and meeting current expenditure. The President did not invite my
confidence as to the disposal of his funds; indeed before long I was
alarmed to see a growing coldness in his manner, which I considered
at once ungrateful and menacing; and when the half-year came round he
firmly refused to disburse more than half the amount of interest due
on the second loan, thus forcing me to make an inroad on my reserve
of forty-five thousand dollars. He gave me many good reasons for this
course of conduct, dwelling chiefly on the necessary unproductiveness
of public works in their early stages, and confidently promising full
payment with arrears next time. Nevertheless, I began to see that I
must face the possibility of a continual drain on resources that I had
fondly hoped would be available for my own purposes for a considerable
time at least. Thus one thing and another contributed to open a breach
between his Excellency and myself, and, although I never ceased to
feel his charm as a private companion, my distrust of him as a ruler,
and, I may add, as a fellow-conspirator, steadily deepened.

Other influences were at this time--for we have now reached the
beginning of 1883--at work in the same direction. Rich in the
possession of my "bonus," I had plunged even more freely than before
into the gayeties of Whittingham, and where I was welcome before, I
was now a doubly honored guest. I had also taken to play on a somewhat
high scale, and it was my reputation as a daring gambler that procured
me the honor of an acquaintance with the signorina, the lady to whom
the President had referred during his interview with me; and my
acquaintance with the signorina was very rich in results.

This lady was, after the President, perhaps the best-known person in
Aureataland--best known, that is, by name and face and fame--for her
antecedents and circumstances were wrapped in impenetrable mystery.