“Oh, there is an explanation,” said Hamilton, with a sneer.  “You shall have it at my pleasure.  I see that these notes implicate me to the extent of eleven hundred dollars.  Strange, that a rapacious Secretary of the Treasury, handling millions, and speculating wildly with a friend of large resources, should have descended to such small play as this.  More especially strange that he should have deliberately placed himself in the power of such a rascal as this Reynolds—­who seems to impress every one he meets with his blackguardism—­and communicated with him freely on paper; you will have observed that I acknowledged these notes without hesitation.  What a clumsy knave you must think me.  I resent the imputation.  Perhaps you have noticed that in one of these notes I state that on my honour I cannot accommodate him with the three hundred dollars he demands, because it is quite out of my power to furnish it.  Odd, that a thieving Secretary, engaged in riotous speculation, could not lay his hand on three hundred dollars, especially if it were necessary to close this rascal’s mouth.  I doubt, gentlemen, if you will be able to convince the country that I am a fool.  Nevertheless, I recognize that this accusation must be met by controverting proof; and if you will do me the honour to call at my house to-night at nine o’clock, I shall, in the presence of the Comptroller of the Treasury, furnish these proofs.”

He rose, and the others pushed back their chairs and departed hastily.  Muhlenberg’s red face wore a look of relief, but Monroe scowled.  Neither had failed to be impressed by the Secretary’s manner, and the Speaker of the House, ashamed of his part in the business, would gladly have listened to an immediate vindication.

Hamilton sat motionless for some moments, the blood returning to his face, for he was seething with fury and disgust.

“The hounds!” he said aloud, then again and again.  He was alone, and he never had conquered his youthful habit of muttering to himself.  “I can see Monroe leaping, not walking, to the jail, the moment he learned of a chance to incriminate me.  The heels at the end of those long legs must have beaten the powder from his queue.  And this is what a man is to expect so long as he remains in public life—­if he succeeds.  He resigns a large income, reduces his family almost to poverty, works himself half to death, rescues the country from contempt, launches it upon the sea of prosperity; and his public rewards are more than counterbalanced by the persecutions of his enemies.  I have been on the defensive from the moment I entered public life.  Scarcely a week but I have been obliged to parry some poisoned arrow or pluck it out and cauterize.  The dreams of my youth!  They never soared so high as my present attainment, but neither did they include this constant struggle with the vilest manifestations of which the human nature is capable.”  He brought his fist down on the table.  “I am a match for all of them,” he exclaimed.  “But their arrows rankle, for I am human.  They have poisoned every hour of victory.”