Only by going to the front could he claim--as a student of the Ecole Centrale--his title of sub-lieutenant in the Artillery Reserves.
"What happiness for me that you have to stay in Paris! How delighted I am that you are just a private!.

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." And yet, at the same time, Chichi was thinking enviously of her friends whose lovers and brothers were officers.

They could parade the streets, escorted by a gold-trimmed kepis that attracted the notice of the passers-by and the respectful salute of the lower ranks.
Each time that Dona Luisa, terrified by the forecasts of her sister, undertook to communicate her dismay to her daughter, the girl would rage up and down, exclaiming:-- "What lies my aunt tells you!.

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