He soon had
enough of this, and entered the army. The colonel thanked him for the
compliment which he paid the regiment by choosing it, his superior
officers showed him endless marks of consideration, and if some of them
affected to make no distinction between him and other young officers,
he detected in it an intention which also irritated him. As, moreover,
he found no special pleasure in the conversations of his comrades, nor
in the parades, watchwords, and other details of garrison life, he
forthwith quitted active service, not without having been promoted, in
rapid succession, to first-lieutenant, captain, and major in his
regiment.
Of course meanwhile woman had entered his existence. But in what a
manner! Light relations with actresses, which merely occupied his
senses and left no trace in his life except some considerable sums in
the account book which his faithful family steward kept with great
accuracy; fleeting flirtations with society ladies, which soon became
intolerable because he merely found incomparably greater demands, but
otherwise nothing more than with his actresses, toward whom he need use
no ceremony.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128