The White Ribbon Page #8

and that's how

the child was disabled.

Some even claimed

that the death of the doctor's wife

was suspect,

and the two might very well

be responsible for it.

Better still,

the doctor and the midwife,

as potential murderers,y

had also perpetrated

all the other crimes.

Wanting to spare

his legitimate children and himself

from public disclosure of his guilt,

the doctor had fled with them.

On July 28th,

Austria declared war on Serbia.

On Saturday, August 1st,

Germany declared war on Russia,

and on France the following Monday.

The solemn service next Sunday

was attended by the whole village.

A feeling of expectation

and departure was in the air.

Now everything was going to change.

Eva's father,

in the face of the coming war,

had taken his daughter back home,

and, at her pleading,

had come to Eichwald

where his future son-in-law lived

and worked, to look it over.

The prospect of soon calling

this beloved creature my wife

also made this a festive day for me.

The pastor never mentioned

our conversation again.

And apparently never went through

with his threat to denounce me.

I was drafted at the start of 1917.

After the war,

as my father had died meanwhile,

I sold his house in Vasendorf,

and with the money

opened a tailor's shop in town.

I never saw

any of the villagers again.

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