The brothers in the letters were estranged. (estranged: alienated, distant, separated) One had found the other's silence unforgivable; the other thought a written reply an occasion for further strife. (strife: conflict, discord, contention) Their early animosity had outlasted its cause. (animosity: hostility, enmity, antagonism) A later letter hinted at an enduring animus, although the children could discern no actual insult in the page. (animus: hostility, animosity, ill will)
Ruth's inclination was to mediate. (inclination: tendency, disposition, leaning; mediate: intercede, reconcile, conciliate) Her brother warned that a public intervention would likely engender resentment and deepen the rift. (intervention: intercession, mediation, interposition; engender: generate, produce, create; resentment: bitterness, indignation, rancor; rift: breach, split, division) A private gesture might conciliate without asking anyone to recant. (conciliate: appease, pacify, placate; recant: retract, renounce, disavow) They decided to transcribe the letters and give each surviving family a copy. (transcribe: write down, record, copy) Whatever happened afterward would be their affair.
At the bottom of the trunk lay a wire recording. There was no speech on it. Two boys, playing a single harmonica in turns, were trying to sustain the same note without a break. The effort finally made them laugh. The old man at the next house listened to the sound twice. Then he drew a second chair up to the table and called his brother.