hazel eyes. His hair was red--some one in the family used to
call him "the big boy with red hair"; but hero worshipers need have no
misgivings about this characteristic, nor feel that they must
apologize for it as a defect. Lafayette said of himself that he was an
awkward boy. It may be that the youth who was rapidly growing to a
height of "five feet eleven" may have felt, as most boys do at that
age, as if he were all hands and feet. But that Lafayette was really
awkward--it is unthinkable! Not one single lady of all the beauties in
France and America, who handed it down to her descendants that she
"once danced with Lafayette," ever mentioned the fact that her partner
lacked any element of grace, while many speak of the ease of manner
and address of the distinguished man. One friend of Lafayette's early
days reports that he was too tall to make a distinguished appearance
on horseback or to dance with special grace; but this was said in a
period when the dancing-master's art was the ideal of social conduct.
Those who did not know Lafayette very well at this time thought him
cold and serious and stiff. Perhaps he was shy; yet beneath that calm
exterior seethed a volcano of emotion of which no casual onlooker
dreamed.

Lafayette was fortunate in having a cousin, the Count de Segur, who
understood him and who realized that under that surface of gravity was
hidden, as he said, "a spirit the most active, a character the most
firm, a soul the most burning with passionate fervor."

After his marriage Lafayette continued his studies at the College du
Plessis, and later he spent a year at the military academy at
Versailles, that his education as an officer might be complete.

In the summer his inclinations led him to make various journeys to the
fortified city of Metz, where the regiment "de Noailles" was in garrison
under the charge of the Prince de Poix who was a brother-in-law of
Adrienne, Lafayette's wife. On his way back from one of these visits he
stayed at Chaillot for a time and there was inoculated for smallpox.
This preventive method was a medical novelty at that time. To submit to
the experiment showed a great freedom from prejudice on the part of the
youth. The Duchess d'Ayen had once suffered from the ravages of this
disease, so she could safely stay with the now adored son-in-law through
this disagreeable period of seclusion.

Soon after this the youthful Marquis de Lafayette and his shy girl
bride were present