He was the typical friendly French Canadian, like his mother before him. On his property in that favored part of the Dominion, he led the enviable life of the gentleman farmer, free from cares and ambitions. His fortune, while not large, was sufficient to enable him to satisfy his modest tastes, and he had never wanted or needed to add to it. He was able to indulge his love of hunting in the vast open spaces of the region or in the game-filled forests that covered the greater part of it. He pursued his passion for fishing in the whole network of rivers and streams flowing into the St. Lawrence River, not to mention the many broad lakes to be found in the northern part of the continent.

The house owned by the two cousins, while not luxurious, was comfortable. It was located in one of the quietest neighborhoods of Montreal, away from the industrial and commercial center of the city. There they spent the harsh Canadian winters (although the country is at the same latitude as southern Europe), impatiently awaiting the return of summer. But the fierce winds, unhindered by any mountain range, and the squalls that brought freezing arctic air raged unchecked and with extraordinary violence.

As the capital of the country since 1843, Montreal might have offered Summy Skim an opportunity to participate in public affairs,' but he was very independent by nature, seldom mingled with the high society of government officials, and had a deathly fear of politics. Besides, he was quite willing to accept British sovereignty, which was more apparent than real. He had never supported any of the parties that divide the Dominion* and scorned the world of officialdom.' He was, in short, a philosopher who liked to take life as it came, with no ambition whatsoever.

In his opinion, any change that might occur in his life could only bring trouble, worries, and a loss of material well-being.

It is not hard to see why this philosopher had never given any thought to marriage and was not thinking about it now, although he had passed his thirty-second birthday. Perhaps, if he had not lost his mother, he would have provided her with a daughter-in-law just to please herfor mothers, as we know, love to perpetuate themselves in their grandchildren. If he had married, there is no doubt whatever that his wife would have shared his tastes. Somewhere among the many Canadian families that often have more than two dozen children, a suitable heiress would have been found either in town or in the countryside, and the union would have been a happy one. But it was now five years since Madame Skim had died, three years after her husband, and while she had long been thinking about a marriage for her son, the son himself had not given it much thought. In all likelihood, now that his mother was no longer there, the possibility of matrimony would never enter his mind.

As soon as the temperature began to moderate in that harsh climate, and the sun, rising earlier in the morning, announced the imminent return of summer, Summy Skim would get ready to leave the house on Jacques Cartier Street, although he had never persuaded his cousin to return to rural living so early in the year. He would go to their farm at Green Valley, some twenty miles north of Montreal on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. There he would resume the country life that had been interrupted by the rigors of winter, which covered all the streams with ice and the fields with a thick blanket of snow. He would he hack among his farmers, honest folk who had been in the family's service for half a century. How could they not feel a sincere affection and an unfailing devotion to a kind and generous master, who was always eager to do a favor, even at considerable personal sacrifice? There were many demonstrations of joy when he arrived and many expressions of regret when it came time for him to leave.

Year after year, the property at Green Valley brought in about twenty thousand francs, which the cousins shared, because the estate, like the house in Montreal, was owned jointly. A large-scale farming operation was carried on since the soil produced good crops of fodder and grains. The income derived from this supplemented what was provided by the magnificent forests that cover large areas of the Dominion, especially in its eastern region. The farm included a number of well-constructed and well-maintained buildings-stables, barns, cowsheds, a henhouse, storage sheds-and possessed a complete array of modern equipment suitable to the needs of present-day agriculture. As for the master's house, it was a simple but comfortable cottage at the entrance to a vast, lawncovered, tree-shaded enclosure.

This was the home where Summy Skim and Ben Raddle spent their summers.' The former, at least, would not have wanted to exchange it for any wealthy American's palatial mansion. Modest though it was, it was all he needed. He had no plans to enlarge it or embellish it but was content with the beauties provided by nature at its own expense. The days went by, taken up with the pursuit of game, and the nights always brought him a sound slumber.

Needless to say (and this must be emphasized) Summy Skim was quite wealthy with the income from his land, which he exploited methodically and intelligently. But while he had no intention of letting his fortune dwindle, he was not at all concerned about adding to it. Not for anything in the world would he have become involved in the various aspects of business in North America such as commercial and industrial speculation, railroads, banks, mines, shipping companies, and so forth.