her
hand for a long time,--in appearance the idlest, in reality the busiest,
brain of any girl in the city of Quebec. She felt she had much to do,--a
great sacrifice to make,--but firmly resolved, at whatever cost, to go
through with it; for, after all, the sacrifice was for herself, and not
for others.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE MEROVINGIAN PRINCESS.

The interior of the Cathedral of St. Marie seemed like another world, in
comparison with the noisy, bustling Market Place in front of it.

The garish sunshine poured hot and oppressive in the square outside, but
was shorn of its strength as it passed through the painted windows of
the Cathedral, filling the vast interior with a cool, dim, religious
light, broken by tall shafts of columns, which swelled out into ornate
capitals, supporting a lofty ceiling, on which was painted the open
heavens with saints and angels adoring the Lord.

A lofty arch of cunning work overlaid with gold, the masterpiece of Le
Vasseur, spanned the chancel, like the rainbow round the throne. Lights
were burning on the altar, incense went up in spirals to the roof; and
through the wavering cloud the saints and angels seemed to look down
with living faces upon the crowd of worshippers who knelt upon the broad
floor of the church.

It was the hour of Vespers. The voice of the priest was answered by the
deep peal of the organ and the chanting of the choir. The vast edifice
was filled with harmony, in the pauses of which the ear seemed to catch
the sound of the river of life as it flows out of the throne of God and
the Lamb.

The demeanor of the crowd of worshippers was quiet and reverential. A
few gay groups, however, whose occupation was mainly to see and be seen,
exchanged the idle gossip of the day with such of their friends as they
met there. The fee of a prayer or two did not seem excessive for the
pleasure, and it was soon paid.

The perron outside was a favorite resort of the gallants of fashion at
the hour of Vespers, whose practice it was to salute the ladies of their
acquaintance at the door by sprinkling their dainty fingers with holy
water. Religion combined with gallantry is a form of devotion not quite
obsolete at the present day, and at the same place.

The church door was the recognized spot for meeting, gossip, business,
love-making, and announcements; old friends stopped to talk over the
news, merchants their commercial prospects. It was at once the Bourse
and the Royal Ex