The Only Woman in the Room

For the next several months, Hedy abides by Fritz’s rules, but beneath the surface, she seethes and plans her eventual escape. She begins hoarding small amounts of money and hoping to overhear information vital to Fritz’s cause in hopes of blackmailing him into letting her leave. She soon overhears the information she could use to her advantage: Both armies struggle to create a remote-controlled torpedo (instead of the traditional wired torpedoes) that is invulnerable to outside interference. The next morning, Hedy learns that her father is ill. While her mother sends for a doctor, Hedy must fight the house staff to be released from her home. After threatening Fritz’s anger at the staff for not allowing her to see her mortally ill father, she rushes to her parents’ home. Her father suffered a severe attack of angina. He asks Hedy to promise that she’ll use Fritz’s power to protect herself and her mother—he tells her to not leave Fritz unless she has no other option.

Two months later, Hedy swims in the lake near her parents’ home. Under the water, she feels more whole and safer than she’s felt in months: “No mask, no subterfuge, no grief” (101). Shortly after her father’s first angina attack, he died.