On the Night of the Seventh Moon

“I want you to wait here, Gretchen,” I said, ‘while I go in and see Dr. Kleine. “

Aften ten minutes or so I was taken to the room where Dr. Kleine received his patients. I remembered it so welclass="underline" here Ilse had brought me when we had first come here.

“Please sit down,” he said benignly.

I sat down.

“You don’t remember me, Dr. Kleine. I am Helena Trant.”

He was too late to hide the shock I had given him. I had taken him completely by surprise, for he had scarcely looked at me as I entered and it was so long ago since he had seen me.

He wrinkled his brows and repeated my name. But somehow I sensed that he remembered me very well.

“Mrs. Helena Trant,” he said.

Miss . ” I said.

Oh. I’m afraid . “

I came here and had a child,” I said.

“Well, Miss Trant, I have so many clients . - . How long ago was this?”

“Nine years.”

He sighed.

“It’s a very long time ago. And you are again.

“Indeed not.”

“Perhaps there is some other purpose for your visit?”

“Yes. I want to see my child’s grave. I would like to see that it is tended.”

Tor the first time in . nine years did you say? “

“I have fairly recently come back here.”

I see. “

“Do you remember me now, Dr. Kleine?”

“I believe I do.”

“There was a Miss Swartz in the clinic at the time.”

“Oh yes, I remember now.”

“She died, you told me, and her grandmother adopted her child.”

“Yes, I do remember that. There was quite a fuss about it. The girl was in a sad state.”

“She tried to kill herself,” I said.

“Yes. I remember. It was small wonder that she did not survive her confinement. We were astonished, I remember, that her child lived.”

“But she did survive, Dr. Kleine. It was her child who died.”

“No, I am sure you are wrong.”

“Could you make sure of it?”

“Miss Trant, I should like to know what is your purpose in coming here?”

“I have told you. I want to see my child’s grave, and to confirm what happened to Gretchen Swartz. She lived in this neighbourhood and ..

“

“You thought you would like to meet her again. But she is dead.”

“Could you look up your records and tell me for certain? I do particularly want to know.”

My heart was beating wildly. I wasn’`t quite sure why. I felt I had to go carefully, and that if I did I might discover what had happened to Ilse. And if I could find Ilse I should have the key to the mystery which still obscured my past. Of one thing I was certain. Dr. Kleine was not telling the truth. He knew who I was and he was disturbed because I had come back.

“It is very unorthodox to discuss my patients,” he said.

“But if they are dead it does not matter?”

“But since Miss Swartz died how can you possibly see her again? And it is no use going to visit the grandmother. I heard that she died too and the child was adopted by people who went out of the country.”

He was getting more and more involved and worried.

I went on: “If you could assure me that Gretchen Swartz actually died I should be satisfied.”

He sighed and hesitated. Then he went to the bell-rope. A nurse appeared. He told her that he wanted a certain ledger.

While we were waiting for it to come he asked me what I had been doing in the last years. I said I had gone home to England; then I had had an opportunity to come out here and teach English.

“And it was then that you decided you would like to visit your child’s grave?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Graves such as that of your child which are never tended are naturally hard to find. In the cemetery you will see many small mounds which are almost obliterated by time.”

The ledger was brought in. The date . He turned it up.

“Ah yes.

Gretchen Swartz died in childbirth. The baby was adopted. “

“Your ledger is wrong, Dr. Kleine,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Gretchen Swartz did not die.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“I can be very sure. I have met her.”

“You have met her?”

“I have. She is now married to a Sergeant Franck and lives in Rochenburg.”

He swallowed; the silence seemed to go on for several seconds; he stammered: “That’s impossible.”

I rose.

“No,” I said.

“It’s true. I do wonder why you have recorded the death of Gretchen Swartz and the adoption of her child. What is your motive?”

“Motive? I don’t understand. There may have been some mistake.”

“There has been some mistake,” I said.

“Excuse me one moment. I have a friend whom I should like you to meet.”

Before he could protest I had gone into his waiting-room and come back with Gretchen.

“I want you and Dr. Kleine to meet,” I told Gretchen.

He stared at her.

“Who, he began.

“What?

This is Frau Franck,” I said.

“You remember her as Gretchen Swartz.

But you thought-or you told me you thought she was dead. You see, she is alive. “

“We both had children in your clinic, Dr. Kleine.”

“But I don’t understand. You and she here together. You ... planned this? “

“Oh yes, yes.

“You told me that Gretchen’s child lived and was adopted.”

“There has clearly been a misunderstanding. You did not tell me that Fraulein Swartz was here.”

“She is Frau Franck now, but you were so certain that she was dead.

Your records said so. “

“It is obviously a clerical error. I am glad Fraulein Swartz did not die, but as I say, it is so long ago.”

“How did you come to make such a record?”

He shrugged his shoulders, his composure almost regained.

“Mistakes happen. Miss Trant, as you must be aware. I’m ‘afraid I can’t help you further.”

“Perhaps you can,” I said.

“I wonder whether you can give me the address of Frau Gleiberg.”

He wrinkled his brows but he did not deceive me.

“wasn’`t she your friend?” he asked.

“I have lost touch with her.”

“I too. And now. Miss Trant, you will understand that I am a very busy man. I am sorry that I can be of no help to you.”

He ushered me out of his clinic with alacrity. I was excited because a sudden notion had come to me that just as he had deceived us into thinking that Gretchen’s child had lived, might he not have deceived me into thinking that mine had died?

He could give me no details. He could not tell me where my child was buried.

How I wished Maximilian would come back. There was so much to discuss with him.

A letter came from Anthony?

Things look a little unsettled over there,” he wrote, ” I don’t like the idea of your being there. The French are very bellicose, and they and the Prussians are such old enemies. If there was trouble-and opinion here seems that there might well bel shouldn’`t like to think of you there. If you send word, I’ll come out and bring you back . “

It sepmed unfair not to tell him that I had found Maximilian. I was so fond of Anthony that I wanted him to stop thinking of me. I hoped that the girl to whom his mother had referred would be all that he needed in a wife and I wholeheartedly wished that he might fall in love with her and forget me.

As soon as I possibly could I should tell him.

Frau Graben came into the schoolroom in a flutter of excitement. I was taking an English lesson and trying to-keep my attention on what we were doing. It was not easy. I kept thinking of my visit to Dr. Kleine’s clinic and asking myself what it meant. I was beginning to believe more and more that there was some mystery about my little girl’s death.