Lewis fully shared Jefferson's distrust of the insinuating little man who had all but intrigued himself into the Presidency, and was even now beckoning to the discomfited Federalists with one hand, while he flourished the Republican standard with the other. That Burr was a trouble-maker, Jefferson was convinced. Small puffs of intrigue and disloyalty arose from his vicinity, wherever he might be, like smoke from a smothered campfire. A situation all the more annoying because there was nothing tangible. He discharged his official duties with dignified efficiency, and presided well over the Senate, as even his enemies were forced to admit.

'Why do you speak of my father in that tone?' said Theo sadly. 'You have been listening to scandal, the lying tongues of his enemies. You do not, surely, believe the ridiculous allegations of Alexander Hamilton and his cat's-paw, Cheetham. He is well named, "Cheat'em." There is no truth in any of his scurrilous articles.'

Lewis was silent. Doubtless no man could be the monster of iniquity which Cheetham in the American Citizen represented Aaron as being, but though Lewis and Jefferson agreed with Hamilton on little else, they did agree with him in his estimate of Burr's character. There was no purpose in discussing the subject with Theo. It would but give them both pain.

'Meme,' she insisted, 'if you understood Father, you could not help but admire him. He is so brilliant, so learned and brave. He is the soul of honor and unselfishness. He is a great man. I know he is. In the years to come everyone will acknowledge it'. Her voice faltered. 'You do agree with me, don't you?'

He could not lie to her, so he kissed the soft mouth that pleaded with him, murmuring lightly, 'He has earned my eternal gratitude by begetting you, my Theo.'

She was not satisfied, but his caress effaced everything for the inStant. And she was quiet.

They did not speak of Aaron again, nor did they ever speak of the future. Once he tried to tell her about his expedition to the West, but to this one thing she would not listen.

'Why must you go, Meme? Who cares what lands lie beyond the Mississippi? The risk seems to me so useless and so foolish. If Jefferson wants this thing done, let him find someone else to go.'

"The expedition has been my dream since I was fourteen, Theo. And I think there are perhaps no two men so well suited to this particular undertaking as William Clark and myself'. 'What good will it do?' she repeated desperately. 'You say yourself no other white man has ever been through those regions; why, then, should any white man ever go there?'