in it more scorn than malice, more triumph than active hatred. All
at once I remembered what he had said to me the day before: that he had
commission from the King through La Pompadour to take over the reins of
government from the two confederates, and send them to France to answer
the charges made against them.

At last the bishop came forward, and read from a paper as follows:

"Forasmuch as a well-beloved child of our Holy Church, Mademoiselle
Alixe Duvarney, of the parish of Beauport and of this cathedral parish,
in this province of New France, forgetting her manifest duty and our
sacred teaching, did illegally and in sinful error make feigned contract
of marriage with one Robert Moray, captain in a Virginian regiment, a
heretic, a spy, and an enemy to our country; and forasmuch as this was
done in violence of all nice habit and commendable obedience to Mother
Church and our national uses, we do hereby declare and make void this
alliance until such time as the Holy Father at Rome shall finally
approve our action and proclaiming. And it is enjoined upon Mademoiselle
Alixe Duvarney, on peril of her soul's salvation, to obey us in this
matter, and neither by word or deed or thought have commerce more
with this notorious and evil heretic and foe of our Church and of our
country. It is also the plain