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Updated: June 27, 2025
"When I help De Artigny to his bed, and have look at his wound. Yet is it not matter of interest to these as well?" "I take it so." "Then speak your message M. Cassion is dead?" "The sentry's bullet found his heart, Monsieur." "I saw him fall. Those papers were upon him are they of value?" "That I know not; they possess no meaning to me, but they were addressed to the man killed at St. Ignace."
'Tis my order also that Hugo Chevet be of the company. Perchance a year in the wilderness may be of benefit to him, and he might be of value in watching over young De Artigny." Never have I felt more helpless, more utterly alone. I knew all he meant, but my mind grasped no way of escape.
Coatless and bareheaded, he stood erect in the place assigned him, and as his eyes swept the faces, his stern look changed to a smile as his glance met mine. My eyes were still upon him, seeking eagerly for some message of guidance, when Cassion spoke. "M. de Baugis will question the witness." "The court will pardon me," said De Artigny. "The witness to be heard is Madame?"
He must have perceived this for he wiped my face with a cloth, and it was then I perceived his face clearly, and remembered. "The Sieur de Artigny!" I exclaimed. "Of course," he answered. "Who else should it be, Madame? Please do not regret my privilege." "Your privilege; 'tis a strange word you choose, Monsieur," I faltered, not yet having control of myself. "Surely I have granted none."
In spite of his strange, uncouth appearance there was that in his face which won my favor, and I held out my hand. "You are a soldier of France, Monsieur de Artigny tells me." "Yes, Madame, of the Regiment Carignan-Salliers," he answered. "I wonder have you served long? My father was an officer in that command Captain la Chesnayne." The expression on the man's face changed magically.
"No, no, Chevet," a voice answered testily, "Sieur Louis de Artigny has not stepped foot on ground these ten years; 'tis his brat Rene who serves this freebooter, though 'tis like enough the father hath money in the venture." And they fell to discussing, sneering at the value of the discovery, while I slipped unnoticed from the room.
I could feel the jagged face of the rock, against which I stood, and ventured, by reaching out with one foot, to explore my immediate surroundings. The groping toe touched the edge of the narrow shelf, and I drew back startled at thought of another sheer drop into the black depths. My heart was still pounding when De Artigny found foothold beside me.
Slowly my head sank to the blanket, and I slept. It was not yet dawn when the stir in the camp aroused me, and the sun had not risen above the bluffs, or begun to tinge the river, when our laden canoes left the bank and commenced their day's journey up stream. De Artigny was off in advance, departing indeed before I had left the tent, the chief seated beside him.
I know not why, but the memory of that lad was clearer than all those others, for he had met me in the hall and we had talked long in the great window ere the sister came, and took me away. So I remembered him, and his name, Rene de Artigny. And in all those years I heard no more. Into the black wilderness they swept and were lost to those of us at home in New France.
He moved cautiously, yet boldly enough, and his movements were not those of an Indian, although the low bushes between us and the house shadow, prevented my distinguishing more than his mere outline. It was only when he lifted his head into the gleam of light, and took hasty survey through the window of the scene within, that I recognized the face of De Artigny.
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