"Something unusual that they do not wish to tell us of has happened," he said. "I propose that we find out what it is."
"How?" I said.
"I know no better way than to ask," he replied. "Suppose we seize the very next opportunity, and interrogate our Quaker friends concerning the cause of their strange and mysterious behavior."
Presently we saw four men engaged in one of these discussions. Three appeared to be citizens of Philadelphia, or at least we so judged from the smartness of their dress; the fourth had the heavy, unkempt look of a countryman. We approached; on the instant they became silent, and there was a look of embarrassment upon their faces.
"Friends," said Marcel, in his courtly manner, "we wish not to interrupt your most pleasant discourse, but we would ask what news of importance you have, if there be no harm in the telling of it."
"It rained last night," said the countryman, "and it is good for the spring planting."
"Yet one might have news more interesting, though not perhaps more important, than that," replied Marcel; "for it has rained before, and the crops have been planted and reaped likewise before."
"Even so," said the countryman, "but its importance increases when there are twenty thousand red-coats in Philadelphia to be fed."
"But is that the whole burden of your news?" asked Marcel. "We have seen others talk together as you four talk together, and we do not think it accords with nature for all Philadelphia to be agog because it rained the night before."
"Some heads hold strange opinions," said the countryman, curtly; "but why should I be held to account for them?"