The Road to Frontenac

Menard turned back. "What now, good Father? A mass for my soul, or a last absolution before I plunge into my term of dissolute idleness?"

"Neither, my son," replied the priest, smiling. "Is any of your idleness to be shared with another?"

"Certainly, Father."

"I am bringing a picture to the College."

"I have no money, Father. I should be a sorry patron."

"No, no, M'sieu; it is not a patron I seek. It is the advice of one who has seen and judged the master work of Paris. The painting has been shown to none as yet."

"But you have seen it?"

"Yes, yes, I have seen it. Come with me, M'sieu; it is at my room."

They walked together to the cell, six feet long by five wide, where Father Claude slept when in Quebec. It was bare of all save a hard cot. A bale, packed i