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“By evening, the Curtain household numbered seven, but joy did not arrive with the child. Neither did noise, for the child had not uttered a sound. Pa, still on the porch, strained his ears for any resonances of new life, but none came. He lit a lantern, around which nocturnal insects bashed into each other sadistically, hopelessly attempting to get near the fire that would certainly kill them if they were successful.” — P.S. Ballantyne
By evening, the Curtain household numbered seven, but joy did not arrive with the child. Neither did noise, for the child had not uttered a sound. Pa, still on the porch, strained his ears for any resonances of new life, but none came. He lit a lantern, around which nocturnal insects bashed into each other sadistically, hopelessly attempting to get near the fire that would certainly kill them if they were successful.