The King's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

manoeuvres.
    He approached the tearful young girl. Jeanne saw him bow and offer Marie first his handkerchief, then his arm.
    From a distance, she discreetly watched the officer escorting the pretty blonde to the door of her cabin. When he returned to the deck and crossed paths with Jeanne, she noticed that he was young and handsome.
    She found her friend Marie sitting on her trunk, hands clasped, eyes shining. Her intuition for romance told her—even before the victims knew—that here was a pair of bashful lovers.
    Marie was holding the handkerchief between her fingers. Jeanne teased her gently, “It seems that handkerchiefs are going to play a big role in our lives.”
    â€œOf course, of course, Jeanne,” Marie answered absently. She hadn’t heard a thing her friend had said.

    5
    THE CROSSING was short for those times: it took forty-one days. Jeanne, forced into idleness and impatient for the future, found it long. But it lasted no more than an instant for Marie du Voyer, who seized every opportunity to appear on deck and chat with her lieutenant.
    He was twenty years old and his name was Jean Dauvergne. His father had a business in Quebec, and this was the young man’s last crossing as a ship’s lieutenant. He was to settle down in New France and take charge of his father’s affairs.
    With the bemused indulgence of a maiden aunt, Jeanne encouraged these clandestine encounters. She stood guard near the rigging where Marie and Jean would discreetly sit, quietly exchanging the thousand nothings that make up lovers’ conversation.
    When someone approached, Jeanne would hum a tune, and like a guilty party, the young couple would leap to their feet. Marie would turn to Jeanne, eyes shining, stammering foolish things in a dreamy voice. Meanwhile, the lieutenant would busy himself checking the rigging or would gaze intently at a wave that was exactly like all the others.
    Few things escaped Sister Bourgeoys, but if she did discover their secret, she had the discretion not to intervene.
    By a stroke of luck both unfortunate and too good to be true, the other king’s daughters fell victim to seasickness and didn’t leave their dark, poorly ventilated cabins.
    The six novices were preparing for their apostolate with seclusion and prayer. They appeared for mass that was celebrated on deck by a travelling priest when weather permitted. Otherwise, they were hardly to be seen.
    One day, the look-out reported four sails in the distance. Rumours travel fast in the enclosed world of a ship. Soon all the passengers knew they were English vessels. Because of the state of war between France and England, it was feared these enemies would attempt to pursue and capture them.
    The captain thought it his duty to assemble the passengers and announce this eventuality to them. Indignant protests, tears and shouts ensued.
    â€œWhat will become of us?” asked the worried girls.
    Remaining very calm, Sister Bourgeoys said in a loud, lively voice, “If those people capture us, well, then, we’ll go to England or Holland and find God there as we would anywhere else.”
    Her witty reply reassured the less courageous among the group, and the captain was very glad to have this strong woman on board.
    The ships disappeared on the horizon, and the voyage continued with no more of these alarms.
    Jeanne, always ready to scrap, had hoped to witness a naval combat. She didn’t realize she would have certainly been confined below deck where she would have seen nothing at all. She was almost disappointed to see the danger disappear.
    But a different and even more formidable danger took its place.
    A mysterious fever struck down five sailors. On an ocean voyage, the threat of an epidemic was to be feared more than the worst tempest. The captain, who knew of Marguerite Bourgeoys’s reputation and devotion, relied on her competence. During each of her crossings, the seasoned traveller had rendered