s never lost, but
became a turning point in American history.

There had come a report to the English court that Washington had been
driven across the Jerseys, and that the American cause was lost.

There was given at this time a military banquet at Metz. The Duke of
Gloucester, brother of George III, was present, and among the French
officers there was a marquis, lately married, who was a favorite of the
French court. He had been brought up in one of the heroic provinces of
Auvergne, and he had been associated with the heroes of Gatinais, whose
motto was _Auvergne sans tache_. The Auvergnese were a pastoral people,
distinguished for their courage and honor. In this mountainous district
was the native place of many eminent men, among them Polignac.

The young French marquis who was conspicuous at the banquet on this
occasion was named Lafayette.

The Duke of Gloucester was in high spirits over his cups on this festal
night.

"Our arms are triumphant in America!" he exclaimed. "Washington is
retreating across the Jerseys."

A shout went up with glittering wine-cups: "So ever flee the enemies of
George III!"

"Washington!" The name rang in the young French officer's ears. He had
in his veins the blood of the mountaineers, and he loved liberty and the
spirit of the motto _Auvergne sans tache_.

He may never have heard the name of Washington before, or, if he had,
only as of an officer who had given Braddock unwelcome advice. But he
knew the American cause to be that of liberty, and Washington to be the
leader of that cause.

And Washington "was retreating across the Jerseys." Where were the
Jerseys? He may never have heard of the country before.

He went out into the air under the moon and stars. There came to him a
vision of liberty and a sense of his duty to the cause. The face of
America, as it were, appeared to him. "When first I saw the face of
America, I loved her," he said many years afterward to the American
Congress.

Washington was driven back in the cause of liberty. Lafayette resolved
to cross the seas and to offer Washington his sword. He felt that
liberty called him--liberty for America, which might mean liberty for
France and for all mankind.

About this time Benjamin Franklin began to receive letters from this
young officer, filled with the fiery spirit of the mountaineers. The
officer desired a commission to go to America and enter the army. But it
was a time of disaster, and faith in the A