The reproach to which his Excellency eloquently referred consisted in the fact that not a cent of those three hundred thousand dollars which lay in the bank that night was ever seen again!  The theory was that the colonel had made away with them, and the President took great pains to prove that under the law of nations the restored Government could not be held responsible for this occurrence.  I know as little about the law of nations as the President himself, but I felt quite sure that whatever that exalted code might say (and it generally seems to justify the conduct of all parties alike), none of that money would ever find its way back to the directors’ pockets.  In this matter I must say his Excellency behaved to me with scrupulous consideration; not a word passed his lips about the second loan, about that unlucky cable, or any other dealings with the money.  For all he said, my account of the matter, posted to the directors immediately after my departure, stood unimpeached.  The directors, however, took a view opposed to his Excellency’s, and relations became so strained that they were contemplating the withdrawal of their business from Whittingham altogether, when events occurred which modified their action.  Before I lay down my pen I must give some account of these matters, and I cannot do so better than by inserting a letter which I had the honor to receive from his Excellency, some two years after I last saw him.  I had obeyed his wish in communicating my address to him, but up to this time had received only a short but friendly note, acquainting me with the fact of his marriage to the signorina, and expressing good wishes for my welfare in my new sphere of action.  The matters to which the President refers became to some extent public property soon afterward, but certain other terms of the arrangement are now given to the world for the first time.  The letter ran as follows: 

“My DEAR MARTIN:  As an old inhabitant of Aureataland you will be interested in the news I have to tell you.  I also take pleasure in hoping that in spite of bygone differences, your friendly feelings toward myself will make you glad to hear news of my fortunes.

“You are no doubt acquainted generally with the course of events here since you left us.  As regards private friends, I have not indeed much to tell you.  You will not be surprised to learn that Johnny Carr (who always speaks of you with the utmost regard) has done the most sensible thing he ever did in his life in making Donna Antonia his wife.  She is a thoroughly good girl, although she seems to have a very foolish prejudice against Christina.  I was able to assist the young people’s plans by the gift of the late Colonel McGregor’s estates, which under our law passed to the head of the state on that gentleman’s execution for high treason.  You will be amused to hear of another marriage in our circle.  The doctor and Mme. Devarges have made a match of it, and society rejoices to