He had brought a large sum with him to give to his son, but the soldier gave a shrug of indifference as though he had offered him a plaything. He had never been so rich as at this moment; he had a lot of money in Paris and he didn’t know what to do with it—he didn’t need anything.
“Send me some cigars . . . for me and my comrades.”
He was constantly receiving from his mother great baskets full of choice goodies, tobacco and clothing. But he never kept anything; all was passed on to his fellow-warriors, sons of poor families or alone in the world. His munificence had spread from his intimates to the company, and from that to the entire battalion. Don Marcelo divined his great popularity in the glances and smiles of the soldiers passing near them. He was the generous son of a millionaire, and this popularity seemed to include even him when the news went around that the father of Sergeant Desnoyers had arrived—a potentate who possessed fabulous wealth on the other side of the sea.
“I guessed that you would want cigars,” chuckled the old man.
And his gaze sought the bags brought from the automobile through the windings of the underground road.
All of the son’s valorous deeds, extolled and magnified by Argensola, now came trooping into his mind. He had the original hero before his very eyes.
“Are you content, satisfied? . . . You do not repent of your decision?”
“Yes, I am content, father . . . very content.”
Julio spoke without boasting, modestly. His life was very hard, but just like that of millions of other men. In his section of a few dozens of soldiers there were many superior to him in intelligence, in studiousness, in character; but they were all courageously undergoing the test, experiencing the satisfaction of duty fulfilled. The common danger was helping to develop the noblest virtues of these men. Never, in times of peace, had he known such comradeship. What magnificent sacrifices he had witnessed!
“When all this is over, men will be better . . . more generous. Those who survive will do great things.”