"Why do you not go to him?" asked Poulariez.
"Why, for the same reason, I suppose, so many others of us do not,"
replied Monredin. "Colonel Dalquier endorses my orders, and he
hates the Bourgeois cordially, as a hot friend of the Intendant
ought to do. So you see I have to submit to be plucked of my best
pen-feathers by that old fesse-mathieu Penisault at the Friponne!"
"How many of yours have gone out to the great spread at Belmont?"
asked Des Meloises, quite weary of commercial topics.
"Par Dieu!" replied Monredin, "except the colonel and adjutant, who
stayed away on principle, I think every officer in the regiment,
present company excepted--who being on duty could not go, much to
their chagrin. Such a glorious crush of handsome girls has not been
seen, they say, since our regiment came to Quebec."
"And not likely to have been seen before your distinguished arrival--
eh, Monredin?" ejaculated Des Meloises, holding his glass to be
refilled. "That is delicious Burgundy," added he, "I did not think
any one beside the Intendant had wine like that.
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