He tautened the reins, and the horse darted forward, eager for speed. 'Not so fast, my friend,' said Meme, pulling him down. 'We have a long way to go'. Then, struck by the aptness of his words, he laughed grimly. A long way to go: thousands upon thousands of miles ending very like in death. He thought with sudden amusement of Dolly Madison's romantic flutters about the expedition. She had persisted in regarding him as a hero: mighty little romance about it. For the hundredth time he ran over figures in his head. So many pounds of provisions, so many of ammunition, the capacity of the flatboats, the canoes.

He pulled out a leather-bound notebook and began to figure in it with a piece of sharpened charcoal. The horse, accustomed now to a slower gait, jogged on unguided. The trail beside the Potomac ran up the river and westward—steadily westward. And westward Meme would continue to face for three harsh years.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

JOSEPH arrived in due course, and with him, to Theo's dismay, he brought his father and brother William Algernon. They all left Washington at once, Aaron to go on necessary journeys which ranged from Philadelphia to Providence, while the Alston family repaired to Ballston Spa to drink the waters.

In this atmosphere of anxious health-seeking, Theodosia found her own health deteriorating again. Aaron wrote worried letters of advice, Joseph consulted the resident physicians and personally supervised her visits to the springs, where she drank gallons of the salty, sulphurous liquid.

Eleanore watched these proceedings sympathetically. When one is unhappy and bored, one is apt to be sick, and who could help being unhappy and bored in the company of those three stupid men? Particularly now that the fine lover was gone; and le père too, with his gaiety and good-humor. No wonder Madame was like a small snuffed candle: there was nc fire around to kindle her. The Alstons were invariably solemn and repressive. En masse they were enough to make anyone sick.

Theodosia gradually improved. Time dimmed her first desperate longing for Meme. She once more accepted the pattern of her life and tried to make the best of it. But she was a trifle less compliant and had more trouble hiding her impatience.