When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete

Before vespers on that Sunday night, it was common talk that

ch-Canadians he would land in France. Thousands would gather round his standard, and so marching on to Paris, the Napoleonic faith would be revived, and he w

ve, singularly effective. They inspected the martial furnishing of the room: the drum, the pair of rifles, the pistols, in the corner, the sabres crossed on the wall, the gold-handled sword that lay upon the table, and the pict

and children declared for this new "Man of Destiny." And when some foolish body asked him for a lock of his hair, and old Madame Degardy (crazy Joan, as she was called) fol

in sending these violets, which her gar

war and adventure beyond all. As yet her brain was stronger than her feelings; there had been no breakers of emotion in her life. A wife, she had no child; the mother in her was spent upon her husband, whose devotion, honour, name, and goodness were dear to her. Yet-yet she had a world of her own; and reading Napoleon's impassioned letter

y dearest, eighteen th

urmzer has nothing lef

soon to be in your

well. Nothing is wan

ave the love

d have knelt to him-worshipped him. I"-With a little hysterical, disdainful laugh, as of the soul at itself, she leaned upon the window, looking into the village below, alternately smiling and frowning at the thought of

he distant perspective of the stage," as Monsieur De la Riviere remarked mockingly. But a passing member of

he Great Emperor at Waterloo, and in his army on twenty other battle-fields. He had been at Fontainebleau when Napoleon bade farewell to the Old Guard, saying: "For twenty years I have ever found

Little Corporal outflanking them all in his praise, his dim blue eyes flared out from the distant sky of

oes he think there is no one? Pish! I will spit him at the first stroke. Here, here, Manette," he cried to his grand-daughter; "fetch out my uniform, give it an airing, and see to the buttons. I will show this brag how one of the Old Guard looked at Saint Jean. Quick, Manette, my sabre polish;

Desire Malboir, and her daughter Elise, there in Pontiac

ver and pennies he scattered were most fruitful of effect from the martial elevation. He happened to be riding into the village at one end as Sergeant Lagroin entered it at the other, each going towards the Louis Quinze. Valmond knew nothing of Sergeant Lagroin, so that what followed wa

up the street, and people came to their doors, and children followed the grey, dust-covered veteran, in his last-century uniform. He came as far as the Louis Quinze, and then, looking on up the road, he saw the white horse, the cocked hat, the

hich yet was soldier-like from head to foot. Years of camp and discipline and battle and endurance were

he challenged, the champion and the invader, an

aunches with his left hand, and with his right saluted-not the old sergeant, but the coat of the Old Guard, to which his eyes were directed. Me

bent, his eyes calmly, resolutely, yet distantly, looking at the sergea

iac. He became also aware that a carriage had driven up among the villagers, and had stopped; and though he did not look directly, he felt that it was Madame Chalice. This soft look on his face was

than fifteen feet between them. The sergeant's brain was goi

Valmond, in a clear, ringing voi

n's hand again went up to

d-the width

Napoleon the Great had asked a private this question after that battle on the A

mong the Old Guard, though it may not be found in the usual histories of that time, where every battalion

Valmond again, "how came you by

at Waterloo," rolled back the reply, in a high, quavering voice, as

ucher. Comrade, how still you stepped, your bayonet thrust out before you, clearing the mists, your eyes straining, your teeth set, ready to thrust. All at once a quick-moving mass sprang out of the haze, and upon you, with hardly a sound of warning; and

ening of a scythe, the cry of the grasshoppers, and the sound of a mill-wheel arose near by. In the mill itself

d fifty thousand infantry, with a king and a prince to lead them down upon those malleable but un

me a bullet and catch me in the calf. 'You hold your head too high, brother,' the general say, and he smile. 'I'll hold it higher,' answer I, and I snatch at a soldier. 'Up with me on your shoulder, big comrade,' I say, and he lift me up. I make my sticks sing on the leather. 'You shall take off your hat to the Little Corporal to-morrow, if you've still your head, brother'-speak Davoust like that, and then he ride away like the devil to Morand's guns. Ha, ha, ha!" The sergeant's face was blazing with a white glare, for he was very pale, and seemed unconscious of all save the scene in h

nd, "step on. There is a drum at Louis

lmond, motioning to the garcon, gave him an order. The old sergeant stood silent, his eyes full fixed upon Valmond. In a moment the boy came out with the drum. Valmond took it, and, holding it in his hands, said softly: "Soldier of the Old Guar

member Austerlitz. The Heights of Pratzen ar

f look came over his face. He was not a drummer at Austerlitz, an

with 'the Little Sword that Dance

swift look he cast on Valmond had no distru

age, and turned the meek white horse into a charger of war. No man laughed at the drama performed in Pontiac that day, not even the little coterie who were present, not even Monsieur De la Riviere, whose brow was black with hatred, for he had

you thi

was his sulky rep

almond had spoken down at the aged drummer, whose arms were young again, as once more he marched on Prat

rits,

eurez

eurez

ez au

pas, au p

the inflammable moment, sprang out from the crowd, fell involuntar

hez a

pas, au p

and with his drum. To these Frenchmen of an age before the Revolution, the Marseillaise had only been a song. Now in thei

nfants de

gloire es

tism. A false note in the proceedings, a mismove on the part of Valmond, would easily have made the thing ridiculous; but even to Madame Chalice, with her keen artistic sense, it had a pathetic sort of dignity,

ave a soul," she said; "o

fronting the crowd. Valmond was pale, and his eyes burned like restless ghosts. Surely the Cupid bow of the th

untry; for she is yours, though here under the flag of our ancient and amiable enemy you wait the hour of your return to her. In you there is

ted to

did your ancestors, live in peace, and bring your bones to rest in that blessed and honourable ground. My children, my hear

into foolish tears, and Valmond sat still and let t

monsieur?" said Madame Chali

waistcoat, took from his bosom an order fastened

clear, full tone, "call

r blood tingling wit

lorious memory, to the rank of Captain in my House

wd, as Napoleon's might ha

army to attention

irlwind of hailstones the

k of Colonel in my Household Troops,

rummer, call the

somehow they faltered, for

k of General in my Household Troops,

hat it was, he turned pale, trembled, and the drumsticks fell from his hand. His eyes shone like sun on wet glass,

now that ribbon, and I know you are a Napole

y a touch of the fantastic

s look down on us as they looked

and Valmond motioned for wine to go round freely. Then he got off his horse, and, taking the we

d treason," said Monsieur De

sm!" she answered. "Treason may have its virtues. It certainly i

you can countenance this

that I can countenance you. Breakfast with me on Sund

meeting the Cure, s

ar Cure?" she asked,

pon his breast-she had given

, with a sigh: "He sent me two hundred dollars for the alta

me what he says," she answered

aw bonfires burning, and up from the village came

t her uncle "General Lagroin," in honour to her mother's cottage; and she sat and