, so perhaps
thee will keep our young guest company while I prepare for meeting.

DEBORAH
(holding up warning finger).
Primp not too much for meeting, fair friend Elizabeth! A grave demeanor
goes with Quaker bonnets! (Laughs.) Yes, yes, I'll serve your printer,
play hostess, or aught else that will please you, and you can call me
when 'tis time to leave him. (Throws off her cloak, and sits by hearth
on footstool.) La! such a day! This very morn I saw the strangest
sight! I went to the door to get a breath of air, and as I stood there
what should I see approaching down the street but a lad with dusty
clothes and bulging pockets--nay, wait, Elizabeth! The drollest part is
yet to come! I vow he had stuffed one pocket full of stockings, and
from the other protruded a loaf of bread! And in his hand was a great
fat roll, and he was eating it! Gnawing it off, an you please, as if
there were no one to see him! Then he looked up, and----

ELIZABETH
(shocked).
Deborah! Thee did not laugh at him! Thee did not mock at him!

DEBORAH
(wiping tears of mirth from her eyes).
Mock at him? Oh, lud! I laughed till my sides ached! (Rises, as she
happens to see that Roger Burchard and his guest are rising, yet
continues gaily.) And when he caught sight of my face----

[Just as Deborah utters these words she and Franklin perceive each
other. Deborah is utterly taken aback and quite speechless.

ROGER
(seeing nothing amiss).
Welcome, Deborah Read. I present to thee Benjamin Franklin.

[Franklin bows. Deborah drops a fluttering courtesy, and then clings to
Elizabeth Burchard.

DEBORAH
(quaveringly).
I--I feel somewhat faint, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH
(seeing nothing amiss).
Then sit at the table, dear Deborah, and a cup of tea will revive thee.

DEBORAH
(protesting).
No--! No--! I--I will help you to dress.

ELIZABETH.
Then who will serve Benjamin Franklin? Thee promised that thee would be
hostess, so unless aught is amiss----

DEBORAH
(recovering herself, and suddenly displaying a haughty self-
possession).
Naught is amiss, Elizabeth. I will serve tea if you bid me.

[Deborah sits at one end of the table, Franklin at the other.

ELIZABETH.
Thee knows the Friends' special meeting to-night is at the same hour as
that of the other churches, so when thee hears the church-bells ringing
'twill be time to prepare, sweet Deborah.

DEBORAH
(with a gleam).
I'll not forget the time. I promise you that, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH.