" The Governor
bowed to his friend, and rejoined the groups of officers upon the
terrace.
A flash, and a column of smoke, white and sudden, rose from the
great battery that flanked the Chateau. It was the second signal
for the Council to commence. The Count de la Galissoniere, taking
the arm of La Corne St. Luc, entered the Castle, and followed by
the crowd of officers, proceeded to the great Hall of Council and
Audience. The Governor, followed by his secretaries, walked forward
to the vice-regal chair, which stood on a dais at the head of a long
table covered with crimson drapery. On each side of the table the
members of the Council took the places assigned to them in the order
of their rank and precedence, but a long array of chairs remained
unoccupied. These seats, belonging to the Royal Intendant and the
other high officers of the Colony who had not yet arrived to take
their places in the Council, stood empty.
The great hall of the Castle of St. Louis was palatial in its
dimensions and adornments. Its lofty coved ceiling rested on a
cornice of rich frieze of carved work, supported on polished
pilasters of oak.
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