ed to say that
she was your friend, the greatest of all recommendations in my eyes."

"You are delightful, Monsieur le Baron," said the Vicomtesse.

"Perhaps Mr. Ritchie can tell me something of this expedition," said the
Baron, his eyes growing smaller as he looked at me.

"Willingly," I answered. "Although I know that your Excellency is well
informed, and that Monsieur Vigo has doubtless given you many of the
details that I know."

He interrupted me with a grunt.

"You Americans are clever people, Monsieur," he said; "you contrive to
combine shrewdness with frankness."

"If I had anything to hide from your Excellency, I should not be here,"
I answered. "The expedition, as you know, has been as much of a farce as
Citizen Genet's commissions. But it has been a sad farce to me, inasmuch
as it involves the honor of my old friend and Colonel, General Clark,
and the safety of my cousin, Mr. Temple."

"So you were with Clark in Illinois?" said the Baron, craftily. "Pardon
me, Mr. Ritchie, but I should have said that you are too young."

"Monsieur Vigo will tell you that I was the drummer boy of the regiment,
and a sort of ward of the Colonel's. I used to clean his guns and cook
his food."

"And you did not see fit to follow your Colonel to Louisiana?" said his
Excellency, for he had been trained in a service of suspicion.

"General Clark is not what he was," I replied, chafing a little at his
manner; "your Excellency knows that, and I put loyalty to my government
before friendship. And I might remind your Excellency that I am neither
an adventurer nor a fool."

The little Baron surprised me by laughing. His irritability and his good
nature ran in streaks.

"There is no occasion to, Mr. Ritchie," he answered. "I have seen
something of men in my time. In which category do you place your cousin,
Mr. Temple?"

"If a love of travel and excitement and danger constitutes an
adventurer, Mr. Temple is such," I said. "Fortunately the main spur of
the adventurer's character is lacking in his case. I refer to the
desire for money. Mr. Temple has an annuity from his father's estate in
Charleston which puts him beyond the pale of the fortune-seeker, and I
firmly believe that if your Excellency sees fit to allow him to leave
the province, and if certain disquieting elements can be removed from
his life" (I glanced at the Vicomtesse), "he will settle down and become
a useful citizen of the United States. As much as I dislike