the whole term of his service.

Finding himself after the lapse of a few weeks not without honor in
this Indiana town, he struck out suddenly one day a brilliant idea:
he would devote his remaining years to the practice of the profession
into which Fortune had so kindly inducted him. He hired a house, hung
out his banner, and wrote to his wife and daughter, who had remained
at Vicksburg, to come on immediately to his new home, as his fortune
was now made.

Hanchett had married, at an early stage in his original career, the
only daughter of a bankrupt Vicksburg storekeeper. This young woman,
who had doubtless found ample opportunity for the practice of domestic
economy in the paternal home, soon proved herself to be a most
excellent housekeeper on her own account. She was a jewel indeed to
her improvident husband, who, finding that she made shift by one means
or another to keep the family larder supplied, whether he kept her
purse supplied or not, dismissed a great care from his mind at once
and for ever, and thenceforth to the end of his days never exerted
himself beyond his natural bent. As the daughter, Dora Hanchett,
grew to womanhood, she divided her mother's burden with her, and
ultimately, as the mother's health failed, relieved her of it almost
entirely.

The family once reunited and domiciled in their new home, it soon
became evident to the most casual observer that Dora exercised the
functions of commander-in-chief of that force, and that the
doctor, notwithstanding his brilliant record in the field, had been
incontinently reduced to the ranks, and subjected to a rather rigid
discipline. Let it not be inferred, however, that Dora ruled with a
high hand or with a rod of iron. Far from it. She was the quietest and
meekest of tyrants, controlling not by conscious will or effort, but
by divine commission, as many a woman does.

Not only was Dora the head of the household in the sense of directing
its internal affairs, but she likewise soon proved herself to be
its mainstay as bread-winner. The doctor under her hands became a
dignified and not unornamental figure-head to the concern, in whom she
took a certain filial pride. His banner was still allowed to hang upon
the outer wall, and, as some slight justification of the legend borne
upon it, the semblance of an office was maintained for him, where
he spent many solitary and irksome hours daily in the semblance of
professional study and work. But his income did