and supped with the Intendant.  The militia captain of the place was ordered to have fresh horses ready at seven in the morning, when Bigot regaled his friends with tea, coffee, and chocolate, after which they set out again, drove to Cap-Sante, and stopped two hours at the house of the militia captain to breakfast and warm themselves.  In the afternoon they reached Ste. Anne-de-la-Perade, when Bigot gave them a supper at the house in which he lodged, and they spent the evening at cards.

The next morning brought them to Three Rivers, where Madame Marin, Franquet’s travelling companion, wanted to stop to see her sister, the wife of Rigaud, who was then governor of the place.  Madame de Rigaud, being ill, received her visitors in bed, and ordered an ample dinner to be provided for them; after which they returned to her chamber for coffee and conversation.  Then they all set out again, saluted by the cannon of the fort.

Their next stopping-place was Isle-au-Castor, where, being seated at cards before supper, they were agreeably surprised by the appearance of the Governor, who had come down from Montreal to meet them with four officers, Duchesnaye, Marin, Le Mercier, and Pean.  Many were the embraces and compliments; and in the morning they all journeyed on together, stopping towards night at the largest house they could find, where their servants took away the partitions to make room, and they sat down to a supper, followed by the inevitable game of cards.  On the next night they reached Montreal and were lodged at the intendency, the official residence of the hospitable Bigot.  The succeeding day was spent in visiting persons of eminence and consideration, among whom are to be noted the names, soon to become notorious, of Varin, naval commissary, Martel, King’s storekeeper, Antoine Penisseault, and Francois Maurin.  A succession of festivities followed, including the benediction of three flags for a band of militia on their way to the Ohio.  All persons of quality in Montreal were invited on this occasion, and the Governor gave them a dinner and a supper.  Bigot, however, outdid him in the plenitude of his hospitality, since, in the week before Lent, forty guests supped every evening at his table, and dances, masquerades, and cards consumed the night.[545]

[Footnote 545:  Franquet, Journal.]

His chief abode was at Quebec, in the capacious but somewhat ugly building known as the Intendant’s Palace.  Here it was his custom during the war to entertain twenty persons at dinner every day; and there was also a hall for dancing, with a gallery to which the citizens were admitted as spectators.[546] The bounteous Intendant provided a separate dancing-hall for the populace; and, though at the same time he plundered and ruined them, his gracious demeanor long kept him a place in their hearts.  Gambling was the chief feature of his entertainments, and the stakes grew deeper as the war went on.  He played desperately