"Yet I presume you have learned that the Wanderer stopped here for an hour last night on its way north to Prairie du Chien?"
"Captain Thockmorton just informed me."
"But you received no mail?"
"No, sir; or, rather, I have not been at the office to inquire. Was there mail for me?"
"That I do not know; only I have received a communication relating to you. It seems you have an application pending for a furlough."
"Yes, sir."
"It is my pleasure to inform you that it has been granted—sixty days, with permission to proceed east. There has been considerable delay evidently in locating you."
A sudden vision arose before me of my mother's face and of the old home among the hills as I took the paper from his extended hands and glanced at the printed and written lines.
"The date is a month ago."
"That need not trouble you, Knox. The furlough begins with this delivery. However, as I shall require your services as far as St. Louis, I shall date its acceptance from the time of your arrival there."