“My mind is certainly easier,” he said, in a tone that was almost light.  “Go now and post your letter, and give your evening to Miss Schuyler.  Present my compliments to her.”

“I became engaged to her last night, sir.”

“Ah! had you forgotten to tell me?”

“No, sir; I have but just remembered it.”

Washington laughed heartily.  “Mind you never tell her that,” he said.  “Women love the lie that saves their pride, but never an unflattering truth.  You have learned your lesson young,—­to put a tempting face aside when duty demands every faculty; it is a lesson which takes most men longest to learn.  I could tell you some amusing stories of rough and tumbles in my mind between the divine image of the hour and some affair of highest moment.  But to a brain like yours all things are possible.”

He rose, and took Hamilton’s hand and shook it warmly.

“God bless you,” he said.  “Your future unrolls to my vision, brilliant and happy.  I deeply wish that it may be so.”

VII

The letter from General Schuyler, giving his consent to the engagement, has not been preserved; but some time after he had occasion to write Hamilton a business letter, in which the following passage occurs:—­

You cannot, my dear sir, be more happy at the connexion you have made with my family than I am.  Until the child of a parent has made a judicious choice, his heart is in continual anxiety; but this anxiety was removed on the moment I discovered it was on you she had placed her affections.  I am pleased with every instance of delicacy in those who are so dear to me; and I think I read your soul on the occasion you mention.  I shall therefore only entreat you to consider me as one who wishes in every way to promote your happiness.

General Schuyler was ordered by Congress to Morristown to confer with Washington.  He took a house, sent for his family, and remained until late in the summer.  The closest friendship was formed between Schuyler and Hamilton, which, with common political interests and deepening sympathy, increased from year to year.  The good fairies of Nevis who had attended Hamilton’s birth never did better for him than when they gave him Elizabeth Schuyler for wife and Philip Schuyler for father and friend.  And they had blasted the very roots of the chief impediment to success, for he triumphed steadily and without effort over what has poisoned the lives of many men; and triumphed in spite of the fact that the truth was vaguely known always, and kept in the quiver of his enemies.