The claimant gives his bill to Gingham, and takes Gingham’s bank notes, or, if he prefers it, part notes and part specie. Gingham, at his own convenience, gets the official dollars on the bill. Then comes the other advantage. So much hard cash as has not been paid away to the claimant remains at headquarters, available, by monetary arrangements with the authorities, for the payment of the troops, or for any other headquarters purposes. What an improvement from the state of things when cash was so low, that, the commander-in-chief wishing to communicate with a distant point, it was necessary to raise a private loan for the expenses of the courier! In short, twenty practical difficulties occurred to my mind, all which Gingham took off, as fast as I started them. “After all,” said he, “the only real difficulty will be this: that whereas now, at headquarters, there sometimes is not a dollar disposable for public purposes, we shall then, especially if the army is on the move, have more dollars than we know what to do with.” His plan, indeed, contemplated a large concern, for the cash transactions of headquarters were immense; but it was clear he had viewed the scheme in every light, and was prepared to carry it out. No question, Gingham would have made a good thing of it, both for himself and for his backers in London. Yet it was a concern which Government could not undertake; and which, if Government had undertaken it, would have infallibly broken down. Private enterprise alone could prosperously conduct the scheme. Gingham had laid out our conference in three parts, and two were now disposed of. First, he had ascertained the progress of my financial education in the past year; secondly, he had developed his own plans; but there yet remained the third topic of discussion, into which he now led with all his usual elegance, straightforwardness, and good feeling. The long and the short of it was this,—he had two gentlemen in London, ready to come out to Bordeaux whenever he commenced operations; they would arrive, like a letter, by return of post; but there was a question respecting myself. Did I feel so far interested in his plan that I might be willing, on due reflection, to relinquish my actual appointment, and work with him? He asked it “in the strictest confidence,” and begged me to consider all that now passed “as merely conversation.” “Have the kindness to excuse me for a few moments. I’ll presently tell you just exactly my own prospects and plans, and then we’ll talk the matter over. In the mean time, accept my best thanks for this proof of confidence.”