on. And yet this man of almost
fabulous wealth, this patriot who with his business partner, Robert
Morris, had made it possible to feed and clothe Washington's starving
and naked soldiers, this financier who had negotiated loans with
Holland and France, now sat before him, meanly dressed, his brows
wrinkled with care, his drooping shoulders too expressive of defeat
for one who had helped his country win a glorious victory.

"It is good to see you again," said Haym, slowly. "I have not
forgotten you, but I thought you might have forgotten me." He coughed,
a hard, dry cough, leaning his fast graying head upon his hand.

"We are used to having our friends forget us," murmured his wife, who
sat sewing beside the lamp. She was a brisk, dark-haired woman, a
member of the famous Franks family which had served the country so
well during the dark days of the Revolution. "Of the many youths my
husband aided in prison, you are the first one who came to thank him
for his service."

"Nay, Rachel," her husband chided her gently. "I did not seek for
thanks. And it was not those brave soldiers I tried to serve, but
freedom." His tired eyes glowed with a warm light as he turned to
Louis. "I was born in unhappy Poland, so it is not strange that I
loved freedom with all my heart and with all my soul. And when I was
in prison, no longer free to serve this country which had welcomed me
so heartily, I thanked God that I was permitted to aid those who were
fighting her battles and seeking to make her free before the world."

"And after he escaped here to Philadelphia," added his wife, a note of
pride in her voice, "he fought for the colonies just as surely as
Colonel Franks upon the battlefield. You have heard of the vast sums
of money he lent the bankrupt government--and without a bit of
security, too."

Haym held up his hand in protest. "What security did I need? If I
could not trust my country, whom should I trust?" he asked her in
quiet sincerity.

She bent her dark head over the little garment she was mending, her
lips curved a bit scornfully. "I try not to be impatient. I know that
even though peace has come, commerce is still languishing; that it
will take many, many months for the government to pay its debts. Yet
it hurts me to see you so worried, so hampered because you lack
capital to go on with your business." Her dark eyes sparkled with
indignation. "You are only forty-five, Haym," she declared, almost
fiercely, "and yet y