"Do not say it! I am a man accursed of evil passions--the most unhappy of all men. There is nothing else, I say, in all the world that I fear but my love for you. Tell me it will not last--tell me it will change--tell me that I shall forget! I should not believe you--but tell me that. Does a man never forget? Success--for others; happiness--for someone else. My mother said that was to be my fate. What did she mean?"
"She meant, Meriwether Lewis, that you were a great man, a great soul! Only a man of noble soul could speak as you have spoken to me. We women, in our souls, love something noble and good and strong. Then we imagine someone like that. We believe, or try to believe, or say that we believe; but always----"
"And a woman may divide not love, only love of love itself?"
"I shall love your future, and shall watch it always," she replied, coloring. "You will be a great man, and there will be a great place for you."
"And what then?"
"Do not ask what then. You ask if men never change. Alas, they do, all too frequently! Do not deny the imperious way of nature. Only--remember me as long as you can, Meriwether Lewis."
She spoke softly, and the color of her cheek, still rising, told of her self-reproof.
He turned suddenly at this, a wonderfully sweet smile now upon his face.
"As long as I can?"
"Yes. Let your own mind run on the ambitions of a proud man, a strong man. Ambition--power--place--these things will all be yours in the coming years. They belong to any man of ability such as yours, and I covet them for you. I shall pray always for your success; but success makes men forget."
He still sat looking at her unmoved, with thoughts in his heart that he would not have cared to let her know. She went on still, half tremblingly: "I want to see you happy after a time--with some good woman at your side--your children by you--in your own home. I want everything for you which ought to come to any man. And yet I know how hard it is to alter your resolve, once formed. Captain Lewis, you are a stubborn man, a hard man!"
He shook his head.
"Yes, I do not seem to change," said he simply. "I hope I shall be able to carry my burden and to hold my trail."
"Fie! I will not have such talk on a morning like this."
Fearlessly she reached out her hand to his, which lay upon the table. She smiled at him, but he looked down, the lean fingers of his own hand not trembling nor responding.