"It's a long story, miss, one you won't believe" Jerome said to her with sorrow in his voice as the fire roared into life. He began to assemble the logs so she could get to them easily during the night, just as he had done for the old man. Hector combed Snow's mane and then brushed her body to help ease her. Massa and Lilly brought full meals up to the old man and young woman just as Jerome finished his work.<br/><br/><br/>Claude was moving silently through the cold and foggy woods, as if he had walked the same dead path so many times that there were no more leaves to crunch, nor stones to move, nor branches to be broken in two. Traversing the gloomy wilderness, he came upon an alter and behind the alter was a statue of an angel. She held out her arms as if to embrace all. The alter had an engraving on it. "Here lies Juliet and Jean Bellson. Beloved parents and charitable saints." He knelt down and sobbed over the grave, cursing everything, including himself.