Do you wonder that it came to
war? Then for years those of us with the courage to resist you were
called `traitors', and hunted down like dogs. Now you say we are
prisoners of war, and all we have to do is walk away." He paused,
overwhelmed by the thought.
"Can a man walk away from his past? Can the cold stones of the grave
lose their shadow, and rotted flesh grow whole again to walk with the
living? God damn
you! We stand atop a pile of bodies four miles deep, over which you
would hold a pretty picnic. And ten times ten thousand left to grieve.
"Dear God, I cannot look at you, for the very sight is bile in my
throat. When ignorance leads the blind, how black shall the blindness
be?"
He walked out of the room, with all feeling gone from his soul.
Twenty-Seven
The widow Scott opened her eyes in the chill hour of dawn. Indirect
sunlight filtered through the high window, silhouetting the statued
form of her niece, who stood in silence before it. At her side the
girl held something metal that gleamed dully. Her eyes looked out
unseeing.
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