The short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" is filled with topical and historical references, and clearly has a moral opinion on colonial American history. Generally speaking, this moral opinion is clear and unabashed, but there is one passage I feel I am missing.
When the Devil assembles the jurors for Stone's trial, it's a hodgepodge of (mostly real, some fictional) famous traitors or villains from American history, with the obviously notable exception of Benedict Arnold, which is immediately commented upon in the story itself:
"Are you satisfied with the jury, Mr. Webster?" said the stranger mockingly, when they had taken their places.
The sweat stood upon Dan'l Webster's brow, but his voice was clear.
"Quite satisfied," he said. "Though I miss General Arnold from the company."
"Benedict Arnold is engaged upon other business," said the stranger, with a glower. "Ah, you asked for a justice, I believe."
I feel like I'm absolutely missing something here. The author is writing a moralistic tale about American history, contrives a situation where he has to list 12 notorious moral villains, declines to include the most famous example, and then points out the omission explicitly in the text with a very ambiguous-sounding explanation.
Why did the Devil "glower" at Arnold's absence? Is it because actually Arnold is not in Hell, but the Devil doesn't want to admit it? Or is Arnold so high-ranking in Hell that even the Devil himself wasn't able to press him into service on such short notice? Or is the "other business" a topical reference to something else happening at the time of the story, and it just flew over my head?
I don't know what the answer is, but I have a feeling the meaning was intended to be an obvious wink to the audience; this is not a subtle story. Hopefully somebody can point to the author's intention here.
