"Oh, yes."
Another silence. "I—I think I understand now why you're not afraid."
"But I am afraid, Beth," he said with a smile. "I was always afraid in the war. Because Death is always waiting just around the corner. Nobody who has been in the war wants ever to fight again."
He turned to the piano. "They all want happiness, Beth. Peace. This!" he finished, and his roving fingers played softly the Tschaikowsky "Reverie."
When he had finished he turned to her, smiling.
"What vision do you see in that, Beth?"
She started as though from a dream. "Oh, happiness—and sadness, too."
"Yes," said Peter soberly. "No one knows what it is to be happy unless one has been sad."
"That's true, isn't it?" she muttered, looking at him in wonder. "I never knew what unhappiness was for—but I guess that's it."
He caught the minor note in her voice and smiled.