On the Night of the Seventh Moon

“I would have him hide his cowardice and pretend to a little courage.”

“He is no coward,” I said fiercely.

“No? When he cowers behind the skirts of his teacher?”

“I must make this clear. It was on my orders that he stayed in bed this morning.”

“So you give orders here now. Miss Trant?”

“It is essential for the teacher to tell her pupils what to do.”

“Even when it is to disobey a parent?”

“It did not occur to me that any parent would want to drag a sick child from his bed.”

“How dramatic you are. Miss Trant! I did not think that an English characteristic.”

I dare say it is not, but I must make you understand that Fritz is different from Dagobert. Now he will enjoy the hunt and he will not be tortured by an over-active imagination. You can make of him the sort of man you admire someone in your own image. “

“Thank you for that assessment of my character. Miss Trant.”

T think you understand perfectly that I would not presume to assess your character on such a short acquaintance . or in fact at all. I came here to teach children English and . “And their father how to treat his children. His idiosyncrasies are no concern of yours, you say. Yet you belie this. Because now you are telling me how wrong my attitude is towards my son.”

“Will you do this for me?” I asked. His expression changed. He came closer. I held up a hand as though to ward him off and I went on quickly: “Do not insist that Fritz goes to this hunt today. Please give me a chance with him. He is nervous and the way to disperse that nervousness is not to aggravate it, but to soothe it, to show him that a great deal that he fears lies only in his mind.”

“You talk like one of these newfangled doctors one hears of nowadays.

But you’re a good advocate. What has Fritz done to deserve such concern? “

“He is a child who needs understanding. Please will you allow me to have my way over this?”

“I’ve an idea. Miss Trant, that you are a young woman who often gets her way.”

“You are wrong in that.”

“Then you should be grateful to me.”

I was suddenly thinking happily of Fritz’s relief when he heard the party riding away into the forest.

“You are charming when you smile,” he said.

“It gives me pleasure to be responsible for such charm.”

“I am grateful,” I said.

He bowed. He took my hand then and kissed it; I took it from his grasp as soon as possible and he was laughing as he went out.

I went up to Fritz’s room. He started as I entered.

I said, “The party is just leaving. Would you like to see them go? We can watch from the window.” He looked at me as though I were a magician. He stood at the window and watched the cavalcade ride out of the schloss grounds down the slopes into the pine forest.

I sat by Fritz’s bed and gave him a lesson in English. He sneezed once or twice and I went down to Frau Graben to tell her I thought he had a cold. She brought up her own remedy-a cordial she made herself. She smacked her lips as she took a spoonful of it.

“Lovely!” she said, beaming.

Fritz knew the cordial well and took it with relish. It made him sleepy, so I left him and went for a walk in the woods, but not very far from the schloss. I had no desire to run into the hunting party.

It was a lovely afternoon. I came back and went to sit in the garden to prepare next day’s lesson; it was peaceful there, shut in as it was by the short thick firs.

One of the two girls, Ella, who looked after us in the fortress, came down to tell me that Frau Graben had sent a message over to ask me to go to her sitting-room.

I went; she had a little spirit lamp which she used in the summer and the kettle was boiling.

“Tea,” she said once again, as though I were a small child to whom she was offering a treat.

I noticed the new addition to the room-a blue gilded cage in which was a canary.

“Look at my little angel,” she said. “Angel” , that is his name.

Tweet-tweet. Isn’t he a little treasure? I saw him in a shop in the Unterer Stadtplatz yesterday. I couldn’'t resist buying him and bringing him home. They say some of them can talk. Wouldn’`t I love to hear him talk? Come, little Angel. Say “Frau Graben. Say “Hello Miss.” Stubborn, eh? Well, my little man, we’ll see. “

“You like.

” I was going to say animals, but I suppose one could not call canaries or spiders animals . I substituted ‘living things’.

Her eyes sparkled.

“I like to know what they’ll do. You can never be sure. I like to see for myself.”

“What happened to your spiders?”

“One killed the other.”

“And then?”

“I let the winner go. It seemed only right. I guessed that’s what would happen but you never know with living things they can do just the opposite to what others in the same case have done before them. Tweet, tweet, my Angel. Come on, talk for Frau Graben.”

The canary gave voice to a few notes, which delighted her.

“More!” she cried.

“But what I really wanted, my pet, was for you to talk.” She smiled at me.

“Well, if he won’t that doesn’`t mean we can’t. There.

The kettle’s boiling. I’ll make the tea and we’ll get cosy. “

Over the cups she said: “Well, so Fritz didn’`t go. You could have knocked me down with a feather. What did Fredy have to say td you?”

“I told him that Fritz was a sensitive child. This sleep walking worries me. It happens when he is disturbed. He was worried last night about this hunt so he walks in his sleep. He is a very clever boy.

We don’t want him upset. “

“And you told Fredy all this?”

I did. “

“And he gave way! It’s a bad sign. It shows that he likes you.”

“Is it so bad to be liked by the Count?”

“If you’re a young woman, it’s tricky. He’s a libertine of the first degree. It’s a way of life with them. They`’ve heard the stories of their parents and grandparents. We’re a lusty nation. Miss Trant; and we’re divided into these states which seem small to you but the heads of them have great power they and their families. It’s not good for young men. In the past they`’ve had their pick of the village maidens and took it as a right. The boys have been brought up to this.

The history of our reigning families is one of seduction in various ingenious forms. The most popular through the last century or so was the mock marriage. There’s our legend here of the haunted room that you decided to un haunt You see what I mean about taking the Count’s fancy? A young woman’s not safe when she does that. “

“I am not a particularly young woman.”

“Now, Miss Trant, you’re not old. And if you are some where up in the twenties you`’ve gained something on the way. But I must warn you about some of our gentlemen.”

“I think I know how to deal with them.”

“Fredy can be forceful.”

“I think I shall know how to behave,” Frau Graben seemed satisfied. She beamed and handed me the spiced cakes. I took one and nibbled at it. It was very rich.

“Well,” she said, ‘he’ll soon be on duty at the Duke’s schloss. The Prince is coming home. There’s to be a special procession to the church to welcome him back. I think it will be in a week or so. “

“Where has he been?” I asked.

“He’s been to Berlin to take part in a conference there. There’s talk about the French getting very obstreperous.”

“And Rochenstein would fight with Prussia?”

“If the French attacked us all true Germans would stand together. So that’s what the Prince has been doing. You’ll see him ride to the thanksgiving service. That’ll be a day.”

“Very soon, I suppose.”

“As soon as he gets home the Chamberlain will arrange it. You’ll see some crowds then. You’ll want to see the procession from the palace in the town to the church and back to the palace.”