ceased for one or two reasons to be dear to me.
I did not, however, remain very long in the Service. I found it
pleasant work but monotonous, and receiving shortly after I went out
a legacy bequeathed by a widowed aunt I had almost forgotten,
determined to leave it and devote myself to study and travel. Like
many Englishmen, I had taken no trouble to ascertain the real points
of interest about me. I had been content with mastering and getting
through my work, and with mingling out of hours with the small but
thoroughly charming set I had found ready to welcome me on my
arrival as the "new Englishman." On the whole, I was popular, though
one great flaw--_i.e._--lack of high birth and desirable home
connections, weighed to an alarming extent with the dowagers of the
Capital.
I had, on leaving the Service, made up my mind to study the people
of the Dominion. The English Canadians were easily disposed of in
this way; most of them were Scotch, and the rest appeared to be Irish.
I then began on the Indian population. But this was not so easy. It
seemed impossible to find even a single Indian without going some
distance.
At last I unearthed one descendant of the Red man who kept a small
tavern in the lower part of the town; a dirty frame tenement almost
entirely hidden by an immense sign hanging outside, having the figure,
heroic size of an Iroquois in full evening dress, feathers, bare
legs and tomahawk.
This place was known as "Tommy's." But Tommy himself was only half
an Indian, and swore such bad swears in excellent English, that I
was forced to leave after a minute's inspection.
Then I began on the French-Canadians. There were plenty of them. In
the Buildings, on the streets, in the markets, in shops, they were all
over. Some of the most charming people I know were French-Canadians.
My landlady and her husband, quiet, sober devout people, were
French-Canadians.
What I wanted to find, though, was a genuine unadulterated
French-Canadian of the class known as the _habitans_. I could
recollect many dark-eyed, fierce-mustached men whom I had seen since
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