Old Lafayette Says, Mister Sparks?

Old lafayette's study is not a ceremonial room, but the office of an active politician and man of business. Lafayette bids him to one of the sitting chairs and comes around to join him. Spark says he thought we'd start earlier, that readers like to get a sense of where a character comes from before they make their entrance into the story. Old lafayette: From my earliest childhood i thought of nothing but striking out for adventure and glory.