Pitt, and he
settled himself in his chair and listened with undivided attention to
Mr. Morris, parrying with great animation that gentleman's thrusts
(which were made again and again with the utmost shrewdness and
coolness), and avoiding, whenever possible, a positive promise or a
direct answer to his demands.
In this conversation Mr. Calvert joined but once--when appealed to by
Mr. Pitt on the subject of the frontier posts.
"Mr. Morris has a new variation on the old theme of 'Heads I win, tails
you lose,'" he said, turning jocularly to Calvert. "He insists that the
frontier posts are worth nothing to us, and yet he insists they are most
necessary to you."
"England and America are so widely separated, sir," replied Calvert,
smiling, "that it would seem to be well to respect laws which Nature has
set, and keep them so. Near neighbors are seldom good ones, and, to keep
the peace between us, 'twere well to keep the distance, also."
"We do not think it worth while to go to war about these posts," said
Mr. Morris, rising and bowing to Mr. Pitt and his Grace of Leeds, "but
we know our rights and will avail ourselves of them when time and
circumstance suit.
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