He’s made comfortable, propped with pillows. His glasses are set on the small nightstand, his face bare and strange without them. Rosalie fetches a pitcher of water with ice in it and the brothers move two chairs alongside the bed so they can sit with him. The day’s heat is coming on and the air in the room is very still. Rosalie can smell the medicine under Adam’s bandages, something sharp like eucalyptus. John’s and Edwin’s faces shine with sweat from the work of carrying him. John and Adam reminisce about their meeting at Edwin’s wedding. Such a joyous day, they all agree mournfully. No one could have predicted this unhappy future. “ ‘Our wills and fates do so contrary run,’ ” says Edwin.

“ ‘O God, that one might read the book of fate And see the revolution of the times,’ ” says John.

The men settle in. Rosalie can see what a relief it is to Edwin to talk again about Mary with someone who knew her well and she likes Adam better for his patient listening. He’s had a long journey in a weakened state. He must be exhausted. Edwin has said all these same things to Adam before, and yet, he encourages Edwin to keep talking. He himself says lovely things about Mary. Their contentious, competitive relationship is forgotten. Now that she’s dead, Mary and Adam were the best of friends.

Adam’s wound still needs care, twice daily cleaning and redressing, but he’s brought a servant to do this. Randall is a young black man with wide eyes and a scar on one cheek that no one asks about. He moves about the room, preparing the basin, unpacking Adam’s clothes and medicines, answering Rosalie’s questions in his musical accent. He’s from New Orleans. He’s been with Captain Badeau for nearly a month. He has four little sisters back home and it shows in the way that Edwina takes to him. Rosalie has to physically remove her from the sickroom. She leaves the men to their talking and herds Edwina down the stairs to the kitchen for a slice of buttered bread as compensation for the loss of Randall’s attention.

I order that a draft be made in the said Sixth District of the State of New York for the number of men herein assigned to said District, and fifty percent in addition.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

—Abraham Lincoln

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