CHAPTER III
MR. BURR AND MR. MERRY
The young Virginian had well-nigh made his way out over the two milesor so of sheltered roadway, when he heard hoof beats on ahead, andslackened his own speed. He saw two horsemen approaching, both wellmounted, coming on at a handsome gait.
Of these, one was a stout and elderly man of no special shape at all,who sat his horse with small grace, his florid face redder for hisexercise, his cheeks mottled with good living and hard riding. He wasclad in scrupulous riding costume, and seemed, indeed, a person ofsome importance. The badge of some order or society showed on hisbreast, and his entire air--intent as he was upon his present businessof keeping company with a skilled horseman--marked him as oneaccustomed to attention from others. A servant in the costume of anEnglish groom rode at a short distance behind him.
The second man was lighter, straight and trim of figure, with anerectness and exactness of carriage which marked him as a soldier atsome part of his life. He was clad with extreme neatness, well bootedalso, and sat his mount with the nonchalance of the trained horseman.His own garb and face showed not the slightest proof that he had beenriding hard.
Indeed, he seemed one whom no condition or circumstance could depriveof a cool immaculateness. He was a man to be marked in anycompany--especially so by the peculiar brilliance of his full, darkeye, which had a piercing, searching glint of its own; an eye such asfew men have owned, and under whose spell man or woman might easilymelt to acquiescence with the owner's mind.
He sat his horse with a certain haughtiness as well as carelessness.His chin seemed long and firm, and his lofty forehead--indeed, hiswhole air and carriage--discovered him the man of ambition that hereally was. For this was no other than Aaron Burr, Vice-President ofthe United States, whose name was soon to be on the lips of all. Hehad lately come to Washington with the Jefferson administration.
This gentleman now reined up his horse as he caught sight of the youngman approaching. His older companion also halted. Burr raised his hat.
"Ah, Captain Lewis!" he said in a voice of extraordinary sweetness,yet of power. "You also have caught the secret of this climate, eh?You ride in the early morning--I do not wonder. You are Virginian, andso know the heats of Washington. I fancy you recognize Mr. Merry," headded, his glance turning from one to the other.
The young Virginian bowed to both gentlemen.
"I have persuaded his excellency the minister from Great Britain toride with us on one of our Washington mornings. He has been goodenough to say--to say--that he enjoys it!"
Burr turned a quick glance upon the heavier figure at his side, with ahalf smile of badinage on his own face. Lewis bowed again, formally,and Anthony Merry answered with equal politeness and ceremony.
"Yes," said the envoy, "to be sure I recall the young man. I met himin the anteroom at the President's house."
Meriwether Lewis cast him a quick glance, but made no answer. He knewwell enough the slighting estimate in which everything at Washingtonwas held by this minister accredited to our government. Also he knew,as he might have said, something about the diplomat's visit at theExecutive Mansion. For thus far the minister from Great Britain toWashington had not been able to see the President of the UnitedStates.
"And you are done your ride?" said Burr quickly, for his was a keennose to scent any complication. "Tell me"--he lifted his own reins nowto proceed--"you saw nothing of my daughter, Mrs. Alston? We missedher at the house, and have feared her abduction by some bold youngVirginian, eh?"
His keen eye rested fairly on the face of the younger man as he spoke.The latter felt the challenge under the half mocking words.
"Yes," he replied calmly, "I have seen Mrs. Alston. I left her but nowat the old mill, having a cup of coffee with the miller's wife. I hadnot time myself for a second, although Mrs. Alston honored me byallowing me to sit at her table for a moment. We met by accident, yousee, as we both rode, a short time ago. I overtook her when it was notyet sunrise, or scarcely more."
"You see!" laughed Burr, as he turned to Merry. "Our young men areearly risers when it comes to pursuit of the fair. I must ride at onceand see to the welfare of my daughter. She may be weeping at losingher escort so soon!"
They all smiled in proper fashion. Lewis bowed, and, lifting his hat,passed on. Burr, as they parted, fell for just a half-moment intothought, his face suddenly inscrutable, as if he pondered something.
"There is the ablest man I have seen in Washington," blurted out Merrysuddenly, apropos of nothing that had been said. "He has manners, andhe rides like an Englishman."
"Say not so!" said Burr, laughing. "Better--he rides like aVirginian!"
"Very well; it is the same thing. The Virginians are butourselves--this country is all English yet. And I swear--Mr. Burr, maywe speak freely?--I cannot see, and I never shall see, what is thesense in all this talk of a new democracy of the people. Now, what menlike these--like you----"
"You know well enough how far I agree with you," said Burr somberly.
"'Tis an experiment, our republic, I am willing to say that boldly toyou, at least. How long it may last----"
"Depends on men like you," said Merry, suddenly turning upon him asthey rode. "How long do you suppose his Majesty will endure suchslights as they put on us here day by day? My blood boils at theindignities we have had to suffer here--cooling our heels in yourPresident's halls. I call it mere presumptuousness. I cannot look uponthis country as anything but a province to be taken back again whenEngland is ready. And it may be, since so much turbulence anddiscourtesy seem growing here, that chance will not wait long in thecoming!"
"It may be, Mr. Merry," said Aaron Burr. "My own thoughts you know toowell for need of repetition. Let us only go softly. My plans advanceas well as I could ask. I was just wondering," he added, "whetherthose two young people really were together there at the old mill--andwhether they were there for the first time."
"If not, 'twas not for the last time!" rejoined the older man. "Yonderyoung man was made to fill a woman's eye. Your daughter, Mr. Burr,while the soul of married discreetness, and charming as any of her sexI have ever seen, must look out for her heart. She might find itdivided into three equal parts."
"How then, Mr. Minister?"
"One for her father----"
Aaron Burr bowed.
"Yes, her father first, as I verily believe. What then?"
"The second for her husband----"
"Certainly. Mr. Alston is a rising man. He has a thousand slaves onhis plantations--he is one of the richest of the rich SouthCarolinian planters. And in politics he has a chance--more than achance. But after that?"
"The third portion of so charming a woman's heart might perhaps beassigned to Captain Meriwether Lewis!"
"Say you so?" laughed Burr carelessly. "Well, well this must be lookedinto. Come, I must tell my son-in-law that his home is in danger ofbeing invaded! Far off in his Southern rice-lands, I fear he misseshis young wife sometimes. I brought her here for the sake of her ownhealth--she cannot thrive in such swamps. Besides, I cannot bear tohave her live away from me. She is happier with me than anywhere else.Yes, you are right, my daughter worships me."
"Why should she not? And why should she not ride with a gallant atsunrise for an early cup of coffee, egad?" said the older man.
Burr did not answer, and they rode on.
In the opposite direction there rode also the young man of whom theyspoke. And at about the time that the two came to the old mill andsaw Theodosia Alston sitting there--her face still cast down, hereyes gazing abstractedly into her untasted cup on the littletable--Meriwether Lewis was pulling up at the iron gate which thenclosed the opening in the stone wall encircling the modest officialresidence of his chief and patron, President Jefferson.