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."

"If war comes, I am for France," said Frank, still soberly. "But war is
a dreadful thing, Henri."

"We know that--we in France," said Harry. "But there are things that are
worse than war, Frank. A peace that is without honor is among them. We
do not want to fight, but we are not afraid. When the time comes, as it
is sure to come, we shall be ready. But enough of that. There will be
no war this year or next. We have not settled about your coming home
with me. You will come?"

"I'd love to," said Frank. "If the head master says I can, I will most
gladly. But will your people want me?"

"My friends are their friends," said Harry. "My mother says always,
'Bring a friend with you, Henri.' Oh, there will be plenty for us to do,
too. We shall take long walks and play tennis and ride and shoot. Let us
settle it to-day. Come now to the office with me. We will ask the head
master."

They went forthwith to speak to Monsieur Donnet, the head of the school,
who received them in his office. The school was a small one but it
numbered among its pupils several English and American boys, whose
parents wanted them for one reason or another to acquire a thorough
knowledge of French. He heard their request, which was put by Henri,
pleasantly.

"Yes, that will be very well," he said. "I have been thinking of you,
Barnes. Your u