Did the severance of connection mean the casting out of a black sheep from their midst?
I came to the conclusion that it did.

They had washed their hands of Captain Vauvenarde, and desired to hear nothing of him in the future.
So I awoke from my lethargy, and springing up sent not for my shield and spear, but for an "Indicateur des Chemins de Fer." I would go to Tlemcen and get to the bottom of it.

I searched the time-table and found two trains, one starting from Algiers at nine-forty at night and getting into Tlemcen at noon next day, and one leaving at six-fifty in the morning and arriving at half-past ten at night.

I groaned aloud.

The dealing unto oneself a happy life and portion did not include abominable train journeys like these.