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

THE ORDERLY.
They had been living together for four years nor had either
;
of them forgotten for a single moment that one was the officer,
the other the soldier.
The former was austere as a soldier, the
latter correspondingly submissive. They loved each other ;
but with that hard, rough, silent affection, which never makes
any display, nor reveals itself, and which conceals a demonstration
of tenderness under a rude action ;
is
eloquent when sient,
embarrassed when speaking ;
inimical to blandishments,
and accustomed, when feeling the desire to weep, to bite
the lips and withhold the tears for fear of appearing weak
and unmanly. They used a laconic language to one another ;
understood each other by monosyllables, glances, and signs.
Their common interpreter was the watch, which regulated
every thing, even their steps and words, with the strictest discipline.
Lieutenant, do you wish "
"
any thing more ?
" Nothing."
"May I go?" "Go." This was the daily form of
dismissal. Not one word more. So days, months, and years
had passed four years in all in quarters, at home, in camp,
on the march, and in war, and little by little a deep, stern
sort of affection, almost unknown to them, had grown up in
their two hearts. There was in that invariable taciturnity,
that soldierly way of speaking, the fugitive exchange of
glances which meant on one side, " Do this," and on the
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