Father Glapion, the Superior of the Jesuits, also accompanied the
Bishop. His close, black soutane contrasted oddly with the gray,
loose gown of the Recollet. He was a meditative, taciturn man,--
seeming rather to watch the others than to join in the lively
conversation that went on around him. Anything but cordiality and
brotherly love reigned between the Jesuits and the Order of St.
Francis, but the Superiors were too wary to manifest towards each
other the mutual jealousies of their subordinates.

The long line of fortifications presented a stirring appearance that
morning. The watch-fires that had illuminated the scene during the
night were dying out, the red embers paling under the rays of the
rising sun. From a wide circle surrounding the city the people had
come in--many were accompanied by their wives and daughters--to
assist in making the bulwark of the Colony impregnable against the
rumored attack of the English.

The people of New France, taught by a hundred years of almost
constant warfare with the English and with the savage nations on
their frontiers, saw as clearly as the Governor that the key of
French dominion hung inside the walls of Quebec, and that for an
enemy to grasp it was to lose all they valued as subjects of the
Crown of France.


CHAPTER II.

THE WALLS OF QUEBEC.