im in Boston harbor.

An adoring France received him on his arrival. He had been the hero of
the New World; he now became the hero of the Old. The king of France gave
him audience; when he arrived the queen sent her carriage to bring
Adrienne, who at the moment happened to be at some royal fete, as swiftly
as possible to the Noailles mansion. Balls were given in his honor. He
was presented with laurel at the opera. The king made him a field
marshal, his commission to date from the day of Cornwallis's surrender,
and he was invited by Richelieu to a dinner where all the field marshals
of France were present, and where the health of Washington was drunk with
words so full of reverent admiration that they did Lafayette's heart
good.

About this time a traveled American gentleman, Ledyard by name, was
staying in Paris and commented on the popularity of the returned
American hero. He said:

"I took a walk to Paris this morning and saw the Marquis de Lafayette.
He is a good man, this same Marquis. I esteem him. I even love him,
and so we all do, except a few, who worship him.... If I find in my
travels a mountain as much elevated above other mountains as he is
above ordinary men, I will name it Lafayette."

The meeting of Lafayette with Adrienne cannot be described. He had now
proved the value of his love of freedom, and she was filled with pride
in the acknowledgment he received on all sides. The family reunion was
perfect. He wrote to Washington, "My daughter and your George have
grown so much that I find I am much older than I thought." He had
reached the advanced age of twenty-four!

Lafayette was at once concerned with the concluding negotiations for
peace between England and the United States. To hasten these and to
carry on further military plans, France united with Spain in a
projected expedition against the English possessions in the West
Indies. For this purpose Lafayette, in December, 1782, went to Cadiz
as chief of staff, where an armament of sixty ships and twenty-four
thousand men were assembling. But while waiting for the final orders
to sail, a swift courier brought the news to Cadiz that the treaty of
peace had, on the 20th of January, 1783, been finally signed at Paris.
Lafayette wished to be the one to carry this news to America, but he
was told that his presence at the negotiations at Madrid was necessary
to their success, and therefore he had to forego the pleasure of being
the personal messenger of