attributing it to the confusion occasioned by a stranger's
presence, he took his hand with an expression of kindness, though
greatly surprised to feel it tremble within his own.

"Why," asked De Valette, "are you so powerfully agitated?"

"I am not agitated," said Hector, starting as from a dream; "I was
vexed,--that is all; but it is over now," and resuming his usual gaiety
of manner, he turned to La Tour, and added,

"I have played my borrowed part long enough for this evening, and if
your own curiosity is satisfied, and you have amused your friends
sufficiently at my expense, I will again crave permission to retire."

"Go," said La Tour,--"go and doff your foolish disguises; it is, indeed,
time to end this whimsical farce."

"I shall obey you," returned the page; and gladly retreated from his
presence.

Fort St. John's, on that evening, presented a scene of unusual
festivity. La Tour permitted his soldiers to celebrate the marriage of
their comrade, and their mirth was the more exuberant, from the
privations they had of late endured. Even the joy, which the return of
their commander naturally inspired, had been prudently repressed, while
the New-England vessels were unlading their supplies, from respect to
the peculiar feelings of the people who had afforded them so much
friendly assistance. These vessels had left the fort, on the morning of
that day; and their departure relieved the garrison from a degree of
restraint, to which they were wholly unaccustomed.

La Tour remained conversing with Arthur Stanhope, where the page, who
was soon followed by De Valette, had left them, till a message from his
lady requested their presence in her apartment. The scene without, was
threatening to become one of noisy revel. Many of the soldiers had
gathered around a huge bonfire, amusing themselves with a variety of
games; and, at a little distance, a few females, their wives and
daughters, were collected on a plat of grass, and dancing with the young
men, to the sound of a violin. The shrill fife, the deep-toned drum, and
noisy bag-pipe, occasionally swelled the concert; though the monotonous
strains of the latter instrument, by which a few sturdy Scots performed
their national dance, were not always in perfect unison with the gay
strains of the light-hearted Frenchmen. Here and there, a gloomy
Presbyterian, or stern Hugonot, was observed, stealing along at a
cautious distance from these cheerful groups, on which he cast