A Volunteer with Pike Part 3

"What! what!" he cried. "Is this the manner of the coming generation?

Have romance and gallantry fled with the peruke?"

He looked from my loose, unpowdered curls to the Spaniard's costly wig.

"Youth will have its day," said General Dearborn, offering him his snuff-box. Mr. Burr took a pinch with the affected elegance of a beau.

The dose was of such strength that the sneeze which followed flapped the Colonel's queue and lifted a cloud of powder from his hair. The President, Senor Vallois, and myself having in turn declined the box, General Dearborn complemented the Colonel with a sneeze that stirred his own thin queue and powder.

Mr. Jefferson made some remark commending the growing simplicity of fas.h.i.+on with regard to the dressing of the hair. He was interrupted by the entrance of a small, stoutish gentleman in black broadcloth, who bowed familiarly to the President and General Dearborn, and formally to Colonel Burr. I learned without delay that the newcomer was no less a personage than the Secretary of State, for Mr. Jefferson at once presented to him first the senor and then myself.

The introduction brought me to a full realization of the honor which had been conferred upon me. That such notable men as my fellow guests should be dining with the President was a matter of course, but that I should be present as a member of so distinguished a party was, I flattered myself, a most signal honor for an unknown young doctor.

The situation was in part explained by the President, who, as Mr.

Madison met my bow with a penetrating glance of his mild blue eyes, remarked, in his easy, informal manner: "My secretary had a fall while riding to the hounds, and Dr. Robinson has been so good as to take his place with us this evening. Dr. Robinson is conversant with matters pertaining to Louisiana Territory."

A servant appeared at the door of the drawing-room, and Mr. Jefferson moved forward beside Senor Vallois, with a word of explanation: "We will join the ladies, gentlemen."

CHAPTER IV

SEnORITA ALISANDA

My wits would have been those of a dolt had I not foreseen the possibility of the presence of Senorita Alisanda in the drawing-room.

The chance of so favorable a meeting set my nerves to tingling between delighted antic.i.p.ation and dread of disappointment.

Thanks to my ruddy coloring and a natural erectness of bearing, I followed the others to the door with a fair show of confidence, notwithstanding that I had to endure the contrast of so polished a gentleman as Mr. Burr. As we advanced, he had promptly placed himself at my side, in the rear of the others, his yielding of precedence being, as I was not too dull to perceive, a most subtle attempt to flatter me.

That I was flattered was not strange, as may be testified to by those who have come in personal contact with the man. Yet for all his winning manner I gave little heed to his words, my thoughts being fixed on the delicious possibility of an immediate meeting with my glorious lady of the avenue.

Imagine the bitterness of my disappointment, upon entering the drawing-room, to see no one in the remotest degree resembling the senorita among the ladies who awaited our presence. While Senor Vallois was being introduced I had a moment to glance about the room, with the disheartening result that I nowhere saw the graceful figure which I had hoped to discover screened by the shabby crimson damask of the furniture.

The voice of Mr. Jefferson recalled me to the ladies, and I found myself making a melancholy bow to Mrs. Randolph, his surviving daughter. She in turn presented me to the other ladies,--of whose persons and appearance, out of the medley of muslins and fans, bright eyes, bared busts, and thinly veiled forms, I retain only the remembrance that one was Mrs.

Dearborn, another a Mrs. Smith, daughter of the renowned Senator Bayard of Delaware, and a third Mrs. Madison. Of the fourth lady, whose name I did not catch, I recall that she was an elderly dame of sedate manners, but far other than sedate in her compliance with the extreme mode. Her gray curls were all but dripping with pomade, and the gore in the left side of her narrow skirt extended up above mid-thigh. Her jewelled garter was the handsomest one visible, for which reason, I presume, it was more openly displayed than those of the other ladies.

Mrs. Madison, pet.i.te and charming, notwithstanding her plainness of feature and the fact that she was nearer forty than thirty, promptly rallied me upon my look of depression. The Colonel and Mrs. Smith joined forces with "Dolly," as the latter addressed her, so that I was compelled to smile, if only to save myself from a general onslaught.

"That is better!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison. "He, a doctor! to think of dining with so gloomy a countenance!"

"Above all, to think of any other than a smiling face in _your_ presence!" chimed in Mr. Burr. "I had not thought it possible of one who has proved that he can be gallant even to horses."

At this there was a chorus of curious questions. I turned, seeking a way of escape, and discovered that I was all but touching elbows with my lady of the mire!

Presently I found myself bowing. Though still half bewildered, I realized that I was being introduced to her as Miss Vallois, the niece of Senor Vallois.

Colonel Burr, who had been introduced with the other gentlemen while I stood in my daze, now sought to engage her attention. His eye for feminine charm and beauty is as well known as is his success with the ladies. With such a rival, my utter loss of composure doubtless would have resulted quickly in the more serious loss of the lady's attention, had she not at the last moment recognized me as the buckskin _caballero_.

With a glance of frank pleasure which came near to finis.h.i.+ng me on the spot, she signed gracefully to her uncle: "_Santa Maria!_ It is he--the _caballero_ who so kindly came to our a.s.sistance!"

"I have already expressed to the senor the full measure of our grat.i.tude for his service," replied Don Pedro, in a tone which recalled the girl to her first manner of polite hauteur.

"Permit me to join my thanks to those of my kinsman," she said to me.

Nettled by the condescension of her tone and bearing, I shook off my daze, and rejoined with more wit than courtesy, "Believe me, senorita, no thanks are due me other than from your coach horses."

Another chorus of questions demanded the explanation, and Colonel Burr responded by telling over Don Pedro's account in the form of a wittily brilliant anecdote. I listened unheeding, for my gaze was fixed upon Senorita Alisanda.

At my rude reply her eyes had flashed with a look before which my own dropped,--though not to the floor. As she drew back a step in her displeasure, my gaze dwelt adoringly upon the graces of her lissome form. She was tall, yet not unduly slender, and the queenly dignity and beauty of her presence were enhanced by the flowing lines of her dress.

Of the dress itself I can only say that it was of scarlet sa.r.s.enet, covered in part by an overdrape of silver spangles on white _crepe_, and, in compliance with the Empire mode, cut low enough in the waist to expose her dazzling shoulders and bosom. Her arms, rounding up from the small hands and slender wrists as if carved from new ivory, were bare to the bows of black ribbon on her shoulders. Close about her perfect throat, in place of the usual ruffs, was a double string of black pearls. Notwithstanding the universal acceptance of the new fas.h.i.+ons, I had great pleasure in the fact that she had not sacrificed her beautiful hair for a wig.

But, needless to say, I gave slight heed to her dress. My fascinated eyes dropped their gaze to the little arched foot which peeped from beneath the raised front of her dress, snugly cased in its diamond-buckled slipper of scarlet satin. The foot drew back out of view, and I looked up in time to catch a faint tinge of pink beneath the clear ivory of my lady's cheeks. Her look was, if possible, more haughty than before. Yet, emboldened by that faint blush and the intoxication of her beauty, I met her gaze with such a glow in my steel-gray eyes that this time it was hers that lowered.

A change in the light chatter of the company forced me to spare them a glance. Senor Vallois and Mrs. Randolph were leading the way to the dining-room, and the others were pairing off to follow, in a most informal manner. I saw Colonel Burr turning toward us, which spurred me to instant action.

"We go in now, senorita," I said, offering her my arm.

Mr. Burr flashed me a whimsical glance, between disappointment and commendation, and turned to the nearest lady. At the same time the senorita looked up. Seeing the others all in couples, she hesitated only a moment before accepting my arm.

Of the dining-room I can state no more than that it was a very long apartment, that the furniture was exceedingly plain, and that we sat at an oval table, whose shape was supposed to bring all present face to face.

Thanks to the close imitation of Parisian society at New Orleans, to which I had enjoyed the _entree_, I managed to conduct my unwilling partner to the table with a _haut ton_ that brought an uplift in the brows of more than one of my fellow guests. My elation over this success was short-lived. Colonel Burr adroitly placed himself on her other hand, and for a time I saw no more of her scarlet lips and dusky eyes. Both were given freely to the Colonel, whose reputation was only too well known.

I might have sought to console myself with the rareness of the wines and the epicurean delicacy of the food. The service was simple, yet refined, the cooking such that I at once recognized the art of a Frenchman. Yet even the Madeira failed to cheer me. I could only sit silent over my plate and steal lackadaisical glances at the rounded shoulder which my partner so cruelly turned upon me, and at the silky maze of sable hair which crowned her shapely head.

Until now my feeling toward Colonel Burr had been uncertain, vaguely doubtful, yet by no means hostile. It now hardened of a sudden into deep-seated aversion. So little has reason to do with the affairs of men--and women!

To show the depth of resentment into which my pa.s.sion flung me, I need only say that I conned over in my memory the fatal meeting between Mr.

Burr and Mr. Hamilton, and exulted that I might be able to avenge the great Federalist and myself at the same time by challenging the Colonel to a like encounter. For all his sinister reputation as a duellist, at that moment I would gladly have met him with any weapons he might choose.

Either because of my look, or, what was the more probable, because of his well-known aversion to a divided conversation at table, Mr.

Jefferson broke in upon the Colonel's _tete-a-tete_ with so shrewd a question regarding the Louisiana situation that Mr. Burr was required to answer at some length.

This fresh turn of the conversation the President, with seeming ingenuousness, deflected to me, so that, from being the one silent member of the party, I found myself most unexpectedly the main speaker and the centre of attention. By keeping well within the bounds of my certain information, I was able to hold my own in the general discussion which followed, and to reply to all questions with a fair degree of fluency, although subjected by each of the gentlemen in turn to a cross-examination as keen and pointed as it was lightly uttered.

"And your opinion of the Spanish boundaries?" asked Mr. Madison at last.

It was a question which I had expected from the first,--the question of all questions among my fellow-denizens of Louisiana Territory.

"We have him there!" said Colonel Burr, as I paused over my reply.

Even the ladies bent forward to catch my words, and I was not surprised to see that Senor Vallois betrayed still more interest than the other gentlemen. For the first time my partner turned and fixed her eyes upon me. I stated my opinion without further hesitancy.

"As to the West Florida boundary," I said, "there can be no doubt. Spain is in the right."

"Your proof?" demanded Colonel Burr.

I cited such clauses bearing upon the point in the Spanish and French treaties as were known, and other facts which I had heard mentioned by Mr. Daniel Clark.