XVIIIAse moved blindly through the morning’s work. Nellie’s pleasure in the necklace spared him her recognition of his anxiety. He avoided his mother. He needed the full day to prepare himself for passing on his news of Benjamin. He wanted to give it in the quiet lull after supper when the children were in bed. He wanted to have ready for Amelia, as well, some suggestion, some practical plan, for reaching Ben. Otherwise, she would burst into the hysteria that was so close to insanity. She had been almost normal since her return from Indiana. She had begun brooding only lately. Ben’s “fiancee,” with whom she had been corresponding, had never heard from him again. In her last letter, the girl had given up all hope.
Shoveling manure from the cow barn to the compost heap, Ase thought that if
