"Traverse," said Major Greyson, "did it never occur to you that you
must have other relatives in the world besides your mother? Well, I
suspect that those checks were sent by some relative of yours or your
mother's, who just begins to remember that he has been neglecting you."
"Herbert, do you know this?" inquired Traverse, anxiously.
"No, I do not know it; I only suspect this to be the case," said
Herbert, evasively. "But what is that which you are forgetting?"
"Oh! this--yes, I had forgotten it. Let us see what it is!" said
Traverse, examining a paper that had rested unobserved upon the stand.
"This is an order for my discharge, signed by the Secretary of War, and
dated--ha--ha--ha--two years ago! Here I have been serving two years
illegally, and if I had been convicted of neglect of duty in sleeping
on my post, I should have been shot unlawfully, as that man, when he
prosecuted me, knew perfectly well!" exclaimed Traverse.
"That man, as I said before, lies upon his deathbed! Remember, nothing
against him! But that order for a discharge! now that you are in the
way of promotion and the war is over, will you take advantage of it?"
"Decidedly, yes! for though I am said to have acquitted myself passably
well at Chapultepec----"
"Gloriously, Traverse! You won your colors gloriously!"
"Yet for all that my true mission is not to break men's bones, but to
set them when broken. Not to take men's lives, but to save them when
endangered! So to-morrow morning, please Providence, I shall present
this order to General Butler and apply for my discharge."
"And you will set out immediately for home?"
The face of Traverse suddenly changed.
"I should like to do so! Oh, how I should like to see my dear mother
and Clara, if only for a day! but I must not indulge the longing of my
heart. I must not go home until I can do so with honor!"
"And can you not do so now? You, who triumphed over all your personal
enemies and who won your colors at Chapultepec?"
"No, for all this was in my legitimate profession! Nor will I present
myself at home until, by the blessing of the Lord, I have done what I
set out to do, and established myself in a good practice. And so, by
the help of heaven, I hope within one week to be on my way to New
Orleans to try my fortune in that city."