Windflower Wedding. Elizabeth Elgin

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СКАЧАТЬ brought them?’ The man picked up the carrier bag.

      ‘Spares.’

      ‘Good. Follow behind me.’

      Keth walked unspeaking, case in hand, frowning because he had expected a Frenchman and not someone with the unmistakable accent of an English public school. He matched his steps to those of his companion, walking where he had walked, glancing left and right, wondering what next.

      ‘That’s better.’ Hirondelle stopped, listening, in the shelter of bushes that grew thickly on the edges of a wood. ‘We’ll wait,’ he said, squatting on the springy turf. ‘For your contact,’ he added, almost as an afterthought.

      Keth nodded, taking his cue from the other man, speaking as little as possible, pushing his case beneath a low bush though he had no idea why.

      They did not wait long. Keth saw the figure, walking quickly and without sound at the side of the path. Despite the darkness, he knew it was a woman.

      He watched as she stopped, listening. Hirondelle reached for a twig, then snapped it. The woman began to walk again, eyes ranging the bushes.

      ‘Hirondelle?’ She stopped and Keth could see she wore short dark socks, and a dark skirt and jumper.

      ‘Natasha?’

      He rose to his feet. Keth did the same, wondering in a surge of panic why they had sent someone so young; sent a girl of no more than fourteen to do the work of a man.

      Keth held out his hand; hesitantly the girl took it.

      ‘I’ll leave you, then,’ Hirondelle said in French, picking up the carrier bag. ‘You know what to do?’

      ‘Yes,’ she whispered as the man crossed the path then slipped silently into the deeps of the wood.

      ‘One minute,’ she said softly, ‘then we go.’

      ‘Right.’ This was stupid. A slip of a girl sent to collect him! What were they about?

      ‘Sorry,’ she said as if she could read his mind. ‘The patrol went past ten minutes ago. They’ll not be back for an hour. Moonlit nights are not good …’

      ‘No.’ Keth wondered if Natasha was her real name or her codename. ‘Is it far?’

      ‘Half a mile inland. We’ll be all right,’ she urged.

      ‘Yes.’ All at once, Keth recalled a fourteen-year-old Daisy, and felt a sudden longing to protect the girl called Natasha. ‘We’ll be fine.’

      ‘Come,’ she ordered, still speaking in French. ‘We go to the village.’

      She beckoned with her hand and Keth felt shame for his lack of trust, accepting the risk she was taking.

      ‘Okay. I’m with you,’ he smiled, and hearing that smile on his voice she turned, returning it tremulously.

      They walked quickly across a clearing where recently trees had been felled, making for the denser cover of the woodland. Natasha did not speak but turned often to check he was following or to indicate that he walk on the grassy edge of the narrow path.

      ‘That is the village ahead,’ she said softly. ‘We can’t walk through the streets; someone might see us and there is a curfew in force.’

      ‘And they would tell?’

      ‘They would all tell,’ she shrugged, ‘or we must presume so. But some – just some – might inform. That is why we trust no one. We’ll go across the fields, away from the houses. Dogs might bark, you see …’

      They did not cross the fields directly, walking instead in the cover of hedge shadows. Keth marked her fragility as a sudden slant of moonlight held her for a second; a child who should be at home with her mother.

      ‘This is it.’ She opened a gate and set dogs barking. ‘Sssh!’ She clicked her tongue to silence them. ‘They know me,’ she said briefly, beckoning him to follow her into the shelter of a shed. ‘We’ll wait a moment. You are to stay here with Madame Piccard – Tante Clara. She is a widow, and old. I live with her now.’

      ‘I see. Tell me,’ Keth whispered, ‘how old you are.’

      ‘I am sixteen – and a little bit – and I am an unimportant part of – of this, you understand?’

      Keth nodded.

      ‘I carry messages, Hibou. Because I look so young, the soldiers do not suspect me.’

      ‘But how will your aunt explain me away?’

      ‘Don’t worry. She has already made it known she is expecting a man to dig her garden. And do I speak too quickly for you, Hibou? Do you understand what I say?’

      ‘Yes – but it would help if you could speak just a little more slowly.’

      ‘I will try to remember. And we will speak English, you and I – when it is safe, that is.’

      ‘Do your parents know what you are doing tonight?’

      ‘My parents,’ she whispered, ‘are Jewish. That is why I live here with Tante Clara. She is not my aunt and she is not Jewish. When the Germans invaded France, I was sent here from Paris, where we lived, to my mother’s old friend. But for a year now there has been no word from Paris and we think my parents have been – taken.’

      ‘They’re in prison? And don’t you worry too that you might be arrested?’

      ‘Not prison. I think they are dead. And I don’t worry too much. I am dark, but I was not born Jewish. I am an adopted child and my nose is small and tilted. It would pass the test.’

      ‘Test? What is that?’

      ‘You do not know? People suspected of being Jewish have their noses measured. The Germans have a special instrument for doing it. It’s true! And may God bless the woman who gave me my nose!’

      ‘So Jews really are treated badly by the Nazis?’

      ‘Not badly, Hibou; like dirt. I feel I shall never see my parents again. It is why I do all I can to help.’

      ‘But you are too young to get involved, Natasha.’

      If my nose had been a different shape, I would not be too young to be gassed, and my body burned. Ssssh!’ she hissed as heavy footsteps trod the path; footsteps which paused briefly, then went on.

      They stood still, breath indrawn, then heard the low muttering of an old voice, speaking to the dogs.

      ‘It is all right. It is Madame,’ Natasha whispered. ‘She wears boots …’

      The footsteps returned and stopped again. ‘Are you there, child?’ The women peered into the darkness.

      ‘Yes. And he’s here.’ Natasha stepped out of the shadows.

      ‘Come СКАЧАТЬ