The secret was out.  The old fool had been sending flour to Rio, knowing as little of the state of affairs there as a child.

“And do you really mean, sir,” continued the old man, “that there is an embargo in force in Monte Video?”

“Certainly, sir; but I’m very sorry for it.”

“Sorry for it! of course you are;—­and that all foreigners are sent out of Buenos Ayres?”

“Undoubtedly, sir.  I wish—­”

“Who does not wish so?  Why, sir, my corresponding friends there are half across the sea by this time.  I wish Rosas was in—­and that the Indians have risen near Maranham?”

“Undoubtedly, sir.”

“Undoubtedly!  I tell you, sir, I have two vessels waiting for cargoes of India-rubbers there, under a blunder-headed captain, who will do nothing he has not been bidden to,—­obey his orders if he breaks his owners.  You smile, sir?  Why, I should have made thirty thousand dollars this winter, sir, by my India-rubbers, if we had not had this devilish mild, open weather, you and Miss Julia there have been praising so.  But next winter must be a severe one, and with those India-rubbers I should have made—­But now those Indians,—­pshaw!  And a revolution in Chili?”

“Yes, sir.”

“No trade there!  And in Venezuela?”

“Yes, sir”

“Yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir!  Sir, I am ruined.  Say ’Yes, sir,’ to that.  I have thirteen vessels at this moment in the South American trade, sir; say ‘Yes, sir,’ to that.  Half of them will be taken by the piratical scoundrels; say ‘Yes, sir,’ to that.  Their insurance will not cover them; say ‘Yes, sir,’ to that.  The other half will forfeit their cargoes, or sell them for next to nothing; say ’Yes, sir,’ to that.  I tell you I am a ruined man, and I wish the South America, and your daily Argus, and you—­”

Here the old gentleman’s old-school breeding got the better of his rage, and he sank down in his arm-chair, and, bursting into tears, said:  “Excuse me, sir,—­excuse me, sir,—­I am too warm.”

We all sat for a few moments in silence, but then I took my share of the conversation.  I wish you could have seen the old man’s face light up little by little, as I showed him that to a person who understood the politics and condition of the mercurial country with which he had ignorantly attempted to trade, his condition was not near so bad as he thought it; that though one port was blockaded, another was opened; that though one revolution thwarted him, a few weeks would show another which would favor him; that the goods which, as he saw, would be worthless at the port to which he had sent them, would be valuable elsewhere; that the vessels which would fail in securing the cargoes he had ordered could secure others; that the very revolutions and wars which troubled him would require in some instances large government purchases, perhaps large contracts for freight, possibly even for passage,—­his vessels might be used