Gouache was not yet quite
recovered, though he felt as strong as ever, and applied every day
for leave to go to the front. At last, on the 22d of October, the
surgeon pronounced him to be completely recovered, and Anastase
was ordered to leave the city on the following morning at
daybreak.
As he mounted the sombre staircase of the Palazzo Saracinesca on
the afternoon previous to his departure, the predominant feeling
in his breast was great satisfaction and joy at being on the eve
of seeing active service, and he himself was surprised at the
sharp pang he suffered in the anticipation of bidding farewell to
his friends. He knew what friend it was whom he dreaded to leave,
and how bitter that parting would be, for which three weeks
earlier he could have summoned a neat speech expressing just so
much of feeling as should be calculated to raise an interest in
the hearer, and prompted by just so much delicate regret as should
impart a savour of romance to his march on the next day. It was
different now.
Donna Faustina was in the room, as he had reason to expect, but it
was several minutes before Anastase could summon the determination
necessary to go to her side. She was standing near the piano,
which faced outwards towards the body of the room, but was
screened by a semicircular arrangement of plants, a novel idea
lately introduced by Corona, who was weary of the stiff old-
fashioned way of setting all the furniture against the wall.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92