I ask you now to be a man; I not only expect it, but demand it of you!" His words carried weight in spite of myself.

I began to listen.

I took from his hand the package, looked at it, examined it.

Finally, as he sat silently regarding me, I broke the seal.
"Now, Nicholas Trist," resumed Doctor Ward presently, "there is to be at Montreal at the date named in these papers a meeting of the directors of the Hudson Bay Company of England.

There will be big men there--the biggest their country can produce; leaders of the Hudson Bay Company, many, public men even of England.