This eBook was produced by David Widger
By Gilbert Parker
Months went by. In them Destiny made new drawings. With his mother,Carnac went to paint at a place called Charlemont. Tarboe pursued hiswork at the mills successfully; Junia saw nothing of Carnac, but she hada letter from him, and it might have been written by a man to his friend,yet with an undercurrent of sadness that troubled her.
She might, perhaps, have yielded to the attentions of Tarboe, had not anappealing message come from her aunt, and at an hour's notice went Westagain on her mission of sick-service.
Politically the Province of Quebec was in turmoil. The time was drawingnear when the Dominion Government must go to the polls, and in the mostsecluded cottage on the St. Lawrence, the virtues and defects of theadministration were vital questions. Voters knew as much of technicallaw-making as the average voter everywhere, but no more, and sometimesless. Yet there was in the mind of the French-Canadian an intuition,which was as valuable as the deeper knowledge of a trained politician.The two great parties in the Province were led by Frenchmen. The Englishpeople, however, were chiefly identified with the party opposed to BarodeBarouche, the Secretary of State.
As the agitation began in the late spring, Carnac became suddenlyinterested in everything political.
He realized what John Grier had said concerning politics—that, givenother characteristics, the making of laws meant success or failure forevery profession or trade, for every interest in the country. He hadknown a few politicians; though he had never yet met the most dominantfigure in the Province—Barode Barouche, who had a singular fascinationfor him. He seemed a man dominant and plausible, with a right-mindedimpulsiveness. Things John Grier had said about Barouche rang in hisears.
As the autumn drew near excitement increased. Political meetings werebeing held everywhere. There was one feature more common in Canada thanin any other country; opposing candidates met on the same platform andfought their fight out in the hearing of those whom they were wooing.One day Carnac read in a newspaper that Barode Barouche was to speak atSt. Annabel. As that was not far from Charlemont he determined to hearBarouche for the first time. He had for him a sympathy which, tohimself, seemed a matter of temperament.
"Mother," he said, "wouldn't you like to go and hear Barode Barouche at
St. Annabel? You know him—I mean personally?"
"Yes, I knew him long ago," was the scarcely vocal reply.
"He's a great, fine man, isn't he? Wrong-headed, wrong-purposed, but abig fine fellow."
"If a man is wrong-headed and wrong-purposed, it isn't easy for him to befine, is it?"
"That depends. A man might want to save his country by making some goodlaw, and be mistaken both as to the result of that law and the rightmethods in making it. I'd like you to be with