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

THE DISABLED SOLDIER. 245
making a woful " face, how could it have happened ? ".'
" There are twigs hanging from every side," replied the old
woman, " and you are running
hither and thither like a mad
creature, without looking, or bending your head ;
sit down."
The girl sat down, the mother went behind her, loosened her
braids, smoothed her hair, and then taking
it
all in one hand
to keep it tight, in order to part it with the other, made her
bend her head backward, dropping her hand little by little, and
taking her chin between her forefinger and thumb, or touching
the dimple in her throat, so that she twisted about with
that convulsive laugh peculiar to girls who are being tickledj
She did her braids, put in the hair-pins, passed her open hands
two or three times over the hair so that it should be smooth
and shining, and then placing her hands on her shoulders, and
looking her in the face, she gave her a kiss, and moved off, saying
: " Let us go." The young girl rose and followed her,'
keeping
her face turned toward the mirror until she entered
the neighboring room. Here, allowing the mother to go out/
she raised one foot gently from the ground, and using the other
as a pivot, wheeled around twice, and suddenly stopped, threw
back her head to look with charming curiosity at the skirts
puffed out by the wind, which looked
Then, she too ran out into the house-yard.
like a dress over hoops."
All the others scattered over the place, some on the road, in
front of the house, were in continual motion, as if their feet
were scorched when they kept them quiet for a moment.
And in
that continuous wandering about there never were two who met
and looked at each other without exchanging a gay word or a
smile, because the glance of the one recalled to the other the
happiness of all, and revived in him the same feeling. The