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

242 MILITARY LIF1:.
all the recollections which were waking in him, one recalled by
the other. That was exactly the spot where he had come one
evening with her, despite the admonition of his mother " Do
:
not go too far "
away And she had not wished to come, as
!
it was really too far from home, and at that hour, late in the
evening, alone with him ! But, heavens, how he had begged
her ! the sky was so clear, the air so mild, and the whole
country so fragrant, that she had been obliged to yield and
come. They were seated there, on that seat ;
had exchanged
few words, but these were tender, rapid, and faltering ;
he had
sought her hand, and she, frightened by the thought of being
alone with him whom she loved, had shut her hand and drawn
it from him with gentle force, so that he had been obliged to
conquer it finger by finger,
for as soon as he succeeded in
opening the second the first would close, until at last the little resisting
hand opened and was his. Absorbed in the thought of
that beautiful evening, the poor disabled ^soldier (by
means of
an illusion into which our fancy often drives us at the sight of
a place to which we are bound by some tender recollection) forgot
the time which had passed since that evening and the
present day, forgot all that which had happened meanwhile,
the war, the wound, the amputated leg the ; thought that
within a short time he would see that girl alone filled his mind,
quite separated from the other sad ones which usually followed
it ;
the feeling of a great joy filled his soul, intoxicated and
oppressed him ;
moved by an irresistible impulse
of his heart
he made an effort to rise to his feet without the aid of his arms,
and did so so violently that the nerves of his maimed leg,
pressed strongly against the wood, were pained and sent a
terrible pain shooting up through his body, which drew a cry