Seats of the Mighty | Page 7

others--to dance, drink, love: blind men's
games!" He smiled cynically into the distance.
I have never known a man who interested me so much--never one so
original, so varied, and so uncommon in his nature. I marvelled at the
pith and depth of his observations; for though I agreed not with him
once in ten times, I loved his great reflective cleverness and his fine
penetration--singular gifts in a man of action. But action to him was a
playtime; he had that irresponsibility of the Court from which he came,
its scornful endurance of defeat or misery, its flippant look upon the
world, its scoundrel view of women. Then he and Duvarney talked, and
I sat thinking. Perhaps the passion of a cause grows in you as you
suffer for it, and I had suffered, and suffered most by a bitter inaction.
Governor Dinwiddie, Mr. Washington (alas that, as I write the fragment
chapters of my life, among the hills where Montrose my ancestor
fought, George leads the colonists against the realm of England!), and
the rest were suffering, but they were fighting too. Brought to their
knees, they could rise again to battle; and I thought then, How more
glorious to be with my gentlemen in blue from Virginia, holding back
death from the General, and at last falling myself, than to spend good
years a hostage at Quebec, knowing that Canada was for our taking, yet
doing nothing to advance the hour!
In the thick of these thoughts I was not conscious of what the two were
saying, but at last I caught Madame Cournal's name; by which I
guessed Monsieur Doltaire was talking of her amours, of which the
chief and final was with Bigot the Intendant, to whom the King had
given all civil government, all power over commerce and finance in the
country. The rivalry between the Governor and the Intendant was keen
and vital at this time, though it changed later, as I will show. At her
name I looked up and caught Monsieur Doltaire's eye.
He read my thoughts. "You have had blithe hours here, monsieur," he
said--"you know the way to probe us; but of all the ladies who could be
most useful to you, you left out the greatest. There you erred. I say it as
a friend, not as an officer, there you erred. From Madame Cournal to
Bigot, from Bigot to Vaudreuil the Governor, from the Governor to

France. But now--"
He paused, for Madame Duvarney and her daughter had come, and we
all rose.
The ladies had heard enough to know Doltaire's meaning. "But
now--Captain Moray dines with us," said Madame Duvarney quietly
and meaningly.
"Yet I dine with Madame Cournal," rejoined Doltaire, smiling.
"One may use more option with enemies and prisoners," she said
keenly, and the shot ought to have struck home. In so small a place it
was not easy to draw lines close and fine, and it was in the power of the
Intendant, backed by his confederates, to ruin almost any family in the
province if he chose; and that he chose at times I knew well, as did my
hostess. Yet she was a woman of courage and nobility of thought, and I
knew well where her daughter got her good flavor of mind.
I could see something devilish in the smile at Doltaire's lip's, but his
look was wandering between Alixe and me, and he replied urbanely, "I
have ambition yet--to connive at captivity"; and then he looked full and
meaningly at her.
I can see her now, her hand on the high back of a great oak chair, the
lace of her white sleeve falling away, and her soft arm showing, her
eyes on his without wavering. They did not drop, nor turn aside; they
held straight on, calm, strong--and understanding. By that look I saw
she read him; she, who had seen so little of the world, felt what he was,
and met his invading interest firmly, yet sadly; for I knew long after
that a smother was at her heart then, foreshadowings of dangers that
would try her as few women are tried. Thank God that good women are
born with greater souls for trial than men; that, given once an anchor
for their hearts, they hold until the cables break.
When we were about to enter the dining-room, I saw, to my joy,
Madame incline towards Doltaire, and I knew that Alixe was for
myself--though her mother wished it little, I am sure. As she took my

arm, her finger-tips plunged softly into the velvet of my sleeve, giving
me a thrill of courage. I felt my spirits rise, and I set myself to carry
things off gaily, to have this last hour with her clear of gloom, for