Lady de Tilly was inconsolable over the ruin of her fondest hopes.
She had regarded Pierre as her son, and intended to make him and
Amelie joint inheritors with Le Gardeur of her immense wealth. She
desired still to bequeath it to Pierre, not only because of her
great kindness for him, but as a sort of self-imposed amercement
upon her house for the death of his father.
Pierre refused. "I have more of the world's riches already than I
can use," said he; "and I value not what I have, since she is gone
for whose sake alone I prized them. I shall go abroad to resume my
profession of arms, not seeking, yet not avoiding an honorable
death, which may reunite me to Amelie, and the sooner the more
welcome."
Lady de Tilly sought, by assiduous devotion to the duties of her
life and station, distraction from the gnawing cares that ever
preyed upon her. She but partially succeeded. She lived through
the short peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and shared in the terrible
sufferings of the seven years' war that followed in its wake. When
the final conquest of New France overwhelmed the Colony, to all
appearances in utter ruin, she endowed the Ursulines with a large
portion of her remaining wealth, and retired with her nearest
kinsmen to France.
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