he finished with the
climax of deterioration in the revenge he had taken on Adams, and the
abyss of despair into which it had plunged him. He drew a long breath of
relief, and regarded his little judge with some defiance. She nodded.

"I feel old and wise," she said, "and at the same time much younger,
because I no longer shrink from a load on my mind I cannot understand.
And you--it has all gone." She darted at the candle and held it to his
face. "You look twenty years younger than when you sat there and
thought. I believed you were dying of old age."

"I feel better," he admitted, "But nothing can obliterate the scars. And
although I shall always be young at intervals, remember that I have
crowded three lifetimes into one, and that I must pay the penalty
spiritually and physically, although mentally I believe I shall hold my
own until the end." He leaned forward on a sudden impulse and took both
her hands. "I make you a vow," he said, "and I have never broken even a
promise--or only one," he added, remembering Troup's accusation. "I will
drive the bitterness out of myself and I will hate no more. My public
acts shall be unaccompanied by personal bitterness henceforth. Not a
vengeance that I have accomplished has been worth the hideous experience
of to-night, and so long as I live I shall have no cause to repeat it."

"If you ever broke that vow," said Angelica, "I should either die or go
crazy, for you would sink and never rise again."

VI

As Hamilton had anticipated, the Jacobin press shouted and laughed
itself hoarse, vowed that it never could have concocted so effective a
bit of campaign literature, and that the ursine roars of Adams could be
heard from Dan to Beersheba. Burr, as yet undetected, almost danced as
he walked. The windows were filled with parodies of the pamphlet,
entitled, "The Last Speech and Dying Words of Alexander Hamilton,"
"Hamilton's Last Letter and His Amorous Vindication," "A Free
Examination of the Morals, Political and Literary Characters of John
Adams and Alexander Hamilton." One cartoon displayed the sinking ship
_Administration_, with the Federal rats scuttling out of her, and
Hamilton standing alone on the deck; another, "The Little Lion"
sitting, dejected and forlorn, outside the barred gates of
"Hamiltonopolis." The deep, silent laughter of Jefferson shook the
continent.

The Federalist leaders were furious and aghast. But they recovered, and
when the time came, every Feder