XXXVIII
PEACE
ONE day, after the war was over, I was sitting alone here, in the afternoon sun, when a woman, dressed like a nun, came, slow and solemn, up the yard. She hung her head until she got close to me, then she put it down on my old knees and cried. It was Evelyn.
For a long time we said nothing. We couldn't. Then I asked her:
"Where have you been, Evelyn?"
"In hospitals—Union hospitals—rebel hospitals. Helping to heal the wounds I made—and such as I. Searching for Dave."
"Have you come to stay with me, once more?" I asks.
"As long as we live," says she, "if you will have me."
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