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

A MEDAL.
"I AM always obliged to encounter that cloudy face and sullen
look ! Thus said a captain to himself, after having re-
"
viewed his "
company. But why
is it ? What have I ever
done to him "
?
He was thinking of a soldier, an Abruzzese, who had glanced
doggedly at him during the review.
There are some proud, savage, and reticent natures in which
amour propre
is so intense and gloomy that they suspect scorn
in every smile, a snare in every word, and an enemy in every
person.
They are good and affectionate characters at the bottom,
but appear and are judged as proud and unfortunate ones.
They are souls that are retiring sheerly from diffidence ; they
have no spontaneous affections ;
never are the first to love ;
but hardly do they perceive that they have inspired a feeling
of affection when they return it with as much greater a strength
and effusion as they generally display the contrary qualities
with others. When, however, they take an aversion and become
envious, they are incredibly obstinate and tenacious in
their opinions. Yet they do not hate as they fancy they do.
One almost always arrives in time with a hearty hand-shake
and a pleasant smile, to dissipate their antipathy (which they
believed to be unconquerable) and their rancor (that they swore
was eternal).
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