European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1947, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Walter Hoffmann was the wealthiest Man in the he was a Miller being a serious Man As Well As a Lucky he grew Rich during the Good crop he had a Fine House with a walled Trees grew there and the Shade Hung Cool there in the in the front of the House there was a Large Bay window Over f looking the quiet on sundays Herr Hoffmann liked to sit there watching the people of the Village walking even in the after Noons he sat there hour after nodding to the villagers As they bowed to for his elderly housekeeper and a Youn girl who came to help he was some of the villagers wondered that he had never but others pointed out that besides being serious to the Point of he was not what you would Call a handsome there were in who considered him extremely ugly and said it was to wonder he had never taken a wife for All his no woman would have at any he was an old Man now and the possibility he would Ever marry seemed so Temple that it was no longer to be that is Why it came As something of a Shock to the Village when Herr Hoffmann took a it was even More startling that she should be Truda the Twenty two year old daughter of the Village their can it perhaps just a Little More romantic than those who knew Herr Hoffmann might have he had been sitting at his As one sunday when came by the Herr Hoff Mann had seen her hut its pos sible that on this Day her Pale Gold hair shone with an even More luxurious Luster and that her Lively eyes were even she did j not boar to him As the other villagers did but she a Oahe that suggested some mysterious amusement Herr Hoffmann tried to Imide but this was an expression he want accustomed to using and he could Only nod As he did to Jive Ryone who the next Sun 4ay afternoon at the same Herr Hoffmann sat at his window again watching for but she didst nor did she pass the House for several weeks Herr Hoff Pann tried desperately to think of some pretext for going out to look but he knew it would Maike Jum seem a fool so he waited a few Days and then she came y and again she smiled at of the next Day Herr Hoffmann went of to see Johannes Trudas Herr Loesser was overcome t with flattery at this unprecedented visit but didst know quite what to do about it beyond offering Herr Hoff Mann a drink of the Fine schnapps he kept in his cellar for such occasions As Christmas and the birth of a son a Story by John her double life was an open and if shed bad none of her lovers could have told for each new one vanished like the others some of the villagers noticed that she did seem to favor certain of the More handsome they be Gan to notice also that she sometimes left the House unaccompanied in the afternoons and was gone often until Well along in the there were rumours soon that the conduct of Herr Hoffmanns Bride was not quite what one might expect of a that there certain of her activities which Herr Hoff Mann knew nothing the rumours were Given some substance when sounds of unrestrained gaiety were heard from the Garden of the Millers House at times when Herr Hoffmann himself was known not to be there was a rather shocking report that a Young woman looking remarkably like Truda Hoffmann had been seen entering the House of Georg the strikingly handsome Young at a most improper hour of the there was the testimony of Klaus Aschen who worked As a about the House of Albert Winter the Bachelor and who had come upon the doctor and one of his lady was Frau Hoff of rather compromising circumstances on one occasion when he walked unthinkingly into one of the doctors rooms without it was probably More than coincidental that shortly after the Young departed suddenly from town without so much As a word to his and was never seen there it seemed incredible that none of this this time the matter had got beyond the stage of Mere have reached Herr Hoffmann just the he never showed any sign that he was aware of his wife extra marital she was a sly the villagers and probably the old cuckold was just too dimwitted to catch up with the fancy game she was playing the villagers Only Truda herself was More than a Little Dis Turbed at the possibility that her Hus Blind As he might one Day catch up with her there was one in particular that made her somewhat doubtful of her secur this one shortly after the episode at the House which Klaus Asche Brunner had re ported to the when Herr Hoffmann came Home unexpectedly Early from a trip to a near by Truda and the had become common knowledge among the villagers that their relationship was much More intimate than any purely professional interest might have called standing in the parlor in a rather Friendly pose and apparently were too much absorbed in each others presence to hear the door neither of them could Tell whether Herr Hoffmann had seen Martin Freyer More Otreo Nal in the the two men sat silently Over their watching each other a Little finally Herr Hoff Mann Herr he i wish to marry your the innkeeper was he was much but he was also pleased that the richest Man in the Village should have come to ask for his daughters when he finally was Able to he said nothing to heir Hoffmann but called upstairs to his he come Here is Herr Hoffmann to speak with Herr Hoffmann haunt anticipated what he would do when faced by the Young woman and when she into the he almost found himself regretting that he had Hoffmann has asked her father started to Herr Hoff Mann says he he shrugged his shoulders and turned to his mein Herr said Truda her eyes were proud but in she smiled with that inscrutable expression of Herr Hoffmann Drew a concentrating closely on each i have told your father that i wish to marry really said raising her eyebrows with a kind of mocking Herr Hoffmann flushed you Are making fun of me not at mein she her voice was even and but still he the Rustle of said Herr Hoffmann after an uneasy that is what i have come to Tell your and Are you not also going to Tell me said Truda in the same even Herr Hoffmann lowered his do you he Are you said Herr Loesser called to his wife to bring More Truda was the fast woman anyone would have expected to Settle Down to a life of substantial it was Only such a life that one could have predicted for the wife of Walter Hoff Mann the but for a while Truda seemed to be in the while her husband was Busy at the she her Needle work the Garden behind the or in the big window where Herr Hoffmann used to station himself to watch the passing she smiled As they went by to nod their one might have that she smiled just a Little More brightly at the younger males among the they were men who had known her As Fraulein Truda and who had been stricken with a common grief when marriage removed her from the Range of their it must be said that marriage haunt dulled any of Trudas As a matter of fact illustration by than Mere but when her husband came in the she stepped Back quickly with her hands behind her like a child caught with a broken As her husband stood there silently for a she thought she noticed just the newest Shadow Cross his if it it passed quickly and the some Dull air of the elderly Burgher replaced Good Herr said the Miller in his a emphatic i Hope you find my wife in Good slight touch of the said doctor surprised at his own nothing of our poor she almost smiled at the coolness with which he had carried it of said the you must take Good care of he to his if All the ailing women take care of said ing with what will our poor doctors have to do he said Herr of our poor she will joke about my see that she does not joke too much about her own said the pretending suddenly to be Only with who take other Peoples health much too said but i am afraid we have already kept you too you must have other patients who need she held the door open for the who tipped his hat As he put it and walked briskly Herr Hoffmann said nothing about the incident to suggest in any Way that he might be but for her own had already decided that it would be unwise to arouse her husbands suspicions perhaps spoiling her game for it seemed necessary to end this affair of the doctor without further surely it was Only a few Days afterwards that the villagers heard that Frau Hoffmann had taken up with a Young student named Karl Maier and that doctor like his Young had apparently found it advisable for the Sake of his own perhaps his Pride or even his embittered heart move nor was the affair with the last in the of Frau Hoffmanns Freddi the i who want very Happy shrewish Ward left Emma and the lovers seemed to was through with Truk rift re others after him and each it vanished As if he had purpose or could no there without the Congo Toto ensure seven in