"You are going back to France?"
"Yes."
"It is a wonderful land, isn't it?"
"To a true man his own country is always a wonderful land."
"Yes, and I am mostly French," said the boy.
"No, lad. You are an American, a Virginian. Be proud of it."
"I am proud of it, sir; yet a Virginian gentleman might fight for France."
"And France might be glad to claim his sword. Yes, that is true. Well, lad, come in peace or in war, do not fail to make inquiry in Paris for Lafayette. He shall return you something of the courtesy which has been shown to him in this country and in your father's house."
"Thank you, oh, thank you a thousand times. I can talk about it to my mother now. She shall share my dreams."
As he went toward the house he looked back across the waters of the bay. Yet another sail, with the sun upon it, was fading slowly into the distant haze.