Hamilton’s honeymoon was brief.  There was a mass of correspondence awaiting him, and no place for a bride in the humble Dutch house at New Windsor where Washington had gone into winter quarters.  But the distance was not great, and he could hope for flying leaves of absence.  Washington was not unsympathetic to lovers; he had been known to unbend and advise his aides when complications threatened or a siege seemed hopeless; and he had given Hamilton the longest leave possible.  Nevertheless, the bridegroom set forth, one harsh January morning, on his long journey, over roads a foot deep in snow, and through solitary winter forests, with any thing but an impassioned desire to see General Washington again.  Had he been returning to the command of a corps, with a prospect of stirring events as soon as the snow melted, he would have spurred his horse with high satisfaction, even though he left a bride behind him; but to return to a drudgery which he hated the more for having escaped it for three enchanted weeks, made his spirit turn its back to the horse’s head.  He resolved anew to resign if an opportunity offered.  Four years of that particular sort of devotion to the patriot cause were enough.  He wished to demonstrate his patriotism in other ways.  He had accomplished the primary object for which Washington had pressed him into service, and he believed that the war was nearing its finish; there was nothing he could now do at Headquarters which the other aides could not do as well, and he wanted military excitement and renown while their possibilities existed.

X

The first task awaiting him upon his arrival at Headquarters was to draw up a letter of instruction for Laurens, a task which required minute care; for on its suggestions, as much as on Laurens’s brilliant talents, depended the strength of a mission whose failure might mean that of the American arms.  Laurens had requested the letter, and told Hamilton that he should be guided by it.  He did not anticipate a royal condition of mind which would prompt him practically to carry off the French money-bags under the king’s astonished nose, and he knew Hamilton’s command of every argument connected with the painful subject of financial needs.  Hamilton drew up a lucid and comprehensive letter, in nine parts, which Laurens could study at his leisure on the frigate, Alliance; then attacked his accumulated duties.  They left him little leisure to remember he was a bridegroom, although he occasionally directed his gaze toward the North with some longing.  His freedom approached, however, and it was swift and unexpected.