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

180 MILITARY LIFE.
" Are you not sorry that I am -going away ? Will you
not regret
never seeing me again
? "
Carmela looked at him fixedly, and then dropped her head
and eyes as if she were really thinking. The officer said nothing
more and began talking sotto voce with the soldier, whom
he helped to fold the clothes.
The girl stood
looking at them without opening her mouth.
After a short time, the officer approached her and said :
" Now, go away, Carmela ; you have been here long enough.
Go home, go."
And taking her by the arm, he pushed her gently toward
the door. She stretched out her arms to clasp
the neck. . . .
" I do not wish you to do so," said the officer.
him around
Carmela stamped her foot two or three times, stretched
her arms again, clasped his
neck, passed
out
her mouth over his
cheeks without kissing him as if she were thinking of something
else, and then went slowly and silently away without
laughing or turning back, with a look on her face that expressed
nothing, like an abstracted person who is thinking of
a thousand things, and of nothing, at once.
" What is this " ?
thought the officer. " Can this be a good
sign ? Oh, . . . if God only willed it Let us "
hope ! I
The following day he did not leave the house, and would
not even see Carmela, although
he knew that she was seated
as usual, at the door. He employed the entire afternoon in
preparing for the experiment of the evening. His small apartment
was composed of two rooms and a kitchen. Between the
bedroom and the entrance, there was a large room, whose
windows, like those of the other one, looked out into the