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to drive a bargain. The King required his services 

 and secured them, by having Cadet named Commissary- 

 General. He had his redeeming points ; was open- 

 handed in his dealings ; of a kindly nature and lavish 

 even to excess." 



The worthy Commissary-General, like P^an, was 

 blessed with a charming wife, whom Panet's Diary 

 styles " La Belle Amazone Aventuriere. " Probably, 

 like her worthy spouse, of low extraction ; " elle 

 n'etait pas sortie de la cuisse de Jupiter, " to use a 

 familiar French saw. 



She certainly was not like Caesar's wife " above sus- 

 picion. " Madame Cadet, later on, transferred her 

 allegiance from the rich butcher Cadet, to one " Sieur 

 Joseph Euffio " ; but let us draw the veil of obli- 

 vion over the shortcomings of another age. 



" Capt. Hugues Pean, Chevalier de la Livaudiere, 

 was Town-Major of Quebec, aide-Major des Troupes." 

 He was not long in discovering that with an Intendant 

 like Bigot, he could dare anything. Had he not, without 

 any trouble, netted on grain 50,000 half crowns ? A 

 large quantity of wheat was required for Government ; 

 he was charged with the buying of it. There was a fat 

 job in store for the Town- Major. How was his master 

 the Intendant to manage the matter for him ? Bigot 

 was a man of resource, who never forgot his friends. 

 First, he provided Pean with a large sum out of the 

 Treasury to buy the wheat as low as possible for cash ; 

 and then, his complaisant council passed an order or 

 Ordonnance fixing the price of grain much higher than 

 that at which Pean had purchased. The Town-Major 

 charged it to Government at the rate fixed by the 

 Ordonnance ; the margin left him a handsome profit. 

 He thought he would next try his hand at building 

 coasting crafts, which he could manage to keep con- 

 stantly in commission for Government ; this, also, was 

 lucrative. Other devices, however, were resorted to ; 

 a secret partnership was entered into between Cadet 

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