He only remarked, "Le Gardeur and Pierre Philibert
will be under your orders, my Lady, and my orders are that they are
not to return to the city until all dangers of the Iroquois are
over."
"All right, your Excellency!" exclaimed Le Gardeur. "I shall obey
my aunt." He was acute enough to see through their kindly scheming
for his welfare; but his good nature and thorough devotion to his
aunt and sister, and his affectionate friendship for Pierre, made
him yield to the project without a qualm of regret. Le Gardeur was
assailable on many sides,--a fault in his character--or a weakness--
which, at any rate, sometimes offered a lever to move him in
directions opposite to the malign influences of Bigot and his
associates.
The company rose from the tea-table and moved to the drawing-room,
where conversation, music, and a few games of cards whiled away a
couple of hours very pleasantly.
Amelie sang exquisitely. The Governor was an excellent musician,
and accompanied her. His voice, a powerful tenor, had been
strengthened by many a conflict with old Boreas on the high seas,
and made soft and flexible by his manifold sympathies with all that
is kindly and good and true in human nature.
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