Part 4 (1/2)
”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 Senor 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 Was.h.i.+ta River.”
”Ah, Texas!” exclaimed Mrs. Madison, turning to Senor 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, senora,” 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. Senor 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 Senor Vallois.
”So long a voyage!” exclaimed Mrs. Smith. ”I should have imagined the pa.s.sage from England would have wearied you of the water for a lifetime.”
”We came in one of your American packet s.h.i.+ps, and were only twenty-seven days in crossing,” replied the senorita.
”Only twenty-seven days on the ocean!” I exclaimed--”twenty-seven days!”
”It is not an extraordinarily quick pa.s.sage, with favorable weather and our American-built s.h.i.+ps,” 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 senorita 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 gla.s.s after gla.s.s, 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 ill.u.s.trious 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.
At last Mr. Jefferson saw fit to lead us in to the ladies, a servant following with the coffee. I pressed in close after Senor Vallois, and, like him, looked about in vain for his niece. Mrs. Randolph hastened to explain to him that Miss Vallois had only just withdrawn, on the plea of a slight indisposition. The senor immediately excused himself, saluting us all with punctilious bows and a sonorous ”_Adios!_” and withdrew.
After his departure the ladies were pleased to bestow on me some little attention, and in their seemingly artless manner drew from me much regarding my family, my education, and my fortune,--or, as I should say, my ambitions; for my fortune as yet lay mostly in the future. Presently, to my surprise, I found myself invited to call at as many homes as there were ladies present. This was an honor entirely unexpected by me, in view of the fact that I could claim neither political prestige nor distinguished birth. The disregard for the latter may have been due to Mr. Jefferson's well-known Jacobin principles, the reflection of which is clearly perceptible in the att.i.tude of the greater number of his intimates.
The gentlemen were almost equally cordial when the time came for me to withdraw, General Dearborn alone maintaining a certain reserve, due, as I surmised, to antic.i.p.ations of a formal application for Government favors.