CHAPTER VII
COLONEL BURR AND HIS DAUGHTER
One instant Aaron Burr sat, his head dropped, revolving his plans. Thenext, 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 youhear?"
He still paced the floor until he heard a light _frou-frou_ in thehall, a light knock at the door. His daughter entered, her eyes stillfull of sleep, her attire no more than a loose peignoir caught up andthrown above her night garments.
"What is it, father--are you ill?"
"Far from it, my child," said he, turning with head erect. "I amalive, well, and happier than I have been for months--years. I needyou--come, sit here and listen to me."
He caught her to him with a swift, paternal embrace--he loved nomortal being as he did his daughter--then pushed her tenderly into thedeep seat near by the lamp, while he continued pacing up and down theroom, voluble and persuasive, full of his great idea.
The matters which he had but now discussed with the two foreignofficials he placed before his daughter. He told her all--except thetruth. And Aaron Burr knew how to gild falsehood itself until itseemed the truth.
"Now you have it, my dear," said he. "You see, my ambition to found acountry of my own, where a man may have a real ambition. This dirtyvillage here is too narrow a field for talents like yours or mine. Letme tell you, Napoleon has played a great jest with Mr. Jefferson.There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States--I am lawyerenough to know that--which will make it possible for Congress toratify the purchase of Louisiana. We cannot carve new States from thatcountry--it is already settled by the subjects of another government.Hence the expedition of Mr. Lewis must fail--it must surely fall ofits own weight. It is based upon an absurdity. Not even Mr. Jeffersoncan 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 bettergovernment. There is every natural reason for that. As these States onthe East confederated in the cause against oppression, so can thoseyonder. There will be more opportunity for strong men there when thatgame is on the board--men like Captain Lewis, for instance. Should oneally one's self with a foredoomed failure? Not at all. I prefer rathersuccess--station, rank, power, money, for myself, if you please. Withus--a million dollars for the founding of our new country. Withhim--for the undertaking of yonder impracticable and chimericalexpedition, twenty-five hundred dollars! Which enterprise, think you,will win?
"But, on the other hand, if that expedition of Mr. Jefferson's shouldsucceed by virtue of accident, or of good leadership, all my plansmust fail--that is plain. It comes, therefore, to this, Theo, and Imay tell you plainly--Captain Lewis must be seen--he must bestopped--we must hold a conference with him. It would be useless forme to undertake to arrange all that. There is only one person who cansave your father's future--and that one, my daughter, is--you!"
He caught Theodosia's look of surprise, her start, the swift flush onher cheek--and laughed lightly.
"Let me explain. Aaron Burr and all his family--all his friends--willreach swift advancement in yonder new government. Power, place--theseare the things that strong men covet. That is what the game ofpolitics means for strong men--that is why we fight so bitterly foroffice. I plan for myself some greater office than second fiddle inthis tawdry republic along the Atlantic. I want the first place, andin a greater field! I will take my friends with me. I want men who canlead 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 foryour hand at that time. Although he had a modest fortune in Virginialands, he could not offer you the future assured by Mr. Alston. I wasrejoiced--I admit it frankly--when I learned that young Captain Lewiscame just too late, for I feared you would have preferred him. And yetI saw his quality then--Mr. Jefferson sees it--he is a good chooser ofmen. But Captain Lewis must not advance beyond the Ohio. That is alarge task for a woman."
"What woman, father?"
A flush came to her pale cheek. Her father turned to her directly, hisown piercing gaze aflame.
"There is but one woman on earth could do that, my daughter! Thatyoung man's fate was settled when he looked on that woman--when helooked 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 sidethis very evening, at Mr. Jefferson's dinner-table? Could I fail toobserve his look to you--and, yes, am I not sensible to what your eyessaid to him in reply?"
"Do you believe that of me--and you my father?"
"I believe nothing dishonorable of you, my dear," said Burr. "Neithercould I ask anything dishonorable. But I know what young blood willdo. Your eyes said no more than that for me. I know you wish himwell--know you wish well for his ambition, his success--am sure you donot wish to see him doomed to failure. What? Would you see his careerblighted when it should be but begun?"
"There would be prospects for him?"
"All the prospects in the world! I would place him only second tomyself, so highly do I value his talents in an enterprise such asthis. Alston's money, but Lewis's brains and courage! They both loveyou--do I not know?"
Troubled, again she turned her gaze aside.
"Listen, my daughter. That young man is wise--he has no such vastbelief in yonder expedition. He is going in desperation, to escape amemory! Is it not true? Tell me--and believe that I am not blind--isnot Captain Lewis going into the Missouri country in order to forget acertain 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. MeriwetherLewis with me is second only to the vice-regent of the lower Louisianacountry. Texas, Florida, much of Mexico, will join with us, that issure. We fight with the great nations of the world, not againstthem--we fight with the stars in their courses, and not against them.
"Now, you have two pictures, my dear--one of Meriwether Lewis, thewanderer, a broken and hopeless man, living among the savages, a loghut his home, a camp fire the only hearth he knows. Picture thathopeless and broken man--condemned to that by yourself, my dear--andthen picture that other figure whom you can see rescued, restored tothe world, placed by your own hand in a station of dignity and power.Then, indeed, he might forget--he might forgive. Yonder he willforsake his manhood--he will relax his ideals, and go down, step bystep, until he shall not think of you again.
"There are two pictures, my daughter. Which do you prefer--what do youdecide to do? Shall you condemn him, or shall you rescue him? Forgiveyour father for having spoken thus plainly. I know your heart--I knowyour generosity as well as I know your loyalty and ambition. There isno reason, my dear, why, for the sake of your father, for the sake ofyourself, _and for the sake of that young man yonder_, you should notgo to him immediately and carry my message."
"Could it be possible," she began at length, half musing, "that I, whomade Captain Lewis so unhappy, could aid a man like him to reach ahigher and better place in life? Could I save him from himself--andfrom myself?"
"You speak like my own daughter! If that generous wish bore fruit, Ithink that in the later years of life, for both of you, the reflectionwould prove not unwelcome. I know, as well as I know anything, that noother 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 frankwith you, because, knowing your loyalty and fairness, knowing yourambition, even-paced with mine, none the less I know your discretionand your generosity as well. You see, I have chosen the best messengerin all the world to advance my own ambition. Indeed, I have chosenthe only one
in all the world who might undertake this errand with theslightest 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 hewill see his bed at all tonight."
"You have called me for a strange errand, father," said TheodosiaAlston, at length. "So far as my brain grasps these things, I go withyou in your plans. I could plan no treachery against this country, norcould 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, asyou know, but one way. I go not as Theodosia Burr, but as Mrs. Alstonof Carolina. I am a woman of honor; he is a man of honor. No argumenton earth would avail with him except such as might be based upon honorand 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 cameto her softly, took her hands, caught her to his bosom, and kissed hertenderly.
"Theodosia," said he, "aid me! If the fire of my ambition has consumedme, I have come to you, because I know your love, because I know yourloyalty! I have not slept tonight," he added, passing a hand acrosshis forehead.
"There will be no more sleep for me tonight," was her reply.
"You will see him in the morning?"
"Yes."
The Magnificent Adventure Page 8