Quietly My Captain Waits

Author: Evelyn Eaton

Authors Note pg ix of book
copyright 1940 by Evelyn Eaton
publishers: Harper Brothers New York and London

Annapolis Royal, in Acadia, which comprised modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and a protion o Maine, was a key position in the long struggle between France and England to establish colonies in the New World. For over a century it was hotly disputed between them, until in 1711 it passed into the English hands never to be retaken.

For the last eleven years of the French rule hardly a dispatch left New France (comprising Quebec, Ontario, and Acadia) that did not mention Madame de Freneuse, in either passionate partisanship or vehement denunciation. She charmed three successive governors; obtained a pension from the King (Louis XIV) on the grounds that she was “the only widow in Acadie”; had a child by Monsieur de Bonaventure, whose baptism is in the parish records; was banished for her misbehavior and crossed the Bay of Fundy in the coldest part of winter in an open canoe. She caused the worthy Monsieur de Goutins much disquietude, and, in fact, one of the governors, Monsieur de Subercase, left it on record that the story had been “pushed as far as hell could desire.”

Out of these fragments I have woven a novel, the facts of which are accurate though the interpretation is conjectural. It is known, for example, that Madame de Freneuse’s second husband, Mathieu de Freneuse, died at the siege of Nashwaak, defending the mill he had built; but whether or not there was a miller’s daughter only the vanished mill could tell. Nor is there any record of Gervais Tibaout, Raoul de Perrichet, and others in the story.

No portrait has been found of Madame de Freneuse, but a contemporary map shows the site of her house, which was in the words of the estimate, “beautified and adorned: by the French King’s money”.

The correspondence in Part Five between Monsieur de Goutines, Monsieur de Bonaventure, and Monsieur de Pourtchartrain, the King’s Minister in France, is taken from French correspondence in the Public Archives of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The translation is mine. Copies of these letters and other letters from Monsieur de la Touche and the Bishop of Quebec are given with translations in the Appendix.

I have used the old form of the names of the towns and other places in the story.

My thanks are due to the Director of the Museum at Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, for maps and material; to Miss Laura Hardy, for drawing my attention to Madame de Freneuse in the first place; and to E.C.B. in general for her help.

my review:

January 8, 2009


I first read this book when I was a teenage girl. I found it at the public library as I wandered through the shelves running my fingers along the spines looking at titles. The book was green, the title stamped in gold foil. The romantic sound of the words spoke to my heart. I checked it out and was not disappointed. The tale is based on factual accounts set in the early settlements of Acadia. The story is of an affair of the heart between Madame de Frenuese and her captain Monsieur de Bonaventure. The history is rich, the narrative descriptive and the story poignant. I fell deeply in love as I read this book. My heart was broken and I shed tears. I’ve never forgotten the story. Many years later I returned to the Library hungry to read this story once again. I was so disappointed to find that it had been discarded or sold during one of the yearly inventories. This Christmas I had that yearning again to revisit the pages of this book. In my search I discovered that Barnes and Noble had released a limited printing of this novel in paper-back during 2007. I was about to order it when I noticed an independent dealer listed on Amazon.com had a collector’s edition in good condition. I ordered it and it arrived a few days before Christmas. My daughter whisked the book off and hid it away until Christmas morning. I opened a treasure that day. The book is old (1940). The cover is greenish-blue with the title stamped in gold foil. The pages are yellow and brittle and smell a bit musty, you know that good smell books get when they rub shoulders with their fellows. I spent some time just rubbing the cover, smelling the pages and thumbing the old paper just to listen to the way it rustled. I was in literary heaven! I spent the next few days curled up in a comfy chair reacquainting myself with an old friend. I was not disappointed. I fell deeply in love, my heart was broken and I shed tears. I recommend this book if you can find it. I’m sorry, but I won’t be sharing my copy.