Page 12 of The French Wife

Amélie rushed back to the bedroom and pulled on some clothes; a pair of old trousers and a knitted sweater. As she ran downstairs, her heart hammering, through the windows of the hall she could see the vehicles pulling up. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Bruno came out of the kitchen, his face like thunder.

‘What the hell are the Boche doing here? Is this your doing?’

‘Of course not. Why do you say that?’

There was a loud knock at the front door.

‘I haven’t got time to argue with you now,’ Bruno said. ‘This is the last thing I need.’ He strode to the door and wrenched it open.

Amélie caught sight of two of the German officers she’d met the day before standing on the step. She recognised the SS officer Untersturmführer Glock and Hauptmann Bauer from the Wehrmacht. Glock stepped forward. He was holding a piece of paper, which he thrust towards Bruno.

‘Monsieur Garnier?’ he asked.

Bruno nodded, taking the paper.

‘We are here to inspect the identity documents of everyone on your premises. We are doing a full check of the area. We need to know who is living in the canton of St Marie-des-Champs now we are in charge.’

‘Alright,’ Bruno said gruffly.

‘So, Monsieur Garnier, who do you have living on your farm?’

‘There’s me, my wife and six farm workers. Five men and one woman.’

‘I trust all your papers are in order?’

‘Of course,’ Bruno said.

‘May we come in, Monsieur Garnier?’

There was a tense pause. Amélie’s heartbeat sped up. She bit her lip, hoping Bruno wasn’t going to lose his temper and say or do something to cause trouble.

‘If you must,’ Bruno muttered, opening the door wider.

The two officers came into the porch, followed by four or five soldiers.

‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’ Glock asked.

‘Come into the kitchen.’ Bruno ushered them towards the door.

Glock nodded curtly when he caught sight of Amélie, but Hauptmann Bauer inclined his head more graciously and gave her a genuine smile. She dropped her gaze – even though Bruno was already in the kitchen, she didn’t want him to see her exchanging friendly looks with a German officer.

The soldiers stayed in the hallway, but Amélie followed the men into the kitchen, where they were pulling out chairs to sit down at the table, at Bruno’s invitation.

‘Would you like coffee?’ she asked.

Bruno shot her an angry look.

‘No, thank you,’ Glock replied. ‘We hope not to be here long. Could I see both of your identity papers, please?’

Amélie was used to producing her ID for inspection. It had been a regular feature of life under the Vichy regime. She quickly fetched hers from her handbag, which hung from a peg on the back of the door, and handed it to Glock. Bruno fished his from his trouser pocket and did the same. Glock examined them closely, and in a few seconds looked up with an officious smile.

‘They all seem to be in order. Now I need to see your men and inspect their papers too.’

‘They are in the herbergerie getting ready for work. I will fetch them,’ Bruno said, getting up and leaving the room through the door that led into the barn.

There was an awkward silence round the table. Amélie looked up and caught Bauer’s earnest blue eyes on her face. She flushed and looked away quickly.

In a few minutes, Bruno returned, followed by the five men and Lili. The men all looked rough, unshaven and disgruntled.