“Miss Mollie, have you no young lady companions near at hand to help you pass the time?”
“No, Mr. Barclugh,” came the prompt and decided answer of the young Quakeress. “I have very few. My father and my mother are my most constant companions. One tutors me in the classics, almost daily, and the other instructs me in all the duties of our household. I am, therefore, very busy at my books, the spinning, the weaving, the oversight of the dairy and the poultry-yards. I have my circle of friends in Philadelphia and I attend some of the entertainments given there; but in these stirring times, when our countrymen need clothes and food, I owe all of my energy to them.”
“Well, well, Miss Greydon, you are truly in earnest about this war. Let me see,” laughingly remarked Barclugh, “do you really believe that the Colonists can possibly succeed in their efforts to win independence? Will not your zeal have been spent in vain?”
“Why, Mr. Barclugh,” came her reply in girlish enthusiasm, “you remember that Wolsey, in the time of Henry VIII, said:
‘Had I but serv’d my God with half the zeal
‘I serv’d my king, he would not in mine age
‘Have left me naked to mine enemies.’
And I can assure you that I believe when I serve this country for the principles of independence and equality of the people, I am serving my God. So I have heard Mr. Franklin say to father, and he must be right.”
Turning to his host and hostess at each end of the breakfast table, and to Miss Greydon, who sat opposite, Barclugh looked at each one earnestly, while he remarked:
“This young lady must be inspired.”