im."

"I am perfectly in health, thank you," replied the Chevalier.

The vicomte covertly ran his eye over his companion. It was not to be
denied that the Chevalier had gained wonderfully in the fortnight. The
air, the constant labor, and the natural medicine which he inhaled in
the forests, had given a nervous springiness to his step and had
cleared his eyes till the whites were like china. No; the Chevalier
need have no fear of De Leviston, was the vicomte's mental comment.

"Well, you do look proper. The wine is all out of your system, and
there is balsam in your blood. A wonderful country!" The vicomte
stopped before his door.

"Yes, it is a wonderful country. It is not France; it is better than
the mother country. Ambition has a finer aim; charity is without
speculation; and a man must be a man here, else he can not exist."

"That is an illusion," replied the vicomte. "Only the women have what
you call a finer ambition. The men are puling as in France. The
Company seeks riches without working; the military seek batons without
war; and these Jesuits . . . Bah! What are they trying to do? To
rule the pope, and through him, the world. My faith, I can barely keep
from laughing at some of the stories these priests tell all in good
faith."

"My thought did not include the great," said the Chevalier, quietly.
"I meant the lower orders. They will eventually become men and women
in the highest sense. There is no time for dalliance and play; labor
is the monitor best suited to hold back, to trim and regulate a man's
morals and habits. There is no idleness here, Vicomte."

"I do not know but you are right."

"Shall you remain here long?" asked the Chevalier.

"Who can say? I would return to France on the next boat were my neck
less delicately attached to my shoulders. Let us say six months; it
will have quieted down by then. Devil take me, but I should like to
feel that paper crackling between my fingers. And you meet
D'Herouville in two days?"

"In two days."

"Will you not join me in a glass of the governor's old burgundy as a
toast to your success?"

"Thank you, but I am on duty. They are bringing some Mohawks up from
the lower town, and I am to take charge of them."

"Good luck to you;" and the vicomte waved a friendly hand as he started
off toward the citadel.

The Chevalier with a dozen men started for the lower town. But his
mind was not on his duty. He was thinking of Diane,