In passing he smiled, nodded to the captain, and flourished his whip. I had only time to notice that he sat his horse and held his reins with peculiar grace, that he had beautiful black eyes, a fine nose, and only the first signs of a moustache. What specially pleased me about him was that he could not repress a smile when he noticed that we admired him. This smile alone showed him to be very young.
“Where is he galloping to?” muttered the captain, with a dissatisfied air, without taking the pipe out of his mouth.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Ensign Alanin, a subaltern in my company—. He came from the Cadet Corps only a month ago.”
“I suppose he is going into action for the first time,” I said.
“That’s why he is so delighted,” answered the captain, thoughtfully shaking his head. “Youth.”
“But how could he help being pleased? I can fancy how interesting it must be for a young officer.”
The captain remained silent for a minute or two.
“That is just why I say ‘Youth,’ ” he added in a deep voice. “What is there to be pleased at without ever having seen the thing? When one has seen it many times, one is not so pleased. There are now, let us say, twenty of us officers here: one or other is sure to be killed or wounded, that is quite certain; today it may be I, tomorrow, he; the next day a third. So what is there to be pleased about?”