"And take you this, for luck.

You will do your best, I know you will, and you'll come back to us a great man.

Don't forget your Uncle Lucien, you boy, when you are famous, will you ?" Napoleon smiled through his tears, and made a laughing promise in reply to his uncle's laughing demand.

But, for all the fun of the remark, there was yet a strong groundwork of belief beneath this assertion of the Canon Lucien Bonaparte; the old man was a shrewd observer.

His friendship for the little Napoleon was strong.