What would Betty Washington and Colonel Lewis have thought of a wedding reception of an hour, and then a flitting to parts unknown, leaving the world to comfort itself with a small square of cake in a pasteboard box? Such behavior would have been little less than "flat burglary," defrauding people of their just dues. [Illustration: The Hall at Kenmore, showing the Clock which belonged to Mary Washington.] Colonel Fielding Lewis, although young, was already a merchant of high standing and wealth, a vestryman, magistrate, and burgess. Kenmore, near Fredericksburg, was built for him, that his wife might be near her mother. The mansion, still kept in excellent repair, was reckoned a fine one at the time. It was built of brick and skilfully decorated by Italian artists. Betty wrote to her brother George that their "invention had given out," and invited him to contribute something. It is said that he designed the decoration illustrating Æsop's fable of the Crow and the Fox, which adorns the drawing-room mantel to-day. It is in stucco, and besides illustrating the fable of the wheedling fox who seeks to gain booty by a smooth tongue, another fable--the wolf accusing the lamb of fouling the water--is represented. The story told at Kenmore is of Italians captured in the French army as prisoners of war, who were led by choice or necessity to remain in America, where they plied their trade of decorators. [Illustration: NELLIE CUSTIS.] Nine months after Betty Washington's wedding, on St. Valentine's day, 1751, another Fielding Lewis was born, and George Washington, just nineteen, was godfather, his mother, godmother. Having done her duty to her husband, Betty in 1752 named her next son John Augustine, and her brother Charles, fourteen years old, was godfather. A third boy was born, 1755, and Charles was again godfather. In 1757 she named a fourth son George Washington, and, in 1759, Mary Washington was sponsor for a little Mary Lewis, and Samuel Washington, godfather. Then, in 1760, a year after his own marriage, we find George Washington and his mother sponsors for a Charles Lewis. Samuel and Betty were born respectively in 1763 and 1765, and in April, Lawrence, the lucky,--destined to win "the nation's pride," lovely Nellie Custis, the adopted daughter of General Washington. Then Robert and Howell were born. Again, and yet again, was the traditional gown of black brocade brought forth by the proud grandmother, as Betty claimed her mother and brothers for the important and solemn office of sponsors for her splendid boys--boys that followed their illustrious uncle all through the war of the Revolution, and to whom he was ever the most faithful of friends and guardians. CHAPTER XVII DEFEAT IN WAR: SUCCESS IN LOVE