A Volunteer with Pike. Robert Ames Bennet

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ I at once recognized the art of a Frenchman. Yet even the Madeira failed to cheer me. I could only sit silent over my plate and steal lackadaisical glances at the rounded shoulder which my partner so cruelly turned upon me, and at the silky maze of sable hair which crowned her shapely head.

      Until now my feeling toward Colonel Burr had been uncertain, vaguely doubtful, yet by no means hostile. It now hardened of a sudden into deep-seated aversion. So little has reason to do with the affairs of men—and women!

      To show the depth of resentment into which my passion flung me, I need only say that I conned over in my memory the fatal meeting between Mr. Burr and Mr. Hamilton, and exulted that I might be able to avenge the great Federalist and myself at the same time by challenging the Colonel to a like encounter. For all his sinister reputation as a duellist, at that moment I would gladly have met him with any weapons he might choose.

      Either because of my look, or, what was the more probable, because of his well-known aversion to a divided conversation at table, Mr. Jefferson broke in upon the Colonel's tête-à-tête with so shrewd a question regarding the Louisiana situation that Mr. Burr was required to answer at some length.

      This fresh turn of the conversation the President, with seeming ingenuousness, deflected to me, so that, from being the one silent member of the party, I found myself most unexpectedly the main speaker and the centre of attention. By keeping well within the bounds of my certain information, I was able to hold my own in the general discussion which followed, and to reply to all questions with a fair degree of fluency, although subjected by each of the gentlemen in turn to a cross-examination as keen and pointed as it was lightly uttered.

      "And your opinion of the Spanish boundaries?" asked Mr. Madison at last. It was a question which I had expected from the first—the question of all questions among my fellow-denizens of Louisiana Territory.

      "We have him there!" said Colonel Burr, as I paused over my reply.

      Even the ladies bent forward to catch my words, and I was not surprised to see that Señor Vallois betrayed still more interest than the other gentlemen. For the first time my partner turned and fixed her eyes upon me. I stated my opinion without further hesitancy.

      "As to the West Florida boundary," I said, "there can be no doubt. Spain is in the right."

      "Your proof?" demanded Colonel Burr.

      I cited such clauses bearing upon the point in the Spanish and French treaties as were known, and other facts which I had heard mentioned by Mr. Daniel Clark.

      "A plausible statement," remarked General Dearborn. "But with regard to the other Spanish line—the Texas boundary?"

      "As to that, would not the opinions of Señor Vallois and Colonel Burr be more authoritative?" I countered. "Colonel Burr at least should be well-grounded as to the points in controversy, in view of his high standing as a lawyer and the commonly accredited report in the West that he is negotiating for permission to found a colony within the Spanish territory."

      "It is the first I have heard of the undertaking," remarked the President, with evident surprise. "You did not mention it to me, Colonel, at our meeting the other day."

      "Had Your Excellency then considered it expedient to give me the ministry for which I asked, I should have had no need to enter upon speculative projects," returned Mr. Burr, exposing his humiliating rebuff by Mr. Jefferson with a cynical frankness which it was plainly to be seen disconcerted not only the President but his eminent secretaries as well. Mr. Burr paused a moment to enjoy the confusion of his great adversary, then continued: "The project of a colony is as yet indefinite in my mind. I have considered the possibility of retrieving my fortunes by the purchase of four or five hundred thousand acres in the midst of the most fertile tract of Texas—on the Washita River."

      "Ah, Texas!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison, turning to Señor Vallois. "Is it not the question of the Texas line which most threatens to terminate our fair relations with your Government?"

      "Such is the fact, señora," replied the don, with marked reserve.

      Mrs. Randolph addressed my partner: "Your uncle takes you to Chihuahua by way of Texas, I believe you said, Miss Vallois."

      "No, madam. I fear I was not clear in my explanations. Señor Vallois had intended to return that way before it was decided that I should accompany him from England."

      "We go by way of Vera Cruz," explained Señor Vallois.

      "So long a voyage!" exclaimed Mrs. Smith. "I should have imagined the passage from England would have wearied you of the water for a lifetime."

      "We came in one of your American packet ships, and were only twenty-seven days in crossing," replied the señorita.

      "Only twenty-seven days on the ocean!" I exclaimed—"twenty-seven days!"

      "It is not an extraordinarily quick passage, with favorable weather and our American-built ships," remarked Mr. Madison.

      "Believe me, sir, it was not the shortness but the length of the voyage which compelled my exclamation," I explained. "Miss Vallois will pardon me if I express my admiration of her heroism. I once made a trip from New York to Boston by schooner. I came back on a horse."

      This statement was met with a gust of mirth, no doubt due more to the wine which had gone before it than to its wit. Yet it served to throw the conversation into a lighter vein, that ended in a run of repartee as sparkling as the champagne with which it was accompanied. In this contest of wit and airy nothings I soon found myself as far out-distanced as the others were outstripped by Colonel Burr.

      Again my partner gave me her shoulder, and my sole consolation for the slight was that she joined but little in the contest, and met the Colonel's gallantry with a reserve unmistakably evident in the poise of her head and the coldness of her perfect profile. She could be haughty with others no less than with myself.

      Although she did not favor me with a single glance, the half-averted view of her adorably curved cheek and an occasional glimpse of her profile were far preferable to nothing. All too early, Mrs. Randolph gave the signal for the ladies to withdraw.

      In rising, whether by accident or design, the señorita turned toward me. Her eyes were nearer on a level with my own than those of any other young lady I had ever faced, and the erectness of her carriage, so different from the drooping French pose, added to the effect of proud height. She met me with a full open gaze, as devoid of allurement as it was of repellence and hauteur. I seemed to be looking down into the depths of fathomless wells, within which was nothing but velvety darkness.

      It was but a moment, and she had turned away with the others, leaving me mystified. Nor could I puzzle out the meaning of the look during the two hours I sat with the other gentlemen, matching them glass after glass, and with them growing steadily more mirthful over the witticisms of Colonel Burr, which were more notable for point than for decorum.

      The fine and costly wines of our illustrious host stirred me to this false mirth, behind which, as behind a mask, I found my inner self constantly reverting to the thought of my lady's strange glance. But try as I might, I could not so much as guess at its meaning. As I have said, it had held nothing either of attraction or of repulsion; it had not expressed even the barest curiosity—only that fathomless depth of mystery.

      All the more was I eager for the signal to rejoin the ladies in the drawing-room. Another look, I thought, would give me the key to the puzzle, a trace to point me along the way of her meaning.

СКАЧАТЬ