t he had rushed to his mother to kiss her
passionately, giving her a look that seemed to say, "Don't think I shall
not love you more than ever;" and then he ran and caught Joe's hand,
holding it fast for a moment, before flinging his arms about poor Mrs
Corporal's neck, to whisper something in her ear which made the poor
woman wipe away her tears.

"Hah!" cried the Colonel huskily, "this is peace indeed."

That night mother and father stole hand in hand into the room next their
own, where their son lay sleeping peacefully. They did not bend down to
kiss him lest he should start awake, but they knelt by his side in
thankfulness for the great joy which filled their hearts, before
thinking sadly of those to whom they owed so much.

Strangely enough, just about the same time Mrs Corporal rose from her
knees and said:--

"There, Joe, old man, I won't cry another drop, for I feel now that it's
right and what should be. But just in here somewhere there's a little
place where he'll always seem to be--our soldier boy to the very end."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Soldier Boy, by George Manville Fenn

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