Those words of yours have upheld our hopes in many a dark hour.

And now that the fulfilment seems so near, shall we not feel grateful to those who held out the torch of hope when all was darkness ?" Corinne smiled brightly, and held out her little hand again.
"We will be friends, come what will," she said; "for I love the English as well as the French, and I have cause to know what generous foes they can make!" So Fritz became the guest of Madame Drucour in the narrow little stone house; the Abbe likewise remained as an inmate whilst he recruited the health that had been so sorely tried and shattered of late.

Fritz was in no haste to depart, if his hosts desired his presence there.

He would join the English fleet when it appeared; but it mattered little to him how he passed the intervening time.
He could pass as well for a Frenchman as an Englishman, and did so for the time he remained in the city; but he kept his eyes open, and took careful note of what he saw, and, in truth, it seemed to him that the English fleet had little or no chance of effecting any landing in or near Quebec.
The fortifications of the town were immensely strong; so was its position--so commandingly situated upon the little tongue of land.
There was a small camp upon the opposite point of land, which might perhaps be strengthened with advantage; but the whole of the north bank of the river was being fortified and intrenched, and was manned by regulars and Canadian troops, all well armed and munitioned.

It was impossible to see how any attacking force could obtain a foothold upon that strand; and if Fritz's hosts took care to let him see all this, it seemed to him a proof that they well understood the impregnable character of their position.
But it was no part of Fritz's plan to linger over long in Quebec, although he was wishful to see the city for himself, and to judge of the strength of its position.