at spirit of democracy."

She stood, one hand ungloved, a finger at her lips, her eyes glowing. "I
am glad you came," she said. "On the whole, I am also glad I came upon
my foolish errand here to America."

"Madam," said I, my hand at the fastening of the door, "we have
exchanged pledges. Now we exchange places. It is you who are the
messenger, not myself. There is a message in your hands. I know not
whether you ever served a monarchy. Come, you shall see that our
republic has neither secrets nor hypocrisies."

On the instant she was not shrewd and tactful woman of the world, not
student, but once more coquette and woman of impulse. She looked at me
with mockery and invitation alike in her great dark eyes, even as I
threw down the chain at the door and opened it wide for her to pass.

"Is that my only reward?" she asked, smiling as she fumbled at a glove.

In reply, I bent and kissed the fingers of her ungloved hand. They were
so warm and tender that I had been different than I was had I not felt
the blood tingle in all my body in the impulse of the moment to do more
than kiss her fingers.

Had I done so--had I not thought of Elisabeth--then, as in my heart I
still believe, the flag of England to-day would rule Oregon and the
Pacific; and it would float to-day along the Rio Grande; and it would
menace a divided North and South, instead of respecting a strong and
indivisible Union which owns one flag and dreads none in the world.

CHAPTER VII

REGARDING ELISABETH

Without woman the two extremities of this life would be destitute
of succor and the middle would be devoid of pleasure.--_Proverb_.

In some forgotten garret of this country, as I do not doubt, yellowed
with age, stained and indistinguishable, lost among uncared-for relics
of another day, there may be records of that interview between two
strange personalities, John Calhoun and Helena von Ritz, in the
arrangement of which I played the part above described. I was not at
that time privileged to have much more than a guess at the nature of the
interview. Indeed, other things now occupied my mind. I was very much in
love with Elisabeth Churchill.

Of these matters I need to make some mention. My father's plantation was
one of the old ones in Maryland. That of the Churchills lay across a low
range of mountains and in another county from us, but our families had
long been friends. I had known Elisabeth from the time she was a tall,
slim