"And this question?" he inquired.

"What brought Monsieur le Chevalier du Cévennes, as he calls himself,
to Quebec?"

The governor's face became shaded with gravity, "I may not tell you
that. I did not know that you knew Monsieur le Comte. He will,
without doubt, return to France with Monsieur le Marquis, his father.
Nay, I shall tell you this: the Chevalier expected never to return to
France."

"Never to return to France?" vaguely.

"Yes, Madame; so I understood, him to say." The governor's curiosity
was manifest.

"Conspiring did not bring him here?"

"No, Madame."

"Monsieur, one more question, and then I will go. Is there a
Mademoiselle Catharine Coquenard upon your books?"

"Peasant or noble?"

"Peasant, Monsieur, of a positive type," with enough scorn to attract
the governor's ear.

He consulted his books, wondering what it was all about. "No such