"They perambulated the whole city before proceeding to the ill-fated mansion of the bride, but at last they arrived at her door and drew up before it. The large handsome house was silent and dark--the window shades were closed. There was evidently to be no friendly feast, for in many cases, I believe, the attack is met courteously with lighted halls and a cold collation to the principal actors, when the din and hubbub generally ceases and the thing ends; but it was not so in the charivari of last night. "The crowd was puzzled, but showed pluck. It brayed and blew and roared and shook torch and lantern, and might have done so all night long, as it appeared to me, standing at a cowardly distance, when suddenly the large front door opened and out rushed the manly figure of the Adjutant with ten or twelve assistants in plain clothes (brother officers, I fear) armed with cudgels. "To work they went upon the defenceless crowd, and especially among the masquers, where the torches gave useful light. The whole attack and flight was an affair of five minutes. The fun-loving crowd, actors and spectators, fled, and gone in an incredibly short space of time were torches, lanterns, coffin, kettles and buffalo-horns. "The unhappy little hunchback was seized by the bridegroom, who began to pound him, but he most piteously confessed that he was Mr. ----, editor of the ----, a local paper. He was dismissed with a shake, and told that in future cripples in charivaris would be treated as able-bodied men. "The affair so unnerved the bride that she escaped through the back door and took rooms here." Just then an officer entered, and the doctor said: "Good morning, Adjutant! How is Mrs. Randall?" Suddenly he caught sight of the Chief, who sat back in his chair gazing at him in mute astonishment, for it was none other than Harold Wrenford. "She is much better, thank you," he said, "but I forgot her medicine," and he hastened from the room. "How long have you known the Adjutant?" asked the Chief. "Only recently," replied the doctor. "I have known him for years," replied Mr. Papineau. "I knew him when he was a young lieutenant in the Citadel. He sold his commission, went abroad, and returned a few years ago with his pockets full of money, purchased an adjutancy, and he has been regarded by the weaker sex as one of the greatest catches in Quebec." In less than half an hour Adjutant and Mrs. Randall were seen driving down towards the docks, where they took passage in a vessel bound for Liverpool. CHAPTER XXI. _A DINNER AT RIDEAU HALL IN THE THIRTIES._ 1837. Mr. and Mrs. George Morrison and the aged Chief were among the guests at a small dinner party given by the "Laird of Bytown," the Hon. Thomas MacKay, at his new residence, Rideau Hall, in honor of John McTaggart, C.E., who had returned to the New World to visit old friends. [Illustration: HON. THOMAS MACKAY.]