his long plighted vows, he sent her to a lonely dwel-
ling on the then unpeopled Ottawa to hide her shame.
There she remained till the scandal of their connec-
tion was forgotten, and he brought her, along with
her female child, a creature of surpassing beauty, to
a new retreat, called Stillyside, bought by him for
that purpose, and situated behind the bluff known as
Mount Royal, or popularly the "mountain," that lifts
its wooded sides in the rear of, and gives name to,
the City of Montreal. During these years of their
separation, whilst laborious in his profession, he con-
tinued to indulge his vein for pleasure; not openly
and abroad, as in his earlier days, but in the semi-
secrecy of his home; and with a still increasing
income, his expenditure from this ungracious cause
also augmented. Moreover, in those days, the province
was, in great measure, ruled by irresponsible officials,
and often unscrupulous but energetic adventurers
like himself; -- men of powerful parts and free lives,
whom a community of race, religion, language, and
interest, united in a sort of Masonic association,
whereof his house became one of the centres of re-
union. There, aware of his gentle descent, and im-
pressed with his transcendent abilities; charmed
with his conversation -- as pithy as it was apt to be
impure -- his wit, his taste, his information, his judg-
ment; sensible, too, of the excellence of his wines,
and luxuriance of his table, around which military
officer and civil servant, merchant and judge, were
accustomed to assemble, rank and office were forgot-
ten, etiquette laid aside, and abandon ruled the hour.
Votaries of Venus and of Bacchus were all of them,
however disguised; and, secure in that close conclave,

[[8]]

p007 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p008w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p008a

v?