Jamie said, “I didn’t ken that it was yours. I found it on the table.”

“No, it’s my fault. I misplaced them earlier, you’re not to blame. In truth, I’m grateful that you’ve helped me find them, for they are in fact a very useful item, though I do confess I’ve never thought of using them for walnuts.”

Lily, from her seat atop the barrel, had a clear view of the little tool, hinged at the top with equal pointed sides that could be spread apart or tightly closed to make a whole not quite the length of a man’s hand and half as big around as a man’s finger. “Then what are they for?” she asked.

“Dividers? These help me navigate when I’m at sea,” he told them. “When I have my charts, my maps, these help me measure out my distances, so I know where I am, and where I’m heading.”

Jamie’s interest had been captured. “You can sail a ship?”

“Aye.”

Lily told him, “Jamie wants to be a sailor.”

Jamie felt the need to add, “She will not let me be a soldier.”

Thomas nodded with a solemn air. “Wise lass.” And then he seemed to finally place who Lily was, because he looked from her to Jean and Corporal Morison, top couple in the current dance, and said, “Congratulations to your family. I do wish you well.”

She thanked him, but there must have been some stray note in her voice that made him look more closely at her face. He smiled a private understanding. “Ye weren’t needing a new daddie?”

Lily sat more straight and told him, “Corporal Morison’s a good man.”

“Aye, he is. But I do understand, believe me. I lost my mother when I was a bairn and never had the chance to ken her, but she left a hole behind that won’t be filled by any other. Too big a hole to be measured with these.” He held up his dividers. “There’s no shame in feeling it.”

Lily felt her own heart thumping heavily in time with every drumbeat of the music as the dancers met and swirled and parted. “So what do ye do?”

“Well,” Thomas said, “there’s an old saying: we have to live for the living, and not for the dead. And I try to remember that.”

Jamie was ready to talk about other things. “How do you learn to sail ships?”

“There are different ways. You can apprentice…”

Their talk became technical. Lily lost interest, and focused instead on the dancers and Jean who was living her life for the living and finding new happiness, and Lily wanted that, too, only…only…

“May I have this dance?”

She had not noticed Mr. Bell coming in. He wore his best Sunday coat, like a gentleman, and he bowed low to her, offering both hands to help her hop down from the barrel. She did, and then suddenly she was a part of the dance with the rest of them, learning the new steps and gaining in confidence, living her life for the living.