Aaron shrugged. 'If there shouldn't be, then we shall have to proceed more slowly; we shall then commence from my lands on the Washita. I have many strings to my bow'. He patted her hand gently. 'Come, Theo, patience, my child. An empire can unfortunately not be built in a day. '

She subsided, reassured.

But Aaron was not so well satisfied as he sounded. The war with Spain was unaccountably delayed, and Sam Swartwout, his loyal young friend, had written him in cipher that there had of late been disquieting mention in the eastern newspapers, dark hints of a conspiracy in the West, a treasonable plot led by 'an erstwhile high executive of this country who has fallen into disgrace'. This premature leakage was unfortunate. Speed and surprise were essential to success now. He redoubled his energies.

And yet there were unavoidable disappointments. In October the war had not started; the preparations were not finished; there was still much left to do.

Theodosia awoke one morning to look through the red damask curtains of her bedroom and see a rowboat approach the Blennerhassett dock. In the bow sat a familiar stocky figure whose stubborn black hair and air of affronted belligerence were visible even at that distance. Theo gasped, leaning far out the window, hoping that her eyes had deceived her and yet ashamed of the hope. There was no doubt about it. She flung on her clothes and rushed out of the house to greet him.

'Joseph!' she called. 'I'm so surprised and so delighted!' She put unusual warmth into her greeting, guiltily conscious that, though she was certainly surprised, her delight was tepid.

He gave her a brief kiss. 'I've come to take you home,' he said, frowning. 'You pay no attention to my letters. I had never permitted you to go had I realized the situation.'

'But you don't realize the situation; everything is under way,' she began impulsively, then stopped. There was no use talking to Joseph when he wore that black mulish look.

'Come and have some breakfast,' she said pacifically. 'You must have had a hard trip.'

A terrifying thought struck her. 'Gampy's all right, isn't he? That isn't why you came, is it? He wasn't ill?'

'No, he wasn't ill. He's been on Debordieu with Eleanore. But he's fretting for you. You must come back at once. I'll have no more of this idiotic business.'

' We'll talk about it presently, dear. Look around you. Did you ever see such a heavenly place?'

'Heavenly!' snorted Joseph. 'Nigger's idea of heaven, maybe, ridiculous ostentation out here a thousand miles from anywhere, gimcracks, gewgaws, monstrous. I hear the man's crazy.'

Theo sighed. Joseph was going to be difficult, was apparently firmly entrenched in the typical Alston refusal to be impressed with anything that was not Carolinian.