Salcedo, Bravo, Martinez, Urrea--are they not great soldiers?
Very well, then, I say they brought some pleasure with their armies; and you will see that Santa Anna will do the same.

If we were only in our own home! It must have been the devil who made us leave it." "How truly splendid the officers looked, mi madre.

I dare say Senora Valdez will entertain them." "That is certain.

And as for Dorette Valdez--the coquette--it will certainly be a great happiness to her." Isabel sighed, and the Senora felt a kind of satisfaction in the sigh.
It was unendurable to be alone in her regrets and her longings.
"Yes," she continued, "every night Senora Trespalacios will give a tertulia, and the officers will have military balls--the brave young men; they will be so gay, so charming, so devoted, and in a few hours, perhaps, they will go into the other world by the road of the battlefield.

Ah, how pitiful! How interesting! Cannot you imagine it ?" Isabel sighed again, but the sigh was for the gay, the charming Luis Alveda.