's affection and so contented with her recent
promises. The evergreens were brought to her, seated on the platform
and wearing gloves to protect her hands; she cut off the branches,
trimmed them, and sometimes handed them to Poussette, and sometimes to
Ringfield, who then nailed them up at the back of the improvised dais
to make a becoming background; she also twined the smaller pieces into
festoons and ropes for the side of the room, and Poussette, who could
not keep his admiration a secret, hovered about her, continually
pressing her fingers as he received the greens, patting her back,
offering her the scissors and the ball of twine much more frequently
than she required them. It was a relief to the couple most concerned
when Miss Cordova entered, wearing an elaborately pleated and not too
clean violet dressing gown, over which she had put on a dark blue
blanket coat and her host's fur cap to keep her warm. Thus from the
ill-assorted trio was formed a comfortable _partie carree_, for
Poussette seemed careless as to which lady he attended and he still
bore the cornelian ring upon his finger. Ringfield, forgetting his
scruples, had promised to take the chair and introduce the artists;
Antoine was door-keeper, and Poussette, clad in tweeds, a white
waistcoat and tie of bright blue, would receive the guests in his own
effusive way, seating the ladies carefully on the fresh yellow planks
with great gallantry and address.

At eight o'clock the room began to fill, the village turning out well,
and a few coming all the way from Hawthorne, among these Enderby, the
Cockney butcher, and his wife and daughter, and as soon as Ringfield
had made a few appropriate remarks, couched this time in safe and
secular terms, the first number was given, consisting of an orchestral
selection by four players belonging to St. Ignace and to the choir of
Father Rielle's big church, St. Jean-Baptiste-on-the-Hill. A cornet,
two fiddles and a flute rendered the music with good time and fair
intonation, and as it was lighthearted, even gay in character,
melodious and tripping, Ringfield thought it must be of operatic
origin, but found later on to his intense surprise that it was a
transcription of Mozart's Twelfth Mass, interpreted by Alexis Gagnon,
the undertaker, as first violin, his eldest son, second violin,
Francois Xavier Tremblay, one of the beneficiaries, on the cornet, and
Adolphe Trudel, a little hunchback, on the flute.

This select