This noble dame, though she had been accustomed to a Northern climate,
had never reconciled herself to it. She still longed for _la belle
France_. Those who accompanied her husband to this portion of Upper
Canada, on the outbreak of the French Revolution, had either returned
to France or had gone to settle in French Canada, at the capital of
which Helene was born shortly after the death of her father. The old
friendship of General DeBerczy for Commodore Macleod, and the fact
that the latter was the executor of her husband's estate and the
guardian of her daughter, had led her to return to the Huguenot colony
on the Oak Ridges, and summer always found Madame and her household at
her northern villa, near the Macleod residence, on Lake Simcoe. Here
Edward passed the day gossiping with the old lady, and sauntering
about the trim grounds with the stately Helene until the afternoon was
far advanced.
After taking his leave of Madame DeBerczy, Edward cast a fugitive
glance about him in search of her daughter, but that young lady, for
reasons of her own, was absent. He suffered a vague disappointment, as
he took his way to the shore, but at the water's edge a girlish form
overtook him, and a superb bouquet of hot-house flowers was placed in
his hand.
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