James Faulhaber stood up so quickly his chair flew to the rear. “But the Hatters’ Asylum is located inside the mansion! All our orphans are there!”

“I have already thought of that problem,” said Lipsky. “That’s why we have brought him here.” He meant, it was clear, the prisoner still bound to the chair. “Take off the hood. Untie him.”

Hersh Einhorn jumped to obey. Nisel Lipiczany was the person inside the stocking. There was a tape across his mouth. Einhorn removed it as well.

“Lipiczany, you have heard everything. No need to repeat it. Your role is to get the children out of the building. One way or another. Out of the estate completely, if you can. It’s a big job. You are responsible for many lives.”

Nisel was doing his best to breathe calmly. The light, after the hours of darkness, stung his eyes. He said something. No one could hear it. He said it again.

“If I refuse?”

“You won’t refuse.”

“But if I do?”

“The tyrants,” said Lipsky, “must die.”

“It’s not possible!” Faulhaber shouted. “I won’t allow it. The property belongs to the Hatters’ Association! Even if the orphans are not harmed, where will they go?”

Nachman Kipnis was sitting by the wireless machine. The tall tubes flashed and glowed on the glass in his spectacle frames. “To make an omelet, said Lenin, you have to break eggs!”

Faulhaber: “I can’t believe I am here. It’s like a dream. It’s appalling!”

“Don’t forget, Comrade, what you saw on the street tonight.”

Lipiczany, between breaths, managed to speak. “What did he see? What? He saw Jews leaving the Ghetto, but not where they were going. The Elder has assured us they are not in danger. That they are being sent to the farms.”

“Then why don’t we receive any letters? Like we did from the people before?” Mister Kemp then lowered his voice to a whisper. “I believe they are being deported to forced-labor camps.”

“The most suspicious thing,” said young Einhorn, “is the way the same train always returns. Every two days. The same engine. The identical third-class cars. Obviously the Jews aren’t going far. It’s an ominous sign.”

Lipiczany, quickly: “But that’s all been explained. They’re probably switched to a second train. Along with the Jews from other ghettos. There must be an express to the west.”

“Is this true?” asked Faulhaber. “No one knows where our citizens go?”

Lipsky: “This is what we know. The Baluters leave, they don’t come back. Not a single letter arrives. We have a report that the engine was seen thirty kilometers east, not west. That’s all. It is madness to assume anything but the worst.”

Nisel’s body jerked, as if from hiccups. His face was twisted. “I’ll find out where the train is going. It won’t take more than two or three days. If I can’t get the information, I’ll take the orphans out of the summer palace. I promise! I give my word! It’s not fair to kill people because of rumors! What will happen to us without the Elder? Did you hear what happened to the Lublin Ghetto already? All the Jews have disappeared. Every one! Here we work! Here we have productive jobs! Thanks to Chaim alone!”