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"Shall we?" Apgar said

They walked briskly down the hall Thick s up At the door they halted

"You know," said Sister Peg, "I think I’ll stay after all"

His eyes searched her face

"I think it’s best this way," she explained "To be…with them"

Of course that’s what she would want To affirar cupped her chin, leaned his face forward, and kissed her lightly on the lips

"Well," she ed Tears rose to her throat She had never been kissed by a grown man before "I didn’t expect that"

"I hope you didn’t mind"

"You alere a lovely boy"

"That’s nice of you to say"

She took his hands and held them "God bless and keep you, Gunnar"

"And you as well, Sister"

Then he was gone

She faded back into the hall In the dining roo up the walls; the sh She lay down on the hatch Her ti She had no fear of ould come, the hand of love into which her spirit would pass Fire took the building in its grip The fla all As the s’s mind filled up with faces Faces by the hundreds, the thousands Her children She would be with the They stood in abeyance, the glow of the fla their denuded faces They had been vanquished; fire was a barrier they could not cross Still they waited, ever hopeful The hours passed The building burned and burned and burned so when dawn ca over the silent city