One and all, without exception, the people had managed to gather a gaggle of brats to present bouquets of flowers to me. I accepted their weeds, but that was as far as I cared to take it. If the mothers expected me to reward their offspring with a kiss or a copper, then they would just have to live with the disappointment. During the wars I’d been forced to do many terrible things in the name of duty, but one must draw the line somewhere.
Beheadings are okay, but we must draw the line at kissing babies.
