“And when is the wedding to be?” said Gabriel gaily.

Master Stripes looked most important as he replied:  “There were many things to be done before—­first of all to bring his uncle to consent, which might not be easy, and to follow the guiding of his good star to attain a certain rank; but he was intended for great things, so it was only a matter of a few years.

“I, friend Luna, am of the stuff of young generals; it is the good luck of the family.  My uncle, when he was only an acolyte, was certain he would become a cardinal, and he succeeded.  I shall rise much faster.  Besides, you know that to be an archbishop of Toledo is not a small thing.  My uncle has many friends in the palace, and commands in the ministry of war just as though he were a general.  In point of fact he is far more a soldier than a cleric!  And to prove it to you, there is the only thing he has ever written, a prayer to the Virgin for the soldiers to recite before they go into action.”

“And you, Juanito, do you really feel any vocation for a military life?”

“A great deal—­ever since I knew how to open books and read them I have wished to rival those great captains that I saw in the prints, erect on their horses, with swords in their hands, proud and handsome.  Believe me, no one enters on this career without a vocation; many are entered in the seminaries against their will, but no one can make a soldier by force; anyone who comes to the academy has the longing in himself.”

“And are all of them as sure of the result as you are?”

“Oh, yes; all,” said the cardinal’s nephew smiling, “except that the immense majority have not such probabilities of making a name.  But, such as we are, there is not one amongst us who dreams of the possibility of vegetating as a captain in a reserve regiment, or of dying of old age as a commandant.  We all of us see first of all youth glorified by the uniform, full of adventures (for you know all the women fight for us), by the joy of life, loved and respected everywhere, head and shoulders above our countrymen; and when old age approaches, and we begin to get fat and bald, the gold braid of a general, politics, and, who knows, possibly the portfolio of war!  This is in everyone’s thoughts.  No one believes but that the future holds a baton for him, and that he has only to unhook it and fasten it to his belt.  I know for certain what is awaiting me, the rest dream and hope for it, and so we go on living.”

Gabriel smiled as he listened to the cadet.

“You are all deceiving yourselves, like those poor youths who enter the seminaries, believing that a mitre awaits them or a fat benefice on the other side of the door.  It is the influence and attraction still exercised by the great things that have been.  Let us see—­apart from the material result of the profession—­why do you become soldiers?”

“For the sake of glory!” said the cadet pompously, remembering the harangues of the colonel director of the academy.  “For our country, whose defence is entrusted to us! and for the honour of our flag!”