Maximilian was home! There was the great joy of bringing him and Fritz together. My son not only had a mother but a father whom he could love and respect.
The day I was able to say to my son: Fritz, this is your father! and I saw how it would be with them, I said: This is the happiest day of my life.
So far, added Maximilian.
1901
What followed the battle of Sedan is well-known history. The French were utterly defeated; and the result was the unification of the German states as the German Empire under the leadership of the King of Prussia who had become the Emperor. He lived only a few months as Emperor and then his son William took the imperial title. The little principalities and dukedoms were absorbed in, that great Empire. There were no longer rulers of small territories; a duke in his schloss was of little more importance than an English country squire.
This is what happened to Maximilian and that was years ago.
As I write this we are in mourning for the death of Queen Victoria, for we have strong ties with England. It is over thirty years since the battle of the Sedan and I am no longer a young woman. I have my family around me. The eldest is Fritz, nearly a dozen years older than Max. Then I have my two daughters and another son. A big family which gives me great satisfaction.
Fritz is a gentle boy and clever too; he lectures at Bonn University.
The others are married now, with the exception of William, my youngest. Dagobert and Liesel joined us and when Princess Wilhehnina of Klarenbock left for her own country her son-who is Maximilians too-came to live with us. Dagobert climbed rapidly in the army, and Liesel is happily married.
Frau Graben naturally remained with us. She bullied us, watched over us and now and then would try to embroil us in those dramatic situations which so delighted her. We grew so accustomed to her as part of our household that when she died at the age of eighty it was like losing part of ourselves. She had had a good life.
Several years after Maximilian returned from the front, Anthony Greville came to visit us with his wife Grace-a pleasant, mild woman, a typical vicars wife; she was devoted to Anthony and it was not difficult to see why. He was so kind and considerate to everyone. When I saw them together I wondered whether I should have been like Grace if Id married Anthony, living an easy pleasant life where the great moments of decisions were whether the mothers meeting should be held on Mondays or Wednesdays and who should have which stall at the sale of work.
Anthony looked at me a little wistfully when I took him round the schloss garden.
Are you happy, Helena? he asked.
And I replied fervently: I could never have been completely happy in any other life.
And when I look back I know that to be true. I have had my fears and anxieties; there have been differences between us and great difficulties to overcome; Maximilian had known what power meant and it had left its mark on him for ever; he was born to dominate and I dont think I was born to be dominated. But whatever our differences we knew that we belonged together, that there was no true happiness apart from each other. I was right when I told Anthony that I could never have experienced those moments of complete and utter happiness in any other life; I have known great joy; perhaps I should say fulfilment those moments when one realizes that anything that has gone before is worth while to achieve them.
So here I am an old woman, yet I can still recall that terrifying day on the Island of Graves where I looked straight into the face of death and learned then how precious life was. I am immersed in the affairs of my home; not the political affairs which are no longer our concern but the domestic ones of those who farm and live on our estate. I have my family; I have Maximilian-I never quite got used to the diminutive form of his name, for to me he was always the hero of the forest, and he has never lost that magic quality which enchanted me on our first meeting.
In January of this year Queen Victoria died and this night is the Night of the Seventh Moon. Since the unification more than thirty years ago, the ceremony has not been celebrated, though many remember it and tell their children of it, and are afraid to go out on that night in case the God of Mischief should be abroad, What a beautiful night! With the full moon high in the s^cy paling the stars to insignificance and throwing its calm brilliance over the mountains.
I was at my window watching it, when Maximilian came gnd stood by my side. We are two who will never forget the p-Tight of the Seventh Moon and we shall continue to celebrate it as long as we both shall live.