There were some things of which we are quite sure, he told Anthony, but of which we can give no very definite account. Very frequently matters went forward which one's mind could sense but which one's eye could not see. The days in which they found themselves were trying days. Honest men were much called upon to protect their rights; and dishonest ones were quick to take advantage. And these advantages were many. Wars for the complete unsettling of human society were going forward. The public mind was seeking new levels. Much was being done in the name of liberty which was tyranny; much was branded tyranny which, did you take the husk from it, was bright with freedom. This Citizen Genêt, now: despite all that the Tories said about him, he was no brawler from the gutters, who had seized upon liberty as a means of hoisting himself upon the backs of other men. He had been brought up in the court of the French King; he was a man of letters, and a diplomat who'd learned his trade in the capitals of Europe. Was it possible, and the little man asked this question earnestly of Anthony, that such a man would have taken the steps he had taken immediately upon setting foot in the United States unless he had been strongly advised? "Would he have so flouted and disregarded all the desires and requirements of the American Government unless there had been an influence at work upon him, upon which he felt he could thoroughly rely? Some one must have assured him that the Government's protests were empty things, without body or meaning, and that, despite them, he could commission ships to sail against British commerce from our ports. Who, asked Mr. Sparhawk, could have given these assurances? In whom, in this country, could Genêt have placed such complete confidence? Was it an American? It was not likely. Was it a Frenchman? That seemed nearer the fact. "What Frenchman have you in mind?" asked Anthony keenly.