"Haul that red rag down and raise the flag back to its place!" The Colonel's voice was low and thick with rage.
Elena put her hand on his arm and said gently:
"Guardie!"
"Will you do it?" he firmly asked, ignoring Elena, and holding Norman with his gaze.
The young man hesitated an instant, met his father's look with a deadly straight stare, and slowly replied:
"I will not."
A smothered cry from Barbara, half joy, half pain, was the only sound that followed, until the Colonel said:
"Then I'll do it for you."
Amid a dead silence he hauled down the red flag, threw it on the floor, boldly stamped on it, made fast the Stars and Stripes, and quickly raised it to the top of its staff. He turned to the crowd, and in clear-cut, sharp tones of command shouted:
"This is my flag, my house, my lawn. Get off it! And do it quick!"