[cornp] THE TALBOT PAPERS 47 
devotion to military exercises, it may be surmised, was only surpassed 
by the sometimes startling character of their subsequent proceedings. 
The Colonel’s clerical duties were not confined to those just men- 
tioned. As the nearest local magistrate, he was frequently called upon 
to perform the marriage ceremony, there being no clergyman resident 
within eighteen miles. I have seen several marriage certificates bearing 
his signature, amongst others, that of the well known Colonel McQueen. 
It has been said that Talbot sometimes baptized infant settlers, 
but that is among the apocrypha of the Settlement. After a few years 
he abandoned all pretense of religious observance. He never attended 
church, and at times he paid slight respect to such clergymen as visited 
him, although he is said to have contributed to the funds of the Church 
of England, and was on friendly terms with the bishops, both Anglican 
and Roman Catholic. 
XXVII.—THE SLIDING WINDOW-PANE. 
The settlers loved to tell of interviews with Talbot through the 
well-known window-pane. Many were the schemes to wheedle or hood- 
wink the Colonel into granting a location. Meanwhile, his temper, 
always irascible and domineering, grew more surly and morose in deal- 
ing with applicants. His valet, steward and man of all work was 
famous throughout the settlement, and, indeed, wherever the name of 
Talbot was known. It was Jeffrey Hunter, his faithful attendant and 
henchman, who gave notice of the approach of the crafty settler, and 
of his designs. In his choice of settlers Talbot was discriminating. 
Those who took his fancy were allowed to settle in the nearer, others 
were sent to remoter townships. He knew by intuition whom he could 
persuade to settle on a poor farm, and whom it was impossible to put 
off without a good location. The masterful settler, however, occa- 
sionally had his own way, even if he had to resort to physical force. 
The name of Duncan Patterson is held in honour to this day for having 
thrown the Colonel to the ground, and held him there until promised 
the location desired, which the Colonel had at first refused. To pre- 
vent the recurrence of such inconveniences, the inventive genius of the 
Colonel and the faithful Jeffrey contrived an expedient, which resulted 
satisfactorily. No longer was the designing homesteader admitted 
within the precincts of the Castle of Malahide. He presented himself 
outside, opposite a window, in which a sliding pane was fitted; and 
behind the open pane, at a signal from Jeffrey, the florid face and 
gleaming eyes of Colonel Talbot confronted the applicant. Tradition 
has preserved the Colonel’s form of salutation, even to the tones of his 
