IN THE SHADOW
he was to be called upon to listen to further items of family history. Britishlike he was shy of looking at a man's naked past; he disliked personal confidences, as do all men strong enough to keep their troubles to themselves. Politics interested him; his career was to be political. His face showed his added interest, and Dessalines, seeing his change of expression, grew himself more confident.
"The government of Hayti as it now exists," he resumed, "is unstable; it cannot stand; there is no credit; everything is running down. The people are dissatisfied, the powers thoroughly so. If President McKinley is reflected it will only be a question of months before Hayti is assimilated by the United States. Such a people cannot be held together as a republic; all of my knowledge of my race, all that I have learned in my reading confirms this view. Hayti must be an empire; an acknowledged autocracy; a theoretical autocracy, instead of merely the practical one which it is to-day."
Giles nodded. Dessalines, inspired by his own eloquence, went on rapidly; he spoke well.
"My father understands this; he is a very clever man; also, as I have told you, he is very rich. He is himself too old to found the dynasty of which he might be the head, yet it is his intention to found one."
Giles leaned forward eagerly, eyes wide with excitement, cheeks flushed. "And he wishes you—you— to. …"
Dessalines arose suddenly to his full height, chest expanded, massive head high, nostrils dilated.
"To be Empereur de Haiti!" he cried in his resonant voice. This voice, the pose, the great savage stature
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