“No I won't,” said Purity. “I don't even know for sure that that's what happened to them. I think the evidence points that way, but it's a slender arrow indeed.”

“But you want it to be true,” said Cooper.

“That's silly! Why would I want that!”

Cooper said nothing.

“I don't hate it here! People have been kind to me. Reverend Study arranged to let me use the Harvard library. I get to listen to the lectures. Not that it will ever amount to anything.”

Cooper smiled ever-so-slightly.

“Well, what can it amount to?” Purity demanded. “I'm a woman. Either I'll marry or I won't. If I marry, I'll be raising children. Maybe I'll teach them to read before they get to school. But I won't be the one who gets to teach them Latin and Greek. They'll get their Caesar and their Tully and their Homer from someone else. And if I don't marry, the best I can hope for is to be kept on as a matron in the orphanage. Children are the only people who'll ever hear my voice.”

“Ain't nothing wrong with children,” said Arthur Stuart.

“That's not what she means anyway,” said Cooper.

“Don't you dare interpret me anymore!” Purity cried. “You think you know me better than you know yourself!”

“Yes, I think I do,” said Cooper. “I've been down the same road.”

“Oh, were you an orphan? As a barrister, did they make you work with children all the time? Did they make you sit outside the courtroom to plead your case?”

“All these sacrifices,” said Cooper, “you'd make them gladly, if you believed in the cause.”

“Are you accusing me of being an unbeliever?”

“Yes,” said Cooper.

“I'm a Christian!” she said. “You're the heretics! You're the witches!”

“Keep your voice down,” said Fink menacingly.

“I'm not a witch!” said Audubon fervently.

“You see?” said Cooper. “Now you are accusing us.”

“I'm not!” she said. “There's no one here but you.”

“You're a woman whose world has just turned upside down. You're the daughter of witches. You're angry that they were killed. You're angry at yourself for being alive, for being part of the very society that killed them. And you're angry at that society for not being worthy of the sacrifice.”

“I'm not judging others,” she said.

“They were supposed to build Zion here,” said Cooper. “The city of God. The place where Christ at his coming could find the righteous gathered together, waiting for him.”

“Yes,” whispered Purity.

“They even named you Purity. And yet you see that nothing is pure. The people are trying to be good, but it isn't good enough. When Christ comes, all he'll find here is a group of people who have done no more than to find another way to be stubble that he will have to burn.”

“No, the virtue is real, the people are good,” said Purity. “Reverend Study–”

“Virtue is real outside New England, too,” said Verily Cooper.

“Is it?” she asked. “Most people here live the commandments. Adultery is as rare as fish with feet. Murder never happens. Drunkenness can never be seen anywhere except at the docks, where sailors from other lands are permitted– and why should I defend New England to you?”

“You don't have to,” said Cooper. “I grew up with the dream of New England all around me. In every pulpit, in every home. When someone behaved badly, when someone in authority made a mistake, we'd say, 'What do you expect? This isn't New England.' When somebody was exceptionally kind or self-sacrificing, or humble and sweet, we'd say, 'He belongs in New England,' or 'He's already got his passage to Boston.'”

Purity looked at him in surprise. “Well, we're not that good here.”

“I know,” said Cooper. “For one thing, you still hang witches and put their babies in orphanages.”

“I'm not going to cry again, if that's what you're hoping for,” said Purity.

“I'm hoping for something else,” said Cooper. “Come with us.”

“Verily!” said Smith. “For pete's sake, if we wanted a woman with us we'd be traveling with Margaret! You think this girl's ready to sleep rough?”

“Ain't decent anyway,” said Mike Fink. “She's a lady.”

“You needn't worry about my going with you,” said Purity. “What kind of madman are you? Perhaps I am angry and disillusioned about the dream of purity here in New England. Why would I be any happier with you, who aren't even as pure as we are here?”

“Because we have the one thing you're hungry for.”

“And what is that?”

“A reason to live.”

She laughed in his face. “The five of you! And all the rest of the world lacks it? Why don't they all just give up and die?”

“Few give up living,” said Cooper. “Most give up looking for a reason. But some have to keep searching. They can't bear to live without a purpose. Something larger than themselves, something so good that just being a part of it makes everything worthwhile. You're a seeker, Miss Purity.”

“How do you know all these things about me?”

“Because I'm a seeker, too. Do you think I don't know my own kind?”

She looked around at the others. “If I were this thing, a seeker, why would I want to be with other seekers? If you're still seeking, it means you haven't found anything, either.”

“But we have,” said Cooper.

Smith rolled his eyes. “Verily Cooper, you know I still don't have a clue what we're even looking for.”

“That's not what I'm talking about,” said Cooper. “You're not a seeker, Alvin. You already have your life handed to you, whether you want it or not. And Arthur here, he's not a seeker, either. He's already found what he wants.”

Arthur hung his head, embarrassed. “Don't you go saying!”

“Just like Mike Fink. They've found you, Al. They're going to follow you till they die.”

“Or till I do,” said Smith.

“Ain't going to happen,” said Fink. “I'll have to be dead first.”

“You see?” said Cooper. “And Jean-Jacques here, he's no seeker. He knows the purpose of his life as well.”

Audubon grinned. “Birds, women, and wine.”

“Birds,” said Cooper.

“But you're still seeking?” asked Smith.

“I've found you, too,” said Cooper. “But I haven't found what I'm good for. I haven't figured out what my life means.” He turned to Purity again. “That's why I knew. Because I've stood where you're standing. You've fooled them all, they think they know you but it just means you've kept your secret, only now you're fed up with secrets and you have to get out, you have to find the people who know why you're alive.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“So come with us,” said Cooper.

“Dammit, Very,” said Smith, “how can we have a woman along?”

“Why not?” said Cooper. “Quite soon you're going to rejoin your wife and start traveling with her. We can't camp in the woods our whole lives. And Miss Purity can help us. Our painter friend may be happy with what he's accomplished here, but we don't know anything more than we did before we arrived. We see the villages, but we can hardly talk to anyone because we have so many secrets and they're so reticent with strangers. Miss Purity can explain things to us. She can help you learn what you need to learn about building the City of–”

He stopped.

“The City,” he finally said.

“Why not say it?” said Purity. “The City of God.”

Cooper and Smith looked at each other, and Purity could see that both of them were filled with the pleasure of having understood something. “See?” said Cooper. “We've already learned something, just by having Miss Purity with us.”

“What did you learn?” demanded Arthur Stuart.

“That maybe the Crystal City has another name,” said Smith.

“Crystal City?” asked Miss Purity.

Cooper looked at Smith for permission. Alvin glanced at each of them in turn, until at last his gaze lingered on Purity herself. “If you think she's all right,” said Alvin.

“I know she is,” said Cooper.

“Got a couple of minutes?” Alvin asked Purity.