"I have at least an hour," she
continued. "The Governor is busy with my father and General
Montcalm, and they will not be free for a long time. For your
soldiers, I have been bribing them to my service these weeks past,
and they are safe enough for to-day. Now I will tell you of that
dancing.
"One night last autumn there was a grand dinner at the Intendance.
Such gentlemen as my father were not asked; only the roisterers and
hard drinkers, and gambling friends of the Intendant. You would know
the sort of upspring it would be. Well, I was sitting in my window,
looking down into the garden; for the moon was shining. Presently
I saw a man appear below, glance up towards me, and beckon. It was
Voban. I hurried down to him, and he told me that there had been a
wild carousing at the palace, and that ten gentlemen had determined,
for a wicked sport, to mask themselves, go to the citadel at
midnight, fetch you forth, and make you run the gauntlet in the yard
of the Intendance, and afterwards set you fighting for your life
with another prisoner, a common criminal. To this, Bigot, heated
with wine, made no objection. Monsieur Doltaire was not present; he
had, it was said, taken a secret journey into the English country.
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