112 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



that officer and Charles Lee ; and at West Point he 

 was the first to receive and read the papers taken from 

 Andre's stockings and containing the melancholy proofs 

 of Arnold's treason. He saw much of Andre and of 

 Mrs. Arnold, and his letters give a most touching 

 description of the affair. Soon after this his connec- 

 tion with Washington's staff came abruptly to an end. 

 On the 1 6th of February, 1781, as Washington was 

 going up the stairs at his headquarters at New Wind- 

 sor, he met Hamilton coming down and told him that 

 he wished to speak to him. Hamilton, who was on his 

 way downstairs to deliver an important order, replied 

 that he would return in a moment. On his way back 

 he was met by Lafayette, who accosted him on some 

 pressing matter of business. In his impatience to 

 return upstairs he cut Lafayette short in a manner 

 which, as he says, but for their intimacy would have 

 been more than abrupt. He was not aware of having 

 consumed more than two minutes altogether, but 

 when he reached the head of the staircase he found 

 Washington waiting there, and these words were 

 exchanged : 



" Colonel Hamilton, you have kept me waiting at 

 the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell 

 you, sir, you treat me with disrespect." 



" I am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have 

 thought it necessary to tell me so, we part." 



" Very well, sir, if it be your choice." 



And so they parted. At first sight the breaking of 

 such an important relation on such a slight occasion 

 seems silly, and Hamilton's reply to his commander 

 childishly petulant. But Washington's temper was 

 hasty. That he believed himself to have reproved his 



