.506 THE WIFE OF LAFAYETTE. people. A lane was formed to let the prisoners pass to my room. Lafayette led the way, and was followed by his infirm lady and two daughters. He flew into my arms ; his wife and daughters clung to me. The silence was broken by an exclamation of, — "'My friend! My dearest friend! My deliverer! See the work of your generosity ! My poor, poor wife, hardly able to support herself ! ' "And indeed she was not standing, but hanging on my arm, bathed in tears, while her two lovely girls had hold of the other. There was not a dry eye in the room. "I placed her on a sofa. She sobbed and wept much, and could utter but few words. Again the Marquis came to my arms, his heart overflowing with gratitude. I never saw a man in such complete ecstasy of body and mind." Madame de Lafayette never recovered her health. She lived ten years longer, and died December 24, 1807, aged forty-seven years, leaving her daughters and her son happily established. An American who visited, twenty years after, the Chateau of La Grange, which was the abode of General Lafayette during the last forty years of his life, found there a numerous company of her descendants, a son, two daughters, and twelve grand- children, forming a circle which he described in glowing terms of admiration. The house was full of America. On the walls were portraits of Washington, Franklin, Morris, Adams, Jefferson, and a painting of the siege of Yorktown. Objects brought from America, or received thence as gifts, were seen everywhere, and there was one room containing nothing but American things, which the General called by the name " America." There was an American ice-house in the garden, and groves of American trees in the park. It was one of the most estimable and happy families in France. Alas ! that the fond mother and the devoted wife should have been wanting to it.
