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He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the house, found it . . .
The greatest loss in the narrative happens hundreds of years before its events unfold. A husband loses his wife. After her death, he shutters the house and leaves to wander the world, like a living ghost. Later, he seeks the house, a search for his lost wife and the past they shared. Only when he dies does the ghostly husband find her again, discovering the house and renewing the affection they once held for each other.
“Long years—” he sighs. “Again you found me.” “Here,” she murmurs, “sleeping . . .”
The ghostly couple watches over the sleeping, living couple, searching their faces for their hidden joy. The “long years” are those the ghostly husband spent living after his wife’s death. He wandered the world. Her reply “again you found me” suggests that those years he wandered were spent looking for her. And he found her again. He found her “here,” in their house, “sleeping” in death. The quote may also refer to the long years the ghostly couple has spent searching the house. Because the middle dialogue, “Again you found me,” does not have a tag, it could also be spoken by both ghosts simultaneously. They have found themselves in the faces, actions, and love of the living couple.
