The Reed Warbler Read online

  We just wanted to make sure you were all, were all . . .

  Of course they all were, Josephina reassured Danne while looking at her sister.

  Warm enough, he suggested.

  So, they would talk later, promised Danne. He was making hrrm hrrm noises in his beard and showing his teeth in a false smile.

  They turned around and went back towards the old Slot again. Josephina had ordered them to have a nice time and not hurry. She and the children were all fine and happy.

  As anyone could see.

  But despite this, Josephina would not stay, as anyone could also see.

  They were walking along nicely, like many of the other couples. They knew quite a few of them. It was perhaps ‘the last day before winter’, as many people agreed. Danne had his good warm coat on, the one that smelled a little of the increasingly unsuccessful Bückling yard. He was also wearing a nice red woollen scarf that Josephina had tasselled. Greta’s arm was through Danne’s and they were both looking straight ahead. They were greeting people and smiling.

  Oh yes, what a nice day it was.

  ‘The last day before winter.’

  They agreed.

  Yes, probably!

  So nice!

  However, ‘God damn it!’ was the expression Danne chose as they stopped for a warming brandy by the wall of the Slot. There was an accordion being played rather badly, and a stall with pretzels and meatballs.

  He wasn’t referring to the brandy or the meatballs, nor even to the accordion player.

  So, you agree, suggested Greta. My darling man?

  Then she put her arms around him in a manner that wasn’t quite proper, probably, in the eyes of many there at the Slot, in public, on ‘the last day before winter’.

  Agree what a nice day it was? That it was indeed ‘the last day before winter’? Danne’s response was thickened by the meatball in his mouth, but by something else as well.

  Indeed, he agreed, and pointed out to her that everybody in the town thought so too, clearly.

  He wasn’t returning his wife’s embrace and his tone was sarcastic.

  To the uncle, persisted Greta. You agree?

  She wiped some sauce from his beard with her glove. It wasn’t just the brandy that was heating her.

  Danne’s big grey-blue eyes didn’t leave hers alone while he finished his meatball and took a swallow of the brandy, which was probably the ‘profitable transaction’ he brought up from Flensburg, not a bad-debt aspect of his ‘business interests’.

  His tongue explored the possibilities of brandy in his moustache.

  The teeth she saw after the swallow of good Flensburg brandy didn’t resemble the ones Danne had revealed in his hopeless smile back at the house on the quay, where his crazy bitch sister-in-law was making the children happy and cleaning salt off the windows in the fresh sunshine of winter just beginning.

  Now the teeth were biting off the ends of his words.

  He had been going to tell that crazy selfish little bitch, Greta’s sister, that there was nothing to argue about, she would go back to Kiel and help her sister Elke with the farm and their sick mother, that was that.

  He would arrange it.

  He was sick of arguing about it.

  But then.

  Greta didn’t try to re-engage her arm through his. They stood to one side of the crowd, facing each other. When she unlocked her eyes from Danne’s, she was looking over his shoulder with Josie’s red tasselled scarf across it, and across the harbour basin and the breeze-ruffled water to the quay and their house. She couldn’t see Josephina and the children, of course, but she could picture them in her mind. She could even hear them laughing, and Josie as well, with her hiccups. But the breeze was getting up, it was a bit nippy, as was usual in the late afternoon.

  The words Danne was biting the ends off were a bit nippy as well.

  They nipped in and out of the thoughts she had, about the need to take the children back inside and dry them now that it was the chilly part of the afternoon.

  But of course Josie would be taking good care of them, she knew.

  Danne’s thoughts were as follows.

  Whatever else you might say about her, Josephina was very good with the children.

  Clearly, he couldn’t help but notice that.

  Whatever else you might say about her?

  He was confident she could be trusted.

  You’ve just noticed?

  And, as mentioned, he’d been going to tell her to go home and do what was proper.

  But then.

  But then, again.

  Her expression was patient.

  The teeth in the beard were making hard work of it.

  But then he’d seen how good she was with the children. How she could be trusted. Of course he’d seen this before.

  How determined she was. He’d seen this before, too.

  If she had to go, if she was determined to.

  Rather, since she was determined to go, whether home to Kiel or somewhere else, he corrected himself.

  Not to Kiel, obviously, he amended his correction.

  Since she was determined to go somewhere else, she would have to wait until spring. She could stay and help with the children until then, he suggested, confidently.

  For at least four more months, he estimated.

  She was a good, trustworthy girl, he judged.

  The words who’d been fucked by a Prussian almost escaped Greta’s mouth, but she kept it shut while Danne continued.

  Enough time to make some arrangements.

  Yes, perhaps the best thing.

  (He was thinking about it.)

  Yes, perhaps the most responsible thing, was the way to look at it.

  She is your sister, after all.

  And she’s been fucked by a Prussian, Greta reminded him. As everyone in Kiel will know by now.

  Her trump card.

  Knowing very well herself that there was no love lost between Danne’s family of Danes and ‘those Prussians’.

  Yes, perhaps the most responsible thing, persisted Danne, registering ‘a Prussian’ by drawing his eyebrows together, would be to use the winter months to make some arrangements.

  With your uncle in Hamburg, suggested Greta.

  That was an option, agreed Danne.

  Greta understood that it was asking a lot. Of the uncle but also of him, Danne. Times were a bit hard, after all, with the Bückling yard.

  His look was a little suspicious. He knew his wife.

  But yes, it was asking a lot. He gave her that much.

  But they could try. He was confident of that much as well.

  They went back to the brandy stall and had another one each ‘because it was getting a bit chilly’. Greta put her arm through Danne’s, and he permitted it a squeeze.

  Yes, they could give it a try.

  Those teeth at last, through his beard.

  The smile she loved.

  And that huff of breath, somewhat like a horse, that she also loved.

  Her own smile she restrained, in case it appeared triumphant.

  It was that warm huff of breath up into his moustache that was the signal, the sign that she recognised as meaning something was resolved in her Danne’s mind.

  That, and the teeth.

  He was happy now. He’d ordered his thoughts the way she’d seen him order his crew to trim the sails on the sturdy packet-boat he owned with Herr Mayer.

  Who held the majority share.

  As did she in the ‘Hamburg uncle’ idea, but she knew better than to assert her majority.

  Danne had ‘trimmed his sails’ and ‘set his course’ and now all would be well. There was a destination and they would get to it.

  Yes, all would be well.

  And what hazards would this course avoid?

  Not, of course, the hazards that lay ahead for Josephina in Hamburg after four or five months, in spring next year.

  There was one hazard the ‘Hamburg uncle’ course would avoid
, that neither of them had spoken about, and perhaps they wouldn’t, though the hazard was her aunt’s husband, the very successful Herr Mayer, the majority shareholder in the packet-boat.

  Which was named Elizabeth after his wife, the younger sister of Meister Hansen who was the father of the disgraced girl.

  Yes, the sea was full of hazardous rocks and shoals in close proximity.

  Without doubt, Herr Mayer wouldn’t welcome the return to the family circle at Kiel of his wife’s niece, the mother of an illegitimate child by one of ‘die adelige Preussen Offizieren’ with money to spare.

  Herr Mayer with the majority share in the Elizabeth, the ‘very successful’ Herr Mayer who might also not be displeased to see that foolish girl leave the house of his business partner in Sønderborg, that girl whose story had already circulated in Flensburg on account of her delinquent sister Elke, who was a chatterbox.

  His business partner whose reputation was suffering from the Bückling yard.

  Greta rebuked herself for imagining thoughts in her husband’s head that might never have been there. But she didn’t rebuke herself for having them, because they were there in her own head and she trusted her ability to think them and to think with them.

  But also because this wasn’t the first time Danne’s teeth and huff had signalled both his satisfaction and her own.

  There was the time, for example, when her papa said yes.

  Yes, this man could marry his daughter.

  Even though he was a Dane.

  But obviously a respectable man. And trusted by Herr Mayer. His brother-in-law. Who was a good judge of character, of character and enterprise. And of the market value of fine craftsmanship, including his own, the fine craftsmanship of Meister Hansen, that is.

  And of course there was the time before that, when she said yes to the ‘respectable and enterprising Danish man’, under the pear tree’s white blossom above the Schwentine, and saw his happy teeth inside the beard, and then felt the huff, respectfully restrained at this time, on the back of her hand, with his kiss.

  The enterprising alliance of Danes and Germans was toasted around the big table they had carried out under the pear tree, while Mutti wept at the imminent departure of her eldest daughter to the place where her own father and brothers lay under the turf, declaring her tears to be ‘of joy’, and while Greta’s two sisters looked at her with eyes round like an owl’s.

  And of course the less respectfully restrained huff and the teeth quite a few times subsequently, in the pale light of the long summer nights, when the sound of waves against the quay turned their bed into a rocking boat.

  They looked happy, Josephina declared, when Greta and Danne came in. It must have been nice, down by the Slot, with people.

  The children looked happy too, and Danne thanked Josephina for that.

  Perhaps they could all have a drink and a talk, once the children were asleep?

  Josephina’s eyes went quickly to her sister, but then returned to Danne, and firmly stayed there.

  Of course, that would be a good thing to do after such a lovely day.

  Yes, they should do that, agreed Greta, waiting for her sister’s eyes to return.

  Which they did.

  Those Kornblume eyes.

  Direkt in die Augen schauen!

  Dearest Papa and Mutti

  And also of course my dear sister Elke, we miss you and so do the children, they often ask where is Tante Elke?

  I am writing to tell you the news about Josephina and her daughter, Catharina Elke Lange Hansen, your granddaughter and the niece of Elke and myself. Papa and Mutti, perhaps it will make you angry that I have used the child’s full name, the one that Josephina gave her, and the one that Danne and I also gave her as her godparents. But that is her name, the name by which she was baptised and christened by Pastor Jepsen here in Saincte Marie church, which is also where our children Finn and Otto have been baptised and christened.

  We were sad that you would not come here to Sønderborg for Otto’s baptism and christening on account of Josephina being here with our goddaughter Catharina, and we hope that one day the love of God will heal this painful wound in our family. When he baptised Catharina, Pastor Jepsen used a text from the Bible that said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’ We are a household that has known grief in the deaths of men who went to war, Mutti, your father and your brothers who lie under the ground just across the Alsund from where we now live, and in the deaths of children, yours Mutti, and as you know mine also. But one day I hope we will rejoice in the whole household of those who are alive, including Tante Elizabeth and Herr Mayer and of course their dear little Mathilde, but also our beloved sister Josephina and her daughter Catharina.

  This is the place for me to say that it was wrong of Elke to leave without telling you, and to take Oma’s sampler to bring here to Sønderborg without asking you, Papa and Mutti. Both Danne and I were angry with you, Elke, for the trouble you caused Herr Mayer and the worry you caused Mutti when she was not well and strong, but we forgive you because we know you did what you did out of love, and in the good spirit of Pastor Jepsen’s words about the household.

  We are sad also that Josephina would not take the advice you wrote in your letter, Elke, and has steadfastly refused to go back to Kiel and her home there, even though we believe all of you there including Herr Mayer and Tante Elizabeth would love her child Catharina and welcome her to the household of our family. But Josephina has her own strong will, I can tell you that certainly, because I have lived with her strength for nearly two years, and I believe the wrong that was done to her has made her stronger. I mean the wrong that was done to her by the Prussian officer, but also the wrong she felt in the judgement of her family. It was also her strong will that decided her not to stay with us here in Sønderborg once winter was past, as it now is. One reason she gave for this decision was that she did not wish to be a burden on us at a time when Danne’s business is having some difficulty with the Bückling yard. It is not true that Josie and Catharina would be a burden, but there are some problems with the Bückling and she would not allow us to deny it.

  I can tell you, and Danne will agree with his whole heart, that Josephina has been a blessing to us in this house and a constant help with the work to be done, and especially with the care of our children. Her own daughter Catharina was born in this house and it will always be her home for ever. We had a hard winter this year, with thick ice in the Alsund and no fish, but now that is past and we have had to say goodbye with heavy hearts to our beloved sister Josephina and goddaughter Catharina. We will miss them very much, and Finn especially will miss the stories he was told by Tante Josie, and also the story of the Swiss Family Robinson which she was reading him.

  You will know from our marriage agreement that the house we live in here at Sønderborg was once the home of Danne’s uncle herre Aksel Andersen before he went with his family to Hamburg. It is an old house in a row where most people pay rent, but herre Andersen had begun to buy the house and he gave his share to Danne as a wedding gift. One day perhaps Danne will be a householder if all goes well and he can increase the share begun by the generous man he calls Farbror Aksel.

  Farbror Aksel’s generosity has now been extended to Josephina and Catharina, as he has agreed to be Josie’s protector in Hamburg. He has seen some samples of her work and admires it very much. He has a colleague who owns a sewing room where fine garments and military uniforms are made, and he has promised to speak to this man on Josephina’s behalf. As you can imagine this was not an easy decision for Danne to make as he did not wish to place a burden of responsibility on his uncle, especially since Josephina’s situation is the cause of trouble on our Hansen and Mayer side of the family. But now it is done and Josephina has gone to Hamburg with Danne’s and my blessing and with the kind protection of herre Aksel Andersen, the uncle who helped Danne’s family after his father drowned up in Kattegat. He is a kind and Christian man and I
am sure he will do what he can to take care of Josephina and her daughter Catharina.

  I will finish this long letter by saying I hope the news of Josephina going to Hamburg will soothe some of the anxiety I hear Herr Mayer has about the effect of Josephina’s misfortune on the family’s reputation. Now our sister will be away from the places where that reputation and the family’s interests may be affected, and this will be a relief to him I am sure.

  Papa and Mutti, I hope that now you will agree to come to Sønderborg to meet your new grandson Otto.

  Elke, I kiss you and hope that you will also come back to see us and also Finn and Otto, who will always grow faster than your memories of them.

  Your daughter and sister Greta

  Greta, daughter

  You are the eldest of our daughters and the one we trusted with the wisdom to manage the situation of your younger, foolish and disobedient sister Josephina. We were glad that you and your husband Herr Andersen agreed to take Josephina into your care, and we respected your decision to manage her child’s baptism and christening, even though the manner in which that was done was arrogant and disrespectful to the family, as we have come to expect from that girl. But now you have betrayed the trust we had in you, you have allowed that vain disobedient girl to command your decisions. Now the family of your husband Herr Andersen has been set against that of our Hansens and that of your aunt Elizabeth’s husband Herr Mayer. How do you think your conspiracy to make your husband’s uncle the protector of your wicked sister will be talked about here? How do you think the associates of Herr Aksel Andersen in Hamburg and elsewhere will speak about the family of that girl and her bastard child? You say that Herr Aksel Andersen is a kind and Christian man as if we are to understand that our family and that of your aunt Elizabeth’s husband Herr Mayer are without those qualities. Do those qualities belong only to Danes? Do not hope that I and your mother will come to Sønderborg. Besides, as you know already, your mother is sick and not able to do much.

  Your father and mother

  They are turning the whole thing into a Danish–German war; what’s more Elke was right, ‘they don’t know what anger is for’, was Greta’s response to the letter that had come from her papa and mutti at Kiel.