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

THE ORDERLY. 13
soap and brush, without feeling a certain sinking at the heart,
an anxious and scornful tenderness, like the separation from a
friend who has often offended us, and with whom we should
like to keep up the quarrel, but who has always been esteemed
and loved. Those pockets at the back, where in prison he concealed
his pipe at the appearance of the officer of the guard
and for which (until he has overcome the old habit) he still
searches with his hands. . . . What a nuisance not to
find it
any longer there !
The good officer had become pensive and had added not one
word to his usual- formula. So it was with the soldier too. But
their glances were more frequent and longer, and they seemed
to say : " You are suffering, I know." The soldier performed
his duties more slowly, in order to remain longer in the house
and compensate himself, during those last days, for the approaching
separation. At first he proceeded
with a certain
slowness ;
then with a sluggishness, apparently studied ;
at last
pretended to dust the tables and chairs but more
;
often
absorbed in his sad thoughts, he moved his cloth quite
blindly without touching anything. Meanwhile, the officer,
erect and immovable, with arms crossed before the mirror,
which reflected the figure of his soldier, followed his steps,
the movements of the face, and avoided the other's glances
by quickly raising his eyes to the ceiling in an abstracted manner.
Lieutenant, may I " "
"
go ? Yes, certainly." And the
soldier took his departure. He had not gone down two steps
when from within came a hurried :
returned.
" Do you require any thing else ?"
" Come here," and he
wished to tell you." ..." Nothing nothing ; you
"
Nothing, I
can do
it to-morrow go now," Perhaps he had called him back to