His cloak was worn thin and dirty;
the leggings were spatter-dashed with mud; he smelled of leather, sweaty
cloth and strong tobacco; but on one wrist he was wearing a watch, and
on the other, his identity medal fastened with a gold chain. She had
always admired her brother for his natural good taste, so she stowed
away all these little details in her memory in order to pass them on to
Rene. Then she surprised her mother with a demand for a loan that she
might send a little gift to her artilleryman.
Don Marcelo gloated over the fifteen days of satisfaction ahead of him.
Sub-lieutenant Desnoyers found it impossible to go out alone, for his
father was always pacing up and down the reception hall before the
military cap which was shedding modest splendor and glory upon the hat
rack. Scarcely had Julio put it on his head before his sire appeared,
also with hat and cane, ready to sally forth.
"Will you permit me to accompany you? . . . I will not bother you."
This would be said so humbly, with such an evident desire to have his
request granted, that his son had not the heart to refuse him. In order
to take a walk with Argensola, he had to scurry down the back stairs, or
resort to other schoolboy tricks.
Never had the elder Desnoyers promenaded the streets of Paris with
such solid satisfaction as by the side of this muscular youth in
his gloriously worn cloak, on whose breast were glistening his two
decorations--the cross of war and the military medal.
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