Seeing her now, in this condition, he felt ashamed. And it was very, very strange to have her sitting here now, the girl he had fallen in love with in sunny Boulogne, a year and a world away. But that was the war for you, the endless, overpowering, abhuman war, mixing everything up.
He said, 'So you ran away. Yes?'
'Me? Run? In these shoes?' That was the old Claudine.
He smiled at her. 'Do you want a cigarette?'
'Please.'
Irma came over now and inspected Claudine's face, pushing back her hair. Claudine flinched. 'That's a nice shiner you've got, love.'
'I walked into a lamp-post. The blackout. You know.'
Fred just glared, disbelieving. But Irma said, 'Well, we've all done that. I could send Fred or Alfie for the doctor-'
'No,' said Claudine quickly. 'It is just a bruise.'
'Well, I'll get you some iodine, and a sponge to clean you up a bit. You just sit there, darling. Fred, you make some tea. Get some fresh leaves from the caddy; that last lot are as old as last Christmas.'
Fred was still putting the roast in the oven. He said, 'Bloody hell.' But he complied, fetching down a fresh mug from the shelf
Viv came back in. She sat beside Ernst, as close as she could get, and she glared at Claudine. 'So what's your name again?'
'Rimmer. Claudine Rimmer.'
'Claudine. How do you know Ernst? What do you do for a living, Claudine?'
'I work as a translator for the occupation authority.'
'Oh, yes? I'll bet I know what you really do.'
'Viv!' Irma came back with a bottle of iodine solution and a rag; she poured hot water from the kettle into a bowl. 'You don't speak to people like that.'
'Come on, Mum, look at her! She's French!' She wrinkled her nose. 'And she's drenched in perfume.'
'Enough. Your room, Vivien. Now.'
Viv stood up. 'I'll be glad, I can't stand the stink in here.' She marched out, lips pulled into a pout. She had come and gone in a minute; it was as if a storm had passed through the room.
Fred set a mug of tea before Claudine. She closed her hands around the mug, as if grateful for the warmth, but did not drink.
Irma started working at the bruise with the iodine and water. 'You mustn't mind Viv. It's just that she's, well, she's fifteen.'
'I was fifteen once,' Claudine said. She drew on her cigarette and eyed Ernst. 'But she likes you, I think. She is jealous, perhaps. Of course she was right about me.' That stunned them all to silence, Ernst embarrassed, Fred and Irma shocked, Alfie wide-eyed. 'It is best to be truthful, is it not? Not to hide behind lies.'
'Bloody hell,' said Fred. 'Bloody, bloody hell. What's it coming to, eh? That's what I want to know.'
Irma, resolute, kept on with her first aid. 'Don't mind him. We don't all get pleasant choices, do we, in this war?'
'That is true.' Claudine flinched as Irma dabbed on the iodine.
''And whatever you've, you know, you didn't deserve this done to you, did you?'
'Who was it?' Ernst asked.
'English,' she said. 'A Landwacht. In the closed houses we are expected to entertain them too. When I would not do what he asked – well. He grew frustrated.'
'So why did you leave?' Ernst said. The military brothels were supervised, and the girls given medical attention. 'You could have reported this.'
'But he would have reported what I did to him. I did fight back, Ernst.'
'Good for you.'
'My punishment would have been harsh. I have not always obeyed rules before. So I fled.'
'Can we eat now?' Alfie asked pitiably.
'In a minute,' his mother said. 'Maybe Miss Rimmer would like to join us? There's enough meat for another plate.'
'Now wait a minute,' said Fred, and he loomed over the table. 'Wait just a bloody minute. I hope you're not thinking of letting this frog stay.'
'Fred,' Irma snapped.
Ernst said quickly, 'She has nowhere else to go, Fred.'
'We ought to hand her over to the bloody Gestapo, that's what we should do, or we'll all be for it!'
'Let it just be for the night, then. I will sort something out.'
'Oh, you'll sort her out, but you won't get my little boy off the OWS levy, will you?'
'That's different.'
'I bet it bloody is. Shall I cut him a hole so you can fuck him, will that make you help him?'
Ernst stood, furious. 'That is enough.'
Irma pushed herself between them. 'For God's sake, Fred! Please, Obergefreiter-'
Viv came running down the stairs. 'Ernst – Dad – there's somebody coming. I saw them from upstairs. Cars and torches and dogs. There's shouting. They're coming here, Dad!'
XXIII
Fred paced around, limping heavily on his damaged leg, punching one fist into another. 'Oh Christ Jesus. One from every house, that's what they take. Oh Christ bloody Jesus, not here, let them not come here.'
Viv peered out of a chink in the blackout curtain. 'They're walking down the drive. One fat man just slipped in the slush.' She actually laughed.
'You stupid little baggage!' Fred would have lunged at her.
Ernst caught his arm. 'Fred! We must get the children away, out of sight. And the women.'
'I'm not going anywhere,' Irma said. But she was shaking, her face empty.
And anyhow there was no time even for that. There was a hammering on the door, a shout, in German, 'Open up! Out, out!'
Viv screamed and ran upstairs. Irma grabbed her baby from her cot, and went to Alfie, who was still clutching his OWS papers, as if they were a shield. Fred just stood there motionless, hands bunched into fists.
Ernst made to go to the door.
Claudine got up and grabbed his arm. 'No,' she said in German. 'Let me go.'
'You? But-'
'Maybe I can confuse them. I will start shouting in German, and demand to see the oberleutnant in charge of the closed house, or something.' She managed a small smile. 'You know how you Germans are. Bureaucratic to a fault. If they're confused they might forget why they came here.'
'But-'
There was another slam on the door, like the heel of a boot, and dogs barked.
She flashed him a smile. 'I do this for you,' she said. She made for the door.
Ernst glimpsed an officer and an enlisted man, both in SS black, with a dog on a rope leash. When it smelled the roast pork the dog went crazy. Claudine spoke softly to the SS men in what sounded like English, not German, and showed them a bit of paper that to Ernst looked oddly like a British identity card. The officer inspected the paper. 'Good. Come.' He grabbed her arm and pulled her away, so roughly she stumbled.
Fred stood, unmoving. 'Is it over?'
Irma was patting at her apron. 'My identity card is gone. She must have- I thought what she showed them looked a bit familiar. How did she do that?'
In an instant Ernst saw what Claudine had done, that she had taken Irma's place. 'Claudine!' He lunged forward.
