Page:War; or, What happens when one loves one's enemy, John Luther Long, 1913.djvu/206

WAR "I hear something about withdrawing. You can do that, Mr. Vonner, without a bit of shame. With your son we feel that you have given enough. Thank God your enlistment has proved your loyalty. And I'll get my hundred now."

I just stood up and folded my arms:

"I am of age, twice," I says. "I do not withdraw. I go with my noble son—" just for fun. "And not to prove my loyalty."

The band played like mad, the boys started signing, and we started home.

"Well, you see how it went, Jonthy," says I. "You got me crazy, too. We'd have better stayed at home."

Jon shakes his head no.

"Daddy," says he, more to himself than to me, "the reason was that I had to find something to take her place here"—his heart—"I had to have something! There was such a void there! And it aches—daddy, it aches! Strange, though, that war should fill the place of love!" 190