"I was going to join in America, too," said Frank. "But then I came over here, and I didn't know there were scouts here. Do you wear the same sort of uniforms?"
"Yes—just like the English," said Harry. "You could join with me, couldn't you? You're going to be here for a whole year more, aren't you?"
"Yes. My mother"—he gulped a little at the word—"wanted me to know all about France, and never to forget that I had French blood in me, you see. My French grandfather was killed by the Germans at Gravelotte—he was a colonel of the line. And my mother, even though my father was an American, was always devoted to France."
"We are like that—we French," said Harry, simply. Into his eyes came the look that even French boys have when they remember the days of 1870. "The Germans—yes, they beat us then. We were not ready—we were badly led. But our time will come—the time of La Revanche. Tell me, Frank, you have seen the Place de la Concorde, in Paris?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Do you remember the statue of Strassburg? How it is always draped in black—with mourning wreaths?"
"Yes."
"The day is coming when the black shall be stripped off! Alsace-Lorraine—they are French at heart, those lost provinces of ours! They shall be French again in name, too. Strassburg shall guard the Rhine for us again—Metz shall be a French fortress once more. We shall fight again—and next time we shall be ready! We shall win!"
"I hope so—if war comes again," said Frank, soberly. "But—"
"If war comes?" said Harry, surprised. "Don't you know it must come? France knows that—France makes ready. We shall not seek the war. But it is not enough for us to desire peace. The Prussians are afraid of us. They will never rest content while we are strong. They thought they had crushed us forever in 1870—but France was too great for them to crush! They made us pay a thousand million francs—they thought we should take years and years to pay, and that meanwhile they would keep their soldiers on our land, in our fortresses! But no! France paid, and quickly. And ever since we have prepared for the time when they would try to finish their work."