It would be a pity, however, if it should be parted from the parent country merely to be joined to an unsympathetic half-brother like ourselves and nothing, fortunately, seems to be further from the Canadian mind.  There are some experiments no longer possible to us which could still be tried there to the advantage of civilization, and we were better two great nations side by side than a union of discordant traditions and ideas.  But none the less does the American traveller, swelling with forgetfulness of the shabby despots who govern New York, and the swindling railroad kings whose word is law to the whole land, feel like saying to the hulling young giant beyond St. Lawrence and the Lakes, “Sever the apron-strings of allegiance, and try to be yourself whatever you are.”

Something of this sort Basil said, though of course not in apostrophic phrase, nor with Isabel’s entire concurrence, when he explained to her that it was to the colonial dependence of Canada she owed the ability to buy things so cheaply there.

The fact is that the ladies’ parlor at the hotel had been after dinner no better than a den of smugglers, in which the fair contrabandists had debated the best means of evading the laws of their country.  At heart every man is a smuggler, and how much more every woman!  She would have no scruple in ruining the silk and woolen interest throughout the United States.  She is a free-trader by intuitive perception of right, and is limited in practice by nothing but fear of the statute.  What could be taken into the States without detection, was the subject before that wicked conclave; and next, what it would pay to buy in Canada.  It seemed that silk umbrellas were most eligible wares; and in the display of such purchases the parlor was given the appearance of a violent thunder-storm.  Gloves it was not advisable to get; they were better at home, as were many kinds of fine woolen goods.  But laces, which you could carry about you, were excellent; and so was any kind of silk.  Could it be carried if simply cut, and not made up?  There was a difference about this:  the friend of one lady had taken home half a trunkful of cut silks; the friend of another had “run up the breadths” of one lone little silk skirt, and then lost it by the rapacity of the customs officers.  It was pretty much luck, and whether the officers happened to be in good-humor or not.  You must not try to take in anything out of season, however.  One had heard of a Boston lady going home in July, who “had the furs taken off her back,” in that inclement month.  Best get everything seasonable, and put it on at once.  “And then, you know, if they ask you, you can say it’s been worn.”  To this black wisdom came the combined knowledge of those miscreants.  Basil could not repress a shudder at the innate depravity of the female heart.  Here were virgins nurtured in the most spotless purity of life, here were virtuous mothers of families, here were venerable matrons, patterns in society and the church,—­smugglers to a woman, and eager for any guilty subterfuge!  He glanced at Isabel to see what effect the evil conversation had upon her.  Her eyes sparkled; her cheeks glowed; all the woman was on fire for smuggling.  He sighed heavily and went out with her to do the little shopping.