"
"Whither they went three days ago, to enjoy themselves in the chase
and drink themselves blind in the Chateau while everybody else is
summoned to the city to work upon the walls!" replied Babet,
scornfully. "I'll be bound that officer has gone to order the gay
gallants of the Friponne back to the city to take their share of
work with honest people."
"Ah! the Friponne! The Friponne!" ejaculated Jean. "The foul fiend
fly away with the Friponne! My ferryboat is laden every day with
the curses of the habitans returning from the Friponne, where they
cheat worse than a Basque pedler, and without a grain of his
politeness!"
The Friponne, as it was styled in popular parlance, was the immense
magazine established by the Grand Company of Traders in New France.
It claimed a monopoly in the purchase and sale of all imports and
exports in the Colony. Its privileges were based upon royal
ordinances and decrees of the Intendant, and its rights enforced in
the most arbitrary manner--and to the prejudice of every other
mercantile interest in the Colony.
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