In any event, the Spanish minister now showed no fear of the wines which came his way. Nor, for that matter, did the minister from Great Britain, nor the spouses of these twain. Mr. Burr, seated with their party, himself somewhat abstemious, none the less could not refrain from an interrogatory glance as he saw Merry halt a certain bottle or two at his own plate.
"Upon my word!" said the sturdy Briton, turning to him. "Such wine I never have tasted! I did not expect it here--served by a host in breeches and slippers! But never mind--it is wonderful!"
"There may be many things here you have not expected, your excellency," said Mr. Burr.
The Vice-President favored the little party at his left with one of his brilliant smiles. He had that strange faculty, admitted even by his enemies, of making another speak freely what he wished to hear, himself reticent the while.
The face of the English dignitary clouded again.
"I wish I could approve all else as I do the wine and the food; but I cannot understand. Here we sit, after being crowded like herrings in a box--myself, my lady here, and these others. Is this the placing his Majesty's minister should have at the President's table? Is this what we should demand here?"
"The indignity is to all of us alike," smiled Burr. "Mr. Jefferson believes in a great human democracy. I myself regret to state that I cannot quite go with him to the lengths he fancies."
"I shall report the entire matter to his Majesty's government!" said Mr. Merry, again helping himself to wine. "To be received here by a man in his stable clothes--so to meet us when we come formally to pay our call to this government--that is an insult! I fancy it to be a direct and intentional one."
"Insult is small word for it," broke in the irate Spanish minister, still further down the table. "I certainly shall report to my own government what has happened here--of that be very sure!"
"Give me leave, sir," continued Merry. "This republic, what is it? What has it done?"
"I ask as much," affirmed Yrujo. "A small war with your own country, Great Britain, sir--in which only your generosity held you back--that is all this country can claim. In the South, my people own the mouth of the great river--we own Florida--we own the province of Texas--all the Southern and Western lands. True, Louis XV--to save it from Great Britain, perhaps, sir"--he bowed to the British minister--"originally ceded Louisiana to our crown. True, also, my sovereign has ceded it again to France. But Spain still rules the South, just as Britain rules the middle country out beyond; and what is left? I snap my fingers at this republic!"