Québec City, Quebec links provincial politics, family concerns over a valuable jewel, and the later course of Clovis Lacroix’s life. It appears not merely as a distant capital but as a place from which political power is projected and to which a person excluded from his former profession turns for legal help and work.

Political Stage

At the end of May, Maurice Duplessis opened the provincial election campaign with a forceful speech at the Château Frontenac. He presented himself as a defender of Québec against encroachment by Ottawa, invoking the protection of the province’s race, language, and faith. The campaign’s political message thus begins in the city before its conflict plays out in Touladi, where Roland Bolduc and his allies mobilize for the Blues and Clovis Lacroix organizes young supporters of the Reds.

Québec City also figures in the family’s discussion of the D’Anjou jewel. While Guillaume D’Anjou was near death, relatives debated whether the jewel should be moved out of Touladi for greater security and whether the family’s bourgeois branch in Québec would be better placed to guard it. Guillaume’s recovery early in the new year ended the debate; the passage does not say that the jewel was moved to the city.

Legal Recourse and a New Livelihood

After the election-day conflict in Touladi, Clovis was arrested and accused of attempted murder. His cousin, a well-regarded lawyer from Québec, defended him, helping him avoid a lasting criminal record. The defense connected Clovis’s local political confrontation to legal representation available in the city, though his months of imprisonment were served at the penitentiary in Rimouski.

The consequences of the case closed off Clovis’s prospects in teaching despite his diploma. His cousin helped him find work in Québec City as a proofreader and clerk at the Garneau bookstore, which also published books. The city therefore became a practical refuge and a new point of entry into working life after his return to Touladi was no longer viable as a teacher.

Narrative Significance

The city’s appearances contrast provincial authority with the vulnerability of local political actors. Duplessis’s campaign speech gives the election its larger rhetoric, while the pressure on Clovis in Touladi shows how political organization and threats could shape an individual’s livelihood. Québec City is also where legal advocacy and publishing work offer Clovis alternatives, without undoing the professional damage caused by his arrest. Across these distinct roles, the city marks both the reach of provincial politics and the limited forms of recourse available beyond the local power struggle.