"'Don't tell me anything!' said I. 'And then I can answer no questions.' "Lewis said I was right and he would row me back himself. On the way it was settled between us that he should come for me the next day but two, and then we would go and get married. The reason we waited was that I should be of age in two days, and then nobody would have anything to say. I hated to leave Aunt Betsy and go against her wishes, but there seemed no other way. "I was busy getting breakfast when Abiram came down. I thought it best to be civil to him, and easily put him into a good humor. That day everybody noticed that there was a good deal of riding round, and going in and out of Doctor Elmer's and Mr. Philip Fithian's. He was a minister, and a great patriot. I was on thorns, expecting I did n't know what, and ready to start at every noise, but I kept about my work, and waited on Aunt Betsy, and was so pleasant to Abiram that he really thought I was coming round. "The next evening about ten o'clock there came a great knocking at our door. I was up in a minute, and looking out, I saw by the moonlight about thirty Indians in war-paint and feathers standing round the house. My heart was in my mouth for a minute, and then it came over me what they had come for. "'What do you want?' called Abiram from his window. "'We have come for a cup of tea!' said a voice which I knew right well. 'Get up and give it to us like a good fellow, or we shall have to take it where we can find it.' "Abiram blustered and talked big, but it was no use. They told him if he did n't open the doors, they would break them down, and at last, rather than have his house attacked, he gave up the keys. They touched nothing else in the house, but they carried all the tea out into the meadow yonder, piled it up, and, set it on fire. It burned splendidly, and perfumed the air for half a mile round. There were at least two hundred people looking on, but nobody said a word, or offered to interfere. It was all as solemn as a yearly meeting, and it had a right to be, when two at least of the Indians were ministers. When the tea was all burned, everybody went quietly home. "Abiram was like a madman for a time, and then he broke down and cried like a baby. He never held his head up after that, and presently he moved away to Philadelphia. They tried to bring a suit against the men who burned the tea, but it was of no use. The grand jury were too good Whigs to bring in a bill, and finally the war came on and the matter was dropped.