cut all to pieces at Lake George by Sir William Johnson in ‘55. This is an officer’s belt-buckle.”

“Was the regiment, then, totally destroyed?”

“Utterly. In France they made the regiment again with new men and new officers, and call it still by the same celebrated name.”

“You say Sir William Johnson’s men cut it to pieces — the Regiment de la Reine?” she asked.

“His Indians, British and Provincials, left nothing of it after that bloody day.”

She sat thoughtful for a while, then, bestirring herself, drew from the deerhide packet a miniature on ivory, cracked across, and held together only by the narrow oval frame of gold.