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

DEAD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 353
Meanwhile the lieutenant came up to them.
" Here is the officer of whom I spoke in my letter," said the
captain in an undertone, as he presented
the lieutenant to the
two brothers, who pressed his hand, and made many protestations
of "affection and gratitude, to which he replied with
much effusion.
After saying a few words more, he returned to
the battery. The captain arranged with ihe brothers that he
would go and see their father the next morning at seven o'clock,
because at eight he was obliged to leave for Turin, and making
them tell him the street and number of the house, he recalled
the lieutenant and whispered in his ear " : To-morrow
morning, if I am not here at eight o'clock, you can leave with
the battery ;
but do not pass by such and such a street " naming
it.
The lieutenant understood the reason, and replied that
his orders should be carried out ;
then the captain moved off
with the two brothers.
The following morning at seven, the captain, followed by an
orderly with a bundle under his arm, rapped at the door of
the two new friends. He was obliged to wait a moment, which
seemed like an hour. V/as it
impatient desire, or timidity
which he felt at that instant ?
Perhaps even he would not have
been able to say but he felt ; painfully anxious. The door
finally opened and the two brothers appeared. They did not
give him time to speak ; they placed their fingers on their lips,
made him a sign to keep his sword from rattling, and greeting
him silently they made him enter the house and sit down. The
orderly put down the bundle and went away.
" He is sleeping," said the older brother ;
better."
" but he is much
The captain took a chair, and the two brothers sat down