A Volunteer with Pike. Robert Ames Bennet
Jefferson and Colonel Burr were alike pleased to give the señor close attention. The former was first to make his comment—"A friendly deed, and one seldom met with nowadays."
Colonel Burr was not content so to spare my modesty.
"Friendly!" he exclaimed, "friendly! Gallant is the word, sir! We read of Raleigh spreading his cloak for a queen. Here is an American gentleman who plunges into the mire to pry out a lady's coach, an act by far the more gallant!" He faced about to give me a knowing smile. "You saw the lady beckoning from the carriage window, and, of course, beauty in distress—"
"Santisima Virgen! My niece beckon to a stranger in the highway!" protested Señor Vallois, in a tone that would have compelled a far duller man than Colonel Burr to realize his mistake.
"Your pardon, señor!" he hastened to explain. "A mere figure of speech. I infer that the lady looked out, and Dr. Robinson, chancing to see her—"
"No, no, Colonel!" I broke in. "I cannot lay claim to the gallantry with which you would credit me. It was the needless lashing of the horses which prompted me to the action."
"The more credit to your kindliness, sir," remarked Mr. Jefferson, with a heartiness which added to my embarrassment. The nod of assent and warm glance of General Dearborn in part consoled me for the stress of the situation.
Whether the grave look of Señor Vallois indicated approval or disapproval of my disclaimer of gallantry I could not tell. But Colonel Burr was open in his protest.
"What! what!" he cried. "Is this the manner of the coming generation? Have romance and gallantry fled with the peruke?"
He looked from my loose, unpowdered curls to the Spaniard's costly wig.
"Youth will have its day," said General Dearborn, offering him his snuff-box. Mr. Burr took a pinch with the affected elegance of a beau. The dose was of such strength that the sneeze which followed flapped the Colonel's queue and lifted a cloud of powder from his hair. The President, Señor Vallois, and myself having in turn declined the box, General Dearborn complemented the Colonel with a sneeze that stirred his own thin queue and powder.
Mr. Jefferson made some remark commending the growing simplicity of fashion with regard to the dressing of the hair. He was interrupted by the entrance of a small, stoutish gentleman in black broadcloth, who bowed familiarly to the President and General Dearborn, and formally to Colonel Burr. I learned without delay that the newcomer was no less a personage than the Secretary of State, for Mr. Jefferson at once presented to him first the señor and then myself.
The introduction brought me to a full realization of the honor which had been conferred upon me. That such notable men as my fellow guests should be dining with the President was a matter of course, but that I should be present as a member of so distinguished a party was, I flattered myself, a most signal honor for an unknown young doctor.
The situation was in part explained by the President, who, as Mr. Madison met my bow with a penetrating glance of his mild blue eyes, remarked, in his easy, informal manner: "My secretary had a fall while riding to the hounds, and Dr. Robinson has been so good as to take his place with us this evening. Dr. Robinson is conversant with matters pertaining to Louisiana Territory."
A servant appeared at the door of the drawing-room, and Mr. Jefferson moved forward beside Señor Vallois, with a word of explanation: "We will join the ladies, gentlemen."
CHAPTER IV
SEÑORITA ALISANDA
My wits would have been those of a dolt had I not foreseen the possibility of the presence of Señorita Alisanda in the drawing-room. The chance of so favorable a meeting set my nerves to tingling between delighted anticipation and dread of disappointment.
Thanks to my ruddy coloring and a natural erectness of bearing, I followed the others to the door with a fair show of confidence, notwithstanding that I had to endure the contrast of so polished a gentleman as Mr. Burr. As we advanced, he had promptly placed himself at my side, in the rear of the others, his yielding of precedence being, as I was not too dull to perceive, a most subtle attempt to flatter me.
That I was flattered was not strange, as may be testified to by those who have come in personal contact with the man. Yet for all his winning manner I gave little heed to his words, my thoughts being fixed on the delicious possibility of an immediate meeting with my glorious lady of the avenue.
Imagine the bitterness of my disappointment, upon entering the drawing-room, to see no one in the remotest degree resembling the señorita among the ladies who awaited our presence. While Señor Vallois was being introduced I had a moment to glance about the room, with the disheartening result that I nowhere saw the graceful figure which I had hoped to discover screened by the shabby crimson damask of the furniture.
The voice of Mr. Jefferson recalled me to the ladies, and I found myself making a melancholy bow to Mrs. Randolph, his surviving daughter. She in turn presented me to the other ladies—of whose persons and appearance, out of the medley of muslins and fans, bright eyes, bared busts, and thinly veiled forms, I retain only the remembrance that one was Mrs. Dearborn, another a Mrs. Smith, daughter of the renowned Senator Bayard of Delaware, and a third Mrs. Madison. Of the fourth lady, whose name I did not catch, I recall that she was an elderly dame of sedate manners, but far other than sedate in her compliance with the extreme mode. Her gray curls were all but dripping with pomade, and the gore in the left side of her narrow skirt extended up above mid-thigh. Her jewelled garter was the handsomest one visible, for which reason, I presume, it was more openly displayed than those of the other ladies.
Mrs. Madison, petite and charming, notwithstanding her plainness of feature and the fact that she was nearer forty than thirty, promptly rallied me upon my look of depression. The Colonel and Mrs. Smith joined forces with "Dolly," as the latter addressed her, so that I was compelled to smile, if only to save myself from a general onslaught.
"That is better!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison. "He, a doctor! to think of dining with so gloomy a countenance!"
"Above all, to think of any other than a smiling face in your presence!" chimed in Mr. Burr. "I had not thought it possible of one who has proved that he can be gallant even to horses."
At this there was a chorus of curious questions. I turned, seeking a way of escape, and discovered that I was all but touching elbows with my lady of the mire!
Presently I found myself bowing. Though still half bewildered, I realized that I was being introduced to her as Miss Vallois, the niece of Señor Vallois.
Colonel Burr, who had been introduced with the other gentlemen while I stood in my daze, now sought to engage her attention. His eye for feminine charm and beauty is as well known as is his success with the ladies. With such a rival, my utter loss of composure doubtless would have resulted quickly in the more serious loss of the lady's attention, had she not at the last moment recognized me as the buckskin caballero.
With a glance of frank pleasure which came near to finishing me on the spot, she signed gracefully to her uncle: "Santa Maria! It is he—the caballero who so kindly came to our assistance!"
"I have already expressed to the señor the full measure of our gratitude for his service," replied Don Pedro, in a tone which recalled the girl to her first manner of polite hauteur.
"Permit me to join my thanks to those of my kinsman," she said to me.
Nettled by the condescension of her tone and bearing, I shook off my daze, and rejoined with more wit than courtesy, "Believe me, señorita, no thanks are due me other than from your coach horses."
Another chorus