erest in the projects of Colonel Burr or his associates. The point
was that to my mind "foreign gentleman" spelled "senor," and I had met
but one senor at dinner in the company of Aaron Burr. If senor, why not
senorita? The rest follows as a matter of course.

My faithful nag had not gone unridden through the winter. A man does not
always give over the habit of a daily outing because of balls and routs
and tea-sippings. Yet the roads north might have been better--which is
not saying much,--and there are limits to the endurance of a beast,
though not to the miriness of a seaboard road in the spring rains. I did
not make the trip to Philadelphia in record time.

Upon my arrival I found that even the beast's master would be the
better for a night's rest. Directed to the Plow Tavern, I demanded food
and drink for man and horse, and having washed and supped, soon found
myself pressing the clean linen of my Quaker host.

Business justifies calls at early hours, and I did not breakfast late.
It was as well, perhaps, that I missed my way in the square-laid but
narrow Quaker streets, and did not find myself upon the doorstep of
Colonel Burr until midmorning. Even as it was, I had a wait of several
minutes in the drawing-room before the Colonel entered, wigless,
unshaven, and loosely attired in nightgown and slippers.

While waiting, a casual survey of the room had surprised me with its
evidences of a lavish establishment. Gossip had reported that the
Colonel was not meeting all his extensive indebtednesses when due.

He greeted me with bland cordiality, notwithstanding the inapt hour of
my call.

"Welcome, doctor, welcome!" he exclaimed. "Better late than never, eh?"

"You are kind," I replied. "I fancied that I had come too early."

He glanced at his dress with a shrug. "Wine and late hours carry through
many a successful conference. You will join me in a cup of coffee and a
roll?"

Though I had no wish for food, I assented, for I saw that he had not yet
breakfasted. We were soon seated in a snug little den of a room, sipping
as good coffee as I had ever tasted at any other than a creole table.

Few men whom I have met have greater command of their features than has
Colonel Burr. On the other hand, few are as over-sanguine. He must have
inferred that my speedy response to his note meant outright eagerness to
share in the projects at which he had hinted. Scarcely pausing for a few
civil inquiries as to mutual acquainta