"It Is Within The Portals Of Beaumanoir (Chateau-Bigot) That Several
Of The Most Thrilling Scenes In Mr. Marmette's Novel Are Supposed To
Have Taken Place.
A worthy veteran of noble birth, M. de Rochebrune,
had died in Quebec through neglect and hunger, on the very steps of
Bigot's luxurious palace, then facing the St Charles, leaving an only
daughter, as virtuous as she was beautiful.
One day, whilst returning
through the fields (where St. Rochs has since been built) from
visiting a nun in the General Hospital, she was unexpectedly seized by
a strong arm and thrown on a swift horse, whose rider never stopped
until he had deposited his victim at Bigot's country seat,
Charlesbourg. The name of this cold-blooded villain was Soumois. He
was a minion of the mighty and unscrupulous Bigot. Mdlle. de
Rochebrune had a lover. A dashing young French officer was Raoul de
Beaulac. Maddened with love and rage he closely watched Bigot's
movements in the city, and determined to repossess his treasure, it
mattered not, at what sacrifice. Bigot's was a difficult game to play.
He had a liaison with one of the most fascinating and fashionable
married ladies of Quebec, and was thus prevented from hastening to see
the fair prey awaiting him at Beaumanoir. Raoul played a bold game,
and calling jealousy to his help, he went and confided the deed to
Madame Pean, Bigot's fair charmer, entreating her immediate
interference, and after some hairbreadth escapes, arrived at the
Chateau with her just in time to save Mdlle de Rochebrune from
dishonor.
Madame Pean was returning to the city with Mdlle de Rochebrune and
Raoul, when on driving past the walls of the Intendant's palace, close
to the spot where Desfosses street now begins, her carriage was
attacked by a band of armed men - a reconnoitering party from Wolfe's
fleet, anchored at Montmorency. A scuffle ensued, shots were fired,
and some of the assailants killed; but in the melee Mdlle. de
Rochebrune was seized and hurried into the English boat commanded by
one Capt. Brown. During the remainder of the summer the Canadian maid,
treated with every species of respect, remained a prisoner on board
the admiral's ship. (It is singular that Admiral Durell, whose beloved
young son was at the time a prisoner of war at Three Rivers, did not
propose an exchange of prisoners.) In the darkness and confusion which
attended the disembarking of Wolfe's army on the night of the 12th of
September, 1759, at Sillery, Mdlle. de Rochebrune slipped down the
side of the vessel, and getting into one of the smaller boats, drifted
ashore with the tide, and landed at Cap Rouge, just as her lover
Raoul, who was a Lieutenant in La Roche-Beaucour's Cavalry was
patrolling the heights of Sillery. Overpowered with joy, she rode
behind him back to the city, and left him on nearing her home; but, to
her horror, she spied dodging her footsteps her arch enemy the
Intendant, and fell down in a species of fit, which turned out to be
catalepsy. This furnishes, of course, a very moving tableau. The
fair girl - -supposed to be dead - -was laid out in her shroud, when
Raoul, during the confusion of that terrible day for French Rule, the
13th September, calling to see her, finds her a corpse just ready for
interment. Fortunately for the heroine, a bombshell forgotten in the
yard, all at once and in the nick of time igniting, explodes,
shattering the tenement in fragments. The concussion recalls Mdlle. de
Rochebrune to life; a happy marriage soon after ensues. The chief
character in the novel, the Intendant sails shortly after for France,
where he was imprisoned, as history states, in the Bastile, during
fifteen months, and his ill-gotten gains confiscated. All this, with
the exception of Mdlle. de Rochebrune's career, is strictly
historical."
THE FALLS OF THE CHAUDIERE.
A tourist of a cultured mind and familiar with classic lore, standing on
the lofty brow of the Chaudiere, might, without any peculiar flights of
imagination, fancy he beholds around him a solitary dell of that lovely
TEMPE immortalized in song:
"Est nemos Haemoniae, praerupta quod undique claudit
Silva; vocant Tempe; per quae Peneus ab imo
Effusus Pindo, spumosis volvitur undis,
Dejectuque gravi tenues agitantia fumos
Nubila conducit, sommasque aspergine silvas
Impluit, et sonitu plus quam vicina fatigat."
Ovid Met. I - 568.
The Falls of the Chaudiere, in their chief features, differ entirely
from the majestic cascade of Montmorency.
"To a person who desires nothing more than the primary and sudden electric
feeling of an overpowering and rapturous surprise, the cascade of
Montmorency would certainly be preferable, but to the visitor, whose
understanding and sensibilities are animated by an infusion of antiquated
romance, the Falls of the Chaudiere would be more attractive." [331]
This favourite resort of tourists is accessible by two modes of travel. We
would assuredly advise visitors, both on account of the striking objects
to be met with, to select the water route, going the land route on their
return; a small steamer plies daily, for a 10 cent fare, at stated hours,
from the Lower Town market place, touching at Sillery and skirting the
dark frowning cliffs of Cape Diamond, amidst the shipping, affording a
unique view of the mural-crowned city. After stopping five minutes at the
Sillery wharf, the steamer crosses over and lands its passengers nearly
opposite the R. C. Church of St. Romuald, which, with its frescoed ceiling
and ornate interior is one of the handsomest temples of worship round
Quebec. Vehicles are abundant at Levi and at St. Romuald; an hour's drive
will land the tourist on the weird and romantic brink of the
Chaudiere, either by following the lower road on the beach, skirting the
adjoining highland, or taking the road on the heights.
"Although yielding in grandeur to Niagara and Montmorency, it possesses
features more interesting than either. The river, in its course of one
hundred miles over a rugged bed, full of rapids and falls, is here
narrowed to a width of between three hundred and four hundred feet, and is
precipitated over a height of about one hundred and thirty feet,
preserving the characteristic features of its boiling waters, till
it mingles with the St. Lawrence.
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