"Glad to see thee; meant to come and see thee. I was to give thee this letter, Friend Schmidt. Mr. Wynne sent it. A messenger came up from Chester while I was with him at the counting-house. The Saucy Sisters was lying below for the flood."
Schmidt glanced at it, hesitated a moment, and put it in his pocket as they went in to dinner.
"Any news?" asked Langstroth. "Any news from France?"
"I do not know," said Schmidt. He had no mind to spoil the meal with what he knew must very likely be evil tidings. "It is from England," he added. Miss Gainor, understanding him, said: "We were to have had Mr. Hamilton. I think I told you."
"I saw him at the office of the Secretary of the Treasury," said Schmidt; "a less capable successor he has in his place. We talked much about the rage for lotteries, and he would stop them by a law."
"He should let things alone," said Langstroth. "A nice muddle he has made of it with his bank and his excise."
"And what do you know about it?" said Gainor, tartly.
"Fiddlesticks! I know that a man who cannot manage his own affairs had better leave larger things alone."
"He has," said Schmidt quietly, "as I see it, that rare double gift, a genius for government and finance."
"Humph!" growled Langstroth.