“Grandfather, I may be an earl some day.”

“An English earl.  Doctor John may not endure to think of his only child living in that far-off country.  I, myself, know how this thought can work a father to madness.  And, again, your Cousin Annie may not wish to marry you.”

“Faith, sir, I had not thought of myself as so very disagreeable.”

“No.  Vain and self-confident is a young man.  See, then, how many things may work this way, that way, and if wise you are you will be quiet and wait for events.  One thing, move not in your anger; it is like putting to sea in a tempest.  Now I shall just say a word or two on the other side.  If your father is so set in his mind about the Hydes, let him do the justice to them he wishes to do; but it is not right that he should make you do it for him.”

“He says that only I can give Annie justice.”

“But that is not good sense.  When the present Earl dies, and she is left an orphan, who shall prevent your father from adopting her as his own daughter, and leaving her a daughter’s portion of the estate?  In such case, she would be in exactly the same position as if her brother had lived and become earl.  Is not that so?”

“My dear, dear grandfather, you carry wisdom with you!  Now I shall have the pleasure to propose to my father that he do his own justice!  O wise, wise grandfather!  You have made me happy to a degree!”

“Very well, but say not that I gave you such counsel.  When your father speaks to me, as he is certain to do, then I will say such and such words to him; but my words in your mouth will be a great offence; and very justly so, for it is hard to carry words, and carry nothing else.  Your dear mother—­how is she?”

“Well and happy.  She builds, and she plants, and the days are too short for her.  But my father is not so happy.  I can see that he is wearied of everything.”

“Not here, is his heart.  It is in England.  And no longer has he great hopes to keep him young.  If of Liberty I now speak to him, he has a smile so hopeless that both sad and angry it makes me.  No faith has he left in any man, except Washington; and I think, also, he is disappointed that Washington was not crowned King George the First.”

“I can assure you, sir, that others share his disappointment.  Mr. Adams would not object to be Duke of New York, and even little Burr would like a lordship.”

“I have heard; my ears are not dull, nor my eyes blind.  But too much out of the world lives your father; men who do so grow unfit to live in the world.  He dreams dreams impossible to us—­impossible to France—­and then he says ‘Liberty is a dream.’  Well, well, Life also is a dream—­when we awake—­”

Then he ceased speaking, and there was silence until Lysbet Van Heemskirk said, softly, “When we awake, we shall be satisfied.”

Van Heernskirk smiled at his wife’s cheerful assurance, and continued, “It is true, Lysbet, what you say; and even here, in our dreaming, what satisfaction!  As for me, I expect not too much.  The old order and the new order fight yet for the victory; and what passes now will be worth talking about fifty years hence.”