"I've never been there, although I hope to go some day, but Quebec affords both pleasure and splendor in high degree tonight." "You don't mean to say that Quebec, much as we French have labored to build it up here in the New World, can compare with Paris ?" Robert stared at him in astonishment.

Both manner and tone were now certainly aggressive, and as far as he could see aggressive about nothing.

Why should anyone raise an issue between Quebec and Paris, and above all at such a time, there at Bigot's ball?
He refused to be drawn into a controversy, and shrugging his shoulders a little, he turned away without an answer.

He heard Boucher's voice raised again, but de Courcelles laughingly waved him down.
"Come! come, my Pierre," he said.

"You're too ready to suspect that someone is casting aspersions upon that beloved Paris of ours.