‘Niklas? What are you doing here?’ Ziani asked the second wife of his aunt,
‘Let me embrace you, my boy! How long has it been since we’ve seen each other?’
‘Since they discharged me from the infirmary and brought me here,’ answered Ziani.
‘Well, no need to stay standing up! Sit down and talk to me. How are you? How are things? Speaking of which, I’ve got a letter here from your aunt alongside a load of things for you: I think they are vests, shirts, socks and I don’t know what else’.
‘How is Aunt Marta? And Cousin Franziska?’
‘Doing well. Marta is busy managing our affairs and hasn’t been able to join me here; I believe my sojourn here to be temporary, after all. Just a matter of months to get the machine of state moving again’.
Born in 1751, Niklas Herzog came from a
