There was nowhere for him to go except to the little collection of houses at the railway station.

No one had seen Lawrence board the train that passed once a day, but a man, even in uniform, can sometimes slip aboard a train without being seen.

The Sergeant came back, looking woe-begone, and Lawrence was published on the bulletin board as "absent without leave." The shock of Lawrence's departure quite overcame his unhappy wife.

She took to her bed and had not strength to leave it.
Sergeant McGillicuddy begged that he might be allowed to tell to the chaplain the provocation he had given Lawrence, who might tell Mrs.
Lawrence.

The blow struck by Lawrence was the act of a mad impulse, and having struck an officer, Lawrence might well fear to face the punishment.