Page 67 of The French Wife

Every so often another truck would turn up in the square outside, disgorging more unfortunate prisoners. Amélie watched in horror as they were pushed roughly out of the backs of the trucks and herded at gunpoint into the building. Some carried bundles of clothes or suitcases, and all were shivering in the winter air.

Eventually the clock ticked round to five o’clock.

‘Isn’t it time for you to go home, Madame Garnier?’ Colbert asked. ‘You’re usually so prompt.’

‘Of course,’ she said, flustered. ‘I’ll go right now.’

Hans’ office was still empty, but all was quiet in the mairie as Amélie crept downstairs and across the front hall to the back door. Once in the courtyard, she collected her bicycle. Then she pedalled slowly out of town and up the darkening valley towards the farm.

The shutters were already across the windows as she approached and the place was in darkness. When she went inside, the house was eerily quiet.

‘Hello?’ She crossed the hall and opened the kitchen door.

Everyone was sitting around the kitchen table, the women holding their children to them, their faces distraught, crying quietly.

‘Where were you?’ Bruno looked up when she came in. ‘Why didn’t you warn us the Boche were coming to the farm? We’ve lost two good, strong men from the workforce.’

She stared at him. Was that all he cared about? Men to work on his farm? Those men weren’t just workers, they were husbands and sons, fathers too.

‘I tried to warn you,’ she said. ‘I rode up here as soon as I heard about it, but the SS got here before me. I saw them in the yard, so I had to go back. What happened?’

Raoul was the first to speak.

‘Henri, Ivy and I heard the lorry coming up the track. We ran down to hide in the cellar with Suzette, Naomi, Esther and the children. Bruno managed to push the bookcase over the door, so we were safe, but Samuel and Gabriel were out in the forest. The SS must have followed the sound of chopping and discovered where they were working. They took one look at their papers and carted them away in their truck.’

‘But you said the papers were good,’ Amélie said to Raoul.

He shrugged. ‘They were as good as any I’ve seen, but they were still fakes, camarade. They’re not infallible and I’ve heard the SS officer in charge here, Glock, is no fool.’

Silence fell over the room as everyone contemplated the fate of the two men. It was punctuated only by the sobs of the women and the quiet wailing of Naomi’s baby. Finally, Suzette got to her feet.

‘We made soup earlier. Who wants some?’ she asked, her voice falsely bright.

Everyone was hungry and soon Suzette was handing round bowls of steaming soup and hunks of bread that she’d baked herself that morning.

The atmosphere lifted a little, but when the meal was over, nobody was in any mood to linger and gradually drifted off to bed. Amélie went upstairs, undressed and lay down under the covers, but sleep wouldn’t come. Beside her, Bruno was also shifting and turning.

‘There’s not much point you working down in the mairie if you can’t manage to warn us about raids in advance,’ he said after a while.

‘I did my best, Bruno,’ she replied.

‘I’ve lost two men because of you,’ he said, turning over.

She didn’t reply and soon he started snoring.

Amélie lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering what had become of Hans, Gabriel and Samuel, imagining them in the cells, beaten and bruised by Glock and his SS henchmen.

She didn’t know how long she’d been lying there, going hot and cold as she imagined terrible things, when she heard an urgent rapping at the front door. She sat up, wondering if she’d imagined it, but there it was again. Bruno didn’t stir. He was dead to the world, lying on his side, snoring heavily.

She got out of bed, pulled on her dressing gown and crept downstairs. Was this the Germans back again? Had they managed to discover the two men also had wives and children? Had they come back to collect them too?

She unlocked the door and opened it a crack and her heart surged with relief. Gabriel’s face appeared. There was a bruise on his cheekbone and a cut on his lip, but he was smiling broadly. Samuel stood behind him. He too had cuts and bruises on his face but was otherwise unharmed.

‘Madame Garnier,’ Gabriel said. ‘They let us go. One of the officers looked at our ID and said it was in order. He made the other one release us.’

‘Really?’ Relief flooding through her, she pulled the door back and let the men in, embracing each in turn. ‘Come into the kitchen, I’ll find you something to eat and drink.’

The next morning, Amélie left the farm before Bruno was even out of bed.