Oh, to be a Frenchman or a Spaniard is indifferent to me.

I shall do as you wish.

I like as well one as the other: I am a Basque like you, like all of us; I care not for the rest! But as for being a soldier somewhere, on this side of the frontier or on the other, yes, I prefer it.

In the first place, one who goes away looks as if he were running away; and then, it would please me to be a soldier, frankly." "Well, my Ramuntcho, since it is all the same to you, serve as a soldier in France, to please me." "It is understood, Gatchutcha!--You will see me wearing red trousers.
I shall call on you in the dress of a soldier, like Bidegarray, like Joachim.

As soon as I have served my three years, we will marry, if your mother consents!" After a moment of silence Gracieuse said, in a low, solemn voice: "Listen, my Ramuntcho--I am like you: I am afraid of her--of my mother--But listen--if she refuses, we shall do together anything, anything that you wish, for this is the only thing in the world in which I shall not obey her--" Then, silence returned between them, now that they were engaged, the incomparable silence of young joys, of joys new and not yet tried, which need to hush, which need to meditate in order to understand themselves better in their profoundness.