took her hand, and held it firmly. “It is no wraith who stands before you, and no one has raised me from the dead.
“I can’t be certain, but I believe it to be a man of my regiment. He was about the same height and build as myself, with roughly similar features. Poor beggar. The only name I ever heard him called was Jack. He was one of the younger lads, and shivering so dreadfully on the morning of the Battle ---from cold and fear alike---that I gave him my coat, his being tattered, and far too light to serve. It’s hard to believe to look at me now, wrapped up as for a winter storm, and pacing like an animal just to warm myself. But I was never cold in those days, as you’ll recall.” He gave a bitter laugh, then shook his head, as if to drive away the feeling.
“Looking back, I guess I was luckier than some. A ball grazed my head very early in the fighting, and I knew nothing more, until I found myself being dragged away by two English infantry..... What is it, Mary? What have I said to upset you?”
“They dragged you to a grove of dark trees! You were dazed and pale, but still they pulled at you fiercely, as if to throw you to the ground and run you through.”
“How on earth did you know that?”
“I saw it in my dream! I thought I was witnessing your death. Oh, Michael, I’ve been so afraid!” It was some time before he could calm her enough to give voice to his own bewilderment.
“It’s all right, now. It’s over. But the strange truth is.....” He hesitated, not wanting to upset her further. “I thought it was the end for me as well, though they only took me to stand with the other prisoners. That day, and especially those first moments when I regained consciousness, have woven themselves in and out of my nightmares ever since. I don’t understand. How could you have known?”
Surprisingly, it was the widow Scott who shed light on this first part of the mystery. “I’ve heard it said that twins, or merely siblings who have been close since childhood, can be miles apart, after a separations of years, and suddenly know when the other is ill or in danger. The two of you, growing up as brother and sister, were every bit as close. And in some ways you shared a bond that was closer still, because you were in love.
“I once heard you, Mary, cry out ‘Wolf!’ in your sleep, only to learn the next day that Michael had had a terrible dream, in which he was being torn apart by wolves. I thought it unnatural, and an ill omen, at the time. Now I do not. There is obviously a deep spiritual link between you, such as I felt at times with my own husband. It is not for us to question God’s gifts,” she concluded, “but only to use them as well and honestly as we can.”
“That is why I came when I did,” the man confirmed. “I knew that you were hurting and afraid. Somehow I knew.”