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

DEPARTURE AND RETURN. 313
disappears, the dust grows thinner, on the tops of all the mountains
our battalions are moving, our flags flying,
our fanfara
echoing, and from one end of Italy to the other bursts out a
prolonged shout of joy, which has been suppressed for so
long
a time. . . .
Yes, break out, O shout, and resound through
all the vaults of heaven ;
but do not drown that undertone
which comes from my mother's breast. . . . O God !
my
head !
my
head !
I dashed out of the room, left the palace ;
Piazza Castello
was as deserted and quiet as the court of an enormous convent
;
the hill of Superga was distinctly outlined against a clear
and starry sky, and the facade of the Gran Madre di Dio,
lighted by the moonbeams, seemed as if
only two feet away.
" What a beautiful night," I exclaimed. " "
I am really happy
!
But a picture disturbed my happiness :
the picture of a poor
woman, seated in the corner of her little room, quite
in the
dark, with her forehead resting on her hands, thinking and
thinking.
THE DEPARTURE.
I.
On the 6th of May, toward five o'clock in the evening,
a group of ten officers were gathered
at the door of the
barracks, when we heard a hurried step coming down the
stairs, and instantly thereafter the breathless adjutant appeared,
"
shouting Gentlemen : ! We leave this evening at eight
o'clock. Luggage in the barracks at seven. Full marching
equipment."
We gave a shout of joy, and without
even asking where we