Those were days of unalloyed delight which she spent in
superintending the arrangements for the marriage which had been
fixed for the festivities of Christmas.
It was to be celebrated on a scale worthy of the rank of the heiress
of Repentigny and of the wealth of the Philiberts. The rich
Bourgeois, in the gladness of his heart, threw open all his coffers,
and blessed with tears of happiness the money he flung out with both
hands to honor the nuptials of Pierre and Amelie.
The Bourgeois was profoundly happy during those few brief days of
Indian summer. As a Christian, he rejoiced that the long desolating
war was over. As a colonist, he felt a pride that, unequal as had
been the struggle, New France remained unshorn of territory, and by
its resolute defence had forced respect from even its enemies. In
his eager hope he saw commerce revive, and the arts and comforts of
peace take the place of war and destruction. The husbandman would
now reap for himself the harvest he had sown, and no longer be
crushed by the exactions of the Friponne!
There was hope for the country.
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