4 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 
proved a rare exception among step- 
mothers— but she was too indulgent, 
and, Audubon says, completely spoiled 
him, bringing him up to live like a gen- 
tleman, ignoring his faults and boasting 
of his merits, and leading him to believe 
that fine clothes and a full pocket were 
the most desirable things in life. 
This she was able to do all the more 
effectively because the father soon left 
the son in her charge and returned to 
the United States in the employ of the 
French government, and before long 
became attached to the army under La 
Fayette. This could not have been later 
than 1781, the year of Cornwallis’ sur- 
render, and Audubon would then have 
been twenty-one, but this does not square 
with his own statements. After the war 
the father still served some years in the 
French navy, but finally retired from 
active service and lived at La Gerbétiére 
in France, where he died at the age of 
ninety-five, in 1818. 
