He saw it arrive, not with anxiety
or trepidation, but with solemn joy. His father was placed in command
of a brigade of dragoons, and he himself, at another part of the
frontier line, was given the rank of second lieutenant and a command
which filled him with the pride of responsibility. Three weeks later
he was wounded in the head at the battle of Virton, but not until he
had seen the Germans, after a hard fight, retire before the attack of
his men. "Il a connu l'ivresse de la victoire: il a vu fuir
l'ennemi"--so a friend announced it. He was taken back to the hospital
at Limoges, but the victory of the Marne intoxicated him, and it was
found impossible to hold him back. With a head still bandaged, he made
his appearance once more in his beloved regiment, which was now
fighting in the forest of the Argonne, but on the first occasion on
which he led his men, Violand was wounded again, now in the shoulder.
He was sent far back, into Brittany, to Quimper, where, a second time,
by a subterfuge he contrived to escape from the hospital before his
wound was properly healed. He was absolutely intractable in his
determination to get back promptly to the fighting line: "il etait
comme ca, avec son air delicat et tranquille!" Again brought back, he
was set to training men at Quimper.
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