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

DEPARTURE AND RETURN. 341
Bergamo
begins again.
was the last station,
from which Alberto's narrative
THE RETURN.
It was during the last days of December ;
I was still at
Bergamo with my regiment, amusing myself with books during
the garrison duty, which always
is
(but especially after a war)
monotonous and wearying enough to drive one crazy. I did
not even think of returning home, because the time for long
leaves had not arrived, and I had heard that the colonel did
not wish to grant short ones, else all of us would have asked
for them. Nevertheless, my mother continued to write me
that, absolutely and at any cost, she wished to see me, and
could not bear the separation any longer, to which I replied :
" Be patient ;
wait a little longer," and she :
" It is
impossible " ;
and I wrote the same again in order to quiet her, and meanwhile
days and weeks passed.
One fine morning I hear some one rapping at my door ;
I
open it,
and whom do I see, but the colonel !
He salutes me with the utmost gravity, will not sit down,
says that he has come direct from Venice, is on his way to
Milan, and that he had good news of my family.
... At
this point he looked me firmly in the face, and said with a certain
air of pity and reproof
"
: I understand that you have a
perfect mania for returning home."
" Eh ! After a campaign ! " I replied humbly.
" Campaign
!
campaign ! " he repeated angrily ;
" don't you
call it that ;
there have been four bad marches and four badly
fired shots."
I was silent. He continued in the most serious way : " Get
into the habit of considering the regiment your family."