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instantly recognize her son, "but I might have set with 
him for some time without knowing him." She anxiously 
awaited their departure. "The sooner we meet the more 
agreeable it will be to me, for I cannot patiently bear any 
circumstance which detains me from the most desirable 
object in my estimation that hope has in store for me."'16 
Two days later, John wrote telling Abigail that his plans had 
changed. "Stay where you are, and amuse yourself, by seeing 
what you can, untill you see me. I will be with you in Eight 
Days at farthest, and sooner, if possible.'97 A week later, 
on August 7, John and Abigail were reunited in London. 
Neither one wrote their feelings on paper. Five months 
later, however, Abigail sent her travel "journal uncooth 
as I know it was" to her sister to share with friends. "You 
will chide me I suppose for not relating to you" the events 
of her meeting with John. "But you know my dear sister, 
that poets and painters wisely draw a veil over those Scenes 
which surpass the pen of the one and the pencil of the 
other. We were indeed a very very happy family once more 
met together after a Seperation of 4 years."'98 
EIGHT MONTHS IN FRANCE 
The day after John arrived in London, the family, riding in 
their second-hand carriage, left for Dover. The two servants 
rode in a post chaise. The crossing to Calais took twelve 
hours, but once across the narrow channel, the countryside 
totally changed. 
The family rented a "large commodious, and agree- 
ably situated" house that had been constructed fourteen 
years earlier by an eccentric and extravagant count who 
had recently married a wealthy, young widow. Located in 
the village of Auteuil, four miles from Paris and one mile 
from Passy (where Benjamin Franklin lived), the third 
floor of the house had been allowed to deteriorate, but the 
196. AA to JA, London, July 30, 1784, BAJ, 396. 
197. JA to AA, The Hague, August I, 1784, BAJ 397. 
198. AA to Mary Cranch, Auteuil, December II, 1784, AFC, VI, i8.