xt76ww76tb53 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt76ww76tb53/data/mets.xml Hough, Emerson, 1857-1923. 1910  books b92-220-31181899 English Grosset & Dunlap, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Purchase price, or, The cause of compromise  / Emerson Hough. text Purchase price, or, The cause of compromise  / Emerson Hough. 1910 2002 true xt76ww76tb53 section xt76ww76tb53 

















THE PURCHASE PRICE

 






































































SHE FLUNG HERSELF UPON THE BED.-Page 153.

 






The Purchase Price
                 OR
     THE CAUSE OF COMPROMISE



                 By
        EMERSON HOUGH

               AUTHOR OF
          THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE
             54-40 OR FIGHT



     wVrH tLLUSTRATIONS BY
M. LEONE BLACKER AND EDMUND FREDERICK






     NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
     PUBLISHERS

 




   COPYRIGHT 1910
BY EMERSON HOUGH

 



















            TO
  HON. ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE
A PROGRESSIVE IN THE CAUSE OF
      ACTUAL FREEDOM

 This page in the original text is blank.

 







                 CONTENTS

CHAAPTER
     1 A LADY IN COMPANY .
     II THE GATEWAY AND SOME WHO PASSED



  III THE QUESTION
  IV THE GAME
  V SPOLIA OPIMA.
  VI THE NEW MASTER
  VII A CONFUSION IN CHATTELS
  VIII THE SHADOW CABINET
  IX TALLWOODS
  X FREE AND THRALL
  XI THE GARMENTS OF ANOTHER
  XII THE NIGHT
  XIII THE INVASION  .
  XIV THE ARGUMENT
  XV THE ARBITRAMENT
  XVI THE ADJUDICATION
XVII THE LADY AT TALLWOODS
XVIII ON PAROLE
XIX THE ENEMY
  XX THE ART OF DOCTOR JAMIESON
  XXI THE PAYMENT    .
XXII THE WAY OF A MAID
XXIII IN WASHINGTON
XXIV IN THE NAME OF ALTRUISM



           36
             47
    55
             68
           85
           .96
           114
       . 133
       . . I38
    ..  . 152
          . 170
    ..   . 180
   . .   . 186

    ..   . 195
            205
          . 213
          . 223
            231
            243
          . 267
           277
          . 292



  XXV THE ARTFUL GENTLEMAN FROM KENTUCKY  .   . 303
  XXVI THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN FROM NEWYORK 320
XXVII A SPLENDID FAILURE                    .   341
XXVIII IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT                       . 353
XXIX IN OLD ST. GENEVIEVE   .                  374
  XXX THE TURNCOAT              .             . 385
  XXXI THE SPECTER IN THE HOUSE                . 398



PAGE


23

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                    THE

      PURCHASE PRICE


                 CHAPTER I
              A LADY IN COMPANY

C ]MADAM, you are charming! You have not
        slept, and yet you smile. No man could ask
a better prisoner."
  She turned to him, smiling faintly.
  " I thank you. At least we have had breakfast, and
for such mercy I am grateful to my jailer. I admit I
was famished. 'What now  "
  With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the
water front, where, at the end of the dock on which
they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river
packet, the black smoke already pouring from her
stacks. In turn he smiled and also shrugged a shoul-
der.
  " Let us not ask! My dear lady, I could journey
on for ever with one so young and pleasant as yourself.
I will give you my promise in exchange for your
parole."
  Now her gesture was more positive, her glance
flashed more keenly at him. " Do not be too rash,"
                       I

 



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she answered. " My parole runs only while we travel
together privately. As soon as we reach coach or boat,
matters will change. I reserve the right of any pris-
oner to secure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I shall endeavor, believe me -and in my own way."
  He frowned as she presently went on to make herself
yet more clear. " It was well enough when we traveled
in our own private express, from Washington here
to Pittsburg, for then there was no chance for escape.
I gave my parole, because it pleased you and did not
jeopardize myself. Here my jailer may perhaps have
some trouble with me."
  " You speak with the courage and fervor of the true
leader of a cause, Madam," he rejoined, now smiling.
" What evil days are these on which I have fallen -
I, a mere soldier obeying orders! Not that I have
found the orders unpleasant; but it is not fair of you
to bring against mankind double weapons! Such is
not the usage of civilized warfare. Dangerous enough
you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid
those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have
been accustomed to arrogate to themselves."
  " Arrogate is quite the right word. It is especially
fit for a jailer."
  This time the shaft went home. The florid coun-
tenance of young Captain Carlisle flushed yet ruddier
beneath its tan. His lips set still more tightly under
the scant reddish mustache. With a gesture of im-
patience he lifted his military hat and passed a hand
over the auburn hair which flamed above his white
                        2

 



































































CARLISLE TURNED, A MAN'S ADMIRATION IN HIS EYES

 

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forehead. His slim figure stiffened even as his face
became more stern. Clad in the full regimentals of
his rank, he made a not unmanly figure as he stood
there, though hardly taller than this splendid woman
whom he addressed-a woman somewhat reserved,
mocking, enigmatic; but, as he had said, charming.
That last word of description had been easy for any
man who had seen her, with her long-lashed dark eyes,
her clear cheek just touched with color, her heavy
dark hair impossible to conceal even under its engulfing
bonnet, her wholly exquisite and adequate figure
equally unbanished even by the trying costume of the
day. She stood erect, easy, young, strong, fit to live;
and that nature had given her confidence in herself
X as evidenced now in the carriage of head and body
as she walked to and fro, pausing to turn now and
then, impatient, uneasy, like some caged creature, as
lithe, as beautiful, as dangerous and as puzzling in the
matter of future conduct. Even as he removed his
cap, Carlisle turned to her, a man's admiration in his
eyes, a gentleman's trouble also there.
  "My dear Countess St. Auban," said he, more
formally, " I wish that you might never use that xord
with me again,- jailer! I am only doing my duty as
a soldier. The army has offered to it all sorts of
unpleasant tasks. They selected me as agent for your
disappearance because I am an army officer. I had
no option, I must obey. In my profession there is not
enough fighting, and too much civilian work, police
w ork, constable work, detective work. There are
                         4

 


A LADY IN COMKPANY



fools often for officers, and over them politicians who
are worse fools, sometimes. Well, then, why blame
a simple fellowv like me for doing what is given him to
do I have not liked the duty, no matter how much
I have enjoyed the experience. Now, with puzzles
ended and difficulties beginning, you threaten to make
my unhappy lot still harder! "
  " Why did you bring me here"
  " That I do not know. I could not answer you
even did I know."
  "And why did I come" she mused, half to her-
self.
  " Nor can I say that. Needs must when the devil
drives; and His Majesty surely was on the box and
using his whip-hand, two days ago, back in Washing-
ton. Your own sense of fairness will admit as much
as that."
  She threw back her head like a restless horse,
blooded, mettlesome, and resumed her pacing up and
down, her hands now clasped behind her back.
  " When I left the carriage with my maid Jeanne,
there," she resumed at length; " when I passed through
that dark train shed at midnight, I felt that some-
thing was wrong. When the door of the railway
coach was opened I felt that conviction grow. When
you met me - the first time I ever saw you, sir,-
I felt my heart turn cold."
  " Madam! "
  " And when the door of the coach closed on myself
and my maid,- when wae rolled on away from the city,
                        5

 


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in spite of all I could do or say-, why, then, sir, you
were my jailer. Have matters changed since then"
  "Madam, from the first you were splendid! You
showed pure courage. ' I am a prisoner! ' you cried at
first - not more than that. But you said it like a lady,
a noblewoman. I admired you then because you
faced me - whom you had never seen before - with
no more fear than had I been a private and you my
commanding officer."
    Fear wins nothing."
  "Precisely. Then let us not fear what the future
may have for us. I have no directions beyond this
point,- Pittsburg. I was to take boat here, that was
all. I was to convey you out into the West, some-
where, anywhere, no one was to know where. And
someway, anyway, my instructions were, I was to lose
you -to lose you, Madam, in plain point of fact.
And now, at the very time I am indiscreet enough to
tell you this much, you make my cheerful task the
more difficult by saying that you must be regarded
only as a prisoner of war! "
  Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no
fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear
light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors
for youth and health like hers. She put back a truant
curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to
the world, and looked him full in the face now, draw-
ing a deep breath which caused the round of her
bosom to lift the lace at her throat. Then, woman-
like, she did the unlooked for, and laughed at him,
                        6

 

A LADY IN COMPANY



a low, full ripple of wholesome laughter, which
evoked again a wave of color to his sensitive face.
Josephine St. Auban was a prisoner, a prisoner of
state, in fact, and such by orders not understood by
herself, although, as she knew very well, a prisoner
without due process of law. Save for this tearful
maid who stood yonder, she was alone, friendless.
Her escape, her safety even, lay in her own hands.
Yet, even now, learning for the first time this much
definitely regarding the mysterious journey into which
she had been entrapped - even now, a prisoner held
fast in some stern and mysterious grasp whose reason
and whose nature she could not know - she laughed,
when she should have wept!
  " My instructions were to take you out beyond this
point," went on Carlisle; " and then I was to lose you,
as I have said. I have had no definite instructions as
to how that should be done, my dear Countess."  His
eyes twinkled as he stiffened to his full height and
almost met the level of her own glance.
  "The agent who conveyed my orders to me -he
comes from Kentucky, you see - said to me that while
I could not bow-string you, it would be quite proper
to put you in a sack and throw you overboard.
'Only,' said he to me, 'be careful that this sack be
tightly tied; and be sure to drop her only where the
water is deepest. And for God's sake, my dear young
man,' he said to me, 'be sure that you do not drop her
anywhere along the coast of my own state of Ken-
tucky; for if you do, she will untie the sack and swim
                         7

 

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ashore into my constituency, where I have trouble
enough without the Countess St. Auban, active abo-
litionist, to increase it. Trouble '- said he to me -
'thy name is Josephine St. Auban!'
  " My dear lady, to that last, I agree. But, there you
have my orders. You are, as may be seen, close to
the throne, so far as we have thrones in this country."
  " Then I am safe until we get below the Kentucky
shore " she queried calmly.
  " I beg you not to feel disturbed,-" he began.
  " Will you set me down at Louisville"
  " Madam, I can not."
  " You have not been hampered with extraordinary
orders. You have just said, the carte blanche is in
your hands."
  " I have no stricter orders at any time than those
I take from my own conscience, Madam. I mnust act
for your own good as well as for that of others."
  Her lip curled now. " Then not even this country
is free! Even here there are secret tribunals. Even]
here there are hired bravos."
  " Ah, Madam, please, not that! I beg of you-"
  " Excellently kind of you all, to care so tenderly
for me - and yourselves! I, only a woman, living
openly, with ill will for none, paying my own way, vio-
lating no law of the land "
  " Your words are very bitter, Madam."
  " The more bitter because they are true. You will
release me then at Cairo, below"
                        8

 

A LADY IN COIMPANY



  " I can not promise, Mladam. You would be back
in Washington by the first boats and trains."
  "So, the plot runs yet further Perhaps you do
not stop this side the outer ways of the Mississippi
Say, St. Louis, New Orleans"
  " Perhaps even beyond those points," he rejoined
grimly. " I make no promises, since you yourself
make none."
  " What are your plans, out there, beyond"
  " You ask it frankly, and with equal frankness I say
I do not know. Indeed, I am not fully advised in all
this matter. It was imperative to get you out of
XNaslhington, and if so, it is equally imperative to keep
you out of Washington. At least for a time I am
obliged to construe my carte blanche in that way, my
dear lady. And as I say, my conscience is my strictest
officer."
  " Yes," she said, studying his face calmly with her
steady dark eyes.
  It was a face sensitive, although bony and lined;
stern, though its owner still was young. She noticed
the reddish hair and beard, the florid skin, the blue
eye set deep - a fighting eye, yet that of a visionary.
  "You are a fanatic," she said.
  "That is true. You, yourself, are of my own kind.
You would kill me without tremor, if you had orders,
and I -"
  "You would do as much!
  "You are of my kind, Madam. Yes; wve both take
                        9

 
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orders from our own souls. And that we think alike
in many ways I am already sure."
    None the less -"
  "None the less, I can not agree to set you down at
Cairo, or at any intermediate point. I will only give
my promise in return for your own parole. That, I
would take as quickly as though it were the word of
any officer; but you do not give it."
  " No, I do not. I am my own mistress. I am
going to escape as soon as I can."
  He touched his cap in salute. " Very well, then.
I flattered myself we had done well together thus far
-you have made it easy. But now -no, no, I will
not say it. I would rather see you defiant than to
have you weaken. I love courage, and you have it.
That will carry you through. It will keep you clean
and safe as well."
  Her face clouded for the first time.
  "I have not dared to think of that," she said. " So
long as we came in the special train, with none to
molest or make me afraid -afraid with that fear
which a woman must always have -we did well
enough, as I have said; but now, here in the open, in
public, before the eyes of all, who am I, and who are
you to me I am not your mother "
  " Scarcely, at twenty three or four." He pursed a
judicial lip.
    Nor your sister"
  "No."
                       I0

 
































































THE MOUNT VERNON

 

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  " Nor your wife "
  "No." He flushed here, although he answered
simply.
  " Nor your assistant in any way"
  His face lighted suddenly.
  "XWhy not " said he. " Can't you be my amanuen-
sis,- that sort of thing, you see Come, we must
think of this. This is where my conscience hurts me
- I can't bear to have my duty hurt you. That, my
dear Countess, cuts me to the quick. You will believe
that, won't you 
  "Yes, I believe that. Jeanne," she motioned to
her maid who stood apart all this time, "my wrap,
please. I find the air cool. When the body is weak
or worn, my dear sir, the mind is not at its best; and
I shall need all my wits."
  " But you do not regard me as your enemy"
  " I am forced to do so. Personally, I thank you;
professionally, I must fight you. Socially, I must be
- what did you say,- your amanuensis So! We
are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river
fortifications, perhaps But since when did army
officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple
republic Does your Vehmgerichte pay such extraor-
dinary expenses Does your carte blanche run so far
as that also "
  " You must not use such terms regarding the govern-
ment of this country," he protested. " Our adminis-
tration does not suit me, but it has pleased a majority
of our people, else it would not be in power, and it is
                        12

 

A LADY IN COMPANY



no Vehmgerichte. The law of self preservation ob-
tains in this country as with all nations, even in Europe.
But we have planned no confiscation of your property,
nor threatened any forfeiture of your life."
  " No, you have only taken away that which is dearer
than anything else, that which your government guar-
antees to every human being in this country-
liberty! "
  " And even that unconstitutional point shall remain
such no longer than I can help, Madam. Do not make
our journey longer by leaving it more difficult. God
knows, I am beset enough even as it is now. But be
sure our Vehmgerichte, as you are pleased to call it,
shall never, at least while I am its agent, condemn you
to any situation unsuited to a gentlewoman. A very
high compliment has been paid you in holding you
dangerous because of your personal charm. It is true,
Madam, that is why you were put out of Washington
-because you were dangerous. They thought you
could get the ear of any man -make him divulge se-
crets which he ought to keep -if you just asked him
to do it - for the sake of Josephine St. Auban! " He
jerked out his sentences, as though habitual reticence
and lack of acquaintance with women left it difficult
for him to speak, even thus boldly.
  "Oh, thank you, thank you!"   She clapped her
hands together, mockingly.
  " Before now, women less beautiful than you have
robbed men of their reason, have led them to do things
fatal as open treason to their country. These men
                        '3

 

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were older than you or I. Perhaps, as you will agree,
they were better able to weigh the consequences. You
are younger than they, younger than I, myself; but
you are charming - and you are young. Call it
cruel of me, if you like, to take you by the hand and
lead you gently away from that sort of danger for
just a few days. Call me jailer, if you like. None the
less it is my duty, and I shall call it in part a kind-
ness to you to take you away from scenes which might
on both sides be dangerous. Some of the oldest and
best minds of this country have felt "
  "At least those minds were shrewd in choosing their
agent," she rejoined. "Yes; you are fanatic, that is
plain. You will obey orders. And you have not been
much used to women. That makes it harder for me.
Or easier!" She smiled at him again, very blithe for
a prisoner.
  "It ought to have been held down to that," he
began disconsolately. " I should have been all along
professional only. It began well when you gave me
your parole, so that I need not sit nodding and blink-
ing, over against you also nodding and blinking all
night long. Had you been silly, as many women would
have been, you could not this morning be so fresh
and brilliant -even though you tell me you have not
slept, which seems to me incredible. I myself slept
like a boy, confident in your word. Now, you have
banished sleep! Nodding and blinking, I must hence-
forth watch you, nodding and blinking, unhappy,
uncomfortable; whereas, were it in my power, I
                        14

 

A LADY IN COMPANY



would never have you know the first atom of discom-
fort."
  " There, there! I am but an amanuensis, my dear
Captain Carlisle."
  He colored almost painfully, but showed his own
courage. " I only admire the wisdom of the Vehm-
gerichte. They knew you were dangerous, and I
know it. I have no hope, should I become too much
oppressed by lack of sleep, except to follow instruc-
tions, and cast you overboard somewhere below Ken-
tucky! "
  " You ask me not to attempt any escape"
  " Yes."
  " Why, I would agree to as much as that. It is, as
you say, a matter of indifference to me whether I leave
the boat at Cairo or at some point farther westward.
Of course I would return to Washington as soon as I
escaped from bondage."
  "Excellent, Madam! Now, please add that you
will not attempt to communicate with any person on
the boat or on shore."
  " No; that I will not agree to as a condition."
  " Then still you leave it very hard for me."
  She only smiled at him again, her slow, deliberate
smile; yet there was in it no trace of hardness or
sarcasm. Keen as her mind assuredly was, as she
smiled she seemed even younger, perhaps four or five
and twenty at most. With those little dimples now
rippling frankly into view at the corners of her mouth,
she was almost girlish in her expression, although the
                        I5

 
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dark eyes above, long-lashed, eloquent, able to speak
a thousand tongues into shame, showed better than
the small curving lips the well-poised woman of the
world.
  Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, mar-
tinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helpless-
ness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her
alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner
might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned
such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced
a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this
under handicap so hard. For almost the first time
since they had met they were upon the point of
awkwardness. Light speech failed them for the
moment, the gravity of the situation began to come
home to both of them. Indeed, who were they
What were they to the public under whose notice
they might fall -indeed, must fall There was no
concealing face and figure of a woman such as this;
no, not in any corner of the world, though she were
shrouded in oriental veil. Nay, were she indeed tied
in a sack and flung into the sea, yet would she arise
to make trouble for mankind until her allotted task
should be complete! How could they two answer
any question which might arise regarding their er-
rand, or regarding their relations as they stood here
at the gateway of the remoter country into which they
were departing How far must their journey together
continue What would be said regarding them
  Carlisle found it impossible to answer such ques-
                        I6

 


A LADY IN CO.MPANY



tic'ns. She herself only made the situation the more
difficult with her high-headed defiance of him.
  Hesitating, the young officer turned his gaze over
the wide dock, now covered with hurrying figures,
with massed traffic, with the confusion preceding the
departure of a river boat. Teams thundered, carts
trundled here and .there, shoutings of many minor
captains arose. Those who were to take passage on
the packet hurried forward to the gangway, so oc-
cupied in their own affairs as to have small time to
examine their neighbors. The very confusion for the
time seemed to afford.safety. Carlisle was upon the
point of drawing a long breath of relief; but even as
he turned to ask his companion to accompany him
aboard the boat he caught sight of an approaching
figure which he seemed to recognize. He would have
turned away, but the keen-witted woman at his side
followed his gaze and paused. There approached
these two now, hat in hand, a gentleman who evidently
intended to claim acquaintance.
  This new-comer was a man who in any company
would have seemed striking. In complexion fair, and
with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as
broad in the shoulder. He was smooth-faced, and his
fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man
in good physical condition through active exercise,
yet well content with the world's apportionment.
His limbs were long, his hands bony and strong.
His air, of self-confident assurance, seemed that of a
man well used to having his own way. His forehead
                         '7

 

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was high and somewhat rugged. Indeed, all his fea-
tures were in large mold, like the man himself, as
though he had come from a day when skin garments
made the proper garb of men. As though to keep up
this air of an older age, his long fair hair was cut
almost square, low down on the neck, as though he
were some Frank fresh from the ancient forests.
Over the forehead also this square cut was affected,
so that, as he stood, large and confident, not quite
out r, scarce eccentric, certainly distinguished  in
appearance, he had a half-savage look, as though
ignorant or scornful of the tenderer ways of civiliza-
tion. A leader this man might be, a poor follower
always.
  Yet the first words he uttered showed the voice and
diction of a gentleman. " My dear Captain," he be-
gan, extending his hand as he approached, " I am in-
deed charmed! What a delight to see you again in
our part of the world! I must claim the pleasure of
having met you once -two years ago, in St. Louis.
Are you again on your way to the frontiers "
  The tone of inquiry in his voice was just short of
curious, indeed might have been called expectant.
His gaze, admiring yet polite, had not wholly lost
opportunity to list the attractions of this lady, whose
name had not yet been given him.
  The gentleman accosted declined to be thus defi-
nite; adding only, after the usual felicitations, " Yes,
we are going down the river a little way on the
Vernon here."
                         I8

 




























W



HE STILL BOWED, WITH RESPECTFUL GLANCES



.1/
-91



3A,

 

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  "For some distance"
  " For quite a distance."
  "At least, this is not your first journey down our
river "
  "I wish it might be the last. The railway is open-
ing up a new world to us. The stage-coach is a thing
of the past."
  "I wish it might be, for me! " rejoined the stranger.
"Unfortunately, I am obliged to go West from here
over the National Road, to look at some lands I own
out in Indiana. I very much regret-"
  There was by this time yet more expectancy in his
voice. He still bowed, with respectful glances bent
upon the lady. No presentation came, although in the
easy habit of the place and time, such courtesy might
perhaps have been expected. Why this stiffness
among fellow travelers on a little river packet
  The tall man was not without a certain grave
audacity. A look of amusement came to his face as
he gazed at the features of the other, now obviously
agitated, and not a little flushed.
  "I had not known that your sister -" he began.
  His hand thus forced, the other was obliged to
reply: " No, the daughter of an old friend of mine,
you see - we are en voyage together for the western
country. It has simply been my fortune to travel in
company with the lady. I present you, my dear sir,
to Miss Barron. My dear Miss Barron, this is State
Senator Warville Dunwody, of Missouri. We are
of opposite camps in politics."
                        20

 

A LADY IN COMPANY



  The tall man bowed still more deeply. Meantime,
Josephine St. Auban in her own way had taken in-
ventory of the new-corner. Her companion hastily
sought to hold matters as they were.
  " My dear Senator Dunwody," he said, " we were
just passing down to the boat to see that the luggage
is aboard. With you, I regret very much that your
journey takes you from us."
  The sudden consternation which sat upon Dunwody's
face was almost amusing. He was very willing to
prolong this conversation. Into his soul there had
flashed the swift conviction that never in his life had
he seen a woman so beautiful as this. Yet all he
could do was to smile and bow adieu.
  "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented
the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to
his prisoner. " We'll see him on in Washington
some day. He is strengthening his forces now against
Mr. Benton out there. A strong man - a strong one;
and a heedless."
  "Of what party is he" she inquired, as though
casually.
  "What a man's party is in these days," was his
answer, " is something hard to say. A man like
Dunwody is pretty much his own party, although the
Bentonites call him a 'soft Democrat.' Hardly soft
he seems, when he gets in action at the state capital
of Missouri yonder. Certainly Dunwody is for war
and tumult. None of this late weak-kneed compro-
mise for him! To have his own way - that is
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Dunwody's creed of life. I thank God he is not going
with us now. He might want his own way with you,
from the fashion of his glances. Did you see My
word!"   Young Carlisle fumed a shade more than
might have seemed necessary for military reasons.
  Josephine St. Auban turned upon him with her
slow smile, composedly looking at him from between
her long, dark lashes.
  "Why do you say that " she inquired.
  "Because it is the truth. I don't want him about."
  "Then you will be disappointed."
  "Why do you say that Did you not hear him
say that he was going WVest by coach from here "
  "You did not give him time. He is not going West
by coach."
  "What do you mean"
  "He will be with us on the boat!"



22

 







CHAPTER II



     THE GATEWAY, AND SOME WHO PASSED

W     HEN  Captain Edward Carlisle made casual
V    reference to the " weak-kneed compromise," he
simply voiced a personal opinion on a theme which
was in the mind of every American, and one regarded
with as many minds as there were men. That political
measure of the day was hated by some, admired by
others. This man condemned it, that cried aloud its
righteousness and infallibility; one argued for it
shrewdly, another declaimed against it loudly. It
was alike blessed and condemned. The southern
states argued over it, many of the northern states
raged at it. It ruined many political fortunes and
made yet other fortunes. That year was a threshold-
time in our history, nor did any see what lay beyond
the door.
  If there existed then a day when great men and
great measures were to be born, certainly there lay
ready a stage fit for any mighty drama -indeed,
commanding it. It was a young world withal, in-
deed a world not even yet explored, far less exploited,
so far as were concerned those vast questions which,
in its dumb and blind way, humanity both sides of
the sea then was beginning to take up. America
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scarce more than a half century ago was for the most
part a land of query, rather than of hope.
  Not even in their query were the newer lands of
our country then alike. We lay in a vast chance-
medley, and never had any country greater need for
care and caution in its councils. By the grace of the
immortal gods we had had given into our hands an
enormous area of the earth's richest inheritance, to
have and to hold, if that might be; but as yet we were
not one nation. We had no united thought, no com-
mon belief as to what was national wisdom. For
three quarters of a century this country had grown;
for half a century it had been divided, one section
fighting against another in all but arms. We spoke
of America even then as a land of the free, but it
was not free; nor on the other hand was it wholly
slave. Never in the history of the world has there
been so great a land, nor one of so diverse systems of
government.
  Before these travelers, for instance, who paused
here at the head of the Ohio River, there lay the
ancient dividing line between the South and the North.
To the northwest, between the Great Lakes and the
Ohio, swept a vast land which, since the days of the
old Northwest Ordinance of 1787, had by national
enactment been decreed for ever free. Part of this had
the second time been declared free, by state law also.
To the eastward of this lay certain states where
slavery had been forbidden by the laws of the several
states, though not by that of the nation. Again, far
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out to the West, beyond the great waterway on one
of whose arms our travelers now stood, lay the vast
provinces bought from Napoleon; and of these, all
lying north of that compromise line of thirty-six de-
grees, thirty minutes, agreed upon in i820, had been
declared for ever free by national law. Yet beyond
this, in the extreme northwest, lay Oregon, fought
through as free soil by virtue of the old Northwest
Ordinance, the sleeping dog of slavery being evaded
and left to lie when the question of Oregon came up.
Along the Pacific, and south of Oregon, lay the new
empire of California, bitterly contended over by both
sections, but by her