Chapter 105 A Maid takes Liberties
Erika awoke early the following morning when Ju tapped at her door and
then entered, carrying her breakfast. Erika greeted the young maid with a
smile, but was taken aback when Ju gave her what could only be called a
reproachful look and set about opening the curtains. Erika started in on her
breakfast - a slice of pumpernickel bread, a quartered orange, and a steaming
cup of green tea -- and watched while Ju fussed with the draperies. She was
struck by the fact that while yesterday the vivacious maid had been as sprightly
as a sparrow, flitting around the room with youthful energy, this morning she
moved as if she had aged a dozen years overnight.
"Ju?" Erika began as she sipped at the tea and spread a little Danish
butter on her dark bread, which judging, by its warmth and aroma, seemed to have
come directly from the bakery of the consulate.
"Yes, Miss?" Ju replied, as she turned to face the blonde who was sitting
up among the pillows.
"Are you not feeling well?"
"I ... I ..." Ju's red-rimmed eyes darted nervously around the room as if
looking for tale-telling spirits. On her way home last night she had pondered
the question of how had the man who had flogged and raped her had found out
that she confided to the German girl that she had a lover at the consulate. "I
... did not sleep well, miss."
Erika noticed that Ju's eyes had stopped circling the room and had focused
on the tray lying across her lap. The poor girl is hungry, she realized.
Erika gave Ju a warm smile. "Have you ever had fresh-baked German bread,
Ju? It is very nice. Please - try some," she invited , while Ju glanced
nervously toward the door.
"I ... Thank you, Miss ... I had better not."
"Don't be silly. There is enough for us, both. Here, sit beside me,"
Erika added as she pushed the bed-clothes back to clear a space and slid over to
the far side of the bed. "Ess, ess! Eat, please."
Ju, still moving gingerly, inched her way toward the corner of the bed
while Erika spread a dab of fresh butter on one corner of the slice of bread and
broke it off. As soon as Ju had lowered herself to the bed, Erika giggled
playfully, and popped a morsel of the warm, freshly-baked bread into the little
maid's open mouth.
Ju closed her eyes and savored the smell and the taste and the texture of
the home-made bread. It was quite unlike anything she had tasted before, as was
its creamy coating of butter. It seemed to melt in her mouth, a heavenly
blessing for a young woman whose diet had consisted of little more than a bowl
of starchy rice for the past several weeks.
The petite young mother chewed the rounded corner of bread with infinite
slowness, not wanting to swallow it, not wanting to lose the sense of its warm,
rich taste. She was just about to swallow, hoping for another bite of the
delicious bread, when she opened her eyes, only to find a stern-looking Klaus
Schumacher standing in the doorway.
Erika's sea-green nightgown had ridden up when she had pushed back the
covers, and the deputy secretary's officious glance lingered on Erika's long,
bare legs for a moment before fixing themselves on the young maid, who had
jumped off the bed as if she had been speared, guiltily wiping at the crumbs on
her lips.
"What is going on here?" Schumacher snapped. "If you don't have enough
work to do around here, girl, we can easily dispense with your services. Don't
you have other rooms to clean? Your work in here seems to be done."
"Y-yes, sir," Ju mumbled around the ball of bread in her mouth. I was just
leaving, sir."
"I would be in your debt, fraulein," Schumacher continued angrily, now
addressing his remarks to Erika who was in the process of straightening her
nightgown, "if you would maintain a certain distance with the servants. No good
can come from such ...such casual behavior," he spluttered.
"But, sir," Erika began, "all I did was..."
"I have eyes, fraulein," he continued with a stony glance. "I can see what
was happening here. As for you," he turned toward Ju as she limped past him,
grimacing with every step, " I shall deal with you later."
Noticing how slowly Ju was moving, Schumacher snapped, "You would do well
to move more quickly, girl, if you expect to complete your duties on schedule.
Schnell!"
Trying to suppress her tears, Ju edged past him and then bumped into Dr.
Kauffmann just as he stuck his head inside the open door. "How is my patient
this morning?" he asked brightly as his dark eyes lit first on the apprehensive
maid and then on Erika and lastly on his ill-tempered colleague. "Is something
wrong?"
"Excuse me, sir," Ju mumbled, giving him a nervous glance. "I have work to
do."
"Of course, of course," the doctor said, as he stepped inside the room,
setting his black bag down and allowing Ju to pass. He turned toward
Schumacher. "The vice-consul needs to speak you, Mr. Secretary, before he
leaves for Tsingtao."
Schumacher nodded. Their superior would be meeting with the Japanese envoy
there, but since Dr Kauffmann did not number Japanese among his several
languages, he would not be needed as translator. "Well, let me see what the
baron wants." He glanced down at Erika, who had lain back among her pillows
with her head turned away from them, treating himself to a last glimpse of the
stunning blonde Rhine-maiden. "Perhaps while he is away for a few days, you
will have a chance to ... devote more time to the mystery of our young Lorelei."
"Indeed, sir, I hope to make good use of the time. In fact, if you'll
excuse me ....?" Kauffmann gave the under-secretary a look indicating that the
doctor preferred to be alone with his comely patient.
"Of course, of course," Schumacher replied making an effort to conceal the
envy that was welling up inside of him. Most doctors would have deferred to a
man in his position and allowed him to be present while they examined the body
of a young woman had been discovered under such mysterious circumstances. But
Kauffmann, to this point, had preferred to conduct his examinations alone,
shooing the under-secretary out of the room on each occasion, although he had
summarized her injuries and condition briefly afterward. 'I'll bet the good
doctor takes his sweet time examining that lovely body,' Schumacher thought to
himself rather bitterly, as he watched the gentle rise and fall of Erika's
breasts against the flimsy nightgown.
Suppressing his annoyance, Schumacher stepped out into the hallway. Ju was
standing at a linen closet off to his left sorting through a stack of towels.
The imposing diplomat let his eyes explore the maid's trim little body in
profile more frankly than he had been able to do with Erika Weiss. The tiny
young woman was standing on her tiptoes rather awkwardly in order to reach the
desired shelf, and when she saw the tall figure of the under-secretary staring
at her balefully out of the corner of her eye, she lost her balance, and fell
forward, bringing a cascade of clean linen down on her dark head.
As she dropped to the ground to retrieve and re-fold the fallen sheets and
towels, Klaus Schumacher strode toward her. Ju Hua was a beautiful sight,
there, on her knees on the well-polished hardwood floor of the hallway, tiny and
vulnerable. He stood over her while she frantically folded the towels back up
in stacks according to their size, not daring to look up at the stern-visaged
functionary.
"Do not think that it has gone unnoticed that you have been both lazy and
careless this morning, Ju," he said with a scowl. "I shall see to it that you
are assigned some extra duties. While you are performing them you can reflect
on your negligent behavior this morning."
After giving her a final, reproachful glance, Schumacher strode off down
the hallway, leaving Ju to wonder at the meaning of his words.
