Premise: There is a long amiable letter to the young Lafayette in 1779, in which Washington, in a giddy mood, drifts into a reverie about competing for Lafayette's young wife with Lafayette himself--a funny bit of teasing, followed abruptly by a rueful reassurance, worthy of Stendhal himself, that amidst all the wonders recorded in holy writ no instance can be produced where a Woman from real inclination has preferred an old man.

Hypothesis: Washington wrote a letter to Lafayette revealing his affections for Lafayette's wife, but ended the letter in jest.
Relation: entailment