LINCOLN
(with a twinkle, solemnly imitating him).
No, I didn't see any bea-r-s in the woods; but I brought home some nuts
for you! (Gives them.)

[Francois, under pantomimic urging from the group around the fire, has
taken up his fiddle, tunes it, and from a mere ghost of an air breaks
into a gay tune. Little John Henry takes the corn-popper, swaying it in
time to the music, while the rest, with the exception of Lincoln, do a
step or so of an old-fashioned reel. Lincoln watches them as he eats.
John watches them also, to the detriment of the corn-popping.

NANCY
(pausing in dance, with little shriek of dismay).
Oh, mercy! The corn! I smell it burning!

ALL
(gathering about her, and thus hiding corn-popper from view of
audience).
Is it burnt? No! Yes! No! Oh, it's saved. (Lincoln, who has risen, goes
back to his supper.)

JOHN.
I didn't mean to!

NANCY
(relenting).
But when Francois plays the fiddle you can't think of anything else,
eh?