mishap on his way home, which will be related in the next chapter.






CHAPTER III.

IN WHICH IS RELATED A PLEASANT MEETING WITH A RENOWNED MAJOR.





EARLY on the following morning, before the sun had hung the eastern
sky with golden mists, my mother was astir, and in due time had a
plain but substantial breakfast prepared. And, too, I heard my
father muttering his misgivings in an adjoining chamber. My valise,
nicely packed and strapped, stood by the door; this I thought a
contrivance of my father to shake my resolution. Indeed I must
confess that whenever my eye rested upon it, an emotion of regret
moved me, and my fancy filled with an hundred perils that seemed
incident to my career. The earnestness of my mother, however, always
restored me to confidence. Her motto was, never despond, nor sit
idly at home, when fame and fortune are to be gained by going
abroad. She did everything with great cheerfulness of manner, and
though the frosts of fifty winters had made snow-white the hairs of
her head, and plowed their furrows deep into her oval face, there
was a vigor in her action that might have excited the envy of youth.