By Jove, she IS a beauty! Never saw such eyes. And plucky to
beat the devil. I'll bet my head Barlow'll be daft about her
next!"
Still, notwithstanding the lightness of his inward comments,
Hamilton regarded the incident as rather serious. He knew that the
French inhabitants were secretly his bitter enemies, yet probably
willing, if he would humor their peculiar social, domestic and
commercial prejudices, to refrain from active hostilities, and
even to aid him in furnishing his garrison with a large amount of
needed supplies. The danger just now was twofold; his Indian
allies were deserting him, and a flotilla loaded with provisions
and ammunition from Detroit had failed to arrive. He might, if the
French rose against him and were joined by the Indians, have great
difficulty defending the fort. It was clear that M. Roussillon had
more influence with both creoles and savages than any other person
save Father Beret. Urgent policy dictated that these two men
should somehow be won over. But to do this it would be necessary
to treat Alice in such a way that her arrest would aid, instead of
operating against the desired result,--a thing not easy to manage.
Hamilton was not a man of fine scruples, but he may have been,
probably was, better than our American historians have made him
appear. His besetting weakness, which, as a matter of course, he
regarded as the highest flower of efficiency, was an
uncontrollable temper, a lack of fine human sympathy and an
inability to forgive.
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