g the table with the palm of his hand until it sounded
like the shot of a petronel.

"By St. Christopher the Strong!" exclaimed he, "I would cheerfully have
lost a limb rather than heard such a tale told by my dear old friend and
comrade, about that angelic child of his, whom I have carried in my arms
like a lamb of God many and many a time!

"You know, gentlemen, what befell her!" The old soldier looked as if he
could annihilate the Intendant with the lightning of his eyes. "I affirm
and will maintain that no saint in heaven was holier in her purity than
she was in her fall! Chevalier Bigot, it is for you to answer these
despatches! This is your work! If Caroline de St. Castin be lost, you
know where to find her!"

Bigot started up in a rage mingled with fear, not of La Corne St. Luc,
but lest the secret of Caroline's concealment at Beaumanoir should
become known. The furious letter of La Pompadour repressed the prompting
of his audacious spirit to acknowledge the deed openly and defy the
consequences, as he would have done at any less price than the loss of
the favor of his powerful and jealous patroness.

The broad, black gateway of a lie stood open to receive him, and angry
as he was at the words of St. Luc, Bigot took refuge in it--and lied.

"Chevalier La Corne!" said he, with a tremendous effort at self-control,
"I do not affect to misunderstand your words, and in time and place will
make you account for them! but I will say, for the contentment of
His Excellency and of the other gentlemen at the council-table, that
whatever in times past have been my relations with the daughter of the
Baron de St. Castin, and I do not deny having shown her many courtesies,
her abduction was not my work, and if she be lost, I do not know where
to find her!"

"Upon your word as a gentleman," interrogated the Governor, "will you
declare you know not where she is to be found?"

"Upon my word as a gentleman!" The Intendant's face was suffused with
passion. "You have no right to ask that! Neither shall you, Count de
La Galissoniere! But I will myself answer the despatch of Madame la
Marquise de Pompadour! I know no more, perhaps less, than yourself or
the Chevalier La Corne St. Luc, where to look for the daughter of the
Baron de St. Castin; and I proclaim here that I am ready to cross swords
with the first gentleman who shall dare breathe a syllable of doubt
against the word of Francois Bigot!"

Varin and Penisault exchanged