"'A la Française,' the crowd demanded.
"So the two white-haired men embraced and kissed each other amidst loud applause.
"We are up at sunrise and at breakfast, for half an hour or so, I have him to myself. Then we take a little walk in the palace grounds of M. le Ray de Chaumont, Chief Forester of the kingdom, which adjoins us. To the Count's generosity Franklin is indebted for the house we live in. The Doctor loves to have me with him in the early morning. He says breakfasting alone is the most triste of all occupations.
"'I think that the words of Demosthenes could not have been more sought than yours,' I said to him at breakfast this morning.
"He laughed as he answered: 'Demosthenes said that the first point in speaking was action. Probably he meant the action which preceded the address--a course of it which had impressed people with the integrity and understanding of the speaker. For years I have had what Doctor Johnson would call 'a wise and noble curiosity' about nature and have had some success in gratifying it. Then, too, I have tried to order my life so that no man could say that Ben Franklin had intentionally done him a wrong. So I suppose that my words are entitled to a degree of respect--a far more limited degree than the French are good enough to accord them.'
"As we were leaving the table he said: 'Jack, I have an idea worthy of Demosthenes. My friend, David Hartley of London, who still has hope of peace by negotiation, wishes to come over and confer with me. I shall tell him that he may come if he will bring with him the Lady Hare and her daughter.'
"'More thrilling words were never spoken by Demosthenes,' I answered. 'But how about Jones and his Bonne Homme Richard? He is now a terror to the British coasts. They would fear destruction.'
"'I shall ask Jones to let them alone,' he said. 'They can come under a special flag.'
"Commodore Jones did not appear again in Paris until October, when he came to Passy to report upon a famous battle.
"I was eager to meet this terror of the coasts. His impudent courage and sheer audacity had astonished the world. The wonder was that men were willing to join him in such dare devil enterprises.