ever the price,
you have paid it--or will pay it! But tell me, Merne, can you not tear
her from your soul? It will ruin you, this hopeless attachment which
you cherish. Is it always to remain with you? I bid you find some
other woman. The best in the land are waiting for you."

"Mr. Jefferson, I shall never marry."

The two sat looking into each other's eyes for just a moment. Said
Thomas Jefferson at length, slowly:

"So! You have come back with all happiness, all success, for me and
for others--but not for yourself! Such proving as you have had has
fallen to the lot of but few men. I know now how great has been the
cost--I see it in your face. The fifteen millions I paid for yonder
lands was nothing. We have bought them with the happiness of a human
soul! The transient gratitude of this republic--the honor of that
little paper--bah, they are nothing! But perhaps it may be something
for you to know that at least one friend understands."

Lewis did not speak.

"What is lost is lost," the President began again after a time. "What
is broken is broken. But see how clearly I look into your soul. You
are not thinking now of what you can do for yourself. You are not
thinking of your new rank, your honors. You are asking now, at this
moment, what you can do for _her_! Is it not so?"

The smile that came upon the young man's face was a beautiful, a
wonderful thing to see. It made the wise old man sad to see it--but
thoughtful, too.

"She is at Richmond, Merne?" said Mr. Jefferson a moment later.

The young man nodded.

"And the greatest boon she could ask would be her father's
freedom--the freedom of the man who sought to ruin this country--the
man whom I scarcely dare release."

The thin lips compressed for a moment. It was not in implacable,
vengeful zeal--it was but in thought.

"Now, then," said Thomas Jefferson sharply, "there comes a veil, a
curtain, between you and me and all the world. No record must show
that either of us raised a hand against the full action of the law, or
planned that Colonel Burr should not suffer the full penalty of the
code. Yes, for him that is true--but _not for his daughter_!"

"Mr. Jefferson!" The face of Meriwether Lewis was strangely moved. "I
see the actual greatness of your soul; but I ask nothing."

"Why, in my heart I feel like flinging open every prison door in the
world. If you have gained an empire for your country, and paid for it
as you have, could not a great and r