one instant aaron burr sat, his head dropped, revolving his plans. the next, he pulled the bell-cord and paced the floor until he had answer.
“go at once to mrs. alston’s rooms, charles,” said he to the servant. “tell her to rise and come to me at once. tell her not to wait. do you hear?”
he still paced the floor until he heard a light frou-frou in the hall, a light knock at the door. his daughter entered, her eyes still full of sleep, her attire no more than a loose peignoir caught up and thrown above her night garments.
“what is it, father—are you ill?”
“far from it, my child,” said he, turning with head erect. “i am alive, well, and happier than i have been for months—years. i need you—come, sit here and listen to me.”
he caught her to him with a swift, paternal embrace—he loved no mortal being as he did his daughter—then pushed her tenderly into the deep seat near by the lamp, while he continued pacing up and down the room, voluble and persuasive, full of his great idea.
[pg 87]
the matters which he had but now discussed with the two foreign officials he placed before his daughter. he told her all—except the truth. and aaron burr knew how to gild falsehood itself until it seemed the truth.
“now you have it, my dear,” said he. “you see, my ambition to found a country of my own, where a man may have a real ambition. this dirty village here is too narrow a field for talents like yours or mine. let me tell you, napoleon has played a great jest with mr. jefferson. there is nothing in the constitution of the united states—i am lawyer enough to know that—which will make it possible for congress to ratify the purchase of louisiana. we cannot carve new states from that country—it is already settled by the subjects of another government. hence the expedition of mr. lewis must fail—it must surely fall of its own weight. it is based upon an absurdity. not even mr. jefferson can fly in the face of the supreme laws of the land.
“but as to the mississippi valley, matters are entirely different. there is no law against that country’s organizing for a better government. there is every natural reason for that. as these states on the east confederated in the cause against oppression, so can those yonder. there will be more opportunity for strong men there when that game is on the board—men like captain lewis, for instance. should one ally one’s self with a foredoomed failure? not at all. i prefer rather success—station, rank, power, money, for myself, if you please. with us—a million dollars [pg 88]for the founding of our new country. with him—for the undertaking of yonder impracticable and chimerical expedition, twenty-five hundred dollars! which enterprise, think you, will win?
“but, on the other hand, if that expedition of mr. jefferson’s should succeed by virtue of accident, or of good leadership, all my plans must fail—that is plain. it comes, therefore, to this, theo, and i may tell you plainly—captain lewis must be seen—he must be stopped—we must hold a conference with him. it would be useless for me to undertake to arrange all that. there is only one person who can save your father’s future—and that one, my daughter, is—you!”
he caught theodosia’s look of surprise, her start, the swift flush on her cheek—and laughed lightly.
“let me explain. aaron burr and all his family—all his friends—will reach swift advancement in yonder new government. power, place—these are the things that strong men covet. that is what the game of politics means for strong men—that is why we fight so bitterly for office. i plan for myself some greater office than second fiddle in this tawdry republic along the atlantic. i want the first place, and in a greater field! i will take my friends with me. i want men who can lead other men. i want men like captain lewis.”
“it seems that you value him more now than once you did.”
“yes, that is true, theo, that is true. i did not favor his suit for your hand at that time. although he had a modest fortune in virginia lands, he could [pg 89]not offer you the future assured by mr. alston. i was rejoiced—i admit it frankly—when i learned that young captain lewis came just too late, for i feared you would have preferred him. and yet i saw his quality then—mr. jefferson sees it—he is a good chooser of men. but captain lewis must not advance beyond the ohio. that is a large task for a woman.”
“what woman, father?”
a flush came to her pale cheek. her father turned to her directly, his own piercing gaze aflame.
“there is but one woman on earth could do that, my daughter! that young man’s fate was settled when he looked on that woman—when he looked on you!”
she swiftly turned her head aside, not answering.
“am i so engaged in affairs that i cannot see the obvious, my dear?” went on the vibrant voice. “had i no eyes for what went on at my side this very evening, at mr. jefferson’s dinner-table? could i fail to observe his look to you—and, yes, am i not sensible to what your eyes said to him in reply?”
“do you believe that of me—and you my father?”
“i believe nothing dishonorable of you, my dear,” said burr. “neither could i ask anything dishonorable. but i know what young blood will do. your eyes said no more than that for me. i know you wish him well—know you wish well for his ambition, his success—am sure you do not wish to see him doomed to failure. what? would you see his career blighted when it should be but begun?”
[pg 90]
“there would be prospects for him?”
“all the prospects in the world! i would place him only second to myself, so highly do i value his talents in an enterprise such as this. alston’s money, but lewis’s brains and courage! they both love you—do i not know?”
troubled, again she turned her gaze aside.
“listen, my daughter. that young man is wise—he has no such vast belief in yonder expedition. he is going in desperation, to escape a memory! is it not true? tell me—and believe that i am not blind—is not captain lewis going into the missouri country in order to forget a certain woman? and do we not know, my daughter, who that woman is?”
still her downcast eye gave him no reply.
“meriwether lewis yonder among the savages is a failure. meriwether lewis with me is second only to the vice-regent of the lower louisiana country. texas, florida, much of mexico, will join with us, that is sure. we fight with the great nations of the world, not against them—we fight with the stars in their courses, and not against them.
“now, you have two pictures, my dear—one of meriwether lewis, the wanderer, a broken and hopeless man, living among the savages, a log hut his home, a camp fire the only hearth he knows. picture that hopeless and broken man—condemned to that by yourself, my dear—and then picture that other figure whom you can see rescued, restored to the world, placed by your own hand in a station of dignity and power. then, indeed, he might forget—he might forgive. [pg 91]yonder he will forsake his manhood—he will relax his ideals, and go down, step by step, until he shall not think of you again.
“there are two pictures, my daughter. which do you prefer—what do you decide to do? shall you condemn him, or shall you rescue him? forgive your father for having spoken thus plainly. i know your heart—i know your generosity as well as i know your loyalty and ambition. there is no reason, my dear, why, for the sake of your father, for the sake of yourself, and for the sake of that young man yonder, you should not go to him immediately and carry my message.”
“could it be possible,” she began at length, half musing, “that i, who made captain lewis so unhappy, could aid a man like him to reach a higher and better place in life? could i save him from himself—and from myself?”
“you speak like my own daughter! if that generous wish bore fruit, i think that in the later years of life, for both of you, the reflection would prove not unwelcome. i know, as well as i know anything, that no other woman will ever hold a place in the heart of meriwether lewis. there is a memory there which will shut out all other things on earth. we deal now in delicate matters, it is true; but i have been frank with you, because, knowing your loyalty and fairness, knowing your ambition, even-paced with mine, none the less i know your discretion and your generosity as well. you see, i have chosen the best messenger in all the world to advance my own ambition. indeed, i [pg 92]have chosen the only one in all the world who might undertake this errand with the slightest prospect of success.”
“what can i do, father?”
“in the morning that young man will start. it is now two by the clock. we are late. he will start with the rising sun. it is doubtful if he will see his bed at all tonight.”
“you have called me for a strange errand, father,” said theodosia alston, at length. “so far as my brain grasps these things, i go with you in your plans. i could plan no treachery against this country, nor could you—you are its sworn servant, its high official.”
“treachery? no, it is statesmanship, it is service to mankind!”
“my consent to that, yes. but as to seeing captain lewis, there is, as you know, but one way. i go not as theodosia burr, but as mrs. alston of carolina. i am a woman of honor; he is a man of honor. no argument on earth would avail with him except such as might be based upon honor and loyalty. nor would any argument, even if offered by my father, avail otherwise with me.”
she turned upon him now the full gaze of her dark eyes, serious, luminous, yet tender, her love for him showing so clearly that he came to her softly, took her hands, caught her to his bosom, and kissed her tenderly.
“theodosia,” said he, “aid me! if the fire of my ambition has consumed me, i have come to you, because i know your love, because i know your loyalty! [pg 93]i have not slept tonight,” he added, passing a hand across his forehead.
“there will be no more sleep for me tonight,” was her reply.
“you will see him in the morning?”
“yes.”
