It served as dining room, parlor, bedroom, for there was a
pallet too. Now the table was covered with parchments and papers, and
beside Colonel Clark sat a grave gentleman of about his own age. As I
came into the room Colonel Clark relaxed, turned toward this gentleman,
and said:--
"Monsieur Gratiot, behold my commissary-general, my strategist, my
financier." And Monsieur Gratiot smiled. He struck me as a man who
never let himself go sufficiently to laugh.
"Ah," he said, "Vigo has told me how he settled the question of paper
money. He might do something for the Congress in the East."
"Davy is a Scotchman, like John Law," said the Colonel, "and he is a
master at perceiving a man's character and business.
"What would you call me, at a venture, Davy?" asked Monsieur Gratiot.
He spoke excellent English, with only a slight accent.
"A citizen of the world, like Monsieur Vigo," I answered at a hazard.
"Pardieu!" said Monsieur Gratiot, "you are not far away. Like Monsieur
Vigo I keep a store here at Cahokia. Like Monsieur Vigo, I have
travelled much in my day. Do you know where Switzerland is, Davy?"
I did not.
"It is a country set like a cluster of jewels in the heart of Europe,"
said Monsieur Gratiot, "and there are mountains there that rise among the
clouds and are covered with perpetual snows.
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