"You have done well, Bernard; but I give you no thanks, as your absence
will cause me more suffering than I can tell. Still, go wherever honour
and love of truth call you; you will always be followed by my good
wishes and prayers. Return when your mission is accomplished; you will
find me neither married nor in a convent."

In this note she had inclosed the cornelian ring she had given me during
my illness and which I had returned on leaving Paris. I had a little
gold box made to hold this ring and note, and I wore it near my heart as
a talisman. Lafayette, who had been arrested in France by order of the
Government, which was opposed to his expedition, soon came and joined us
after escaping from prison. I had had time to make my preparations, and
I sailed full of melancholy, ambition, and hope.

You will not expect me to give an account of the American war. Once
again I will separate my existence from the events of history as I
relate my own adventures. Here, however, I shall suppress even my
personal adventures; in my memory these form a special chapter in which
Edmee plays the part of a Madonna, constantly invoked but invisible. I
cannot think that you would be the least interested in listening to a
portion of my narrative from which this angelic figure, the only one
worthy of your attention, firstly by reason of her own worth, and then
from her influence on myself, was entirely absent. I will only state
that from the humble position which I gladly accepted in the beginning
in Washington's army, I rose regularly but rapidly to the rank of
officer. My military education did not take long. Into this, as into
everything that I have undertaken during my life, I put my whole soul,
and through the pertinacity of my will I overcame all obstacles.