“I take--eh!--oh!--as much exercise--eh!” (here a twinge of pain seizes him) “as I can, Madam Gout. You know my sedentary state, and on that account it would seem, Madam Gout, as if you might spare me a little, seeing it is not altogether my own fault.”
“Gout: Not a jot! Your rhetoric and your politeness are thrown away; your apology avails nothing. If your situation in life is a sedentary one, your amusements, your recreation, at least, should be active. You ought to walk or ride; or, if the weather prevents that, play at billiards. But----”
He had got as far as this in his reading when a servant knocked on the door and softly entered.
“A gentleman named Mr. Hodge to see you, sir,” he said. “He says it is of great importance.”
Dr. Franklin’s smile faded and he pushed the paper from him.
“Bid him enter at once,” he said, and an instant later Mr. Hodge followed the servant into the room.
“Ah, good friend!” exclaimed Franklin. “You will pardon my rising, for my position explains itself; but I see by your face that you have something of import. Out with it and no beating about the bush. But I pray you to tell me no bad news unless that can’t be helped. Come now, what is it?”
In a few words Mr. Hodge related the story of Conyngham’s adventures and the return with the packet. When he had finished, Franklin arose and, despite the fact that one foot was shoeless, limped heavily two or three times around the room. Then he at last replied:
“Your news, Mr. Hodge, is both good and bad. I might have known that Conyngham would have done something of this sort, but just at present affairs at court are somewhat puzzling. I can trust Turgot and Maurepas, but the Count de Vergennes, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is at times too deep for me. Just now he seems to be listening too much to Lord Stormont. I would that we could get some good news from America about the doings of the army. But what you say about the foreign mails demands attention. They must go to de Vergennes this very moment. Do you think that you are the first to bring the news of all this to Paris?”
“That I can not say, sir,” returned Hodge. “There was a chaise and four an hour or so ahead of me on the road. I obtained word of its having preceded me at several stopping-places.”