Now Traverse particularly wished to study the various phases of mental
derangement, a department of his professional education that had
hitherto been opened to him only through books.
He explained this to his old friend, the French physician, who
immediately went off into ecstatic exclamations of joy as, "Good!
Great! Grand!" and "I shall now repay my good child! my dear son! for
his so excellent skill!"
The terms of the engagement were soon arranged, and Traverse prepared
to accompany his new friend to his "beautiful retreat," the private
madhouse. But Traverse wrote to his mother and to Clara in Virginia,
and also to Herbert Greyson in Mexico, to apprise them of his good
fortune.