"What! We never thought of anything else!"
I suddenly recognised in him, the obstinacy and exaltation which had surprised me, as a child, in the inhabitants of Emberménil.
I had honestly forgotten that such rancour survived. After more than forty years! Revenge then was not simply an abstract pretext, it corresponded actually, to a desire, a hatred! The old furnace still threw out sparks in the new generation capable of setting the conflagration alight at any moment.
I could not help blaming this fury. The stupid dislike of resignation and discretion, of that which constituted men's happiness.
Did I not, however, vaguely envy this impassioned tone and face?
Why did I announce:
"I'm a Lorrain too, you know!"
"Really?" he said; "Oh well, I had suspected it, just from your name. What part do you come from?"
I told him. He was delighted. He had relations round about Lunéville.
"We are the only ones in the platoon. That ought to make us good friends, what?"