Jeanne Dugas of Acadia
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Authors: Cassie Deveaux Cohoon
Jeanne Dugas
of Acadia
by Cassie Deveaux Cohoon
Copyright © 2013 - Cassie Deveaux Cohoon
This book is a work of fictionalized history. Most of the characters, places and events depicted are based on historical research, but are dramatized for literary consumption. Some characters are products of the author's imagination.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Cape Breton University Press recognizes fair dealing exceptions under Access Copyright. Responsibility for the opinions, research and the permissions obtained for this publication rests with the author.
Cape Breton University Press recognizes the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Block Grant program, and the Province of Nova Scotia, through the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, for our publishing program. We are pleased to work in partnership with these bodies to develop and promote our cultural resources.
Cover image: From photos by Heidi Moses, Fortress of Louisbourg
Author photo by Tim Snow
Cover Design: Cathy MacLean Design, Pleasant Bay, NS
Layout: Mike Hunter, Port Hawkesbury and Sydney, NS
eBook development:
WildElement.ca
First printed in Canada
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Cohoon, Cassie Deveaux, 1935-
Jeanne Dugas of Acadia : a novel / Cassie Deveaux Cohoon.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-897009-71-0
e-pub 978-1-927492-34-5
mobi 978-1-927492-35-2
Cape Breton University Press
P.O. Box 5300
Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2
Canada
1. Dugas, Jeanne, 1731-1817--Fiction. 2. Acadians--Fiction.
3. Chétican (N.S.)--Fiction. I. Title.
PS8605.O379J42 2013 C813'.6 C2013-901290-7
Jeanne Dugas
of Acadia
by Cassie Deveaux Cohoon
Cape Breton University Press
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Contents
W
e did, in my opinion most inhumanly, and upon pretences that in the eye of an honest man are not worth a farthing, root out this poor, innocent, deserving people, whom our utter inability to govern or to reconcile gave us no sort of right to extirpate.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
British statesman, on the Deportation of the Acadians
Prologue
J
eanne felt strange as she twirled gently in her new, and first, French-style gown. Strange but excited, as if the dress were a visible aspect of the changes she felt inside.
It was the Feast Day of Sainte-Anne, July 26, 1744. Jeanne Dugas and her family were celebrating the completion of her studies at the convent of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, in Louisbourg on Ãle Royale. Jeanne was thirteen-and-a-half years old and now considered to be “a proper young lady.”
The gown was made of beautiful cornflower blue silk and she wore it over a white linen chemise. The tight bodice was closed with fabric bows and the skirt fell over a hoop underskirt. Delicate lace edged the large white collar and the sleeves of the chemise that showed below the blue sleeves of the gown. Her dark brown hair was done up in a chignon and covered with a modest white cap edged in the same lace. A blue and green bead choker complemented the ensemble.
Jeanne did not have the delicate beauty of her older sister, Angélique â she had a beauty all her own. Her features were strong and pleasing, her look direct and serious. She twirled again and smiled to herself.
â
Maman and Jeanne's stepfather, Monsieur de la Tour, had been very surprised when Jeanne asked for a French-style gown for her celebration. It was what Angélique would have wanted but not, typically, Jeanne. Jeanne had always insisted on wearing traditional Acadian dress â a linen chemise under a dark-coloured vest, a striped linen skirt, a bonnet and often a neck scarf. Maman and Monsieur de la Tour were visibly pleased at Jeanne's choice for this occasion.
As plans were being made to celebrate Jeanne's rite of passage on the Feast of Sainte-Anne, Maman had taken Jeanne to a fashionable boutique just beside Le Billard tavern. It sold fabrics imported from France, along with drawings and patterns for the latest styles worn by the elite in Paris.
Jeanne's brother Joseph was obviously pleased with the plans, but he did not tease her. It seemed lately as if he was more often treating her as an adult rather than a little sister. He asked her what colour she had chosen for her gown and, a few days before the big day, he gave her a delicate choker made with small blue and green beads.
“They tell me this is what fashionable ladies are wearing in France,” he said.
Jeanne beamed at the sight of the beautiful necklace. It would be perfect with her gown.
And now the big day was here. Joseph, his wife Marguerite, and their children had arrived to join the others at the de la Tour home. Their brother Charles was here too, on a visit from Grand-Pré. They were all in the parlour waiting for Jeanne. As she walked into the room, Jeanne felt rather than heard a gasp. There was a brief silence, as if they were unsure what to say, or if they should say anything at all. But Joseph could not help himself. “Jeanne, you are beautiful!” he said. She blushed, but she was clearly pleased.
First they went to the Chapelle Saint-Louis, at the garrison of Louisbourg, to attend a special mass in honour of Sainte-Anne. As the de la Tours and the Dugas walked to the front of the Chapelle, Jeanne could not help but feel proud. She did feel a twinge of guilt as they passed the people crowded at the rear â many of them Acadians and many obviously poor â but today was her day.
After mass, they hurried to Le Billard. The owner, Marguerite Dugas the widow Beauséjour, had closed the tavern for the day and invited her relatives and a few Acadian friends for the mid-day dinner. She was the cousin of Jeanne's late father, Joseph Dugas. Monsieur de la Tour had provided some excellent French wine from his own cellar, and Jeanne had her first glass of grown-up wine. After the meal, they went out into the streets to take in the public celebrations for the remainder of the day and into the evening.
â
Returning to the de la Tour home, all agreed that it had been a wonderful celebration of both Sainte-Anne and Jeanne, as well as of the fortunes of war thus far. But Monsieur de la Tour was cautious in his toast to the colony of Ãle Royale, reminding them of the tensions between France and Britain and that their fate as Acadians hung in the balance.
Before falling asleep that night, Jeanne reviewed the events of the day in her mind. It was a habit she had formed as a very little girl when she had first become aware that things were not always as they appeared. She knew that there were many layers to life in Louisbourg. The people who so joyously celebrated the Feast Day of Sainte-Anne knew very well that the French and the British were once again at war in Europe. They knew that their happiness and well-being could disappear in a puff of smoke. Still wrapped in the warm glow of her celebration, Jeanne knew that if Louisbourg fell, she and her family would be among those most in peril, no matter what her brother Joseph told her.
â
A few days after the celebration, Joseph brought an artist to the house on rue de l'Ãtang to paint a portrait of Jeanne in her beautiful blue gown. Joseph asked the artist to make the portrait small.
“So we can carry it easily if we have to leave Louisbourg,” he explained to Jeanne.