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“Would you like me to walk you to school today?” Andrée asks Josie, watching her put her on her coat and stuff her gloves into her pockets.

“You don’t have to, but I’d love that.”

Josie’s words hit home. All too often Andrée has let her walk alone or with her parents when they leave to open the bookshop. She’d told herself Josie didn’t need her company, that meeting up with Monique and the other children all heading in the same direction is safe enough. She bites her lip, just enough pain for her to remember Josie’s needs are not only her physical safety but feeling needed, wanted.

“I’m sorry, Josie. It’s been a busy⁠—”

“Time, yes, I know. You’re doing important work, aren’t you?”

Again the girl’s words hit home.

“Yes, dear Josie, our work is important, but never as important as you are to us. You are the most important thing in my life, and Grand-Mère and Grand-Père feel the same way.”

“Thank you, Tata. I’m ready to go, if you are.”

“I am. I might even put my gloves on my hands,” Andrée says, laughing.

“What are you doing today?”

“After my lessons, I am meeting a friend, but I’ll be here this afternoon when you get home.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

The guilt Andrée feels doesn’t abate as they walk through the park toward the school. She knows what Josie can’t know. After she leaves the school, she will go to her parents’ bookshop. Louis felt it would be safer for him to take the files to the shop in a bag of books, for Andrée to collect them there, before heading to Dancer’s. There were enough eyes in the apartment block to give them concern. All their movements in and out were carefully considered and executed; above all, they had to avoid arousing the slightest suspicion. New tenants had moved into an apartment on the first floor, and even Maurice had been unable to learn anything about them. This fact alone made them uncomfortable. Could they be collaborators, planted to report on the other tenants? Had their apartment and their meetings been compromised? Had Mme Charbonnier said something about Josie living with them?

As they walk through the park, Andrée notices the first signs of a new season. Small green shoots now appear, poking through the soil, reaching for the sun. The plane trees are covered with the buds of new leaves. Soft and pale green, they will soon grow and darken, providing an umbrella of shade for the summer days ahead. She points this out to Josie. Arms linked, they continue through the park and say goodbye as they enter the school gates and go their respective ways. Andrée watches Josie till she is out of sight. She sees Mme Charbonnier approach Josie, who simply smiles and keeps walking. Good girl, Andrée thinks to herself.

After her morning teaching, Andrée carries her guilt into the bookshop. Her parents have been looking out for her. Louis turns the sign to closed.

“Is everything all right?” Tina asks.

“Yes, of course, why do you ask?”

“You look upset,” her father tells her.

“I’m fine.”

“Andrée. Daughter,” Louis demands.

“It’s just, well, Josie pointed out I haven’t been taking her to or from school much lately.”

“Is that all?” Tina asks.

Andrée hesitates before answering. She doesn’t want to worry her parents any more than she needs to.

“Mme Charbonnier was standing outside the school gates earlier. She was on her own, just standing there, as though she was waiting for Josie.”

“Then you need to say something to her. Confront her. Ask her about her interest in Josie. People like her are cowards. She will deny everything, but it may scare her off if she knows that you’ve noticed,” Louis says.

“You’re right. I’ll go with Josie whenever I can, and make a point of having a ‘friendly chat’ next time she seems too interested in Josie. In the meantime, I need to get the files to Dancer, see if she needs help transmitting them.”

“Your father was up most of the night photographing each page. I’ll take the rolls of film to Gypsy; she can get them to London in case the transmissions don’t go through or are compromised,” Tina says as Louis hands two paper bags to Andrée.

“I’ve put them in two bags with some groceries, so it looks as though you’re carrying shopping.”

Andrée makes her way to Dancer’s apartment. She hasn’t been here since Hanukkah. Powerful images come back to her. So lost is she in the enchantment of that night that she nearly bumps into a man walking toward her. She consciously slows down, takes a deep breath. She doesn’t want to look like a woman in a hurry, a woman on a mission.