letters, but not necessarily sexual congress. A peek inside Franklin's not-so-little black book:

Deborah Franklin: The Affectionate Wife
Deborah and Ben had a close marriage, except for the fact that for 18 of the 44 years of their union they lived apart. But even if their bond lacked grand passion, it had mutual respect.

Plain and plump, Deborah, a carpenter's daughter, is first taken with the young printer when he begins lodging with her family shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia in 1723. They, as Benjamin put it, "interchang'd some promises"—an 18th century locution for engagement—a year later as he set off for England to buy printing equipment. But when his backer reneges and Franklin finds himself stranded in London, he tells Deborah to forget him. She marries a potter instead who may already have been married, a ne'er-do-well who squanders her dowry and runs off to the West Indies. When Franklin returns home after two years away, he professes guilt for having strande