On the Night of the Seventh Moon Read Online Free PDF

Lenchen,” he commented. He rose: “Come, I will take you to your room. I can see the time has come.”
    He took my hand and led me to the door.
    To my surprise Hildegarde was there. She was fussing with a candle.
    â€œI will show the young lady the way, Master,” she said.
    I heard him laugh and mutter something about her being an interfering old woman from whom he endured too much.
    But he let me go with her. She led the way to the room in which I had changed, where a fire was now burning in the grate.
    â€œThe nights are chilly with the mist about,” she said.
    She set down the candle and lighted those in their sconces over the dressing table. “Keep the windows closed against the mist,” she said. I saw that a white nightdress was laid out on the bed and I wondered vaguely why they had such a thing because I did not believe the pretty silk garments belonged to Hildegarde.
    She looked at me earnestly. Then she drew me to the door andshowed me the bolt. “Bolt it when I have gone,” she said. “It is not always safe here in the heart of the forest.”
    I nodded.
    â€œMake sure,” she said. “I shall be uneasy and unable to sleep if you don’t.”
    â€œI promise,” I said.
    â€œGood night. Sleep well. In the morning the mist will have cleared and you will be taken back.”
    She went out and listened while I bolted the door.
    â€œGood night,” she called.
    I stood leaning against it, the excitement making my heart pound. Then I heard a footstep on the wooden staircase.
    Hildegarde spoke. “No, Master. I’ll not have it. You may turn me out. You may have me flogged but I’ll not have it.”
    â€œYou interfering old witch,” he said, but he said it indulgently.
    â€œA young English girl . . . a schoolgirl from the
Damenstift
. . . I’ll not have it.”
    â€œ
You’ll
not have it, Garde?”
    â€œNo, I’ll not have it. Your women . . . if you must, but not a young and innocent girl from the
Damenstift
.”
    â€œYou’re worried about the old nuns.”
    â€œNo, about innocence.”
    There was silence. I was afraid and yet expectant. I wanted to run away from this place and yet I wanted to stay. I understood. He was one of the wicked barons. He was no Siegfried. He had not told me his real name. This was his hunting lodge. Perhaps his home was one of the castles I had seen high above the river. “Your women if you must,” she had said. So he brought women here and finding me in the mist he had brought me here to be one of them.
    I was trembling.
    Suppose Hildegarde had not been there. In the fairy tales the wicked giants kept the Princess captive until she was rescued and emerged unscathed. But this was not a castle, it was a hunting lodge; and he was not a giant he was a virile man.
    I took off the velvet robe and looked more like myself. I undressed and put on the silken nightdress. It was soft and clinging, so different from the flannelette we wore at the
Damenstift.
I lay down and could not sleep; after a while I thought I heard a step on the stair. I rose and went to the door and stood there listening. That was when I saw the handle slowly turn. If Hildegarde had not insisted on my locking the door it would have opened then.
    I stared at it in fascination; I listened. I could hear breathing. A voice—his voice—whispered: “Lenchen . . . Lenchen . . . are you there?”
    I stood there bewildered, my heart thumping so that I was afraid he must hear. I was fighting an inexplicable impulse to draw the bolt.
    But I did not. I kept hearing Hildegarde’s voice: “Your women . . . if you must . . .” And I knew that I dared not unlock the door.
    I stood there trembling until I heard his footsteps die away. Then I went back to bed. I tried to sleep but it was a long time before I did.
    I awoke to a hammering on my door and