The question of whether to leave or not to leave the army led him to another private matter – almost the chief, though the secret, interest of his life. Ambition was the old motive of his childhood and youth, one which he did not acknowledge even to himself, but which was so strong a passion that it now struggled against his love.
La cuestión de si debía o no pedir el retiro le hizo meditar en otro interés secreto de su vida, sólo conocido para él, pero que era el principal estímulo que le guiaba: la ambición, ilusión acariciada desde su infancia y su juventud.