The Grand Duke looked remarkably well, considering the danger he had passed through. He acknowledged the cheers of the crowd with a kind of benign tolerance. Conrad was beside him in the carriage, looking magnificent in the uniform of a general of the army—two shades of blue with touches of silver and a silver helmet in which waved a blue feather.

Freya rode immediately behind with the Graf and Grafin and the ambassadors of Kollenitz. She looked very young and appealing, I thought. The people cheered her and I was touched by her obvious delight in their displays of affection.

Children in national costume presented her with flowers and sang hymns of patriotic fervour while banners waved across the streets which were crowded with spectators.

Then we entered the cathedral and the service of thanksgiving began.

I was seated at the back with Fraulein Kratz and as I listened to the singing and the prayers and the sermon of thanksgiving delivered by one of the highest dignitaries of the church, the incongruity of my situation was borne home to me. Thus it must have been with Francine. When had she realized that it would be impossible for her to lead a normal happy married life with Rudolph? Had she ever attended ceremonies like this?

Fraulein Kratz was singing fervently beside me. "Eine feste Burg ist unset Gott." I noticed there were tears in her eyes.

As for myself, I felt a great desire to get away. Here I believed I could survey the future clearly, and it seemed to me that I could only be an encumberance to Conrad. Our meetings would be surreptitious—"hole and corner" as Daisy would describe it. I must go back to England. I must slip away and hide myself. I could go to Aunt Grace and stay with her for a while. From there I could make plans, start a new life.

I wanted to get away, to be alone, to strengthen my resolve. If I were going to do what I saw now as my real duty I must not see Conrad again, for he unnerved me, he robbed me of my will power; he refused to look the truth in the face and tried to make life fit in with his desires.

The service was over. Freya and the royal party would now go back to the Grand Schloss where there would be more celebrations; and Fraulein Kratz and I could go back to the Graf's schloss.

It occurred to me then that now that the Grand Duke was well, Freya would not much longer be the Graf's guest. She would go back to the Grand Schloss to await her marriage, and naturally I should go with her. I tried to imagine what it would be like, living under the same roof as Conrad, and I could see that we were, with every passing day, heading towards a climax.

It was four o'clock when we arrived at the schloss. I changed into my riding habit and without delay set out for the forest.

Katia was expecting me. She said, "My brother is at the celebrations. He has a high position in the Graf's employ. I thought you would come as soon as you could conveniently do so."

"Thank you. I have been all eagerness since I received your note."

"Come in. I will not keep you long in suspense."

I was taken into the room where I had been before. She left me for a few moments and when she came back she was holding what looked like a sheet of paper in her hands.

She stood looking at me with a strange expression on her face and she seemed reluctant to hand it to me, although I knew this was that which she had to show me.

She said, almost hesitantly: "You are her sister. You were frank with me. You could be in a very dangerous position ... yet you told me the truth. I felt, therefore, that I could not withhold this from you."

"What is it?" I asked, and she put it into my hand.

As I looked at it I felt the blood rush into my face. My hands were shaking. It was there ... as plainly as I had seen it before ... the signature, the proof of the marriage.

"But ..." I stammered.

"The sheet had been removed ... very carefully. My brother arranged it and brought it back here."

"I knew I had seen it. I—I can't think clearly just now. This—this makes a lot of difference ... It proves ..."

She nodded. "It proves there was a marriage. I did not think there had been—until I saw that. She always called him her husband, but I thought that was just because she regarded him as such. But he was ... you see. And I thought I owed it to her. That's why I am showing this to you."

I said slowly: "It explains so much. I had seen it ... and then it disappeared. Sometimes I thought I was not quite sane. What do you know about it?"

"I know that my brother brought it back from England."

"Your brother—of course! He was the man I had seen. He had been following me ... and after I had seen the entry he removed it. I ... I don't know how to thank you. You can't realize what you have done for me. For so long I have wondered about myself even. Why—why should he have removed this entry?"

"Because someone was anxious to deny there was a marriage."

"You mean ... the Graf?"

"Not necessarily. My brother is a spy. He could be working for several people."

I was silent. Someone who was eager to deny the marriage. Who? If they were dead, could it matter? There was only one reason why it could. That was because there must be a child.

I said firmly, "There is a child somewhere. He is the heir to the dukedom, because this proves without doubt that Rudolph and my sister were married."

Dazzling possibilities had come into my mind. I would find that child ... love him as Francine would have wished me to. I could go to Conrad and say, "What we have longed for has come to pass. You are free. If we can find this child ... If he still lives, you are no longer the heir. You can disentangle yourself from your commitment with Freya." This was like a dream come true.

I could not stop staring at the paper in my hand. It was like a talisman—the key to my future.

But the child. I must find the child.

She was looking at me intently. Then she shook her head. "I just thought you should know she was actually married. We can go no farther than that."

There was a slightly fanatical look in her eyes and I had the impression that she did not want me to look for the child.

She said: "I took a great risk in giving you that paper. My brother ... and others ... would kill me if it were known."

"He will know it is gone."

"No. He thinks it was stolen when he brought it back."

"How was that?"

"He came back from England to this house. It was in a case of his—a flat leather case which he carried around with him when he went abroad. He arrived home exhausted after a difficult journey. I admit I was inquisitive. I wanted to know the nature of his business because I guessed it was not just an ordinary mission for the Graf, who sent him all over the world quite frequently. I looked at his case and saw the paper. I knew what it was and that it concerned the friend who had been so good to me."

"Did you take it?"

"Oh no ... not then. He had to go into the town to the schloss the next day, but before he did so it was necessary to take his horse to the blacksmith to be shod. While he was away I staged a robbery. I took the paper and a few other things as well, so that he should not think that someone had broken in to get just that. I damaged the lock on the door and disturbed the place. Then I buried the leather case under the inscription on your sister's grave. I gave him time to get back before I returned, so that he should be the one to find the place in disorder. He was almost demented. He said he would be ruined. He raged against me and said I should not have left the house unattended, to which I replied, how should I know how important documents were. He never told me. He did not speak to me for days after that... but it passed, and I still keep house for him. Some of the things I took are still buried round the grave. I took out the paper though after I had met you and you told me who you were. I thought I should give it to you."

"You have been very clever. It is one of the two things I came to prove."

"There is no child," she said firmly. "But there is the proof of the marriage."

"My search has brought me so far," I said. "It will carry me on."

"Well, you know now. I feel a great relief. I owed it to her. That was how I saw it. She had been so good to me.

No one was ever kinder ... and in my time of need. I had to do that for her."

"I am so grateful to you. Listen! Is that your little boy calling?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yes. He has awakened."

"Go and get him," I said. "I love children and he is such a bonny little fellow."

She looked pleased and went out; in a short time she returned with the child. He was sleepy, rubbing his eyes with one hand and in the other carrying a toy.

I said, "Hello, Rudi."

"Hello," he answered.

"I have come to see your mother ... and now you too."

He looked at me steadily.

"What's this you're carrying?" I asked, touching the limp-looking toy in his hand.

"It's my troll," he said.

"Oh, is that what it is?"

I noticed that one ear was soggy. I touched it gently, and Katia laughed. "Oh, he's a baby sometimes, aren't you, Rudi? He's had that troll ever since he was a baby. He won't go to bed without it."

"My troll," said Rudi with a kind of contemptuous affection.

"He still sucks his right ear. It was his comforter as a baby and I suppose it still is."

I felt as if the room was spinning round me. Words danced before my eyes. What had Francine said? "He has a troll which he takes to bed with him." Didn't he find great comfort in sucking its ear?

I reached out and touched the child. I said, "My sister's son was called Rudolph ... like this little one. She wrote to me about him ... so lovingly. He, too, had a troll which he took to bed and found great comfort in sucking its ear."

She had moved a step away from me.

"So many children have them," she said sharply. "They always have something to suck ... a toy ... or a piece of blanket. It's natural. It's what they all do."

She was holding the boy tightly and regarding me with something like suspicion. I thought then: I believe he is the child. He is about the age. He has the name and the troll.

There was nothing I could do about it... now. So I said, "I suppose I should be riding back," and the atmosphere relaxed immediately.

I must find out, I was thinking. I must ask Conrad what we should do. We will work together in this. And if it really is so ... could everything come right for us?

I touched her arm gently and smiled at her gratefully. "You cannot know what you have done for me," I said.

I had folded the paper and tucked it into the neck of my dress. It was not going to leave that spot until I had shown it to Conrad.

Then I took my farewells and with many thanks rode off into the forest. Katia stood at the door until I was out of sight, the sleepy boy held tightly in her arms.

I spent the rest of the night in a fever of impatience. I studied the sheet from the register again and again. I went over it in my mind—that first time I had seen it when Miss Elton and I had stood in the vestry together. I pieced all the evidence together and a clear picture began to emerge. The man who had followed me and watched from the graveyard had been Katia's brother, and he was there to destroy the proof of that marriage. I wondered a great deal about the churchwarden who had denied ever seeing me before. Of course he had been bribed. Katia's brother would have been able to offer him a sum of money which would have seemed enormous to him, just to deny he had shown me the register. I could imagine how he must have been tempted, and looking back I realized now that he had been a little too glib, a little too certain. I should have pursued the matter, tried to trap him, but I had been so shocked that I had been easily brushed aside.

And now here was the evidence in my hand.

I wondered how I could get to see Conrad immediately. I even thought of riding over to the Grand Schloss but I dismissed that idea almost as soon as it came, for I could not possibly do that without arousing the curiosity of many people. No, I must be patient and await my opportunity.

The next day passed. I guessed he was busy with the foreign visitors who had come for the thanksgiving ceremony, but I did receive a note in the afternoon. He wanted me to meet him at the inn.