“I think there is some misapprehension, sir,” said Muhlenberg.  “It would be quite impossible for any one present to have misconducted himself in the manner in which the holder of those letters, Mr. Reynolds, accuses you of having done.  And surely the whole country is intimately concerned in the honesty—­or the dishonesty—­of the Secretary of the Treasury.”

The words were out, and Muhlenberg sat with his mouth open for a moment, as if to reinhale the air which was escaping too quickly for calm speech.  Then he set his shoulders and braced himself to meet the Secretary’s eyes.  Hamilton was staring at him, with no trace of passion in his face.  His eyes looked like steel; his whole face had hardened into a mask.  He had realized in a flash that he was in the meshes of a plot, and forced the heat from his brain.  “Explain,” he said.  “I am listening.”

“As you are aware, sir, this James Clingman, who has been arrested with Reynolds, was a clerk in my employ.  You will also recall that when he applied to me to get him out, I, in company with Colonel Burr, waited on you and asked your assistance.  You said that you would do all that was consistent, but we did not hear from you further.  Clingman refunded the money, or certificates, which they had improperly obtained from the Treasury, the action was withdrawn, and he was discharged to-day.  While the matter was pending I had several conversations with Clingman, and he frequently dropped hints to the effect that Reynolds had it in his power materially to injure the Secretary of the Treasury, as he knew of several very improper transactions of his.  At first I paid no attention to these hints, but when he went so far as to assert that Reynolds had it in his power to hang the Secretary of the Treasury, that the latter was deeply concerned in speculation with Duer, and had frequently advanced him—­Reynolds, I mean—­money with which to speculate, then I conceived it my duty to take some sort of action, and yesterday communicated with Mr. Monroe and Mr. Venable.  They went at once to call on Reynolds—­whom I privately believe to be a rascal, sir—­and he asserted that he was kept in prison by your connivance, as you feared him; and promised to put us in possession of the entire facts this morning.  When we returned at the hour appointed, he had absconded, having received his discharge.  We then went to his house and saw his wife, who asserted, after some circumlocution, that you had been concerned in speculations with her husband, that at your request she had burnt most of the letters you had written to herself and her husband, and that all were in a disguised hand—­like these few which she had preserved.  You will admit that it is a very serious charge, sir, and that we should have been justified in going directly to the President.  But we thought that in case there might be an explanation—­”