Alpha Book

'Let me serve in a foreign army--France, Austria, Russia,
I do not care.' They are more horrified than ever. 'You have not a spark
of patriotism! To serve a foreign power! How dreadful! And as for the
Russians, they are all heretics.' Perhaps they are. I will try
diplomacy. 'What? Sacrifice your convictions? Become the blind
instrument of a scheming, dishonest ministry? It is unworthy of a
Saracinesca!' I will think no more about it. Let me be a lawyer and
enter public life. 'A lawyer indeed! Will you wrangle in public with
notaries' sons, defend murderers and burglars, and take fees like the
old men who write letters for the peasants under a, green umbrella in
the street? It would be almost better to turn musician and give
concerts.' 'The Church, perhaps?' I suggest. 'The Church? Are you not
the heir, and will you not be the head of the family some day? You must
be mad.' 'Then give me a sum of money and let me try my luck with my
cousin San Giacinto.' 'Business? If you make money it is a degradation,
and with these new laws you cannot afford to lose it.


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