.

.

And yet Desnoyers had never appreciated money less, nor disposed of it with greater generosity.
Numberless mobilized men of the lower classes who were going alone toward the station met a gentleman who would timidly stop them, put his hand in his pocket and leave in their right hand a bill of twenty francs, fleeing immediately before their astonished eyes.

The working-women who were returning weeping from saying good-bye to their husbands saw this same gentleman smiling at the children who were with them, patting their cheeks and hastening away, leaving a five-franc piece in their hands.
Don Marcelo, who had never smoked, was now frequenting the tobacco shops, coming out with hands and pockets filled in order that he might, with lavish generosity, press the packages upon the first soldier he met.

At times the recipient, smiling courteously, would thank him with a few words, revealing his superior breeding--afterwards passing the gift on to others clad in cloaks as coarse and badly cut as his own.