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

328 MILITARY LIFE.
"
My mother continued to look attentively at the topographical
map, turning it round on all sides, running
over all the
roads with her finger, raising her eyes as if to collect her
thoughts, and then suddenly broke out '
weeping Oh, : yes,
it
yes, did not arrive in time ! Who says so ? Who can tell ?
The map What ? does the map prove The ? map is not enough.
Meanwhile three days have passed, and he has not written me
yet ;
if
something had not happened I should hear, and that
means that the division did arrive in time, and that he was
there, and that . . .
Oh, my boy ! My
Alberto ! My
poor Alberto '
!
" Then clasping her head in her hands she burst into a fit of
weeping.
" '
Madam !
'
madam
!
'
the others exclaimed in one voice,
do calm yourself, for mercy's sake, do control yourself ;
nothing
has happened, nothing can have happened !
Your maternal
love . . .'
" '
My God! ' cried my mother in a tone of anguish. '
My God,
my maternal love But ! if he has n't written But if two of my
!
friends, with officer sons, have already had news ! And
nothing ! Oh, Erminia !
it?'
" '
Alberto ! Alberto !
" '
My God ! what has happened ? '
" '
'
'
I
My sister ran to her. '
What is
Some misfortune ! I feel it ! I shall die !
Quick, a telegram
to the colonel; let him ask, search, and be able to tell me something
that will relieve my
mind . . .'
" Then came a ring at the door. ' Silence !
'
The servant appears.
" '
Here is a letter for you, madam.'