a short time after his arrival at his brother's house, he was summoned to join his brother officers, and he accompanied a battalion to paris; where a scene of novelty and gaiety opened upon him, such as, till then, he had only a faint idea of.but gaiety disgusted, and company fatigued, his sick mind; and he became an object of unceasing raillery to his companions, from whom, whenever he could steal an opportunity, he escaped, to think of emily.the scenes around him, however, and the company with whom he was obliged to mingle, engaged his attention, though they failed to amuse his fancy, and thus gradually weakened the habit of yielding to lamentation, till it appeared less a duty to his love to indulge it.among his brother-officers were many, who added to the ordinary character of a french soldier's gaiety some of those fascinating qualities, which too frequently throw a veil over folly, and sometimes even soften the features of vice into smiles.to these men the reserved and thoughtful manners of valancourt were a kind of tacit censure on their own, for which they rallied him when present, and plotted against him when absent; they gloried in the thought of reducing him to their own level, and, considering it to be a spirited frolic, determined to accomplish it.
第138章（2 / 3）