t--to load up
their pack mules and be plundered. Quebec is the cave of the Forty,--and
plunder is their sesame."

"But how does such a man come to be received into society?" exclaimed I,
disturbed.

The answer was prompt.

"He is successful."

Reason only too obvious. It staggered me to watch the man receiving and
being greeted.

Presently I asked again: "Are more of them present?" "Assuredly. Like
devils they fly in swarms: like the Apostles they never travel less than
two--one to preach you the relics and the other to pick the pocket in
the tails of your coat. The man with the Oriental beard there looks
respectable, does he not? Tell me,--does he not?"

"It is true."

"He is the honest-man-figure-head and book-keeper of the Cave. This
fellow near us," (gesturing towards a scraggy-looking little man), "has
got himself appointed a judge and once securely off the raft, poses as a
little tyrant to young advocates, on the Kamouraska Bench."

"What does our host, Mr. Picault do?" I said, to change the subject.

What was my surprise when he answered:

"Picault is the Arch Devil--the organizer of the Cave--the man who
manipulates the Government for the profit of his accomplices. When they
require money the Province calls a loan; it is members of the Cave who
negociate it, exacting a secret commission which is itself a fortune.
The loan is expended," he went on, marking each step of his narration by
appropriate gestures of his right forefinger, as one who is expounding a
science, "on salaries to the Cave supporters, who are appointed to
ingenious sinecures. Vast contracts are given at extravagant prices to
persons who pay a large share to our friends. Then the works, such as
railways, are sold,--if possible to Picault, or through him in the same
manner. And finally, by this system no burden is left upon the Treasury
except the loan to be paid. Between this and all sorts of minor
applications of the principle, though they have not long begun, the end
is clear;--yet the electorate persists in being duped by these ruffians.
Men cherish their prejudices," he closed oracularly. "Men cherish their
prejudices with more care than their interests."

"Until, he began to control the politicans," he immediately resumed,
"Picault was a bankrupt financier. Now he is nominally a banker with
millions. Once bribed or scandalized, your politician is broken in; and
Picault's favourite maxim is 'You can buy the Pope, and pay less fo