SECRET OF THE WOLF By Susan Krinard

Feodor sighed. “I would have wished to find you in any case, Johanna, for the work you and your father have done. This simply provided an additional excuse. I was quite surprised to learn that the girl Mr. Ingram searched for was a patient of yours.”

At the moment, Johanna had scant interest in sorting out his motives. “Perhaps you had better start from the beginning.”

“Of course.” He sat down and regarded her earnestly. “I had only recently come to San Francisco, with the intention of remaining a few months, when I met Mr. Ingram at a social occasion. You must have heard of him: He is a prominent banker in the city.”

Yes, she knew that much. Mr. Chester Ingram was a powerful man of great influence, no doubt. “Go on,” she said.

“While we were talking, I told Mr. Ingram of my theories involving hypnosis. Mr. Ingram expressed regret that I had not been on hand to look after his wife two years ago, when she ran off with their daughter and disappeared. It seemed that Mrs. Ingram, having become mentally unstable, had labored under the delusion that her life was in danger, though she’d had everything a woman could desire.”

Everything of material goods, he meant. “Was her condition diagnosed as insanity?”

“You must know as well as anyone,” Bolkonsky said gravely. “Did you not meet her yourself?”

“Yes.” There was no point in denying it now. “I did not find her to be insane, merely frightened.”

“Ah.” Bolkonsky was a little less cool than before, which hardly rectified his less-than-honorable behavior. Johanna did not trust his cordiality. “Mr. Ingram deeply missed his wife and daughter, and since May was subject to hysterical fits, he was most worried that she would not be suitably cared for. During most of the past two years he had believed both of them unrecoverable. He but recently discovered that May might still be in the area, and was having the possibility investigated.

“A few days later, he informed me that his daughter was a patient at a small private clinic in the Napa Valley, one administrated by the daughter of Dr. Wilhelm Schell. Naturally, I told him what I knew of your family’s spotless reputation. He asked me if I might approach you about releasing his daughter into his care, so as to minimize the girl’s discomfort. It is his desire that I should continue any treatment that may be necessary in light of what she has suffered.”

At least Bolkonsky was aware that some trauma might have been involved. He surely underestimated it.

“I see,” she said. “I believe I understand.” Coldness seeped into her stomach. “It is true that Mrs. Ingram came to me two years ago, in an extreme state of distress, and begged me to look after her daughter, who was indeed suffering from hysteria. She said she was running from great danger, and could not care for May under the circum-stances. I took the girl in. Mrs. Ingram asked me to promise not to reveal May’s location, or her true name, until such time as she returned.”

“But she did not come back.”

“No.” Johanna wasn’t giving Bolkonsky a whit more information than she had to, and that included news of Mrs. Ingram’s recent letter hinting at an expeditious return from Europe.

Bolkonsky shook his head. “It is a measure of your good heart and devotion to our profession that you have maintained the child at your own expense. Now that is no longer necessary. I know that you must have accepted Mrs. Ingram’s mad tales, or you would have contacted May’s father long ago.”

Mad tales. Her intuition had long since told her otherwise.

“She was May’s mother. I had no reason to disbelieve her, and I fully expected her to come back within a few months.”

“Of course.” Bolkonsky smiled. “You could only offer help to those in need, and maintain your doctor’s confidentiality. But now you can hear the truth. I have spoken at great length with May’s father. His wife was profoundly disturbed, from a family with a history of madness. Mr. Ingram had her under a doctor’s care, but he was unsuccessful in curing her madness. Due to the lapses of an inattentive servant, she escaped with May before dawn one morning.”

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