the reward of its voyage, when suddenly a report was heard, and the young lady grew pale, then uttered a piercing cry. However, she immediately recovered her presence of mind. Then she projected her person outside the window-stool, and saw the bird flapping its wings, and entangled in the foliage of a moulding, a few feet above her. Below, on the wall, were soldiers laughing loudly and felicitating one of their companions, whose murderous arm had wounded the innocent creature. Delighted with his dexterity, the soldier who did the harm laughed louder than the rest; but at the sight of the niece of their lord all were silent, and soon disappeared. The young heiress could then without the fear of being surprised, lower herself more, stretch out her arm and seize the unfortunate pigeon; she took it softly, drew it to her, and returned to her seat.

The bird had its thigh broken. Laura could not restrain her tears.

"Poor thing!" said she, in broken accents, "it will never get well."

However, she washed the wound carefully, drew from the mangled flesh the bloody down which sullied it, and after having assured herself that the lead had only grazed some secondary tendons, she took from the neck of the pigeon a green ribbon, and brought it tenderly to her bed.

"Our Lady of good Succor," said she, "have pity on my little Addresse! I will burn in your honor four large tapers of perfumed wax, and give a beautiful napkin of Flanders linen for your altar, if you will preserve her to me

in life and health, or else put to death the scoundrel of a soldier who has caused her death!"

This invocation being ended, Laura de Kerskoën unrolled the ribbon, which she had put into her bosom, introduced it into a bronze decanter, suspended from her waist by a chain of the same metal, and withdrew it at the end of five seconds. The original color had disappeared; it was brown and marked with brown characters. In the twinkling of an eye, the young girl had devoured these characters, and all her members trembled with fright.

At this moment the sound of a trumpet awakened the echoes of the manor. Laura precipitated herself to the window, her eyes riveted on the esplanade near the drawbridge of the principal entrance.

"The Marquis de la Roche and John de Ganay!" exclaimed she in a fright. "Holy Virgin! Bertrand is lost!"

BUILT on the plateau of an abrupt rock,

manor of

Roche was one of the most redoubtable fotos in Brit

tany. Its general configuration resembled that of a trapezium, of which the axis was directed to the northwest, and of which the small side extended to the northeast. This configuration was described by a boundary of ramparts, with an elevation of thirty feet. In the rear was the chateau properly so called. Four large wings, composed of cut stone, united to each other by square towers, composed it. Still more to the rear, at the centre of a vast court, rose the citadel to the height of twenty toises, a sort of octagonal fortress, surmounted by a diadem of projecting turrets. It was here the arms and munitions were deposited, and where, in cases of necessity, the prisoners of war were confined to prevent their being rescued. A deep sloping ditch, cut in the solid rock, and a wall bristling with iron spikes, surrounded the fortress at the

base. Five gates led to it; the two first situated beneath a vault in the exterior rampart, and separated by an intermediate portcullis, or herse; the two following being in the body of the inhabited edifice, equally separated by an intermediate portcullis; and the fifth placed at the base of the fortress. No surrounding ditch protected the first line of fortifications, which were founded on perpendicular rocks, impossible to be scaled. One could arrive at the chateau only by a zigzag path, incrusted, so to speak, in the flank of the mountain, and which crossed a drawbridge, under which a very deep well had been made. Two masses of granite, in the form of half moons, provided with numerous battlements and loop-holes, defended this bridge.

The chateau of La Roche had been constructed in the fifteenth century by Aymon de la Roche on his return from the crusades. To this it is needless to add that the building was of the feudal style of architecture.

At the time the bugle sounded, an archer appeared on the platform of the gate.

"Brittany and Navarre!" cried the marquis.

Immediately a rattling of chains on rollers was heard, and the bridge was promptly lowered. The cavalcade entered, the Marquis de la Roche taking the lead. Arrived at the court of honor, he halted, gave some orders concerning the captive, jumped from his horse, and made a sign to the equerry to follow him. Taking a large stairway, they descended to the armory and penetrated into an apartment of the narrowest dimensions, contiguous to the hall. This was the chamber of the Marquis de la Roche-Gommard.

It had a very sombre and very austere air; one might easily have mistaken it for the cell of a dominican. Nothing to gratify the eye. The furniture consisted of a camp-bed, simply covered with a bear's skin, two tables, covered with books, cards, stools, mathematical and astronomical instruments, some chests, and a sealed casket on the white-washed wall. The only ornament, worthy of attention, was a large crucifix, in black wood, and of exquisite purity of form. It was said that this crucifix was the work of the famous Michael Angelo, which had been taken away from the church of the Holy Spirit at the time of the civil wars in Italy, and sold for a hundred silver marks to the father of William de la Roche.

The Marquis took a seat, and drew from his pocket-book a parchment, sealed with the arms of France and Navarre; he glanced over the contents, while John de Ganay stood a few paces distant, in a respectful attitude. The parchment contained these lines:

"We, Henry the Fourth, of the name, by the grace of God King of France and Navarre, to our friend and faithful subject of the Mesgonnets, chevalier of our order, counsellor in our council, and captain of fifty armed men, the Lord de la Roche, Marquis de Cotemmineal, Barop de Las, Viscount de Caventon et St. Lo, in Normandy, Viscount de Travallet, Lord de la Roche-Gommard and Quermolac, de Cornac, Benteguyno et Lescuit, conformably to the will of the late King Henry III., have created LieutenantGeneral of the country of Canada, Hocheleja, Newfoundland, river of the Great Bay Norembegne and the lands adjacent, on the following conditions: