eyes askance at the ladies, with a broad grin on his face, as he answered—
"I guess 'tis a sugar-bush that the Mounsheer means;—but you mus'nt take that to heart, man; 'tis the law of the woods."
"Ah! coquin, I pardonne you," returned the Frenchman, placing his hand involuntarily on his throat—"diable! de law should be altair. Mais, I 'ave sucre-boosh in Martinique: I fly dere too;—I come ici; votre père help-a me;—I grow reech—yais! I grow reech; mais I 'ave not France!—L'Assemblée Nationale pass von edict"———
"What's that?" interrupted Billy, who was endeavouring, with much interest, to comprehend the story.
"Eh! vat dat! vy vat you call, ven de Assemblee d' Alban' mak-a de law?"
"That's an act of the Legyslatoore," said Kirby, with the readiness of an American on such a subject.
"Veil! dis vas act of Legyslatoore, to restorer my land; my charactair; my sucre-boosh; and ma countray. Ah! Ma'mselle Templ', je suis enchanté! mais I 'ave grief to leav-a you; Oh! yais! I 'ave grief ver mooch."
The amount of all this was, that Mr. Le Quoi, who had fled from his own country more through terror than because he was offensive to the ruling powers in France, had succeeded at length in getting an assurance that his return to the West Indies would be unnoticed; and the Frenchman, who had sunk into the character of a country shop-keeper, with so much grace, was about to emerge again from his obscurity into his proper level in society.
We need not repeat the civil things that passed between the parties on this occasion, nor recount
