Reading this, Asia will manage to forget what John once told her about these same events—“Imagine me forced to save that Union soldier with my rebel sinews!” And also how they’d both disparaged Adam as a “deceptious mortal” on account of his homosexuality. In this article, Adam is being kind when Asia has all but forgotten what kindness feels like. It will make Asia weep for an entire afternoon.

—

Hiding his Southern sympathies is something John seems increasingly less inclined to do. Sleeper and John arrive in Philadelphia on the same train. The minute they enter the house, Asia can feel . . . something. Sleeper is curt. One quick kiss and he’s in the kitchen asking for something to eat. John is gay in his new feverish, unpersuasive way. Asia pretends not to notice this palpable tension.

That night while she and Sleeper are lying next to each other, he tells her that while on the train he’d made a joke about Jefferson Davis. John had seized him by the neck and flung him side to side like a dog with a sock. He shows her his bruises. He asks her to rub his shoulders. Under her fingers, his muscles shift about like rocks.

When they’re alone, she asks John about this. “I only come here to see you,” he says. And in magnificent understatement, “Clarke and I, we are as the antipodes.”

The Clarkes have moved again, out of the country, which Asia decided she hated, and back into Philadelphia, to a house on 13th and Callowhill. Sleeper’s an enormously popular player by now. His favorite role is Timothy Toodle and he’s gone off to do that when this conversation takes place. The children have scattered books and shoes and toys about the parlor. Asia is tidying up while John starts the fire. The wood is too green and the room gets smoky. The night is dark and so dry that the packed snow whistles in the wind.

Asia and John sit by the fire. Asia’s hands are cold. She holds them close to the flames. “If you feel so strongly, why don’t you go and fight for the South?” Asia asks him. “Every Marylander worthy of the name is doing so.” She regrets the words the moment she speaks them. She has no desire to see John go for a soldier.

There’s a long pause before he answers, so she feels she’s shamed him. He stares into the fire, which is burning more cleanly now, though the smell of smoke lingers. His face is thin and shadowed.