not even lie down, but sat at her desk,
pouring out her heart to the dear one tossing on a perilous sea, in
letters which though daily sent, never reached the young adventurer, so
we must needs imagine her transports of loneliness--her passion of
affection, written to ease and comfort and in a measure to fit her to
take up the next day's duties calmly.

Lafayette's letters to her had a better fate than hers to him, and one
day when she least expected it, a precious packet lay in Adrienne's
hands. Wild with excitement at sight of the familiar writing, she held
it for a long time unopened, then fled to the solitude of her own room
to read its contents with no eye watching her joy.

The letter was full of tender interest in her health, and of repetitions
of undying affection which warmed the heart so starved for them. Written
on board _The Victory_, May 30, 1777, it said: "I ought to have landed
by this time, but the winds have been most provokingly contrary. When I
am once more on shore I shall learn many interesting things concerning
the new country I am seeking. Do not fancy that I shall incur any real
danger by the occupations I am undertaking. The service will be very
different from the one I must have performed if I had been, for example,
a colonel in the French army. My attendance will only be required in the
council. To prove that I do not wish to deceive you, I will acknowledge
that we are at this moment exposed to some danger from the risk of being
attacked by English vessels, and that my ship is not of sufficient force
for defence. But when I have once landed I shall be in perfect safety. I
will not write you a journal of my voyage. Days succeed each other, and
what is worse, resemble each other. Always sky, always water, and the
next day a repetition of the same thing. We have seen to-day several
kinds of birds which announce that we are not very far from shore."

Fifteen days later there was a second letter, and then they arrived with
some degree of regularity to cheer lonely little Adrienne, watching,
waiting, and living on their coming. It was a time fraught with vital
issues in the American Colonies. Though to Lafayette there was somewhat
of disillusion in finding the American troops not like the dashing,
brilliantly uniformed ones of his own country, but merely a great army
of undisciplined, half-ragged soldiers, united only in the flaming
desire to acquire liberty for their beloved land at all hazards, y