These dark days were yet in the womb of the future, however. The
giddy Vaubernier was at this time gaily catching at the heart of the
King, but her procedure filled the mind of Bigot with anxiety: the
fall of La Pompadour would entail swift ruin upon himself and
associates. He knew it was the intrigues of this girl which had
caused La Pompadour suddenly to declare for peace in order to watch
the King more surely in his palace. Therefore the word peace and
the name of Vaubernier were equally odious to Bigot, and he was
perplexed in no small degree how to act.
Moreover, be it confessed that, although a bad man and a corrupt
statesman, Bigot was a Frenchman, proud of the national success and
glory. While robbing her treasures with one hand, he was ready with
his sword in the other to risk life and all in her defence. Bigot
was bitterly opposed to English supremacy in North America. The
loss of Louisbourg, though much his fault, stung him to the quick,
as a triumph of the national enemy; and in those final days of New
France, after the fall of Montcalm, Bigot was the last man to yield,
and when all others counselled retreat, he would not consent to the
surrender of Quebec to the English.
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