he next morning every one on the place was up before the sun. Robert
was so impatient to start to town that he could scarcely eat any
breakfast. Mother was so excited that she forgot to put coffee in the
coffee pot.

At last every one had left, and Betty was alone. "I wish I could see the
President," she said, "and I do wish I could see his great coach. Father
says that it is finer than the Governor's. Four men ride in front of it,
and four behind it. The servants are dressed in white and gold. How I
wish I could see it all!"

While Betty was talking to herself, she was not idle. She washed the
dishes and she cleaned the house. Then, as it was not time to get
dinner, she sat down on the shady porch.

"I wonder whether General Washington looks like his picture," she said.
"Oh, if I could only see him!"

But what sound was that? Betty stood up, and shading her eyes with her
hands, looked down the road. Four horsemen came along at a gallop. Then
there followed a great white coach, trimmed with gold and drawn by four
white horses. There were four horsemen behind the coach, and last of all
came several black servants.

[Illustration: Betty looking up at the great coach]

All stopped at the gate. A tall handsome man stepped from the coach and
came up the walk. Betty felt as if she could neither move nor speak. She
remembered, however, all that her mother had taught her, and she made a
low curtsy as the gentleman reached the steps.

"Good morning, my little maid," he said. "I know it is late, but would
you give an old man some breakfast?"

Betty's cheeks grew as pink as the rose by the porch. She made another
curtsy and said, "Indeed, I will. I am the only one at home, for father,
mother, and Robert have gone to Salisbury to see the great Washington.
But I am sure I can give you some breakfast. Father says that I am a
good cook."

"I know you are, and that you are as brisk as you are pretty. Just give
me a breakfast, and I promise you that you shall see Washington before
your father, mother, or brother Robert does."

"I will do the best I can, sir," Betty said.

The other men came in, and all sat on the porch and talked while Betty
worked. Getting her mother's whitest cloth and the silver that came from
England, she quickly set the table. She brought out a loaf of new bread
and a jar of fresh honey. Then she ran to the spring house and got
yellow butter and rich milk. She had some fresh eggs that had been laid
by