XVI
TRAPPEDA slender, wiry little man in a wig several sizes too big for him strode into the room. He had a thin face, near-sighted eyes and a bulging forehead. He favored me with a curious glance, nodded to Joncaire and took a seat across the table from me.
My host made a wry smile and motioned to François to bring a third mug.
"Hola, Monsieur de Lery," he said. "This is a gallant young forest-runner, one Jean Courbevoir, who has come to tell me that charming i***t Alphonse de Tonty has been chased out of Le de Troit by the Messesagues. Jean, Monsieur de Lery is the King's engineer officer in Canada."
"Another case of a log fortification, I suppose," remarked de Lery sarcastically in a dry, crackling voice.
He paid no attention to the introduction to me.
"You gentlemen will never l
