Cihlar & Egeler - The Saint and her Fool

„Have you abused your position in such a vile manner and accepted a word of honor from the Princess?“

The woman sobs out that she knows nothing. „The Princess doesn’t know what she is saying. You cannot believe what the child says, she is of unsound mind!”

„She is much more of sound mind than you.” Harro grits his teeth and his face is as if chiseled in stone.„Has the Princess been injured or not?“

„She has done it herself and now wants to blame it on others! Let me go, Milord, I am without blame, I am defenseless… Milord should not be so cruel. The child is not normal and sees dead people, ghosts and all that, where everyone with education knows there are no such things!„

„So, I will take you to the Chief District Judge. He has a room for educated and uneducated; there you can sit in your nice pink blouse, until they have found out the truth. If you have no guilt, you need not fear anything… these men know how to bring out what they need to know. Or would you prefer to tell me right now what I want to hear? To declare that you have done the Princess injustice by taking a word of honor from her and will give it back to her immediately!”

„Oh no, my God, I am innocent! Yes! Yes! I give it back, just please let me go!” At the same moment, he lets go of her arm and leaves her standing alone on the staircase.

The Thorsteiner whispers a few words into the child’s ear, then calls:

„Doctor, you may examine the Princess now, Babette is with her. Fräulein Braun is useless; I have sent her to bed.“

The Earl joins the Duke in the room outside and both of the men cringe at the woeful whimpering of the Princess. The Duke’s face has turned quite grey.

„I am shocked…please…you must stay the night with us. Such a betrayal! This English woman had only the best of references, her virtues had been so praised.”

The doctor comes out; his face is a dark red and he waves the Earl to go in.

„Please, the child is still very emotional, she asks for you.“

Harro sits down at the bedside of his delicate little Rose, Babette is dabbing her forehead with a cold cloth. The doctor reports to the Duke; quite reluctantly and embarrassed about the whole situation, hoping the Duke would not give him any blame for this horrible incident. He had been fighting a scarlet fever epidemic in the villages all week and had not come to the castle. This morning, he had only seen the girl for a moment.

The child is now willing to speak, after such a long and painful silence, and her little heart surges as she tells her friend:

„In the evenings, when I cannot fall asleep, they sometimes lay warm, moist towels on my breast to make me sleepy, but then Fräulein Braun put one on me, directly from steaming water and I cried out, it is too hot! . But because I always cry, she didn’t remove it right away. It felt like fire on my skin and when she took it off, I was red and burnt all over. I cried a lot and so did Fräulein Braun, you know, because of Karl, because if this was found out, she would surely be sent away and Karl would not marry her. She will then never get a man and a velvet sofa and she will be alone until she is old and wrinkled. She would have to look after strange children for the rest of her life and never have any of her own. If this happens, she will want to die…just go into the deep water and when she is found they will have to break all her bones to get her in a coffin because she will be already stiff. Oh Harro, I couldn’t be to blame that poor Fräulein Braun’s bones all be broken! So I promised I would say nothing but she did not want to believe me... so I gave her my word of honor. All the Braunecker descendents have a word of honor, as I do, even though I am small and not yet confirmed in church. That made her happy and so I was, too, and she stopped crying and said all will be good. But Miss Whart insisted on having me bathed every evening and so the burnt skin only became worse with each day. It hurt so and I could not tell the doctor without breaking my word of honor. Oh, Harro, have I broken it now? Must Fräulein Braun go into deep water?”

„No, she has given you your word back and I promise you, darling, nothing will happen to her and you have kept your word as a real Braunecker does. If the Lord in the painting could, he would salute to you for your courage and strength. Now that you have opened your heart, sleep tight and be assured, all is well.”

As her eyes close, she whispers: „Please tell my daddy I am not a liar, that I couldn’t help it.”

Then someone touches his shoulder. The Duke is standing beside him, staring down at his pale child, bathed in her golden hair, hugging her new doll, the rosy wax image of herself.

„Come with me, let the child sleep now.”

Outside, his voice is cold.„What can I say to this story? That I should be so betrayed by these devilish women! No wonder they had wanted to leave the room so early. My dear daughter, she had not entrusted me.” The Duke walks with long strides up and down. „She trusts you more than her father.”

„She hadn’t wanted to say anything to me either; because of her word of honor.”

„What should a word of honor have to do with this horrid event?”

„She gave it and it has been agony for her to keep it from you.”

Then he goes on to tell little Rose’s promise and her conviction to be as worthy as her descendants. With each word, the Duke’s eyes become softer and shine with admiration at the picture which is now drawn of his daughter.

„To see my little girl from this point of view, I have always thought of her as weak. But you do not know everything of what goes on in her mind?”

„How could I? This little Saint Rose seems to have many secrets.”

The Duke smiles wearily. „Are you always such a friend of children?“

„I seem to understand them better than most adults. Upon this, we met in a rare hour when we were both looking for our special Christmas Day. I have secluded myself from the outside world for so long and your child has somehow brought me back, being so vulnerable and yet courageous… a gentle aura surrounds her, something delicate and yet mysterious.”

Outside, the wind hisses and roars through the trees in the winter night. Harro stares through the window, into the darkness, in a sense of contemplation and abandonment from the world around him.

The Duke follows his gaze and takes his hand.

„I need your help, Harro von Thorstein. Please help me find a way to reach the heart of my daughter, she needs a family and misses motherly love. You seem to understand her and she trusts you.”

Chapter 3

The next morning, Miss Whart is whisked off by ten o’clock with all her baggage in two heavily loaded carriages. She babbles something about speaking to Her Majesty's Ambassador as she huffily boards her carriage. Only Seamstress Rose stays at the bedside of the Princess. Harro disappears back to his ruins, where he intends to stay until he might be called for again. He is aware that the morning light is not as dark as a mournful evening and surely does not wish to appear, as if he is indispensable. He also has work that needs to be done. But all the rolls of wallpaper, waiting to be painted, and cracks in the walls, needing lime and paint, have disappeared from his thoughts. He stands in front of all the work and as if by chance, he looks at his hand, staring at the flashes of red sparkle. He has never worn rings – not even his father's signet ring. During his time in Berlin, he had laid it aside, feeling it was not suitable for his living circumstances at the time and could interfere or even injure, if worn during manual work. He could not take his eyes from it and had to think of the engraving the Duke had shown him: God’s Will has no Why. Had the ancestor, who had worn the ring before him, also felt anguish in his life?