continued in a tone of conventional languor: "Yes, the weather is very
fine. We were remarking, Mrs. Smith, how sweet and pure the
atmosphere."

"Well, yes; the air seems fresh and healthy, but we have a touch of
malaria now and then in this Miami Valley."

Hon. John Smith, having chopped down a hickory sapling to make a
coupling pole, put his axe-craft to further use by cutting off a
forked bough, crooked by Nature, in the exact shape for a pack-saddle.
Satisfied with these forest spoils, the rustic statesman returned to
his house, where Burr met him with a cordial grasp and a ready tribute
of adulation.

"My dear Senator, this is like greeting Cincinnatus on the pastoral
side of Tiber, where he dwelt in domestic peace with his wife
Racilia."

The salutation gratified the Member of Congress, for he was
susceptible to flattery, and knew enough of Roman history to
understand the allusion to Cincinnatus, though he had never before
heard of Racilia. He valued the evidence of Burr's esteem, implied in
the pilgrimage the latter had taken the trouble to make, and no effort
was spared to load the colonel with proofs that his visit was
appreciated.

In Washington, Burr had known Smith only slightly and officially as
one of the senators from Ohio. In the retirement of a lonely farm
hourly companionship fostered intimacy. Conversation forgot
constraint; the two freely unfolded to each other their thoughts,
feelings and hopes, and a community of ideas was gradually established
between them. Burr encouraged personal revelation and solicited
confidential opinions. He affected warm interest in the details of
Smith's affairs--farming operations, grinding of wheat and corn,
profitable sales of whiskey, and growing trade at the Columbia store.
Neither the piety of the preacher nor the patriotism of the senator
could quell in Smith the cupidity of the fortune-builder. Adroitly did
Burr shift the trend of discourse to suit his own ends, leading the
elder by plausible arguments to accept as logical the sophistry of
self-love and greed. The word business was stretched to cover a
multitude of sins; the new dictionary of self-aggrandizement concealed
a spurious gospel of intrigue and treason.

Spoken words are but breath, and who can report all that passed
between the tempter and the tempted? Or who can be sure that the
craftiness of the guest was greater than the cunning of the host? The
nebulous emanations of Burr's mind were roun