merous coves and well-sheltered inlets" of Bedford Basin, the inner harbour of Halifax, which for a century and more has been a rendezvous for yachtsmen, oarsmen, summer idlers and bon vivants. On Bedford Road, the ten-mile highway which connects Halifax with the head of the basin, are several inns, successors to old-time taverns which were favoured banqueting-places. Beyond Rockingham, one of the fairest of these historic suburbs, the Duke of Kent maintained an establishment which was presided over by a companion whose status was never announced but who is thought to have been his "civil wife." The portraits of Madame la Baronne de Fortisson, known to the colonials as Madame de Saint Laurent, show her to have been a lady of gentle demeanour with large dark eyes, dark ringlets, a delicate nose, and lips that curved ingenuously. Her protector, the youthful general-in-command of the colony's forces, had gross features and an expression as domineering as hers was demure.
Originally the Lodge was surrounded by a dozen out-houses and by elaborate gardens which were the scene of munificent hospitality. When the royal occupant left Halifax in the summer of 1800, he was accompanied by the charming French woman, whose star, however, was soon to wane. In a short while the son of George IV assumed the obligations of matrimony, and the place of Madame Saint Laurent was usurped by a princess of
