"Then why do you confine your liberty? This is a pent-up field for a man of broad views." "I beg your pardon. Solitude is the best school in which to study society. In this seclusion I read, and reading makes a full man. Though a newcomer, I try to keep myself informed concerning this country's history and institutions. I do not understand all the complications of your politics; I am no partisan. No one is better prepared than yourself to expound public matters. This dispute in regard to the boundary line between Louisiana and Mexico threatens war, does it not?" "I fear not," replied Burr, remarking an opportunity to inform and bias an unwary savant. The lump had invited the leaven. "I fear not." "Then you desire war?" "This Government should take care of its own, at all hazards. The Spaniards wish to provoke hostilities. My friend and fellow-officer, General Wilkinson, commander-in-chief of the Western troops, holds the army in readiness to advance into Mexico at a moment's warning." "At a moment's warning?" repeated Blennerhassett, dubiously. "General Wilkinson told you so? Is he--a reliable officer?" "He and I are most intimate friends. We consult on public and on private concerns. I have just returned from his headquarters in St. Louis, where we were considering a business enterprise--the purchase of a large tract on the Wachita river, between the Red and the Sabine." "Do you purpose returning South to remain?" "My intention is to buy those fertile lands, establish a colony, and develop the resources of the region, as a sure and easy means of making my own fortune, and the fortunes of my associates." "You are confident that the prospect of increasing your capital is good?" "I am absolutely certain. I speak positively, but not rashly." Blennerhassett nodded slowly, three or four times, and Burr spoke on. "That the investment will prove enormously profitable I have not the shadow of a shade of doubt. General Wilkinson knows the property, and so do I. There are more than a million acres to be had for fifty thousand dollars. The present value is ten times that amount." "If the inquiry is not impertinent, sir, have you organized a joint stock company? Have you completed your plans?" "Practically, everything is arranged. Negotiations are afoot. The necessary capital will be forthcoming. We take no risk. To you I will say, in confidence, that the number of shareholders will be severely limited. You know how desirable it is, in partnerships of this kind, to admit only men of unimpeachable honor." Again Blennerhassett nodded three or four times, like an automaton. Burr, affecting to dismiss the topic, turned again to the book-shelves and fell to reading the gilded titles. A copy of "The Prince" arrested his eye. Taking this down, he opened it at random, and read aloud: "Men will always prove bad, unless by necessity they are compelled to be good." "What do you think of that as an estimate of human nature?" "Abominable!"