Page:A Nameless Nobleman.djvu/65

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VALERIE'S CHOICE.
53

anatomical studies. The army hospitals are rough but rapid schools; and to save life, and ameliorate human suffering, is a nobler and a rarer art than slaughter. Then, too, I might find work as chaplain."

"What!" exclaimed the young man, his fair face flushing eagerly. "You will go with me! You, too, will expatriate yourself, and for my sake, mon père! I wished it so much, but would not ask it for fear I should seem to claim pity and help."

"Pride, my son," quietly suggested the abbé; and then, the young man's nature suddenly overtopping the priest's, he grasped François by the hand, crying,—

"Courage, mon ami! we will go out together to conquer the world, and win for ourselves the place she does not wish to grant us. The sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall prevail over more formidable enemies than yet have assailed us. VA!"