The revels of May in New France, the king and queen of St. Philip,
the rejoicings of a frank, loyal peasantry--illiterate in books but
not unlearned in the art of life,--have wholly disappeared before
the levelling spirit of the nineteenth century.
The celebration of the day of St. Philip has been superseded by the
festival of St. John the Baptist, at a season of the year when green
leaves and blooming flowers give the possibility of arches and
garlands in honor of the Canadian summer.
Felix Beaudoin with a wave of his hand scattered the bevy of maid
servants who stood chattering as they gazed upon the new arrivals.
The experience of Felix told him that everything had of course gone
wrong during his absence from the Manor House, and that nothing
could be fit for his mistress's reception until he had set all to
rights again himself.
The worthy majordomo was in a state of perspiration lest he should
not get into the house before his mistress and don his livery to
meet her at the door with his white wand and everything en regle,
just as if nothing had interrupted their usual course of
housekeeping.
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