Katherine sat by the fire and sewed. The night was cold, and there would certainly be snow before the week was out. Her husband was out in the cold, somewhere. He was an academic. Katherine's mother had warned her about marrying a soldier, who would always be away fighting some war or another, but nothing had been said about academics.  They,  too, were often away,  chasing  down some elusive new truth, consulting with German colleagues about the minutiae of anatomy.