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"You mistake, madame," he said; "I was not grudging the time for myself." At that moment Maurice Joval entered and whispered to the governor. Frontenac rose. "Madame," he said, "your husband has escaped." A cry broke from her. "Escaped! escaped!" She saw a strange look in the governor's eyes. "But you have not told me all," she urged; "there is more. Oh, your excellency, speak!"
A few minutes afterwards Jessica met the abbe on his own doorstep. Maurice Joval disappeared, and the priest and the woman were alone together. She told him what had just happened. "There is some mystery," she said, pain in her voice. "Tell me, has my husband been retaken?" "Madame, he has." "Is he in danger?" The priest hesitated, then presently inclined his head in assent.
She was admitted almost at once to the governor. He was at dinner when she came. When her message was brought to him, his brows twitched with surprise and perplexity. He called Maurice Joval, and ordered that she be shown to his study and tendered every courtesy. A few moments later he entered the room. Wonder and admiration crossed his face. He had not thought to see so beautiful a woman.
They had crowded forwards Iberville, Sainte-Helene, Perrot, Maurice Joval, and the staring sailors. He choked down his emotion and faced them all like an animal at bay as Iberville stepped forwards. Without a word Gering pointed to the empty scabbard at his side. "No, pardon me," said Iberville drily, "not as our prisoner, monsieur. You have us at advantage; you will remain our guest."
"You mistake, madame," he said; "I was not grudging the time for myself." At that moment Maurice Joval entered and whispered to the governor. Frontenac rose. "Madame," he said, "your husband has escaped." A cry broke from her. "Escaped! escaped!" She saw a strange look in the governor's eyes. "But you have not told me all," she urged; "there is more. Oh, your excellency, speak!"
And after she had spoken, had pleaded her husband's cause, and appealed to the nobleman's chivalry, Frontenac was moved. But his face was troubled. He drew out his watch and studied it. Presently he went to the door and called Maurice Joval. There was whispering, and then the young man went away. "Madame, you have spoken of Monsieur Iberville," said the governor. "Years ago he spoke to me of you."
A few minutes afterwards Jessica met the abbe on his own doorstep. Maurice Joval disappeared, and the priest and the woman were alone together. She told him what had just happened. "There is some mystery," she said, pain in her voice. "Tell me, has my husband been retaken?" "Madame, he has." "Is he in danger?" The priest hesitated, then presently inclined his head in assent.
He had found awaiting him, on his return to Quebec, a priest bearing messages and a chart from another priest who had died in the Spaniards' country. Iberville had a good ship. The Maid of Provence carried a handful of guns and a small but carefully chosen crew, together with Sainte-Helene, Perrot, and the lad Maurice Joval, who had conceived for Iberville friendship nigh to adoration.
It is difficult to conceive, how, being thus persecuted by two powerful enemies, they become so numerous; but they breed with the same rapidity as the little cavies or guinea-pigs, which come to us from Brazil. We stopped below the mouth of the Cano de la Tigrera, in a sinuosity called la Vuelta del Joval, to measure the velocity of the water at its surface.
Two of them were expert swimmers and were able to catch the stern of another canoe as it ran by, and reached safe water, bruised but alive. The third was a boy, Maurice Joval, the youngest of the party, whom Iberville had been at first loth to bring with him. But he had remembered his own ambitious youth, and had consented, persuading De Troyes that the lad was worth encouragement.
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