ts. "God forbid!" he muttered. "They say
his wife died of a broken heart. Ah, _monsieur_, swear to me that this
shall never come about, that mademoiselle become his wife. Swear it to
me, _mon ami_!"

I swore it, and we shook hands again. I was sorry for my deception
then, and afterward I had occasion to remember it.

Five minutes later we had cast off, and the _Sainte-Vierge_ steamed
slowly through the drift ice that packed the gulf. There were no
lights upon the _Claire_, and I surmised that the conspirators were
keeping quietly hidden in expectation of Jacqueline's arrival, though
how Dubois had outwitted them I could not at the time surmise.

However, there was little doubt that once the trick was discovered the
_Claire_ would follow on our heels.

Standing on deck, I watched the lights of Levis and Quebec draw
together as we steamed eastward. I cast a last look at the chateau and
the ramparts. I felt it would be many days before I set eyes on them
again.

Then I sought my cabin and fell asleep, dreaming of Jacqueline.

CHAPTER VIII

DREAMS OF THE NIGHT

Jacqueline and I were together, the only human beings within a score of
miles. We were seated side by side in the sleigh at which the dogs
pulled steadily.

We glided with slow, easy monotony along the snow-covered trail,
through the sparse forest that fringed the ice-bound waters of the
Riviere d'Or. Seen through our tinted snow-glasses, the landscape was
a vast field of palest blue, dotted with scattered clusters of spruce
and pine trees.

The mystery of Jacqueline's rescue by Captain Dubois had been a simple
one. The young man with the mustache was a certain Philippe Lacroix,
well known to Dubois, a member of a good family, but of dissolute
habits--just such a one as Leroux found it convenient to attach to his
political fortunes by timely financial aid.

Having acquired power over him, Leroux was in this way enabled to
obtain political influence through his family connections.

There was no doubt that he had been in New York with Leroux, and that
they had hatched the plot to kidnap Jacqueline after I had been struck
down.

Fortunately for us, Lacroix, ignorant, as was Leroux himself, that the
two ships had exchanged roles and duties, took Jacqueline aboard the
_Sainte-Vierge_, where Captain Dubois, who was waiting in anticipation
of just such a scheme, seized him and marched him at pistol point to
the house on Paul Street, in whi