These grasped a sheet of paper, and I noticed others, including several unopened envelopes, lying before him on the table.

He laughed a bit unpleasantly, a row of white teeth visible beneath the dark mustache.
"It's just as I thought, Herman," he said genially.

"The fellow is a mere adventurer.

There will be no one to take his disappearance seriously.

Look at this document." He held out a half-printed, half-written sheet which I instantly recognized as my discharge, but the big man only nodded, his hands in his pockets.
"I not read English--you know dot," he said placidly.
"True, I had forgotten.