And give me leave to tell you I don't want at this
time to acquire reputation, as I flatter myself mine has been pretty
well established long before!"
And then, as full of temper as a hot-headed schoolboy, he brought out
a letter from Governor Shirley expressing regret that Captain Warren
could not take command of the whole affair,--"which I doubt not would
be a most happy event for His Majesty's service."
Even this could not shake the General's superhuman calm. He was
indeed so quiet about it, and so uniformly polite, that his fiery
associate was simply obliged to cool off. He was of too genuinely fine
fibre to bear a grudge or to make a hard situation harder, and he
consented to compromise, saying truly that at such times it was
"necessary not to Stickle at Trifles!"
At last the time came for action, and on the seventeenth of June they
took Louisbourg, in a most brilliant and stirring manner, and Warren
was so wild with delight that he could not contain himself. He
scribbled a note to Pepperrill which sounds like the note of a
rattle-pated college lad instead of a distinguished naval commander:
"We will soon keep a good house together, and give the Ladys of
Louisbourg a gallant Ball.
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