The Little People by John Christopher

Author:John Christopher [Christopher, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jerry eBooks
Published: 2022-08-30T21:00:00+00:00

Bridget said: “Tell me, then. Whatever it is you know.”

He had taken the other key from the kitchen, had gone to the cloakroom and opened up the hamper. She had been lying on the cushions, but awake, and when she stared up at him he had wondered how he could have missed seeing it before. Small though the features were, the lines were unmistakable. He had no idea how long he had stayed there before Bridget came through the door. All that time there was silence between him and his small accuser.

He said: “I found papers in the tower. Among them the certificate of a marriage, in 1929, between Veronica Chauncey, of Cork, and Karl Hofricht of Munich.”

She screwed her face up, remembering something from long ago.

“Veronica . . . Grandfather spoke of her, but not much, She was his sister. She sided with Sean when the two brothers fell out. And she married a German? Do you mean, the diary . . .? The man who wrote it was my uncle?”

“It seems so.”

“But she was never here?”

“She died in Germany, before the war. Of cancer, I think.”

She looked down again at Greta. “You said you knew about the little people—about their parentage. You’re not trying to tell me that this is something to do with them?”

“Not with them. Him only. Except that perhaps her death led him to the study of growth, both normal and abnormal. And affected him, perhaps, in other ways.”

“Study? You mean, he was some kind of a scientist? But how could he work here?”

“He did his main work in Germany.”

“And had you heard of him? Was he famous?”

He shook his head. “Not famous.”

“Growth,” she said. There was a pause. “And lack of growth? He was responsible for the little people?”

“Yes. He was responsible.”

“But how could he be? No one would be allowed to conduct experiments of that sort on human beings in any civilized country.”

He said heavily: “I agree. But she is older than you think, you see. She was born in 1944. In Germany.”

“The Nazis . . .”

“He had a laboratory hidden away in the Schwarzwald. It was a nursing home before he took over. He was not short of funds, I think. They supported him well from Berlin. Cytology is a wide field, and can be made to cover many things. Ageing, for example. There is a report which bears that out. Perhaps someone thought he could make Hitler live as long as the thousand-year Reich. Perhaps he thought so himself, or was merely willing to deceive them while he continued with the work which interested him. At any rate, they sent him money and equipment. And everything he needed to further his experiments.”

“Everything? Prisoners?”

“Guinea-pigs and white rats. And cats and dogs. And Jews. Or Jewesses.”

Bridget was silent, staring at Greta. After a few moments, he went on, speaking precisely, unemotionally, because no other way of saying it was possible:

“There was a screening point, at a camp. Females coming through were tested for pregnancy.

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