human
Do you know why I am to go on this heathen errand?
gpt
Mr. Calhoun wishes to know whether he shall go to the cabinet of your man Tyler over there in that barn you call your White House. I suppose Mr. Calhoun wishes to know how he can serve Mr. Tyler?
human
Serve him! I exclaimed.
gpt
Rather say _lead_ him, _tell_ him, _command_ him!
human
Yes, she nodded. I began to see another and graver side of her nature.
gpt
Yes, it is of course Texas.
human
If your master, as you call him, takes the portfolio with Tyler, it is to annex Texas, she repeated sharply.
gpt
Is not that true?
human
Come!
gpt
And he asks me to come to him so that he may decide--
human
No man decides for John Calhoun, Madam, I said.
gpt
You may advance facts, but _he_ will decide.
human
And Texas not annexed is a menace. Without her, you heathen people would not present a solid front, would you?
gpt
Madam has had much to do with affairs of state,
human
And if you were divided in your southern section, England would have all the greater chance. England, you know, says she wishes slavery abolished. She says that--
gpt
England _says_ many things!
human
The hypocrite of the nations! flashed out this singular woman at me suddenly.
gpt
As though diplomacy need be hypocrisy! Thus, to-night Sir Richard of England forgets his place, his protestations. He does not even know that Mexico has forgotten its duty also. Sir, you were not at our little ball, so you could not see that very fat Sir Richard paying his bored _devoirs_ to Doña Lucrezia! So I am left alone, and would be bored, but for you. In return--a slight jest on Sir Richard to-night!--I will teach him that no fat gentleman should pay even bored attentions to a lady who soon will be fat, when his obvious duty should call him otherwhere! Bah! 'tis as though I myself were fat; which is not true.
human
You go too deep for me, Madam, I said.
gpt
I am but a simple messenger.
human
There you have the measure of England's sincerity, she went on, with contempt.
gpt
England is selfish, that is all. Do you not suppose I have something to do besides feeding a canary? To read, to study--that is my pleasure. I know your politics here in America. Suppose you invade Texas, as the threat is, with troops of the United States, before Texas is a member of the Union? Does that not mean you are again at war with Mexico? And does that not mean that you are also at war with England? Come, do you not know some of those things?
human
With my hand on my heart, Madam, I asserted solemnly,
gpt
And you? I answered.
human
You shall have such reward as you have never dreamed in all your life.
gpt
How do you mean?
human
I doubt not the reward for a soul which is as keen and able as your heart is warm, Madam. Come, I am not such a fool as you think, perhaps. Nor are you a fool. You are a great woman, a wonderful woman, with head and heart both, Madam, as well as beauty such as I had never dreamed. You are a strange woman, Madam. You are a genius, Madam, if you please. So, I say, you are capable of a reward, and a great one. You may find it in the gratitude of a people.
gpt
What could this country give more than Mexico or England?
human
Much more, Madam! Your reward shall be in the later thought of many homes--homes built of logs, with dingy fireplaces and couches of husks in them--far out, all across this continent, housing many people, many happy citizens, men who will make their own laws, and enforce them, man and man alike! Madam, it is the spirit of democracy which calls on you to-night! It is not any political party, nor the representative of one. It is not Mr. Calhoun; it is not I. Mr. Calhoun only puts before you the summons of--
gpt
Of what?
human
Of that spirit of democracy.
gpt
I am glad you came, she said.
human
On the whole, I am also glad I came upon my foolish errand here to America.
gpt
Madam, said I, my hand at the fastening of the door,