, stroking the thin
fringe of beard under his chin. Still he seemed to talk with himself.

"We are not rich," he went on. "Our canals and railways are young. The
trail across our country is of monstrous difficulty. Give us but a few
years more and Oregon, ripe as a plum, would drop in our lap. To hinder
that is a crime. What Polk proposes is insincerity, and all insincerity
must fail. There is but one result when pretense is pitted against
preparedness. Ah, if ever we needed wisdom and self-restraint, we need
them now! Yet look at what we face! Look at what we may lose! And that
through party--through platform--through _politics_!"

He sighed as he paused in his walk and turned to me. "But now, as I
said, we have at least time for Texas. And in regard to Texas we need
another woman."

I stared at him.

"You come now to me with proof that my lady baroness traffics with
Mexico as well as England," he resumed. "That is to say, Yturrio meets
my lady baroness. What is the inference? At least, jealousy on the part
of Yturrio's wife, whether or not she cares for him! Now, jealousy
between the sexes is a deadly weapon if well handled. Repugnant as it
is, we must handle it."

I experienced no great enthusiasm at the trend of events, and Mr.
Calhoun smiled at me cynically as he went on. "I see you don't care for
this sort of commission. At least, this is no midnight interview. You
shall call in broad daylight on the Senora Yturrio. If you and my
daughter will take my coach and four to-morrow, I think she will gladly
receive your cards. Perhaps also she will consent to take the air of
Washington with you. In that case, she might drop in here for an ice. In
such case, to conclude, I may perhaps be favored with an interview with
that lady. I must have Van Zandt's signature to this treaty which you
see here!"

"But these are Mexicans, and Van Zandt is leader of the Texans, their
most bitter enemies!"

"Precisely. All the less reason why Senora Yturrio should be suspected."

"I am not sure that I grasp all this, Mr. Calhoun."

"Perhaps not You presently will know more. What seems to me plain is
that, since we seem to lose a valuable ally in the Baroness von Ritz, we
must make some offset to that loss. If England has one woman on the
Columbia, we must have another on the Rio Grande!"

CHAPTER XXI

POLITICS UNDER COVER

To a woman, the romances she makes are more amusing than those she
reads.--_Theophile