, when the young king, struck with her grace
and beauty, gallantly exclaimed,--
"If the ladies of Canada are as handsome as you, I have indeed made
a conquest!"
To escort young ladies, internes of the Convent, when granted
permission to go out into the city, was a favorite pastime, truly a
labor of love, of the young gallants of that day,--an occupation, if
very idle, at least very agreeable to those participating in these
stolen promenades, and which have not, perhaps, been altogether
discontinued in Quebec even to the present day.
The pious nuns were of course entirely ignorant of the contrivances
of their fair pupils to amuse themselves in the city. At any rate
they good-naturedly overlooked things they could not quite prevent.
They had human hearts still under their snowy wimples, and perhaps
did not wholly lack womanly sympathy with the dear girls in their
charge.
"Why are you not at Belmont to-day, Chevalier des Meloises?" boldly
asked Louise Roy, a fearless little questioner in a gay summer robe.
She was pretty, and sprightly as Titania.
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