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sitting. He was gone.

— Chapter Nine —
    A Sleepless Night
    Herr Schmidt led the girls to a dingy room above the inn. He left hastily and said, “Good night. Good night.”
    Cecile collapsed on the bed and was soon fast asleep. Johanna’s arms and legs felt heavy with fatigue, but she forced herself to change Rebecca’s diaper and wash her hands and face. She held Rebecca’s hands and clapped them together while she sang a children’s song she remembered from home:
Clap, clap your little hands.
    Papa will buy you little shoes.
    Mama will knit you a little shirt.
    And you will have rosy cheeks.
    Rebecca began to cry and thrashed about in Johanna’s arms. Johanna walked back and forth in the cramped room and tried to comfort the baby. She hummed a lullaby over and over, until at last Rebecca fell asleep, her head resting on Johanna’s shoulder. She put Rebecca in a small bed in a corner of the room and lay down beside Cecile, who was already snoring loudly.
    Johanna couldn’t get comfortable. Cecile kicked her legs about in all directions, rolled over, and yanked the blanket from Johanna. She lay shivering beside Cecile for what seemed like an endless night. Her worries kept turning around in her head. Are we being followed? How can I protect Rebecca? How can I tell Mama what I’ve done and where I’m going?
    Finally, just as she was falling into an exhausted sleep, Rebecca began to cry. Johanna dragged herself out of bed and lit a candle. She changed Rebecca’s diaper and walked back and forth with her, until at last Rebecca fell asleep again. Johanna lay down with Rebecca in her arms. She lay awake until at last she saw daylight peeping in through the cracks of the shutters.
    Her mouth tasted of stale beer; her stomach was making rumbling noises from last night’s stew. Her clothes were starting to smell and so was her body. Her head was pounding and her eyes were sore. When she’d originally planned to run away, she hadn’t imagined that she would feel so tired and dirty after just one day.
    And now Rebecca had a rash spreading from her neck down to her stomach. Johanna shook Cecile on the shoulder. “Wake up!” she said.
    â€œWhat?” Cecile yawned. “Is it morning already?”
    â€œRebecca is sick.”
    â€œSick?” Cecile sat bolt upright and pulled Rebecca’s nightgown up over her stomach. “She’s got a rash.”
    Johanna swallowed hard. “I know. But what kind of rash?”
    â€œHow should I know? Do I look like Doctor Keller?”
    The thought of Cecile looking anything like the rotund Doctor Keller made both girls grin. “Not even close!”
    Cecile pointed to Rebecca’s stomach. “It looks like the kind of rash children get. Not —”
    â€œPlague,” whispered Johanna.
    â€œNo, I don’t think so,” said Cecile, shuddering.
    â€œPerhaps it will clear up by itself.”
    â€œYou should take her to a doctor as soon as you can.”
    Johanna nodded. She knew she must, but a doctor’s fees would take more money from her already thin purse. “Please don’t say anything to anyone,” she said.
    â€œI won’t.”
    Someone was knocking on the door.
    â€œYes?” Both girls answered at the same time.
    â€œI’ve brought some water for washing,” a girl said from the other side of the door.
    â€œCome in,” Johanna said.
    The young girl who had served them the previous night entered the room. Her hair was dishevelled under her cap; her dress and apron were the same ones she had worn the day before. She emptied the dirty water from the basin and the contents of the chamber pot into a bucket. Then she poured warm water from a kettle she was carrying into the basin.
    The girl glanced at Rebecca. “What’s wrong with your baby?”
    â€œNothing,” Johanna snapped. “Just a rash.”
    The girl gasped and brought