table were law books,
pamphlets, papers, letters, and newspapers. He saw that some of the
letters bore the London postmark. He remembered his father said Mr.
Adams had not much money; that he was so dead in earnest in
maintaining the rights of the people he had little time to attend to
his own affairs.

[Footnote 13: Mrs. Adams was the daughter of Reverend Samuel Checkley,
pastor of the New South Church, which stood on Church Green at the
junction of Summer and Bedford streets. She was a woman of much
refinement and intelligence, and greatly beloved.]

"Will you be in town through the week and over the Sabbath?" Mr. Adams
asked.

Robert replied that he intended to visit his relatives, Mr. and Mrs.
Brandon, on Copp's Hill.

"Oh yes, my friend the shipbuilder--a very worthy gentleman, and his
wife an estimable lady. They have an energetic and noble daughter and
a promising son. I have an engagement to-night, another to-morrow, but
shall be at home to-morrow evening, and I would like to have you and
your young friends take supper with us. I will tell you something that
your father would like to know."

Robert thanked him, and took his departure. Thinking that Doctor
Warren probably would be visiting his patients at that hour of the
day, he drove to the Green Dragon, and put Jenny in her stall, and
after dinner made his way to the goldsmith's shop to find a present
for Rachel.

Mr. Paul Revere, who had gold beads, brooches, silver spoons, shoe and
knee buckles, clocks, and a great variety of articles for sale, was
sitting on a bench engraving a copper plate. He laid down his
graving-tool and came to the counter. Robert saw he had a benevolent
face; that he was hale and hearty.

"I would like to look at what you have that is pretty for a girl of
eighteen," said Robert.

Mr. Revere smiled as if he understood that the young man before him
wanted something that would delight his sweetheart.

"I want it for my sister," Robert added.

Mr. Revere smiled again as he took a bag filled with gold beads from
the showcase.

"I think you cannot find anything prettier for your sister than a
string of beads," he said. "Women and girls like them better than
anything else. They are always in fashion. You will not make any
mistake, I am sure, in selecting them."

He held up several strings to the light, that Robert might see how
beautiful they were.

"I would like to look at your brooches."

While the goldsmith was takin