A HUSBAND
Lalotte Dubray had had the gala day of her life. Her peasant wedding had
been simple enough. The cure's blessing after the civil ceremony, the
dance on the green, the going home to the one room in the small thatched
hut, the bunk-like bed along the wall, the two chests that answered for
seats, a kitchen table, two shelves for a rude dresser, with dishes that
had been earned by the hardest toil, but they were better off than some,
for there was a pig grunting and squealing outside, and a little garden.
Times had grown harder and harder. Antoine had been compelled to join
the army and fight for he knew not what. Then he had decamped, and
instead of being shot had been sent to New France. Lalotte was willing
enough to go with him.
Hard as it was, it bettered their fortunes. He had gone out once as a
sort of servant and handy man to the company. Then he had struck out for
himself. He was shrewd and industrious, and did not mind hard work, nor
hardships.
Now he was in the lightest of spirits. He had some choice furs that were
eagerly snapped up. The Indian women had been shrewd enough to arrange
tempting booths, where frying fish and roasted birds gave forth an
appetizing fragrance. There were cakes of ground maize baked on hot
stones, and though Champlain had used his best efforts to keep some
restraint on spirituous liquors, there were many ways of evading.
Lalotte was fairly stupefied with amazement at her husband's prosperity.
"Why, you are rich with that bag of money," she cried. "I never saw so
much."
He laughed jovially. "Better than standing up to be shot--he! he!
Jacques Lallemont had the idea, and they wanted emigrants for New France
bad enough. Why don't they send more? The English understand better.
_Sacre!_ But it is a great country. Only Quebec stays little, when it
should be a great place. Why can they not see?"
Lalotte could venture no explanation of that. She seemed to be in a maze
herself.
Vessels were taking on cargoes of furs as soon as they were inspected.
The river as far as Tadoussac looked thriving enough. Antoine met old
friends, but he was more level-headed than some, and did not get tipsy.
Lalotte held her head higher than ever.
When it was getting rather too rough they made their way out.
"Oh, the child!" she exclaimed, with a sudden twinge of conscience. "And
those wretched slave boys. If your back is turned they are in league
with the evil one himself. Baptism does not seem to drive it out.
Whether the poor thing had her breakfast."
"Let that alone. It was mighty cool in Jean Arlac to foist her on thee.
And now that we have left the crowd behind and are comfortable in the
stomach."
"But the cost, Antoine. I could have gotten it for half!"
"A man may treat his wife, when he has not seen her for two years," and
he gave a short chuckling laugh. "There has been a plan in my head,
hatched in the long winter nights up at the bay. Why should man and wife
be living apart when they might be together? Thou hast a hot temper,
Lalotte, but it will serve to warm up the biting air."
"A hot temper!" resentfully. "Much of it you have taken truly! Two years
soldiering--months in prison, and now two years again----"
He laughed good-humoredly, if it was loud enough to wake echoes.
"The saints know how I have wished for the sound of your voice. Indian
women there are ready enough to be a wife for six months, and then
perhaps some brave steals in at night and pouf! out goes your candle."
"The sin of it!"--holding up both hands.
"Sins are not counted in this wild land. But there are no old memories,
no talks with each other. Oh, you cannot think how the loneliness almost
freezes up one's very vitals. And I said to myself--I will bring
Lalotte back with me. Why should we not share the same life and live
over together our memories of sunny France?--not always sunny, either."
"To--take me with you"--gasping.
"Yes, why not? As if a man cannot order his wife about!" he exclaimed
jocosely, catching her around the waist and imprinting half a dozen
kisses with smacks that were like an explosion. "Yes--I have sighed for
thee many a night. There are high logs for firing, there are piles of
bearskins, thick and fleecy as those of our best sheep at home. There is
enough to eat at most times, and with thy cookery, _ma mie_, a man would
feast. It is a rough journey, to be sure, but then thou wilt not refuse,
or I shall think thou hast a secret lover."
"The Virgin herself knows I shall be glad to go with thee, Antoine," and
the tears of joy stood in her eyes. "There is nothing in all Quebec to
compare with thee. And heaven knows one sometimes grows hungry of a
winter night, when food is scarce and one depends upon sleep to make it
up. No, I should be happy anywhere with thee."
They jogged along in a lover-like fashion, but they were not quite out
of hearing of the din. At nightfall all dickering was stopped and guards
placed about. But in many a tent there were drinking and gambling, and
more than one affray.
They came to the small unpretentious cabin. The door stood wide open,
and the shaggy old dog was stretched on the doorstep, dozing. No soul
was to be seen.
"Where is the child, Britta? Why, she must have been carried off. She
could not walk any distance."
The dog gave a wise look and flicked her ear. Lalotte searched every
nook.
"Where could she have gone?" in dismay.
"Let the child alone. What is she to us? Does Jean Arlac stay awake
nights with trouble in his conscience about her? She was not his wife's
child and so nothing to him. What more is she to us? Come, get some
supper; I've not tasted such fried fish in an age as yours last night."
"The fish about here has a fine flavor, that is true. Those imps of
boys, and not a stick of wood handy. Their skins shall be well warmed;
just wait until I get at them."
"Nay, I will get some wood. I am hungry as a bear in the thaw, when he
crawls out."
But Lalotte, armed with a switch, began a survey of the garden. The work
had been neglected, that was plain. There under a clump of bushes lay
Pani, sleeping, with no fear of retribution on his placid face. And
Lalotte put in some satisfactory work before he even stirred.
But he knew nothing of his compeer, only they had been down to the river
together. As for the child, when he returned she was gone.
"Let the child alone, I say!" and Antoine brought his fist heavily down
on the table. "Next thing you will be begging that we take her. Since
the good Lord in His mercy has refrained from giving us any mouths to
feed, we will not fly in His face for those who do not concern us. And
the puling thing would die on the journey and have to be left behind to
feed the wolves. Come! come! Attend to thy supper."
The slim Indian convert was coming up the path. She was one of the
Abenaqui tribe, and she had mostly discarded the picturesque attire.
"The lady Madame Giffard sent me to say the girl is safe with her and
will not be able to return to-night."
"So much the better," growled Antoine, looking with hungry eyes on the
fish browning before the coals.
"Did she come and take her? I went with my husband to see the traders."
"She has been very poorly, but is much better now. And miladi
thought----"
"Oh, yes, it is all right. Yes, I am glad," nodding definitely, as if
the matter was settled. She did not want to quarrel with Antoine about a
child that was no kin to them, when he was so much like her old lover.
He seemed to bring back the hopes of youth and a certain gayety to which
she had long been a stranger.
After enjoying his meal he brought out his pipe and stretched himself in
a comfortable position, begging her to attend to him and let the slave
boy take the fragments. He went on to describe the settlement of the
fur merchants and trappers at Hudson Bay, but toned down much of the
rudeness of the actual living. A few of the white women, wives of the
leaders and the men in command, formed a little community. There was
card-playing and the relating of adventures through the long winter
evenings, that sometimes began soon after three. Dances, too, Indian
entertainments, and for daylight, flying about on snowshoes, and
skating. There was a short summer. The Indian women were expert in
modelling garments--everything was of fur and dressed deerskins.
Few knew how to read at that day among the seekers of fortune and
adventurers, but they were shrewd at keeping accounts, nevertheless.
There were certain regulations skilfully evaded by the knowing ones.
No, it would never do to take the child. She had no real mother love for
it, yet she often wondered whose child it might be, since it was not
Catherine Arlac's? Strange stories about foundlings often came to light
in old France.
The death of the King rather disorganized matters, for no one quite knew
what the new order of things would be. The Sieur de Champlain sorrowed
truly, for he had ever been a staunch admirer of Henry of Navarre.
Demont had not had his concession renewed and to an extent the fur trade
had been thrown open. Several vessels were eagerly competing for stores
of Indian peltries, as against those of the company. Indeed it was a
regular carnival time. One would think old Quebec a most prosperous
settlement, if judged only by that. But none of the motley crew were
allowed inside the palisades. The Sieur controlled the rough community
with rare good judgment. He had shown that he could punish as well as
govern; fight, if need be, and then be generous to the foe. Indeed in
the two Indian battles he had won much prestige, and had frowned on the
torture of helpless prisoners.
Madame Giffard besought her husband that evening to consent to her
taking the care of little Rose, at least while they remained in Canada,
the year and perhaps more.
"And that may unfit her for her after life. You will make a pet and
plaything of her, and then it would be cruel to return her to this woman
to whom it seems she was given. She may be claimed some day."
"And if we liked her, might we not take her home with us? There seems no
doubt but what she came from France. Not that I could put any one quite
in the place of my lost darling, but it will afford me much interest
through the winter, which, by all accounts, is dreary. I can teach her
to read--she hardly knows a French letter. M. Destournier has taken a
great interest in her. And she needs care now, encouragement to get
well."
"Let us do nothing rash. The Sieur may be able to advise what is best,"
he returned gently. He felt he would rather know more of the case before
he took the responsibility.
"She is so sweet, so innocent. She did not really know what love was,"
and Madame laughed softly. "This Catherine Arlac must have been a maid,
I think. Yes, I am sure she must have come from gentle people. She has
every indication of it."
"Well, thou canst play nurse a while and it will interest thee, and fill
up thy lonely hours, for I have much to do and must take some journeys
quite impossible for a woman. And then we will decide, if this woman is
ready to part with her. _Ma mie_, thou knowest I would not refuse thee
any wish that was possible."
"That is true, Laurent," and she kissed him fondly.
Destournier had been busy every moment of the day and had been closeted
with the Sieur until late in the evening. Champlain felt now that he
must give up an exploring expedition, on which his heart was set, and
return to France, where large interests of the colony were at stake.
There was much to be arranged.
So it was not until the next morning that he found his way to the Dubray
house, and then he was surprised at the tidings. Lalotte was almost a
girl again in her interest in the new plans. As soon as a sufficient
number had sold their wares to make a journey safe from marauders they
would start for Hudson's Bay, while the weather was pleasant. Of course
the child must be left behind. She had no real claim on them; neither
could she stand the journey. She was now with Madame Giffard.
Thither he hurried. Little Rose had improved wonderfully, though she was
almost transparently thin, and her eyes seemed larger and softer in
their mysterious darkness. Already love had done much for her.
He told his story and the plans of the Dubrays.
"Then I can stay here," she cried with kindling eyes, reaching out her
small hand as if to sign her right in Madame's.
Madame's eyes, too, were joyous as she raised them in a sort of
gratitude to her visitor.
"How strange it comes about," she cried. "And now, M. Destournier, will
you learn all you can about this Catherine Arlac; where she came from in
France, and if she was any sort of a trustworthy person? It may some day
be of importance to the child."
"Yes, anything I can do to advance her interest you may depend on. Are
you happy, little one?"
"I could fly like a bird, I am so light with joy. But I would not fly
away from here. Oh, then I shall not have to go back! I was frightened
at M. Dubray."
"I don't wonder. Yet these are the kind of men New France needs, who are
not afraid of the wilderness and its trials. The real civilization
follows on after the paths are trodden down. Did you go out yesterday?"
to the lady.
"Only on the gallery."
"That was safest. Such a crowd was fit only for Indian women, and some
of them shrank from it, I noticed. You heard the news about the King?"
"The sad, sad news. Yes."
"And the Sieur feels he must go back to France."
"What is Quebec to do? And if there is an Indian raid? Oh, this new land
is full of fears."
"And think of the strifes and battles of the old world! Ah, if peace
could reign. Yet the bravest of men are in the forefront."
Then he came over to the child.
"Who brought you here yesterday?" he asked, with a smile.
"I was all alone. I had nothing to eat. I wanted to get out in the
sunshine. I walked, but presently I shook so, I crawled up on the
gallery. And then----"
She looked wistfully at miladi, who took up the rest of the journey.
"You were a brave little girl. But what if Madame had not chanced to
come out? Why, you might have died."
The dark eyes grew humid. "It does not hurt to die," she said slowly.
"Only if you did not have to be put in the ground."
"Don't talk of such things," interposed Madame, with a half shudder.
"You are going to get well now, and run about and show me the places you
love. And we can sail up to the islands and through the St. Charles,
that looks so fascinating and mysterious, can we not?" smiling up at
Destournier.
"Oh, yes, a month will finish the trading, for the ships will want to
start with their freight, while the weather is fine. True, the Indians
and many of the _coureurs de bois_ will loiter about until the last
moment. There is to be a great Indian dance, I hear. They generally
break up with one that has a good deal of savagery in it, but this early
one is quite mild, I have understood, and gives one an opportunity to
see them in their fine feathers and war paint."
"Oh, it must be interesting. Would it be safe to go?" she inquired.
"With a bodyguard, yes. Your husband and myself, and we might call in
the services of the Dubrays. Madame is a host in herself. And they are
glad, it seems, to shift the care of the child on some one else,"
lowering his voice.
"You will not forget to inquire----"
"Why, there must be a record here. The Sieur has the name and addresses
of all the emigrants, I think. There have not been many shiploads of
women."
"She has no indication of peasant parentage. There is a curious delicacy
about her, but _merci!_ what wonderful and delightful ignorance. It is
like a fallow field. Mere Dubray seems to have sown nothing in it. Oh, I
promise myself rare pleasure in teaching her many things."
"She has a quick and peculiar imagination. I am glad she has fallen into
other hands. Settling a new country is a great undertaking, especially
when one has but a handful of people and you have to uproot other habits
of life and thought. I wonder if one can civilize an Indian!" and he
laughed doubtfully.
"But it is to save their souls, I thought!"
"Yet some of them worship the same God that we do, only He is called the
Great Manitou. And they have an hereafter for the braves at least, a
happy hunting ground. But they are cruel and implacable enemies with
each other. And we have wars at home as well. It is a curious muddle, I
think. You come from a Huguenot family, I believe."
"My mother did. But she went with my father. There were no family
dissensions. Does it make so much difference if one is upright and
honest and kindly?"
"Kindly. If that could be put in the creed. 'Tis a big question," and he
gave a sigh. "At least you are proving that part of the creed," and he
crossed over to the child, chatting with her in a pleasant manner until
he left them.
That evening there was a serious discussion in the Sieur's study.
Captain Chauvin was to return also, and who was most trustworthy to be
put in command of the infant colony was an important matter. There had
been quite an acreage of grain sown the year before, maize was
promising, and a variety of vegetables had been cultivated. Meats and
fish were dried and salted. They had learned how to protect themselves
from serious inroads of the scurvy. The houses in the post were being
much improved and made more secure against the rigors of the long
winter.
An officer who had spent the preceding winter at the fort was put in
command, and the next day the garrison and the workmen were called in
and enjoined to render him full obedience.
Destournier and Gifford were to undertake some adventures in a northerly
direction, following several designated routes that Champlain had
expected to pursue. Their journeys would not be very long.
As for Rose, she improved every day and began to chatter delightfully,
while her adoration of Madame Giffard was really touching, and filled
hours that would otherwise have been very tedious.
They had brought with them a few books. Madame was an expert at
embroidery and lace-making, but was aghast when she realized her slender
stock of materials, and that it would be well-nigh a year before any
could come from France.
"But there is bead work, and the Indian women make threads out of
grasses," explained Wanamee. "And feathers of birds are sewed around
garments and fringes are cut. Oh, miladi will find some employment for
her fingers."
Mere Dubray made no objection to accompanying them to the Indian dance.
She had been to several of them, but they were wild things that one
could not well understand; nothing like the village dances at home. "But
what would you? These were savages!"
"I wish I could go, too," the child said wistfully. "But I could not
climb about nor stand up as I used. When will I be able to run around
again?"
She was gaining every day and went out on the gallery for exercise. She
was a very cheerful invalid; indeed miladi was so entertaining she was
never weary when with her, and if her husband needed her, Wanamee came
to sit with the child. Rose knew many words in the language, as well as
that of the unfortunate Iroquois.
All they had been able to learn about Catherine Arlac was that she had
come from Paris to Honfleur, a widow, with a little girl. And Paris was
such a great and puzzling place for a search.
"But she is a sweet human rose with no thorns, and I must keep her,"
declared miladi.
Laurent Giffard made no demur. He was really glad for his wife to have
an interest while he was away.
The party threaded their way through the narrow winding paths that were
to be so famous afterward and witness the heroic struggle, when the
lilies of France went down for the last time, and the heritage that had
cost so much in valiant endeavor and blood and treasure was signed away.
There were flaming torches and swinging lanterns and throngs wending to
the part beyond the tents. The dance was not to pass a certain radius,
where guards were stationed. Already there was a central fire of logs,
around which the braves sat with their knees drawn up and their chins
resting upon them, looking as if they were asleep.
"A fire this warm night," said miladi, in irony.
"We could hardly see them without it," returned her husband.
At the summons of a rude drum that made a startling noise, the braves
rose, threw down their blankets and displayed their holiday attire of
paint, fringes, beads, and dressed deerskins with great headdresses of
feathers. Another ring formed round them. One brave, an old man, came
forward, and gesticulating wildly, went through a series of antics. One
after another fell in, and the slow tread began to increase. Then shrill
songs, with a kind of musical rhythm, low at first, but growing louder
and louder, the two or three circles joining in, the speed increasing
until they went whirling around like madmen, shouting, thrusting at each
other with their brawny arms, until all seemed like a sudden frenzy.
"Oh, they will kill each other!" almost shrieked Madame.
"_Non, non_, but small loss if they did," commented Madame Dubray.
They paused suddenly. It seemed like disentangling a chain. The
confusion was heightened by the cries and the dancing feather
headdresses that might have been a flock of giant birds. But presently
they resolved into a circle again, and began to march to a slow chant.
One young fellow seized a brand from the fire and began a wild gyration,
pointing the end to the circle, at random, it seemed. Then another and
another until the lights flashed about madly and there was a scent of
burning feathers. The circle stood its ground bravely, but there were
shrieks and mocking laughter as they danced around, sometimes making a
lunge out at the spectators, who would draw back in affright, a signal
for roars of mirth.
"They will burn each other up," cried Madame. "Oh, let us go. The noise
is more than I can bear. And if they should attack us. Do you remember
what M. du Parc was telling us?"
"I think we have had enough of it," began M. Giffard. "They are said to
be very treacherous. What is to hinder them from attacking the whites?"
"The knowledge that they have not yet received any pay, and their
remaining stock would be confiscated. They are not totally devoid of
self-interest, and most of them have a respect for the fighting powers
of the Sieur and his punishing capacity, as well."
As they left the place the noise seemed to subside, though it was like
the roar of wild animals.
"Am I to remain here all winter with these savages? Can I not return
with M. de Champlain?" pleaded Madame Giffard.
"Such a time would be almost a Godsend in the winter," declared
Destournier. "But they will be hundreds of miles away, and the near
Indians are sometimes too friendly, when driven by hunger to seek the
fort. Oh, you will find no cause for alarm, I think."
"And how long will they keep this up?" she asked, as they were ascending
the parapet from which they could still see the moving mass and the
flashing lights, weird amid the surrounding darkness.
"They will sit in a ring presently and smoke the pipe of peace and
enjoyment, and drop off to sleep. And for your satisfaction, not a few
among those were fur-hunters and traders, white men, who have given up
the customs of civilized life and enjoy the hardships of the wilderness,
but who will fight like tigers for their brethren when the issue comes.
They are seldom recreant to their own blood."
"I do not want to see it again, ever," she cried passionately. "I shall
hardly sleep for thinking of it and some horrible things a sailor told
on shipboard. I can believe them all true now."
"And we have had horrible battles, cruelty to prisoners," declared her
husband. "These poor savages have never been taught anything better, and
are always at war with each other. But for us, who have a higher state
of civilization, it seems incredible that we should take a delight in
destroying our brethren."
It was quiet and peaceful enough inside the fort. The Sieur was still
engrossed with his papers, marking out routes and places where lakes and
rivers might be found and where trading posts might be profitably set,
and colonies established. It was a daring ambition to plant the lilies
of France up northward, to take in the mighty lakes they had already
discovered and to cross the continent and find the sure route to India.
There were heroes in those days and afterwards.