Luc pledges himself to that, and he never broke his word!"
He spoke the last words audibly, and looked hard at the Intendant.
Bigot cursed him twenty times over between his teeth, for he knew La
Corne's indomitable energy and sagacity, that was never at fault in
finding or forcing a way to whatever he was in search of. It would
not be long before he would discover the presence of a strange lady
at Beaumanoir, thought Bigot, and just as certain would he be to
find out that she was the lost daughter of the Baron de St. Castin.
The good Bishop rose up when the dispute waxed warmest between the
Intendant and La Corne St. Luc. His heart was eager to allay the
strife; but his shrewd knowledge of human nature, and manifold
experience of human quarrels, taught him that between two such men
the intercession of a priest would not, at that moment, be of any
avail. Their own notions of honor and self-respect would alone
be able to restrain them from rushing into unseemly excesses of
language and act; so the good Bishop stood with folded arms looking
on, and silently praying for an opportunity to remind them of the
seventh holy beatitude, "Beati pacifici!"
Bigot felt acutely the difficulty of the position he had been placed
in by the act of La Pompadour, in sending her despatch to the
Governor instead of to himself.
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