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Updated: June 14, 2025
"Monsieur," he added, turning in his most irresistible manner to Monsieur Gratiot, "if I have delayed the departure of your boat, I am exceedingly sorry. But I appeal to you if I have not the best of excuses." And he bowed to Suzanne, who stood beside him coyly, looking down. As for 'Polyte and Gaspard, they were quite breathless between rage and astonishment. But Colonel Chouteau began to laugh.
"Stay where you are, McChesney!" he shouted, and Tom halted with his hand on the latch. "With your permission, I will speak to them," said Monsieur Gratiot, who had come out also. I looked up at him, and he was as calm as when he had joked with me a quarter of an hour since. "Very well," said Clark, briefly. Monsieur Gratiot surveyed them scornfully.
"Indeed, I shall have had no small entertainment as a solace," said Monsieur Gratiot. "Listen!" The tinkle of the guitar was heard again, and Nick's voice, strong and full and undisturbed: "S'posin' I was to go to N' O'leans an' take sick an' die, Like a bird into the country my spirit would fly. Go 'way, old man, and leave me alone, For I am a stranger and a long way from home."
Her hair, tinged with gray, was crowned by a lace cap. "Madame," I said, bowing and coming forward, "I am David Ritchie, from Kentucky, and this is my cousin, Mr. Temple, of Charlestown. Monsieur Gratiot and Colonel Chouteau, of St. Louis, have been kind enough to give us letters to Monsieur de Saint-Gre." And I handed her one of the letters which I had ready.
"You are very welcome, Messieurs," she answered, with the same delightful accent which her daughter had used, "and you are especially welcome from such a source. The friends of Colonel Chouteau and of Monsieur Gratiot are our friends. You will remain with us, I hope, Messieurs," she continued. "Monsieur de Saint-Gre will return in a few days at best."
"It is only women who watch to catch a bear sleeping," he said. "The Big Knives do not kill women. I shall give you meat for your journey home, for women cannot hunt. If you remain here, you shall be treated as squaws. Set the women free." Tom McChesney cast off their irons. As for Clark, he began to talk immediately with Monsieur Gratiot, as though he had dismissed them from his mind.
He had then, as now, the keen enjoyment of a joke, and no particular aversion to the practical form. An incident of the time is in point. "After the breaking out of the war there was a regiment of volunteer soldiers quartered at Fort Gratiot, the reservation extending to the boundary line of our house.
As we were casting off, Monsieur Gratiot called to us that he would take the first occasion to send our horses back to Kentucky. The oars were manned, the heavy hulk moved, and we were shot out into the mighty current of the river on our way to New Orleans. Nick and I stood for a long time on the deck, and the windows of the little village gleamed like stars among the trees.
She is the widow of the founder of St. Louis, the Sieur Laclede, although she prefers her own name. She rules us with a strong hand, dispenses justice, settles disputes, and sometimes indulges in them herself. It is her right." "You will see a very pretty French custom of submission to parents," said Madame Gratiot. "And afterwards there is a ball." "A ball!" I exclaimed involuntarily.
A scream of delight from Suzanne followed this sally, which was received by Gaspard and Hippolyte with a rattle of sacres, and despite our irritation the Colonel, Monsieur Gratiot, and myself with a burst of involuntary laughter. "Parbleu," said the Colonel, choking, "it is a pity to disturb such a one. Gratiot, if it was my boat, I'd delay the departure till morning."
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