Aaron smiled at her calmly. 'There are always some who believe what they see in print, and besides it is more than my public life that has been attacked. I am thought monstrous lewd. It is said that I consort with niggers, because, indeed, I allowed my good Peggy and Alexis to give a party at Richmond Hill for their own people. It is said that I keep a secret collection of indecent pictures with which to debauch the young men who visit me. This, my dear, is our poor picture gallery. It is said that the brothels of New York are filled with the victims I have seduced, not to speak of my unbridled assaults upon virtuous ladies of fashion'. He gave a contemptuous snort. 'I fear that they vastly flatter my virility.'

'But it's so monstrous!' she cried. 'Deny all this! Write counter-articles!'

He shook his head. 'No. I hate apologies and explanations. They do no good. They but fix the matter more firmly in the public mind. The time may come when I shall have to take action, and then I shall act, you may be sure of that, but in the meantime I shall not dive into the sea of ink'. He added, with bitter humor, 'At least no one can take exception to the manner in which I fulfill my office. I am a confounded good Vice-President.'

She smiled with him, but her heart ached. He was so gallant, so devoid of self-pity. He was fashioned to be a ruler of men, a king, instead of an insignificant understudy to a man who disliked him, and who constantly blocked even the scant authority which his office gave him.

She went to him and kissed him. 'It will not always be like this, Father. I think—I know—your star is but beginning to rise. Some day you will be the greatest—the very greatest in the world.'

Aaron smiled. 'You are a loyal little partisan, my dear. Mayhap you're right'. He was silent a moment, went on with sudden force: 'You're the one being on whom I can depend, from whom I have no secrets. What should I do without you?' He took her hand in his, kissed the small white fingers briefly. For a moment they were held in silence, she leaning over his high-backed chair, the two faces, that so much resembled each other, close and filled with the same expression of brooding tenderness.

Then Aaron stirred, releasing her hand. 'I have not yet told you of the treat in store for you tomorrow afternoon,' he said lightly. 'I am bidden to dine with Jefferson. You will, of course, accompany me.'