“I know not, my love,” sighed the baron. “Even if such a trial should come, there are many who have had to endure worse these dreadful last years.”

“I know you are right.”

“If it should come, our Father will keep us in his arms, even in that.”

Heinrich paused, then added, “I love you, Marion, my Liebchen, my darling. You have been the only love of my life—I treasure you.”

“And I you, Heinrich.”

Husband and wife sat several more minutes together, then silently rose and went to bed.

The clock on the sitting room wall continued to tick. It read seven minutes till midnight.

88 Last Night at Lebenshaus

88

Last Night at Lebenshaus

Baron von Dortmann and Rabbi Wissen spent a great deal of the following day together. By mutual consent, they quietly spoke individually to all the community of their little flock throughout the afternoon, agreeing to come together that evening, after supper, as one—Christians and Jews alike—for a shared time of parting, symbolic worship, and prayer.

Once their plans had been laid, the two leaders, along with Sabina, Aaron Abrahams, and Jakob Kropf, spent several hours in the depths of the hidden regions of the house, making all necessary last-minute preparations for departure.

They gathered at eight o’clock in the library, where the baron had earlier instructed that several bookcases be moved so chairs could be brought in. It was the only room, other than the ballroom, large enough for forty—the baron’s family, their most trusted servants, and all the extended family of their Jewish guests—to fit comfortably, and its interior location eliminated the necessity for caution in using lights that might have been visible from the outside. A dozen or so candles were set about the room, musty with the scent of knowledge, and their flickering in the still air was further reminder of the antiquity of what they were about to do. Several pitchers of water sat on the floor.

Baron von Dortmann and Rabbi Wissen sat quietly in front. The mood was solemn. When all had gathered and were seated, the baron rose.

“My friends,” he said, “I have gathered us all together so that spiritually and symbolically we might bring to a close this portion of life we have shared. Tonight does not represent the culmination of the story for any of us. But I do sense that this particular chapter of the book is about to end.