re, the mother of Lafayette, to be
received by the new bride, and by her handed down to her descendants.

The arrangement was that the wedded pair should make their home with
the mother of the bride, the young husband paying eight thousand
livres a year as his share of the expense. The sumptuous home was the
family mansion of the Noailles family; it was situated in the rue St.
Honore, not far from the palace of the Tuileries, at the corner where
the rue d'Alger has now been cut through. The Hotel de Noailles it was
called, and it was so large that to an observer of to-day it would
appear more like a splendid hotel than like a private residence. When,
a few years after Lafayette's wedding, John Adams was representing the
United States in Paris, and was entertained in this palatial home, he
was so amazed that he could not find words in English or in French to
describe the elegance and the richness of the residence. In it were
suites of rooms for several families, for troops of guests, and for
vast retinues of servants. The building measured from six hundred to
seven hundred feet from end to end. There were splendid halls and
galleries and arcades. Toward the street the facade was plain but the
interior was decorated with astonishing richness. The inner rooms
faced on a garden so large that a small hunt could be carried on
within it, with fox, horses, and hounds, all in full cry. Magnificent
trees waved their branches above the great garden, and rabbits
burrowed below.

Here was a delightful place for a few people to pursue beautiful
lives. John Adams made a note of the fact that the Noailles family
held so many offices under the king that they received no less than
eighteen million livres (more than three and a half million dollars)
income each year. It must be remembered that the streets of Paris
about this time were crowded with a rabble of beggars. But of this the
dwellers in such magical palaces and parks saw but little and thought
less.

Conditions such as these give a hint of the causes that led to the
French Revolution and explain in some degree why thoughts of liberty,
fraternity, and equality were haunting the minds of the youth of
France, and, to some of the more open-minded among them, suggesting
dreams of noble exploit.

CHAPTER III

A BOY'S IDEALS

By this time Lafayette was a tall, slender young fellow, of commanding
height, and with a look of piercing and imperative sincerity in his
clear,