xxxMary’s Anticipatory Letter – 223

Mary reflects on Claire’s unlikely seat at Franklin’s table and wonders where Wollstonecraft’s sharp challenge will lead.

My dearest companions,

What strange magic indeed — Claire, of all of us, seated at Franklin’s side, her blushes drawing more notice than Adam’s lectures. It might have ended as mere farce, had not Wollstonecraft’s words cut so cleanly through the mirth. She left us no escape but to face the harder truth: who is welcome at the table, and who left standing outside the hall?

Franklin fenced with good humor, Brillon sweetened the air with her music of words, yet still I wonder — where shall this banquet lead? Will the talk grow sharper than the steel of a quill, or sweeter than the wine? And if bridges must be built, will they be strong enough to bear the weight of all?

I cannot tell. But I feel we are at the edge of something larger than a single feast.

— Mary