CHAPTER IV.

CONFIDENCES.


Angelique took the arm of Amelie in her old, familiar schoolgirl
way, and led her to the sunny corner of a bastion where lay a
dismounted cannon.

The girls sat down upon the old gun. Angelique held Amelie by both
hands, as if hesitating how to express something she wished to say.
Still, when Angelique did speak, it was plain to Amelie that she had
other things on her mind than what her tongue gave loose to.

"Now we are quite alone, Amelie," said she, "we can talk as we used
to do in our school-days. You have not been in the city during the
whole summer, and have missed all its gaieties?"

"I was well content. How beautiful the country looks from here!"
replied Amelie. "How much pleasanter to be in it, revelling among
the flowers and under the trees! I like to touch the country as
well as to look at it from a distance, as you do in Quebec."

"Well, I never care for the country if I can only get enough of the
city. Quebec was never so gay as it has been this year. The Royal
Roussillon, and the freshly arrived regiments of Bearn and Ponthieu,
have turned the heads of all Quebec,--of the girls, that is.
Gallants have been plenty as bilberries in August. And you may be