distinguished-looking man, impassive, calm, a man whose face was known
to all--the new Governor of Louisiana, viceroy of the country that
Burr had lost. Upon his arm, pale, clad all in black, walked the
daughter of the prisoner at the bar!

Was it in defiance or in compliance that this act was done? Was it by
orders, or against orders, or without orders, that the President's
best friend walked in public, before all the world, with the daughter
of the President's worst enemy? It was the guess of anybody and the
query of all.

There, in full view of all the attendants, in full view of the
jury--and of John Randolph of Roanoke, its foreman--sat the two
persons who had had most to do with this scene of which they now made
a part. There sat the man who had explored the great West, and the
woman who had done her best to prevent that exploration; Mr.
Jefferson's friend, and the daughter of the great conspirator, Aaron
Burr. _Ergo, ergo_, said many tongues swiftly--and leaned head to head
to whisper it. Mind sometimes speaks to mind--even across the rail of
a jury-box. Sympathy runs deep and swift sometimes. All the world
loved Meriwether Lewis then, would favor him--or favor what he
favored.

The issue of that great trial was not to come for weeks as yet; but
when it came, and by whatever process, Aaron Burr was acquitted of the
charges brought against him. The republic for whose downfall he had
plotted set him free and bade him begone.

But now, at the close of this day, the two central figures of the
tragic drama found themselves together once more. They could be alone
nowhere but in the prison room; and it was there that they parted.

Between them, as they stood now at last, about to part, there
stretched an abysmal gulf which might never personally be passed by
either.

She faced him at length, trembling, pleading, helpless.

"How mighty a thing is a man's sense of honor!" she said slowly. "You
have done what I never would have asked you to do, and I am glad that
you did. I once asked you to do what you would not do, and I am glad
that you did not. How can I repay you for what you have done today? I
cannot tell how, but I feel that you have turned the tide for us. Ah,
if ever you felt that you owed me anything, it is paid--all your debt
to me and mine. See, I no longer weep. You have dried my tears!"

"We cannot balance debits and credits," he replied. "There is no way
in the world in which you and I can cry qu