Very splendid was the ball at the palace that night, and very splendid to George’s provincial eyes were the assemblies in the great Apollo Room at the Raleigh, where the wits and beaux and belles of the colonial court assembled. Sir John Peyton was not the only dandy to be met with there, although by far the most entertaining. There were many handsome and imposing matrons, but George saw none that his mother could not outshine in dignity and grace; and many beautiful girls, but none more charming than Betty. As communication with his home was easy and frequent, he could write long, descriptive letters to Ferry Farm as well as to Mount Vernon. Betty became so infatuated with George’s accounts of the fine people and gay doings at Williamsburg that she wrote George: “I wish, dear George, you would not write me any more about the routs and assemblies at Williamsburg, for your poor sister’s head is so full of junkets and capers and the like that she attends to her duties very ill, and drops stitches in her knitting, which brings her many reproofs, and plays nothing but jigs on the harpsichord, instead of those noble compositions of Mr. Handel, of which our mother is so fond.” George laughed when he read this. He knew, no matter how much Betty’s little head might be filled with gayeties, she never forgot to do her whole duty, and had always time for a kind act or an affectionate word to others. But there were more than balls and routs and governor’s levees in this visit. George had the opportunity of knowing men prominent in colonial matters--statesmen, scholars, lawyers, men of affairs--and Lord Fairfax, ever on the alert for his favorite’s advancement, lost no chance of bringing him to the attention of those in power. Among the persons they met were many officers of the governor’s suite, as well as those attached to the ships at Yorktown. George’s passion for a military life had never died, or even languished; but by the exertion of a powerful will he had kept it in abeyance until the times were ripe. Already were Governor Dinwiddie and his council preparing a scheme of defence for the frontier, and Lord Fairfax, with other leading men in the colony, were invited to meet the governor and council to discuss these affairs. After attending one of these meetings the earl, on coming back to his lodgings, said: “George, after our conference broke up I talked with the governor concerning you and your future, and he promised me, if the plan is carried out of dividing the colony into districts with an inspector-general with the rank of major for each, that you shall have a commission--that is, if you have not given up your wish for a military life.” As Lord Fairfax spoke a deep red dyed George’s face.