In the fall Dolly returned to her mother's house, which was now a boarding house. At all events, the Senator from New York, Colonel Aaron Burr, lodged at the Madison Lodging House. He told everyone about the pretty widow Todd. He finally told his friend Congressman Madison of Virginia. The Congressman, however, disliked women after Catherine Floyd had ended their long engagement. One day James Madison saw the widow driving by and began pestering Colonel Burr for an introduction. In the spring of 1794 Dolly and James were introduced for the first time. It was not long before their engagement was rumored all over Philadelphia. John Todd had not been dead a year when, on September 15, 1794, James and Dolly were married at Harewood. Now there was a new Philadelphia for Quaker Dolly, the Philadelphia she had always longed for. "The town had never been more gay, a continually changing pageant of foreign guests and ministers."3 A brilliant scene graced by the presence of many of the emigrated nobility of France. In her new role, as Mrs. Madison of Montpellier, Dolly plunged into these festivities with all the stored-up zest of her restrained girlhood. For three years Dolly brought a fresh, bright personality to enliven Lady Washington's somewhat stuffy levees in the old brick house on Market Street. Dolly Madison adored the Washington's. Dolly made friends in all camps for James Madison, which probably helped him win presidency. He did not care for all the routs and levees so he retired to his beloved town of Montpellier, to his solitude and his books. On the morning of March 4, 1801 the Federalists were defeated, and Thomas Jefferson was to take his place as President of the United States. Soon secretary of state Madison and his wife were dragged away from Montpellier again and came to reside in Washington. "Present me respectfully to Mrs. Madison," Mr. Jefferson wrote, "and pray her to keep you where you are, for her own satisfaction and for the public good.
