The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Little Girl in Old St. Louis, by Amanda Minnie Douglas This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: A Little Girl in Old St. Louis Author: Amanda Minnie Douglas Release Date: December 1, 2012 [eBook #41526] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD ST. LOUIS*** E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD ST. LOUIS By Amanda M. Douglas AUTHOR OF “A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON,” “A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD DETROIT,” “A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD WASHINGTON,” ETC. NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1903 Copyright, 1903. By Dodd, Mead and Company. Published, September, 1903. BURR PRINTING HOUSE, NEW YORK. CONTENTS CHAPTER I—RENÉE DE LONGUEVILLE CHAPTER II—OLD ST. LOUIS CHAPTER III—A NEW HOME CHAPTER IV—THE SOWING OF A THORN CHAPTER V—WITH A TOUCH OF SORROW CHAPTER VI—BY THE FIRESIDE CHAPTER VII—AT THE KING’S BALL CHAPTER VIII—THE SURPRISE CHAPTER IX—PRISONERS CHAPTER X—IN THE WILDERNESS CHAPTER XI—WAS EVER WELCOME SWEETER CHAPTER XII—HER ANSWER CHAPTER XIII—PASSING YEARS CHAPTER XIV—AT THE BALL CHAPTER XV—GATHERING THISTLES CHAPTER XVI—THE RISE IN THE RIVER CHAPTER XVII—RIVALS CHAPTER XVIII—A FINE ADJUSTMENT CHAPTER XIX—THIS WAY AND THAT CHAPTER XX—WHEN A WOMAN WILL CHAPTER XXI—FROM ACROSS THE SEA CHAPTER XXII—A NEW ST. LOUIS Cities that have grown from small hamlets seldom keep register of their earlier days, except in the legends handed down in families. St. Louis has the curious anomaly of beginning over several times. For the earliest knowledge of how the little town looked I wish to express my obligations for some old maps and historical points to Mr. Frederick M. Crunden, Public Librarian, Miss Katharine I. Moody, and Colonel David Murphy. A. M. Douglas. CHAPTER I—RENÉE DE LONGUEVILLE The bell had clanged and the gates of the stockade were closed. There were some houses on the outside; there was not so much fear of the Indians here, for the French had the art of winning them into friendship. Farms were cultivated, and the rich bottom lands produced fine crops. Small as the town was twenty years before the eighteenth century ended, it was the headquarters of a flourishing trade. The wisdom of Pierre Laclede had laid the foundation of a grand city. The lead mines even then were profitably worked, and supplied a large tract of the Mississippi River east and west. Antoine Freneau stood a few moments in the door of his log hut, down by the old Mill Creek, listening with his hand to one ear. There were sounds of spring all about, but he was not heeding them. Then he turned, closed the door, which was braced on the inner side with some rough iron bands; fastened it with the hook, and let down a chain. He was seldom troubled with unexpected evening visitors. The log hut was hidden at the back with trees enough to form a sort of grove. It had two rooms. This at the front was a sort of miscellaneous storehouse. Freneau did quite a trade with the Indians and the boatmen going up and down the river. There was no real attempt at orderly store-keeping. Articles were in heaps and piles. One had almost to stumble over them. The back room was larger. There was a stone chimney, with a great wide fireplace, where Freneau was cooking supper. In the far corner was a bed raised on sawed rounds of logs, with skins stretched over the framework, on which was a sack of hay with a heap of Indian blankets, just as he had crawled out of it in the morning. A table and three stools manufactured by himself; a rude sort of closet, and a curious old brass-bound chest, now almost black with age, completed the furnishing. The puncheon floor, in common use at that time, was made with logs split in the middle and the rounding side laid in a sort of clay plaster that hardened and made it very durable. The top would get worn smooth presently. The walls were hung with various trophies and arms of different kinds. Two windows had battened shutters; one stood a little way open, and this was on the creek side. The supper had a savory fragrance. He had baked a loaf of bread on a heated flat stone, spreading the dough out thin and turning it two or three times. A dish of corn stewed with salted pork, a certain kind of coffee compounded of roasted grains and crushed in the hollow of a stone, gave out a fragrance, and now he was broiling some venison on the coals. There were sundry whispers about the old man as to smuggling. Once his place had been searched, he standing by, looking on and jibing the men so engaged, turning any apparent mystery inside out for them. Then he would be gone days at a time, but his house was securely fastened. Occasionally he had taken longer journeys, and once he had brought back from New Orleans a beautiful young wife, who died when her baby girl was born. The nurse had taken it to her home in Kaskaskia. Then it had been sent to the Sisters’ School at New Orleans. She had been home all one winter and had her share in the merry making. In the spring her father took her to Canada, to the great disappointment of hosts of admirers. At Quebec she was married and went to France. That was ten years ago. He had grown queer and morose since, and turned miserly. There was a peremptory thump at the door, and Antoine started, glancing wildly about an instant, then went through and unfastened the stout hook. The chain he did not remove: it was about a foot from the floor and well calculated to trip up any unwary intruder and send him sprawling face downward. The night had grown dark, and a mist-like rain had set in. The trees were beating about in the rising wind. “Open wide to us, Antoine Freneau! See what I have brought you, if you can make light enough.” “Gaspard Denys—is it you? Why, I thought you were in the wilds of Canada. And——” He kicked aside the chain and peered over at the small figure beside Gaspard. Gaspard had just stood the child down, and his arms tingled with the strain when the muscles were set loose. “You have brought her!” There was a sound in the voice far from welcome, almost anger. “Yes; your messenger from New Orleans told the truth. The nurse or companion, whatever you may call her, had instructions, if no one claimed her, to place her in a convent.” “And you—you interfered?” Freneau struck his clinched fist hard on a pile of skins. Gaspard laughed. “What I am to do with a child is more than I can tell,” Freneau said doggedly, almost threateningly. “Well, you can give us something to eat. Your supper has a grand fragrance to a hungry man. Then we can discuss the other points. A bear taken away from his meal is always cross—eh, Antoine?” Freneau turned swarthy; he was dark, and the red tinge added made him look dangerous. “I don’t understand——” “Well, neither do I. You married your daughter to a French title when you knew she would have been happier here with a young fellow who loved her; and—yes, I am sure she loved me. Somewhere back, when my forebears called themselves St. Denys, there might have been a title in the family. In this New World we base our titles on our courage, ambitions, successes. Then her little daughter was born, and she pined away in the old Château de Longueville and presently died, while her husband was paying court and compliments to the ladies at the palace of Louis XVII. There are deep mutterings over in France. And De Longueville, with his half dozen titles, marries one of Marie Antoinette’s ladies in waiting. The child goes on in the old château. Two boys are born to the French inheritance, and little mademoiselle is not worth a rush. She will be sent to her grandfather somewhere in the province of Louisiana. But the nurse goes to Canada to marry her lover, expatriated for some cause. You see, I know it all. If mademoiselle had stayed in France she would have been put in a convent.” “The best thing! the best thing!” interrupted the old man irascibly. “Word was sent to enter her in a convent at Quebec. Well, I have brought her here. Give us some supper.” He had been taking off the child’s cap and coat after they entered the living room. A great flaming torch stood up in one corner of the chimney, and shed a peculiar golden-red light around the room, leaving some places in deep shadow. The old man turned his meat, took up his cake of bread, and put them on the table. Then he went for plates and knives. “This is your grandfather, Renée,” Denys said, turning the child to face him. The girl shrank a little, and then suddenly surveyed him from his yarn stockings and doeskin breeches up to his weather- beaten and not especially attractive face, surmounted by a shock of grizzled hair. She looked steadily out of large brown eyes. She was slim, with a clear-cut face and air of dignity, a child of nine or so. Curiously enough, his eyes fell. He turned in some confusion without a word and went on with his preparations. “Let us have some supper. It is not much. Even if I had expected a guest I could not have added to it.” “It is a feast to a hungry man. Our dinner was not over-generous.” Gaspard took one side of his host and placed the little girl opposite her grandfather. She evinced no surprise. She had seen a good deal of rough living since leaving old Quebec. Antoine broke the bread in chunks and handed it to each. The dish of corn was passed and the venison steak divided. “After this long tramp I would like to have something stronger than your home-brewed coffee, though that’s not bad. Come, be a little friendly to a returned traveller,” exclaimed the guest. “You should have had it without the asking, Gaspard Denys, if you had given me a moment’s time. You came down the Illinois, I suppose?” “To St. Charles. There the boat was bound to hang up for the night. But Pierre Joutel brought us down in his piroque after an endless amount of talk. There was a dance at St. Charles. So it was dark when we reached here. Lucky you are outside the stockade.” “And you carried me,” said the child, in a clear, soft voice that had a penetrative sound. Antoine started. Why should he hear some pleading in the same voice suddenly strike through the years? Gaspard poured out a glass of wine. Then he offered the bottle to Antoine, who shook his head. “How long since?” asked Gaspard mockingly. “I do not drink at night.” “Renée, you are not eating. This corn is good, better than with the fish. And the bread! Antoine, you could change the name of the town or the nickname. Go into the baking business.” Freneau shrugged his shoulders. Scarcity of flour and bread had at one time given the town the appellation of Pain Court. Now there were two bakeries, but many of the settlers made excellent bread. Freneau’s bread cake was split in the middle and buttered, at least Gaspard helped himself liberally and spread the child’s piece with the soft, sweet, half-creamy compound. “You must eat a little of the meat, Renée. You must grow rosy and stout in this new home.” The men ate heartily enough. Everything was strange to her, though for that matter everything had been strange since leaving the old château. The post-chaise, the day in Paris, the long journey across the ocean, the city of Quebec with its various peoples, and the other journey through lakes and over portages. Detroit, where they had stayed two days and that had appeared beautiful to her; the little towns, the sail down the Illinois River to the greater one that seemed to swallow it up. Marie Loubet had said her rich grandfather in the new country had sent for her, and that her father did not care for her since his sons were born. Indeed, he scarcely gave her a thought until it occurred to him that her American-French grandfather was well able to provide for her. Her mother’s dot had been spent long ago. He wanted to sell the old château and its many acres of ground, for court living was high, and the trend of that time was extravagance. “You had better place your daughter in a convent,” said the amiable stepmother, who had never seen the little girl but twice. “The boys will be all we can care for. I hope heaven will not send me any daughters. They must either have a large dot or striking beauty. And I am sure this girl of yours will not grow up into a beauty.” Yet her mother had been beautiful the Count remembered. And he smiled when he thought of the dower he had exacted from the old trader. No doubt there was plenty of money still, and this grandchild had the best right to it. She might like it better than convent life. Marie’s lover had emigrated two years before, and had sent her money to pay her passage. Why, it was almost a miraculous opening. So Renée de Longueville was bundled off to the new country. And now she sat here, taking furtive glances at her grandfather, who did not want her. No one in her short life had been absolutely cross to her, and she was quite used to the sense of not being wanted until she met Gaspard Denys. Of the relationships of life she knew but little; yet her childish heart had gone out with great fervor to him when he said, “I loved your mother. I ought to have married her; then you would have been my little girl.” “Why did you not?” she asked gravely. Then with sweet seriousness, “I should like to be your little girl.” “You shall be.” He pressed her to his heart, and kissed down amid the silken curls. So now she did not mind her grandfather’s objection to her; she knew with a child’s intuition he did not want her. But she could, she did, belong to Uncle Gaspard, and so she was safe. A better loved child might have been crushed by the knowledge, but she was always solacing herself with the next thing. This time it was the first, the very first thing, and her little heart gave a beat of joy. Yet she was growing tired and sleepy, child fashion. The two men were talking about the fur trade, the pelts that had come in, the Indians and hunters that were loitering about. It had been a long day to her, and the room was warm. The small head drooped lower with a nod. There was a pile of dressed skins one side of the room, soft and silken, Freneau’s own curing. Gaspard paused suddenly, glanced at her, then rose and took her in his arms and laid her down on them tenderly. She did not stir, only the rosy lips parted as with a half smile. “Yes, tell me what to do with her,” Antoine exclaimed, as if that had been the gist of the conversation. “You see I have no one to keep house; then I am out hunting, going up and down the river, working my farm. I couldn’t be bothered with womankind. I can cook and keep house and wash even. I like living alone. I could send her to New Orleans,” raising his eyes furtively. “You will do nothing of the kind,” said the other peremptorily. “Antoine Freneau, you owe me this child. You know I was in love with the mother.” “You were a mere boy,” retorted the old man disdainfully. “I was man enough to love her then and always. I have never put any one in her place. And the last time we walked together over yonder by the pond, I told her I was going up north to make money for her, and that in a year I should come back. I was twenty, she just sixteen. I can see her now; I can hear her voice in the unformed melody of the child’s. We made no especial promise, but we both knew. I meant to ask your consent when I came back. Seven months afterward, on my return, I found you had whisked her off and married her to the Count, who, after all, cared so little for her that her child is nothing to him. I don’t know what lies you told her, but I know she would never have given me up without some persuasion near to force.” The old man knew. It had been a lie. He kept out of Gaspard’s way for the next two years, and it was well for him. “There was no force,” he returned gruffly. “Do you not suppose a girl can see? He was a fine fellow and loved her, and she was ready to go with him. No one dragged her to church. Well, the priest would have had something to say. They are not wild Indians at Quebec, and know how to treat a woman.” Gaspard had never forced more than this out of him. But he was sure some trickery had won the day and duped them both. “Well, what have you gained?” mockingly. “You might have kept your daughter here and had grandchildren growing up about you, instead of living like a lonely old hermit.” “The life suits me well enough,” in a gruff tone. “Then give me the child that should have been mine. You don’t want her.” “What will you do with her?” “Have a home some day and put her in it.” “Bah! And you are off months at a time!” “There would be some one to look after her. I shall not lead this roving life forever. If she were less like her mother you might keep her, since you were so won by her father. And I am not a poor man, Antoine Freneau.” “She is such a child.” Did Gaspard mean that some day he might want to marry her? “That is what I want. Oh, you don’t know——” He paused abruptly. Antoine could never understand the longing that had grown upon him through these weeks to possess the child, to play at fatherhood. “No, I shall not be likely to marry,” almost as if he had suspected what was in Antoine’s pause, but he did not. “And I’ve envied the fathers of children. They had something to work for, to hope for. And now I say I want Renée because she is such a child. I wish she could stay like this just five years; then I’d be willing to have her grow up. But I know you, Antoine Freneau, and you won’t take half care of her; you couldn’t love her, it isn’t in you. But you shall not crowd her out of love.” “You talk like a fool, Gaspard Denys! But if you want the child—I am an old man, and I tell you frankly that I don’t know what to do with her. I would have to change my whole life.” “And I would be glad to change mine for such a cause. You must promise not to interfere in any way. We will have some writings drawn up and signed before the priest.” Antoine gave a yawn. “To-morrow, or any time you like. What are you going to do now? It is late. If you will take a shakedown in the other room—you see, I’m not prepared for visitors.” “Yes; I have slept in worse places. The child has a box of clothes at St. Charles. Hers will have to do for to-night.” He straightened out the impromptu bed and fixed the child more comfortably. He was tired and sleepy himself. Antoine lighted a bit of wick drawn through a piece of tin floating in a bowl of oily grease and took it in the storeroom, where both men soon arranged a sort of bunk. “Good-night,” said Antoine, and shut the door. But he did not go to bed. The fire had mostly burned out, and now the torch dropped down and the room was full of shadows. He sat awhile on the edge of the bed and made it creak; then he rose and opened the shutter very softly, creeping out. Even then he listened suspiciously. Turning, he ran swiftly down to the river’s edge, through the wet sedge of last year’s grass. Then he gave a low whistle. Some one answered with an oath. “We were just going away,” in a hissing French voice. “What the devil kept you so?” “I could not get away. There was a fellow,” and Antoine prefaced the excuse with an oath. “He wouldn’t go; I had to fix a bunk for him.” “Antoine Freneau, if you betray us—” in a threatening tone. “Ah, bah! Would I kill the goose that lays golden eggs? Come, hurry.” They unloaded some cases from the piroque and dumped them on the soft ground. “Now, carry them yourself. What! No barrow? You are a fool! But we must be off up the river.” There was considerable smuggling in spite of the watchfulness of the authorities. Duties were levied on so many things, and some—many, indeed—closely under government supervision. Antoine Freneau tugged and swore. The cases of brandy were not light. He went back and forth, every time peering in the window and listening; but all was quiet. The cases he hid among the trees. He had drawn some tree branches, ostensibly for firewood, and covered the cases with this brush until he could dispose of them more securely. Once, several years before, his house had been thoroughly ransacked in his absence. He knew he was suspected of unlawful dealings, and he had a dim misgiving that Gaspard had one end of the secret. He had more than once been very overbearing. He came in wet and tired, and, disrobing himself, crawled into bed. Fine work, indeed, it would be to have a housekeeper and a prying child! He laughed to think Gaspard fancied that he would be unwilling to give her up. Still he had hated Count de Longueville that he should have extorted so much dowry. But then it seemed a great thing to have titled grandsons and a daughter with the entrée of palaces, although he would never have gone to witness her state and consequence. Every year money had grown dearer and dearer to him, though, miser like, he made no spread, never bragged, but pleaded poverty when he paid church dues at Christmas and Easter. CHAPTER II—OLD ST. LOUIS Soon after daylight the strong west wind drove away the rain and clouds. The air was soft and balmy, full of the indescribable odors of spring. Birds began their pipings; robin and thrush and meadow-larks and wood-pigeons went circling about on glistening wings. Antoine found himself some dry clothes and kindled his fire. He would bake a few corn cakes; they had demolished the loaf of bread last night. There was a flitch of dried bacon and some eggs. The door opened, and Gaspard wished his host good-morning. Renée was still asleep. There was a little rivulet that emptied in the mill pond, and near the house Freneau had hollowed out quite a basin. Gaspard went down here for his morning ablutions. A tall, well-developed man, just turned of thirty with a strong, decisive face, clear blue eyes that could flash like steel in a moment of indignation, yet in the main were rather humorous; chestnut hair, closely cropped, and a beard trimmed in the same fashion. He soused his head now in the miniature basin and shook it like a water dog. Then he drew in long breaths of the divine morning air, and glanced about with a sort of worship in his heart, took a few steps this way and that. Antoine watched him with bated breath, he was so near the secret. But Denys had heard nothing in the night. He was tired and had slept soundly. Suddenly he bethought himself of the little girl and went into the house. Antoine was preparing breakfast. Renée was sitting up, glancing round. She had been in so many strange places this did not disturb her. She rose upright now, and stretched out her hands with a half-timid, half-joyous smile. “Uncle Gaspard,” she said, “where are we?” Old Antoine raised his head. The French was so pure, the voice had an old reminder of the one back of her mother. “We are at St. Louis, child.” “And where is the King?” “Oh, my little girl, back in France. There is no king here. And we are not French any longer, but Spanish.” “I am French.” She said it proudly. “We keep our hearts and our language French. Some day there may be another overturn. I do not see as it matters much. The Spanish are pretty good to us.” “Good! And with these cursed river laws!” grumbled Antoine. “If report says true, it can’t interfere very much with you.” “Report is a liar,” the man flung out savagely. Gaspard Denys laughed. After a moment he said, “Isn’t there a towel or a cloth of some kind? I dried myself in the air.” “I told you I had not any accommodations for womenkind. You should have left her at the convent. Farther back, it is De Longueville’s business to care for her.” “But you see he did not. You and he are her only blood kin, and you both cast her off. It is well she has found a friend.” “The convent and the Sisters would have been better.” “Come, man, some sort of a towel,” exclaimed Denys imperatively. Antoine rummaged in the old chest, and presently brought forth one. Denys noted that it was soft and fine and not of home manufacture. Then he led Renée out to the little basin and, dipping the towel in, washed her face and hands. “Oh, how good it feels!” she cried delightedly. Gaspard had grown quite used to playing lady’s maid. He took a comb out of its case of Indian work that he carried about in his pocket, and combed out the tumbled hair. She winced now and then at a bad tangle, and laughed on the top of it. Then he bent over and kissed her on the forehead. She caught his head in her small arms and pressed her soft cheek against his caressingly. “I love you, Uncle Gaspard,” she exclaimed. “But I don’t love that old man in there. Are you sure he is my grandfather? I couldn’t live here. I should run away and live with the birds and the squirrels.” “And the Indians.” “But that Light of the Moon was sweet and pretty.” “Yes. I should like to have brought her with us for your maid.” “Oh, that would have been nice!” She clapped her hands. “What is over there?” nodding her head. “That is St. Louis—the fort, the palisades, the stockade to keep out the Indians.” “There are no Indians in France,” she said retrospectively. “No. And I have wondered a little, Renée, if you would not rather be back there.” “And not have you?” She clung to his arm. He gave a little sigh. “Oh, are you not glad to have me? Does no one want me?” The pathos of the young voice pierced his heart. “Yes, I want you. I had no one to care for, no brothers or sisters or——” “Men have wives and children.” There was a touch of almost regret in her tone, as if she were sorry for him. “And you are my child. We will go in town to-day and find some one to look after you. And there will be children to play with.” “Oh, I shall be so glad. Little girls?” “Yes. I know ever so many.” “I saw my little brothers in Paris as we came through. They were very pretty—at least their clothes were. And papa’s wife—well, I think the Queen couldn’t have had any finer gown. They were just going to the palace, and papa kissed me farewell. It was very dreary at the old château. And when the wind blew through the great trees it seemed like people crying. Old Pierre used to count his beads.” What a strange, dreary life the little girl had had! It should all be better now. The child of the woman he had loved! “If grandfather is rich, as Marie said, why does he live that way?” She made a motion toward the house. “No one knows whether he is rich or not. He trades a little with the Indians and the boats going up and down the river.” The shrill summons to breakfast reached them. They went in, the child holding tightly to Gaspard’s hand. It seemed as if her grandfather looked more forbidding now than he had last night. He was both sulky and surly, but the viands were appetizing, and this morning Renée felt hungry. Gaspard was glad to see her eat. The old man still eyed her furtively. “Well?” he interrogated, as they rose from the table, looking meaningly at Gaspard. “We are going in the town, the child and I,” Gaspard replied briefly. Antoine nodded. Oh, what a morning it was! The air seemed fairly drenched with the new growth of everything; the tints were indescribable. Some shrubs and flowers had begun to bloom. Renée had seen so much that was cold and bleak, trees leafless and apparently lifeless amid the almost black green of hemlocks and firs. Streams and pools frozen over, and a coldness that seemed to penetrate one’s very soul. At Detroit it had softened a little and all along the journey since then were heralds of warmth and beauty. The child, too, expanded in it, and the changes in her face interested Gaspard intently. He was a great lover of nature himself. Early St. Louis was all astir. From the bustle, the sound of voices, the gesticulation, and running to and fro, it appeared as if there might be thousands of people instead of six or seven hundred. Everything looked merry, everybody was busy. There was a line of boats coming, others already at the primitive landings, Indians and trappers in picturesque attire, gay feathers and red sashes; fringes down the sides of their long leggings and the top of their moccasins. Traders were there, too, sturdy brown-faced Frenchmen, many of whom had taken a tour or two up in the North Country themselves, and had the weather-beaten look that comes of much living out of doors. Children ran about, black-eyed, rosy-cheeked, shrill of voice. Small Indians, with their grave faces and straight black hair, and here and there a squaw with her papoose strapped to her back. Gaspard Denys paused a moment to study them. He really had an artist’s soul; these pictures always appealed to him. They came in the old Rue Royale, skirting the river a short distance, then turned up to the Rue d’Eglise. Here was a low stone house, rather squat, the roof not having a high peak. A wide garden space, with fruit trees and young vegetables, some just peeping up from brown beds and a great space in front where grass might have grown if little feet had not trodden it so persistently. A broad porch had a straw-thatched roof, and here already a young girl sat spinning, while several children were playing about. “Lisa! Lisa!” called the girl, rising. “Ah, Monsieur Denys, we are very glad to see you. You have been absent a long while. You missed the merry-making and—and we missed you,” blushing. A pretty girl, with dark eyes and hair done up in a great coil of braids; soft peachy skin with a dainty bloom on the cheek and a dimple in the broad chin. Her lips had the redness of a ripe red cherry that is so clear you almost think it filled with wine. “And I am glad to see you, Barbe,” taking her outstretched hand. “Ought I to say ’ma’m’selle’ now?” glancing her all over, from the braids done up to certain indications in the attire of womanhood. She blushed and laughed. “Oh, I hope I have not grown as much as that. I should like always to be Barbe to you.” “But some day you may be married. Then you will be madame to everybody.” “Lise thinks I have too good a home to give up lightly. I am very happy.” Madame Renaud came out of the house. She was taller and larger than her sister, but with the same dark eyes and hair. Her sleeves were rolled up above her elbows and showed a plump, pretty arm; her wide, homespun apron nearly covered her. “Oh, Gaspard—M’sieu Denys! You are such a stranger and we have missed you much, much,” with an emphasis. “We were not sure but some Quebec belle would capture you and keep you there. You will have warm welcomes. Whose is the child?” The other children had stopped their play and were edging nearer Renée, who in turn shrank against Denys. “I have come to talk about the child. May I not come in? Are you busy?” “With bread and cakes. We are not so poorly off if we have a bad name,” smiling with amusement. “Here is a chair, and a stool for the little one. She looks pale. Is she not well?” “She has had a long journey. First across the ocean, then from Quebec in not the pleasantest of weather for such a tramp. But she has not been ill a day.” Denys placed his arm over the child’s shoulder, and she leaned her arms on his knee. Madame Renaud raised her eyebrows a trifle. “You remember the daughter of Antoine Freneau?” “Yes—a little. He took her to Canada and married her to some great person and she died in France. Poor thing! I wonder if she was happy?” She, too, knew of the gossip that Denys had been very much in love with this girl, and she stole a little furtive glance; but the man’s face was not so ready with confessions. Much hard experience had settled the lines. “Then the Count married again. He is in the King’s service at the palace. They sent the child over to her grandfather. I went to Canada for her.” “And this is Renée Freneau’s child. Poor thing!” She glanced intently at the little girl, who flushed and cast down her eyes. Why was she always a poor thing? “And that is no home for her.” “I should think not! Home, indeed, in that old cabin, where men meet to carouse, and strange stories are told,” said madame decisively. “I am to be her guardian and look after her. I think I shall settle down. I have tramped about enough to satisfy myself for one while. I shall go into trading, and have some one keep a house for me and take care of the child. Meanwhile I must persuade some one to give her shelter and oversight.” “Yes, yes, m’sieu,” encouragingly. “And so I have come to you,” looking up, with a bright laugh. Gaspard Denys very often obtained just what he wanted without much argument. Perhaps it was not so much his way as his good judgment of others. “And so I have come to you,” he repeated. “If you will take her in a little while, I think she will enjoy being with children. She has had a lonely life thus far.” “Poor thing! Poor little girl, to lose her mother so soon! And you think old Antoine will make no trouble?” “Oh, no, no! He would not know what to do with her.” Madame Renaud laughed derisively, and gave a nod, throwing her head back, which displayed her pretty throat. “So I shall look after her. He will never interfere. It will not be for long. And how shall I appear putting on fatherly airs?” in a tone of amusement. “Louis is but two and thirty, and you——” “Have just turned thirty,” subjoined Gaspard. “And little Louis is twelve, stout and sturdy and learning to figure as well as read under the good père. Then there are three others, and papa is as proud of them as was ever any hen with her chicks. I never heard that Chanticleer was a pattern of fatherly devotion.” They both laughed at that. “And, Gaspard, you should have settled upon some nice girl at the balls. You have been chosen king times enough.” He flushed a trifle. “I have been quite a roamer in strange places, and at first had a fancy for a life of adventure. But, as I said, I think of settling down now. And if you will keep the little girl for me until I get a home——” “And you want a good housemaid. Gaspard, Mère Lunde has lost her son. True, he was a great burden and care, and she has spent most of her little fortune upon him. I think she would be glad——” “The very person. Thank you a thousand times, Madame Renaud. I should want some one settled in her ways, content to stay at home, and with a tender heart. Yes, Mère Lunde will be the very one. “She was going to the père’s; then his niece came from Michilimackinac. They had bad work at the Mission with the Indians, and she just escaped with her life and her little boy.” “Yes; I will see her. It is advised that you get the cage before you find the bird; but the bird may be captured elsewhere if you wait too long. The child’s box comes in from St. Charles; they would not stir a step farther last night. I must go and look after it. Then I can send it here? And Louis will not kick it out of doors when he comes?” smiling humorously. “He will be liker to keep the little one for good and all and let you whistle,” she retorted merrily. “Thank you a hundred times until you are better paid. And now I must be going. I expect the town will almost look strange.” “And plain after gay Quebec; and Detroit, they say, has some grand people in it. But, bah, they are English!” with a curl of the lip. He rose now. Madame Renaud had not been idle, but had rolled out dough fairly brown with spices and cut it in little cakes of various shapes, filling up some baking sheets of tin. “You will leave the child? Renée—what is her name? It has slipped my mind.” “Renée de Longueville.” The child clung to his hand. “I want to go with you,” she said in a tone of entreaty. “Yes, and see St. Louis? He is her king or was until she touched this Spanish soil.” “The Spaniards have been very good to us. But we all hope to go back again some day. Renée, will you not stay and play with the children? There is Sophie, about your age or a little older, and Elise——” “No,” she returned with a long breath; “I want Uncle Gaspard.” “Adopted already? Well, you will bring her in to dinner?” with a cordial intonation. “If not, to supper.” “You will tire her to death dragging her around.” “Oh, heaven forefend,” in mock fear. He paused a moment or two and glanced at Renée, half questioningly, but she still clung to him. They took their way along the street, but from every corner they had a glimpse of the river, now flowing lazily along. The French seemed to have a fancy for building their towns on the margin of a river. Partly, perhaps, from fear of the Indians, but quite as much from innate sociability, as they preferred compactness, and did not branch out into farms until later on. But many of these squares had not more than three or four houses; some, indeed, only one, the rest devoted to a garden. Here was the market, but there were not many customers this morning, though the stands were attractively arranged. And beyond was the old Laclede mansion. He it was who had laid out the town and named its streets. On the main street was his large store, but it was then the end of Rue Royale. He had welcomed the emigration from Fort Chartres when the English had taken possession, and set a band of workmen building log houses for them. His own house was quite roomy and imposing. Then they went down to the levee, which presented a busy and picturesque sight. Boats were being unloaded of bales of furs and articles of merchandise. Indians with blankets around them or with really gay trappings; coureur de bois; Frenchmen, both jolly and stern, chaffering, buying, sending piles of skins away on barrows, paying for them in various kinds of wares, arms, ammunition, beads and trinkets, though these were mostly taken by the squaws. Denys found his parcels and the box belonging to the child, and responded to the cordial greetings. “Here, Noyan,” he called to a man who had just trundled his barrow down and who paused to make an awkward salutation. He had a blue cotton kerchief tied round his head, buckskin trousers, and a sort of blouse coat made of coarse woollen stuff, belted in loosely; but it held a pouch containing tobacco and his knife, and a small hatchet was suspended from it. “M’sieu Denys! One has not seen you for an age! Were you up to the north? It is a good sight. And have you been making a fortune?” The wide, smiling mouth showed white, even teeth. “Not up in the fur regions. I took Canada this time.” “Then thou hast lots of treasures that will set the dames and the maids crazy with longing. They are gay people in those old towns, and the state they keep is something like a court, I hear. Have you brought home Madame Denys? Is it not high time?” “Past time,” returning the laugh. “But our good Pierre Laclede is content to remain a bachelor, and why not I?” “I am afraid thou art hard to suit. Surely we have pretty maids here; and at New Orleans it is said they make a man lose his head if they do but smile on him. A dangerous place that!” and he laughed merrily. “Are you busy?” “Yes and no. I am to look after M. Maxent’s boat load, but it will not be in until noon. So, if I can catch a job I am ready.” “Then you are the man for me. Come. They have piled up the freight here on the wharf. I am a lucky fellow to meet you. I feel quite strange after my long absence. I suppose the old storehouse has not burned down? It could not well be robbed,” and Monsieur Denys laughed with gay indifference. “When a man has only the coat on his back he need not be afraid of thieves.” “Unless he fall among Indians.” “Ah, bah! yes,” with a comical shrug. “And sometimes they take his skin.” There were bales strapped up, with thongs of hide over the coarse covering; some sacks made of hide; several boxes bound about with bands of iron. Noyan looked them over and considered. “I must go twice, M’sieu Denys,” looking askance as if his employer might object. “Very well. This box is to go to Madame Renaud’s.” The man nodded, and began to pile on the goods, fastening them with some stout straps. “Do you go, too?” “Oh, yes. Here, Jaques, sit on this box and guard these two bundles, and earn a little more than your salt.” A shock-headed boy, with a broad, stupid face, had been looking on indifferently, and now he dropped on the box like a weight of lead, with a grunt that meant assent and a grin that betokened satisfaction. “We must retrace our steps,” said Denys to the little girl. “But it is not far.” They passed the market again. They turned into the Rue de Rive, just beyond the Rue Royale. A building of rough stone, with a heavy doorway that looked as if it had been deserted a long while, which was true enough. A broad bar had fastened it securely, and the great lock might have guarded the treasures of Niebelungs. Denys unlocked it with some difficulty, threw open the door and unfastened the shutter. “Whew! What a musty old hole! It must be cleaned up. I will attend to that to-morrow. Dump the things in here, and then go for the others.” On the western end was an addition of hewn logs, with big posts set in the corners. Denys marched around and surveyed it. There was a space of neglected ground, with two or three fine trees and a huddle of grape-vines fallen to the ground. It did not look altogether inviting. But just beyond was the Rue de la Tour that led straight out to the old fort, and only a step farther was the church and the priest’s house. Then, it would not be very far from the Renauds. Renée was watching him as he peered about. “It looks a dull place for a little girl!” he exclaimed. “Are you going to live here?” with some curiosity. “Oh, yes. But it will be fixed up. And—a flower garden,” hesitatingly. “I don’t mind if you are here,” and she slipped her hand in his with a gesture of possession. “And we will have a nice old woman to get our meals and make our beds and keep the house tidy. Oh, it will be all right when it is cleared up. And you will soon know some little girls. And we can take walks around.” She started suddenly. A bird up in the tree poured forth a torrent of melody. Her eyes grew luminous, her lips quivered, her pale cheeks flushed. “Oh, birds!” she cried. “I used to talk to them at the château and feed them with crumbs. They would come to my hand.” “You shall tame them here. Oh, we will have nice times together,” and now he pressed her hand. The sweetness of her little face went to his heart. Yes, she was like her mother. Noyan came with the next load, threw off the few parcels, and took his way to Madame Renaud’s. Denys locked his door again and they turned away. “Now we will go and find Mère Lunde. It is up somewhere by the fort. That will be quite a landmark for you. And the great Indian chief, Pontiac, that I told you about at Detroit, lies buried there.” “I do not think I like Indians,” she returned gravely. “Only the babies are so odd, and the little children. It is a pity they should grow up so cruel.” “We have kept very good friends with them thus far.” They had begun to build the new palisades. Yes, here was the fort, and the Guion house, and the grave that she did not care to linger over. Then they turned into the street of the Barns, La rue des Granges, and soon found Mère Lunde, who was cooking a savory pottage, and welcomed Gaspard Denys warmly. A little old Frenchwoman such as artists love to paint. She was round in the shoulders, made so by much stooping over her son and her work in the tiny garden, where she raised much of her living. She was wrinkled, but her eyes were bright, and her cheeks still had a color in them. She wore the coif, her best one being white, but this a sort of faded plaid. Her skirt just came to her ankles, and to-day she had on sabots, that made a little clatter as she stepped round. Over her shoulders was pinned a small gray kerchief. She looked so cheerful and tidy, so honest and kindly, that she went to one’s heart at once. M’sieu must hear about her son, poor lad—all she had to live for. Yet, perhaps, it was well the Good Father took him before she went. And now she worked a little for the neighbors. Everybody was kind to her. And would they not partake of her simple meal? It was not much, to be sure, but it would make her very happy. Denys admitted that he was hungry, and Renée’s eyes had an assenting light in them. Over the meal he made his proposal, which Mère Lunde accepted with tears in her eyes. “God is good,” she said, crossing herself devoutly. “Father Meurin said I must have faith, and something would come. Oh, how can I thank you! Yes, I will gladly keep your house, and care for the child, and strive to please you every way. Oh, it is, indeed, the best of fortune to happen to me, when life had begun to look lone and drear.” “To-morrow, then, we will begin to clear up.” “Yes; to-morrow,” she replied cheerfully. CHAPTER III—A NEW HOME In after years, when Renée de Longueville looked back at what seemed the real beginning of her life, everything about the old town was enveloped in a curious glamour. For it was all abloom. Such flowers, such great trees in pink and white, such fragrance everywhere, and everybody moving to and fro, as if impelled by some strange power. What were they all doing? And the children were so merry. To a little girl who had been mewed up in an old château, rather gloomy at that, and no one about but elderly servants, the transition was mysterious, quite beyond the child’s depth. But she felt the new life in every limb, in every nerve, and she was full of joy. The streets of the old town, if not wide, were comparatively straight; those running along the river the longest, those stretching up to the fort only a few squares. Nearly every homestead had its separate lot or garden, enclosed by some sort of rude fence. Outside were the fields, cultivated largely in common; woodlands and an immense prairie stretching out to the northwest. Beside the fort were several towers in which ammunition was stored, although the Spanish government had a great fancy for building these. Gaspard Denys was very busy cleaning up his place and making some alterations. In his heart he began to feel quite like a family man. Most of the stores were kept in the residences, except those down on the levee. The people seldom suffered from depredations. Their treatment of the Indians was uniformly honorable, and they kept them as much as possible from the use of ardent spirits. The slaves were happy in their lot. Indeed, a writer in early eighteen hundred speaks of the town as arcadian in its simplicity and kindliness to its dependents. Women never worked in the fields, and much of the housework was done by the slaves and Indian women. Holidays were frequent, in which all joined. In the summer, out-of-doors sports and dances often took place, very much like modern picnics, at which one frequently saw parties of Indians. There were no hostelries; but if a stranger came in town he was sheltered and treated to the best. Hospitality was considered one of the first duties.