Blood Brothers in Louisbourg Read Online Free PDF Page A

now.”
    â€œNo, sir. Is there anyone in the dungeon, sir?”
    M. Anglaise raised his eyebrows and deferred the question to the Governor. The Governor wiped his mouth with his handkerchief and answered dryly. “What? Oh. Yes. Yes, of course. A few drunks, I think.”
    M. Anglaise looked out the window again. I still didn’t know why he had summoned me. “Tell me, Jacques. Do you subscribe to the notion of the ‘noble savage'?”
    â€œI don’t know, sir. I have read about it. Having never seen one, I don’t know what to think.”
    â€œIt is a romantic notion, but there must be something to it. All our great writers have written of it. I am afraid we are a poor influence on the Natives here, Jacques. They still trust us though we steal their land and kill them with disease. Certainly, if there are noble people in the New World it is not the French.”
    He turned from the window and faced me again. “The reason I have asked you here, Jacques, is that I have a daughter. She is a delicate and intelligent creature, the treasure of my heart. Celestine is her name. She is almost sixteen, and, like you, comes from good society and is well educated. Her mother died three years ago. It was a loss from which she has not recovered. I was unwilling to leave her behind, and, against my better judgment, brought her here, where I believe she is unhappy. Well … I know she is unhappy. I understand that you are accomplished in the playing of the violoncello, is this true?”
    â€œIt is my passion, sir.”
    â€œExcellent! Celestine enjoys the violoncello more than anything else. I do not know if she has any talent; she has not benefited from expert teaching and I am tone deaf. If you would be willing to commit some of your time and energy to her musical education, thereby bringing a few rays of sunshine into her dreary existence, I would be most grateful and will, in return, compensate you during your stay here in any way that I can.”
    â€œI would be honoured, sir.”
    â€œSplendid! That is what I hoped you would say. You will find her in the sitting room upstairs. Please don’t be put off by her dour disposition and reticence. She has a cheery heart, really, and a sharp wit too if you can coax it out of her. It has not been an easy thing for her to spend so much time amongst the likes of soldiers and fishermen.”
    â€œI will do my best, sir.”
    He smiled, nodded his head and turned his back to me. I took that as a sign to leave. I bowed respectfully and left the room.
    I climbed the stairs and stood at the doorway to the upper sitting room. It was just as fancy as downstairs. A maid stood in my way, told me to wait, then came back and led me into the room.
    As I entered, I saw a shy but pretty girl turn from her writing desk and look up. She said a word or two to the maid and, like a lady, held out her hand to me. I crossed the room, took it and lightly kissed it. She had the look of someone who had been ill, though her cheeks were rosy. Probably they were coloured with powder. Her dress, ribbons, jewellery and shoes were all the latest fashion in France and were quite elegant. The fragrance of her perfume made me think of flowers. We could have been in any drawing room in Paris, in any capital of Europe really, anywhere but in the New World.
    As a well-trained young lady she looked directly into my eyes and made an effort to smile. But it wasn’t very convincing. Her lips curled up but the corners of her mouth stayed down as if they were weighted with bags of salt. Her eyes looked tired and wounded. The wound was deep. I bowed my head. “I am honoured to meet you, Mademoiselle.”

Chapter Six
    T he bones lay curled up like an infant beneath her deerskin clothing. The skin was gone but hair still graced the skull like soft brown autumn grass. The bones of her feet disappeared inside rabbit-fur moccasins. She had crawled in on a winter’s