University of Virginia Library

36. CHAPTER XXXVI.

—Shakspeare.

The Marquis Vaudreuil received early intelligence of the disastrous
blow which had been inflicted upon the province of New
France, and having heard that the family of his deceased friend had
taken refuge at Montreal, he promptly despatched a vessel to that
post, to convey them to the capital, where a fitting home was meanwhile
prepared for their reception. He did not grieve deeply over
the loss of Carlton, whose evil reputation had followed him from
Paris, and had recently reached the ears of the deceived and indignant
viceroy, causing him deeply to regret his agency in commending
his nephew to the good will of the baron.

Months passed away, during which Huntington, who had accompanied
his friends to Quebec, continued a resident of that city,
and an ever-welcomed friend and visitor of Miss Montaigne. They
were speedily betrothed, and ere yet the autumn had fully passed,
Henrich, unwilling that Blanche should spend the wintry season in a
clime so ungenial, had obtained her consent to an immediate union,
with a view to a journey to England and a sojourn until spring,
amid its milder airs. If inducements were needed, none could have
been presented to Blanche's mind of greater efficacy; already had
she pined, with that love of country which forms so commendable
a trait in almost every heart, to tread again the green soil and gaze
upon the bright landscapes which had been familiar to her childhood,

and which were ever dear to memory. They were married
without ostentation, at the mansion of the marquis, who, finding his
efforts to prolong their stay in Quebec useless, desired, with characteristic
kindness, to give his especial sanction to their union, and to
retain the bridal party, at least for the first happy week, under his
hospitable roof.

Emily, of course, was to return with them, and Blanche, who had
acquired the most sisterly feeling for Myrtle, spared no pains to
induce her also to accompany them, but neither the baroness nor
Vaudreuil would consent to such a deprivation. The marquis, indeed,
who had consented to administer upon the large estate of his
friend for the benefit of the heirs, urged that her presence in the
province might be essential to his labors, and offered both herself and
her mother a welcome home in his own house. This kindness was
accepted for the time, and the sisters parted with mutual tears and
regret, for although their acquaintance had been brief, the extraordinary
events through which they had passed had served to rapidly
develope their respective characters, and a communion of suffering
had endeared them to each other.

Henrich, Blanche, and Emily sailed for Havre, and having reached
that port in safety, they passed into the Netherlands, and thence
crossed to England. In the ensuing summer they returned to New
York, where they took up their abode, greatly to the delight of old
Jacobus, who had never ceased to reflect over his semi-hourly pipe,
upon his interview with the baffled ensign, and upon the happy
train of smoke-generated ideas which had resulted in the despatch
of Harry and Ruppy to warn the forest fugitives of their danger.

Myrtle continued to reside with the marquis, the object of much
unheeded admiration, and a mourner in heart, although not in
apparel, for the unworthy Carlton. The decease of her mother, three
years later, left her still more desolate, and peace having then been
established between France and England, she accepted an earnest
invitation from Blanche and Henrich to remove to New York, and

make their house her future home. There she became contented and
cheerful: her heart was gradually weaned from the memory of its
misapplied affection, and she became at the age of twenty-three, the
happy wife of a young English gentleman, of great worth, who
knew her whole history, and whose attachment for her was unbounded.

Miss Roselle remained a welcome inmate of Henrich's family, and,
professedly from choice, a member of the single sisterhood; having
relinquished, with her matrimonial aspirations, her airs and affectation,
it is not improbable indeed that she may have found admirers
among the many visiters of her cousins, but none, it appeared, who
possessed sufficient attractions to tempt her from what she called her
chosen path of celibacy.

The cessation of hostilities between the provinces enabled Henrich
to visit Quebec, and render more fully available to Blanche and
Myrtle their large property, of which the marquis was found to have
proved a faithful steward. There he heard of the welfare of the
Lynx and Anak, for whom, in token of his regard, he left highly
valuable presents, of the kind most likely to suit their tastes:
including among the gifts to the former, one which he knew would
be beyond price in his estimation. This was the enchanted rifle, so
called, of which, in his character as the Beaver, he had made such
effective use, and which he had now been careful to bring with him
for the benefit of his Indian friend.

The happiness of Henrich and Blanche remained unimpaired by
farther calamities; if much suffering had been crowded into a short
period of their lives, it was followed by a long exemption from
trouble. They were not even annoyed by the continued abode, in
their vicinity, of the evil man to whom so much of their misery, and
at the same time, so large a share of their felicity was owing, for in
the very year of their return to New York, Lord Cornbury was
removed from his office by his relative, the Queen, for official oppression

and malconduct, and Grover, who was a satellite of the profligate
governor, returned with him to England.

Jacobus Waldron lived to the ripe age of ninety, and so happy
were his declining days rendered by the assiduous kindness of
“Hetty's Hanreek” as he was wont to call his grandson, that hegradually
ceased looking for that sudden influx of fortune which had
been all his lifetime on the eve of overwhelming him with its golden
waves. Nay, he began to suspect, with the wisdom of age, that he
had already found more than his anticipated treasure in his faithful
and affectionate children, and his changed hopes, placed now on
worthier objects than wealth, were looking beyond those solemn
portals which Death, with no forbidding aspect, stood ready to fling
open for his exit.

Harry Bolt returned with the army of Major Bain, which did not
succeed in escaping from the French territory without some marks of
the vengeance of the Lynx and Anak, who, rallying their scattered
warriors, intercepted the invaders on the banks of the Sorelle, and
caused them no little damage. The chief triumph of the Indians,
however, was in effecting the release of the prisoners, about sixty in
number, of whom the English officer did not greatly regret to be
disencumbered.

Harry was discharged from the army with great credit and no small
bounty, and the story of his exploits soon became public in the city,
rendering him an object of general interest, and affixing upon him
for life, the highly relished sobriquet of “Major Bolt.” Jule, ever
gleeful and grinning, became his wife, and in a comfortable home,
provided by their grateful friends, they lived in much happiness,
disturbed only on the part of the negress, by imaginary calls at every
dawn, in the sharp voice of Mrs. Sniff, denouncing her as an idle
huzzy, and bidding her rise and begin her daily work. This wore
away, however, with the wearing years; Harry, who had entered
into traffic, in a small way, soon drew around him many friends,

gradually extending his business, and acquiring a competence which
soon enabled him to boast that if Jule were yet a slave, he could
purchase not only her, but her mistress also, unless the latter held
herself at a far higher valuation than did either he or Mrs. Major
Bolt.