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

34 6 MILITARY LIFE.
mother, giving a long sigh,
in which one can hear the whole
history of the war, begins to say, in a voice full of emotion :
"What days I have passed, my son what
; anxiety, what terrible
heart-beats ! I did not write it for fear of saddening you but
;
this house seemed deserted after your departure. When I
could no longer hear your hastening step on the stairs at the
usual hour, your gay voice, and that tug at the bell, which
made all run to see who would arrive first ;
the not being
obliged to keep near you so that you should not forget the
hour for the . . .
parade-ground. What fearfully long
evenings And ? then the days which followed ! If the sun
shone, ' Poor Alberto,' I thought, ' is
marching in the heat '
If
!
it rained, ' Poor Alberto will catch it all !' I was almost ashamed
to go to bed at night, when I thought of you as sleeping on
the ground,
and when it thundered, I waked, lighted the lamp,
and said :
'
It is
impossible for me to sleep in such weather !
Who knows where that poor boy is now ? '
I had almost
become superstitious from constantly tormenting myself about
you. When I went to look for any thing, I said to myself :
'
If I find it no misfortune will happen to him, if I do not
find it ' . . . like all women. I felt my heart-strings
tightening in looking at your clothes, books, and every thing
belonging to you. It was a perfect torment to hear and see
the gay people in the neighborhood to see the
; young fellows
of your age walking quietly and contentedly about the
city.
I went to the windows and looked at the few soldiers
who were passing, and watched them until they had disappeared,
for it seemed as if there was a little of you about them.
I read and re-read all
your letters of past years, recalled your
and our history to my mind, beginning with the nights when I