Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

174 MILITARY LIFE.
hatred, anger, sorrow, despair ;
but in vain. -She looked at
and listened to him attentively, then when he had finished she
asked him with a loud " laugh
: What is the matter with you " ?
"
or said : Poor fellow, you arouse my compassion." Then
she took his hands and kissed them with the air of intense
pity.
" Carmela !
"
one more experiment.
" What do you wish ? "
finally exclaimed the officer in order to try
He made her a sign to come nearer him. She approached
slowly, looking lovingly into his eyes, then suddenly threw herself
on his breast, clasped her arms around his neck, and,
pressing her mouth to it, she cried with a suffocating voice :
"
My dear my dear my dear "
The ! ! ! poor young fellow,
who had quite lost his head, passed his arm around her waist,
and thus supporting her, bent slowly, she with him, until he
laid her down, almost without being aware of it, on the sofa
near the little table. . . . Carmela suddenly rose to her
feet, looked very serious, seemed to be thinking of something
for a moment, and then murmured with a slight expression of
disgust :
" What are you doing ?"
The officer saw a gleam of hope, and stood watching her
silently and anxiously.
Carmela remained pensive, or seemed to be so, an instant
longer, then, smiling in a singular way, as she had never done
before, said : " Oh, are we already married, we two "
?
The officer gave a half cry, and with his eyes toward heaven
and the tip of his finger at his lips, pallid, convulsive, he
thought for a moment what reply he should make. At