were there, but he
did not forget the duty of a host. He began to speak of other things.
The breakfast went on to its end in an atmosphere of cool politeness.

When they were out upon the street together, Sir Benjamin turned to him
and said:

"Now that we are on neutral ground, I want to say that you Americans
are a stiff-necked lot of people. You are not like any other breed of
men. I am done with you. My way can not be yours. Let us part as
friends and gentlemen ought to part. I say good-by with a sense of
regret. I shall never forget your service to my wife and daughter."

"Think not of that," said the young man. "What I did for them I would
do for any one who needed my help."

"I have to ask you to give up all hope of marrying my daughter."

"That I can not do," said Jack. "Over that hope I have no control. I
might as well promise not to breathe."

"But I must ask you to give me your word as a gentleman that you will
hold no further communication with her."

"Sir Benjamin, I shall be frank with you. It is an unfair request. I
can not agree to it."

"What do you say?" the Englishman asked in a tone of astonishment, and
his query was emphasized with a firm tap of his cane on the pavement.

"I hate to displease you, sir, but if I made such a promise, I would be
sure to break it."

"Then, sir, I shall see to it that you have no opportunity to oppose my
will."

In spite of his fine restraint, the eyes of the Baronet glowed with
anger, as he quickly turned from the young man and hurried away.

"Here is more tyranny," the American thought as he went in the opposite
direction. "But I do not believe he can keep us apart."

"I walked on and on," he wrote to a friend. "Never had I felt such a
sense of loss and loneliness and dejection. I almost resented the
inflexible tyranny of my own spirit which had turned him against me. I
accused myself of a kind of selfishness in the matter. Had it been
right in me to take a course which endangered the happiness of another,
to say nothing of my own? But I couldn't have done otherwise, not if I
had known that a mountain were to fall upon me. I am like all of those
who follow the star in the west. We do as we must. I had not seen
Franklin since my duel, and largely because I had been ashamed to face
him. Now I felt the need of his wisdom and so I turned my steps toward
his door."

3

"I am like the land of Goshen amid the plagues of Egypt," said