"It is easy to see that handsome officer is from the Castle,"
said Babet, "and not from the Palace--and so nice-looking he is too,
with such a sparkle in his eye and a pleasant smile on his mouth. He is
as good as he looks, or I am no judge of men."

"And you are an excellent judge of men, I know, Babet," he replied, "or
you would never have taken me!" Jean chuckled richly over his own
wit, which Babet nodded lively approval to. "Yes, I know a hawk from a
handsaw," replied Babet, "and a woman who is as wise as that will never
mistake a gentleman, Jean! I have not seen a handsomer officer than that
in seven years!"

"He is a pretty fellow enough, I dare say, Babet; who can he be? He
rides like a field-marshal too, and that gray horse has ginger in his
heels!" remarked Jean, as the officer was riding at a rapid gallop up
the long, white road of Charlebourg. "He is going to Beaumanoir, belike,
to see the Royal Intendant, who has not returned yet from his hunting
party."

"Whither they went three days ago, to enjoy themselves in the chase and
drink themselves blind in the Chateau while everybody else is summoned
to the city to work upon the walls!" replied Babet, scornfully. "I'll
be bound that officer has gone to order the gay gallants of the Friponne
back to the city to take their share of work with honest people."

"Ah! the Friponne! The Friponne!" ejaculated Jean. "The foul fiend fly
away with the Friponne! My ferryboat is laden every day with the curses
of the habitans returning from the Friponne, where they cheat worse than
a Basque pedler, and without a grain of his politeness!"

The Friponne, as it was styled in popular parlance, was the immense
magazine established by the Grand Company of Traders in New France. It
claimed a monopoly in the purchase and sale of all imports and exports
in the Colony. Its privileges were based upon royal ordinances and
decrees of the Intendant, and its rights enforced in the most arbitrary
manner--and to the prejudice of every other mercantile interest in the
Colony. As a natural consequence it was cordially hated, and richly
deserved the maledictions which generally accompanied the mention of
the Friponne--the swindle--a rough and ready epithet which sufficiently
indicated the feeling of the people whom it at once cheated and
oppressed.

"They say, Jean," continued Babet, her mind running in a very practical
and womanly way upon the price of commodities and good bargains, "they