or more substantial farmhouses, stood
conspicuously in the green fields, or peered out of embowering orchards.
Their casements were open to catch the balmy air, while in not a few the
sound of clattering hoofs on the hard road drew fair faces to the window
or door, to look inquisitively after the officer wearing the white plume
in his military chapeau, as he dashed by on the gallant gray.

Those who caught sight of him saw a man worth seeing--tall,
deep-chested, and erect. His Norman features, without being perfect,
were handsome and manly. Steel-blue eyes, solidly set under a broad
forehead, looked out searchingly yet kindly, while his well-formed chin
and firm lips gave an air of resolution to his whole look that accorded
perfectly with the brave, loyal character of Colonel Philibert. He wore
the royal uniform. His auburn hair he wore tied with a black ribbon. His
good taste discarded perukes and powder, although very much in fashion
in those days.

It was long since he had travelled on the highway of Charlebourg, and he
thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the road he traversed. But behind
him, as he knew, lay a magnificent spectacle, the sight of the great
promontory of Quebec, crowned with its glorious fortifications and
replete with the proudest memories of North America. More than once the
young soldier turned his steed, and halted a moment or two to survey
the scene with enthusiastic admiration. It was his native city, and the
thought that it was threatened by the national enemy roused, like an
insult offered to the mother that bore him. He rode onward, more than
ever impatient of delay, and not till he passed a cluster of elm trees
which reminded him of an adventure of his youth, did the sudden heat
pass away, caused by the thought of the threatened invasion.

Under these trees he remembered that he and his school companion, Le
Gardeur de Repentigny, had once taken refuge during a violent storm.
The tree they stood under was shattered by a thunderbolt. They were both
stunned for a few minutes, and knew they had had a narrow escape from
death. Neither of them ever forgot it.

A train of thoughts never long absent from the mind of Philibert started
up vividly at the sight of these trees. His memory flew back to Le
Gardeur and the Manor House of Tilly, and the fair young girl who
captivated his boyish fancy and filled his youth with dreams of glorious
achievements to win her smiles and do her honor. Among a thousan