slowly against wood. ‘Priory lore had it down as a spat between Father Pleyon and a dark horse, Father Rochet. One an old aristocrat, the other a republican. Pleyon was known as “Le Comte” because he was a popular confessor with a few well-known royalists, and Rochet was “Le Sans-culotte” because he was? always banging on about the Revolution, Rights of Man and all that. It was a Priory tradition to have nicknames.’
Anselm, sensing a softening with the opening of memory, asked, ‘What was yours?’
Chambray chuckled. “‘Le Parieur”, because I took bets on decisions made by the Prior.’
The thinning laughter turned to rumbling breath, in and out, in time to the soft tapping of old fingers. He found his thread:
‘There were two candidates: Le Comte was the favourite, with a simple but clever chap called Morel as a rank outsider:
Anselm knew the name. It lay engraved on a plaque on a Priory wall, commemorating an execution yet to come.
‘Things turned nasty. Rochet took against Le Comte, which surprised no one because he was from the other end of the pond. The shock was what he did. Everyone said you had to be careful with Rochet.’ The voice in the dark was confiding, educating. ‘He had some wild ideas, but there was always something in what he said. He saw connections in things most people missed. Read too much. So I’m told, anyway And looking back on his opposition to Le Comte, he had a crazy suspicion that could never have mattered. But then, ten years later, he was shown to have been right. At the time they just thought Rochet had gone one step too far.’
‘What did. he do?’
‘He disclosed that Le Comte had connections with Action Francaise and the Camelots du Roi,’ Father Chambray replied significantly
‘I see,’ breathed Anselm appropriately
‘Does that mean anything to you?’ His voice sharpened.
‘Sorry, no.
‘Lord…’ Chambray waited, gathering what patience he could find. ‘Extremists, wanting a restoration of the monarchy, with Jews and Freemasons shown the door. Rochet’s objection was that they represented the worst aspects of the Middle Ages.’
‘What did he mean?’
‘Well, I wasn’t there, but he meant antagonism to the Jews. The story goes that in the Chapter before the election Rochet said something like, “The Round Table of Christ cannot have a man in the seat of honour who is not a brother to the Jews.” And remember, the violence and the desecrations had already begun in Germany Within a couple of years Hitler would be Chancellor. As I’ve said, Rochet had a way of seeing things…’
‘What happened?’ asked Anselm.
‘Le Comte became Prior. Rochet had gone too far… and Pleyon got his revenge.
Anselm frowned in disbelief. Priors didn’t do things like that. But he listened.
‘Within the year a young girl from a nearby village died in childbirth. She never named the father. Rumour said it was Rochet, and on the strength of that, so I was told, Pleyon threw him out. He was sent to a parish in the capital.’
‘Was there anything to the rumour?’
‘Well, it seems he’d applied to leave the priesthood, but then changed his mind after the death… Anyway, Pleyon got rid of Rochet… and the community ousted Pleyon because a lot of monks thought the removal of Rochet was a settling of scores. That’s when I came, under the new Prior, Father Morel.’
‘So what happened to Rochet?’
‘We next heard from him just before the fall of France, in early 1940. He addressed us all in Chapter. I was only in simple vows but I was allowed to attend because of what he intended to say That was the only time I met him. He wanted to know if the Priory would join a smuggling ring to get Jewish children out of Paris if the need arose. Who do you think had doubts?’
‘Pleyon?’
‘Exactly All dressed up as reasonable enquiry, but there was little enthusiasm. Rochet had foreseen that and he came prepared. Pleyon asked if the ring had a name. It has, Rochet replied. What is it? asked le Comte. “The Round Table,” said Rochet. It was a slap across the face from old Sans-culotte. Le Comte didn’t have much to say after that. Prior Morel decided to join the scheme, we were all bound to silence and the children began to arrive. And then, in 1942, the pigs turned up and shot the Prior.’
‘How did they find out?’
‘Wait, I’m coming to that. After Morel’s death, Pleyon took over once more; it was a crisis, he was a strong man. And I have to say,’ the voice became lighter, searching, as if assailed by unwelcome generosity, ‘he led the community with enormous sensitivity. He was a changed man.’
‘And he was in place when Schwermann and Brionne arrived in 1944?’
‘Yes.’
Chambray had stopped his finger-drumming. He was tiring under the weight of memory. He continued:
‘After the execution there was nothing we could do to find out what had happened. We were in the Occupied Zone in the north; we had to wait until the war was over before we could make any enquiries. The opportunity arose the day Schwermann and Brionne turned up. We knew then that the Germans had fled Paris. I asked Pleyon if I could go as a visiting curate to Rochet’s parish, to see what I could find out. To my surprise he agreed. Arrangements were made with the Bishop and I left a few days later. By the time I got back Schwermann and his dog had gone, with new names taken from a song. This is what I found out.’
Chambray shuffled in his seat, leaning closer to the grille.
‘Rochet was a loner. No one knew of his past as a monk. Adored by his parish. Some said he drank — you know what I mean?’
‘I do.’
‘Many of his friends were Jews, though none survived the war. The Resistance knew he was up to something but had no idea what it was, so they distrusted him. A Communist, they said. According to the Resistance, The Round Table was broken in one day Most of the arrests took place simultaneously in the early afternoon of fourteenth July Rochet was picked up in the evening, drunk. One of the ring, Jacques Fougeres, was taken that night at his own home, even though his family had already escaped. For some reason he stayed in Paris, as if waiting for something or someone. No one knows.’
Anselm did. He must have been waiting for Agnes Aubret. ‘The Resistance believed Rochet was the traitor. You see, he’d known Brionne from before the war. So the thinking was: Rochet told Brionne, who told Schwermann, and the Germans then arrested Rochet once they’d swept the floor:
‘But why would he do it? He had no reason.
‘Maybe he lost his grip when drunk. Destroying everything around him, good and bad. It happens. ‘
‘Yes, but I’m not persuaded. And I get the impression you’re not either.’
‘I’m just telling you what everybody else thought. I’ll tell you what I think in a minute. I came back to Les Moineaux and told Pleyon everything. Oh, he was ill at ease, especially when I told him I didn’t swallow the Resistance line on Rochet. I said it must have been someone else. All he did was nod. He told me he’d used diplomatic family connections to get Schwermann and Brionne into England. But then, and mark this well, I was bound to secrecy I was not to discuss what I knew or thought with anyone. He said he didn’t want speculation about Rochet to divide the community again.’
‘So if it wasn’t Rochet, who was it?’
The thick breathing rumbled as if it were far off, deep in a cave.
‘Who else could have sent them down the river?’ asked Anselm quietly
The reply came, drawn out, inexorably detached. ‘Pleyon. He betrayed The Round Table.’
‘That’s too convenient, replied Anselm instinctively
‘Think about it.’ Chambray’s voice rose, harder. ‘Why else would Schwermann and Brionne come to Les Moineaux? None of us knew them. How did they know that they would be safe, that the Prior would protect them? They came because they already knew he was the one who had betrayed the ring. He was in their power. If he did not do what they asked, they could reveal what he had done. And it was in his interests to help them. He got them out of the country before the reprisals got under way Don’t you see? Pleyon was a collaborator as well. He was saving his own skin.’
