“You are to be a musician,” Johnny said to Lucian.
“But what will you be?” He turned to Gluck, a sturdy boy of ten with flashing eyes.
“Tell him, Gluck.” There was pride in the mother’s tone.
“I am going to be an officer of the law, like my father.” Gluck squared his shoulders.
“That’s the boy!” his mother applauded.
“There’s a woman for you!” the Captain murmured. His eyes glistened. “Gave her husband for our country’s good. Now she offers her son. This country needs more mothers such as this.”
It was mid-afternoon when they bade Madame LeClare and her fine family a hearty farewell.
“I wanted you to know them,” the Captain rumbled as once more they entered the great city. “You are to be one of us. You may have an opportunity to be of great service. Danger and death may threaten you. It will help you to understand the war we are waging, and why we must win.”
“Thank you,” said Johnny humbly. “I am sure it will.”
“This is a tough neighborhood,” the Captain said a moment later as they rolled down a narrow street. “‘Hell’s Half Acre,’ I guess you might call it.