The Secret Healer(67)
“Can I see her?”
“Yes. She’s asleep now, but she’ll be happy to see you when she wakes up.”
“Thank you.” He looked at Agathe. “If she still wants me, I would like to marry her,” he said. “And I’ll treat her well.”
“I would highly advise you to do so,” Agathe said, her tone softening. “Not everyone gets a second chance to make things right. Think about that.”
“I thank you both.” He looked from one woman to the other. His gaze remained on Madlen. “I can’t even imagine what would have happened if it weren’t for you, Maria. First, you saved my life, now you saved Roswitha’s. How can we ever repay you?”
Madlen smiled. “It’s all right. Go. Your future wife needs you now.”
He nodded then strode hurriedly upstairs, taking two steps at a time. Madlen heard him say Roswitha’s name softly as he entered her room. Then he closed the door. She looked at Agathe, and they fell into each other’s arms in relief. They could put this all behind them now.
Chapter Twenty
“I need to speak to you.” Johannes gave Madlen a serious look when he came home and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
“What happened?”
He led her into the dining room of the Goldmann house, a room that could seat twenty people and was sometimes used for city council meetings. “Sit down.”
“You’re scaring me. What is it?”
“Have you ever heard about the secret healer?”
Madlen opened her eyes wide and turned red. Her heart beat wildly, and she was barely able to say a word. “What?” she croaked.
“I need to tell you something, and I hope you won’t be mad at me.”
Madlen just stared at him. What would happen now?
“I returned to Worms to be with my family.” He held her hand. “Before that, I lived in Trier and worked as a Church lawyer. Do you know what that is?”
Madlen nodded; she couldn’t bear to wait any longer to hear what Johannes knew about her secret.
“Rumors started some months ago about a woman with healing powers. She could expel diseases from the sick with the use of special herbs, but it also required the souls of innocent children. She had powers that only the devil himself could have given her.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I couldn’t tell you about it before. I’m sorry that I lied to you, but I swore an oath. The archbishop himself requested that I find out everything I could about this woman. By the time I arrived back in Worms, she’d disappeared, as if swallowed up by the earth. However, I just got a message from someone who says he knows this woman. He’ll be here in two days.”
Madlen’s thoughts raced around in her head. What was her husband trying to say? Did he know her secret or not?
“The archbishop demands results. He wants this woman to be charged with her crimes, and he wants me to take over the case. As soon as I meet this man, I have to travel back to Trier and stay there for a long time. I know that you don’t want to leave, but I have no choice. I’ve made a commitment to the archbishop. I have to hand this secret healer over. I can’t resign from my service until then.”
Madlen was unable to respond. She closed her eyes. Her own husband would be the one to arrest her and bring her to the gallows? He had lied to her like she had to him. But she’d never expected this. But who was this man who claimed to know her identity? Maybe just somebody hoping for the bounty. But what if it wasn’t?
“Maria, please say something. I know you’re mad, but I had no other choice.”
She cleared her throat. “And this secret healer, do you have any idea who it could be?” Her heart beat loudly.
He shook his head slowly. “There are many who have been treated by her, but all refused to identify her. When I tried to bring up the subject, I was met with silence. They didn’t want to hear that they had, in fact, made a pact with the devil.”
“What makes you think they made a pact with the devil?” Madlen felt dizzy.
“I talked with a doctor. He said that there is no medicine that will cure this cough. And for those unfortunate enough to catch this terrible disease, the only possible help is bloodletting and prayer. God alone decides who lives and who dies. Everything lies in the hands of the Almighty.”
“But if this woman healed somebody . . .”
“It is only because she’s in league with the devil. When they are in the delirious throes of this disease, they promise everything and make a pact to give the devil the souls of their own children.”
Madlen had never heard Johannes talk like this. Although she knew the devil existed, she never had anything to do with him. She only knew the medicinal properties of herbs. Now her own husband seemed foreign to her, and she knew that she could never trust him with her secret. She saw his eyes ablaze with the fire of religious fervor. He would take her to the gallows himself if he ever found her out, of this she was quite sure. A thought came her way. “You said earlier that there was someone who knew this woman. From where? Did she heal him?”