'I am frightened, Doctor.'
'Try not to be frightened.'
'What chance can the fourth one have now?'
'You must stop thinking like
that.'
'I can't help it. I am certain there is something inherited that causes my children to die in this way. There must be.'
'That is nonsense.'
'Do you know what my husband said to me when Otto was born, Doctor? He came into the room and he looked into the cradle where Otto was lying and he said, "Why do all my children have to be so small and weak?" '
'I am sure he didn't say that.'
'He put his head right into Otto's cradle as though he were examining a tiny insect and he said, "All I am saying is why can't they be better specimens? That's all I am saying." And three days after that, Otto was dead. We baptized him quickly on the third day and he died the same evening. And then Gustav died. And then Ida died. All of them died, Doctor... and suddenly the whole house was empty...'
'Don't think about it now.'
'Is this one so very small?'
'He is a normal child.'
'But small?'
'He is a little small, perhaps. But the small ones are often a lot tougher than the big ones. Just imagine, Frau Hitler, this time next year he will be almost learning how to walk. Isn't that a lovely thought?'
She didn't answer this.
'And two years from now he will probably be talking his head off and driving you crazy with his chatter. Have you settled on a name for him yet?'
'A name?'
'Yes.'
'I don't know. I'm not sure. I think my husband said that if it was a boy we were going to call him Adolfus.'
'That means he would be called Adolf.'
'Yes. My husband likes Adolf because it has a certain similarity to Alois. My husband is called Alois.'
'Excellent.'
'Oh no!' she cried, starting up suddenly from the pillow. That's the same question they asked me when Otto was born! It means he is going to die! You are going to baptize him at once!'
'Now, now,' the doctor said, taking her gently by the shoulders. 'You are quite wrong. I promise you you are wrong. I was simply being an inquisitive old man, that is all. I love talking about names. I think Adolphus is a particularly fine name. It is one of my favourites. And look - here he comes now.'
The innkeeper's wife, carrying the baby high up on her enormous bosom, came sailing across the room towards the bed. 'Here is the little beauty!' she cried, beaming. 'Would you like to hold him, my dear? Shall I put him beside you?'
'Is he well wrapped?' the doctor asked. 'It is extremely cold in here.'
'Certainly he is well wrapped'
The baby was tightly swaddled in a white woollen shawl, and only the tiny pink head protruded. The innkeeper's wife placed him gently on the bed beside the mother. 'There you are,' she said. 'Now you can lie there and look at him to your heart's content.'
'I think you will like him,' the doctor said, smiling. 'He is a fine little baby.'