The Sergeant learns that Lavinia has been very ill, and that her husband was a Confederate Captain killed in battle. As they reminisce, the dark silhouette of a Union Lieutenant on horseback stops by the home to ask for a drink of water. The Sergeant recognizes him as the man that saved his life by stopping the bleeding when his foot was dismembered earlier in the war. Lavinia, meanwhile, rushes into the house to retrieve an old shotgun and fires a bullet at the Lieutenant in recompense for the death of her husband. The bullet passes through him and he remarks that nothing matters anymore. The Sergeant gives him a drink from the well and the Union soldier continues on his way.