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Nico smiled. “Right,” he said. “Have him get ready. I’ll take him down to the speedboat.”

“Now? In the dark? In this weather?”

“More chance of making it in the dark and in this weather,” he said. “The German navy won’t bother to patrol as much when they think everyone stays home.”

A spasm of worry crossed her face. “But Nico. Your little boat can’t handle this rough sea, surely?”

Again he grinned. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

“Wait until the storm dies down. He’ll be safe enough here,” Ellie said.

Nico shook his head. “I don’t want the Germans to find Adams here,” he said. “They shoot people for harbouring Jews. The sooner we get him away, the better. Don’t worry. The worst thing that can happen is that he’ll be seasick.”

They went through into the sitting room, where Mr Adams was getting ready for bed. He listened in silence, nodded, then put his shoes on again. “If it must be done this way, it must,” he said. “Better than a train trip to Germany, anyway.”

Ellie followed them to the front door. “Take care, won’t you,” she said. “Good luck, both of you.”

Then she watched them cross the terrace and disappear down the steps. The wind was making too much noise to hear the speedboat startup. She sat up for several hours, hoping that Nico would report back, then hoping he’d decide to stay on the island until the storm died down. At last she fell into a restless sleep.

When she awoke the first streaks of a red dawn were in the eastern sky. She put on her dressing gown and went downstairs. She half hoped she’d find Nico asleep on her sofa, but there was no sign of him.

Chapter 39

Ellie dressed and went down to the village, hoping to use the excuse of a fresh baguette for breakfast to find out if Nico had made it safely back. His fishing boat lay at its usual moorings. There was no sign of the speedboat. If he had returned, he would have left it docked below the villa, she told herself. But then he would have come up through the garden and surely given her some sign that he was safely back. She debated whether she could go to his house, but if he hadn’t returned, she didn’t want to worry his mother. So she lingered in the town, buying a newspaper, or what passed for a newspaper these days, passing the time of day with those she met, before going back up the steps, glancing around first to make sure she was not noticed.

The day seemed to go on forever. On several occasions she went out on to the terrace, and once went down the narrow steps in the cliff to the little dock. It was empty. Fear overtook worry. She had heard the sort of things Germans did to those they captured, especially if they were with the Resistance. She hadn’t realized until this moment how very fond she had become of Nico. And, of course, of the abbot, too. If the Germans had followed Nico’s boat to the island, found Mr Adams and taken both Nico and the abbot away ... It was too awful to think about.

“Don’t worry,” Tommy said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulders. “That bloke lives a charmed life. He’ll turn up, I’m sure.”

They ate dinner. Ellie went to bed and was just closing the shutters when she heard the tap at the front door. She rushed down. Nico was standing there.

“You made it. You’re safe.” She flung herself into his arms. He embraced her tightly, and they stood there for a moment, her cheek against his rough jumper.

“You didn’t have to worry,” he said at last. “It was simplicity itself. We made it to the island ... A little choppy, I have to agree. Mr Adams had to keep bailing, or we would have filled with water.” He laughed at the memory. “He was scared silly, I can tell you. But we found the abbot. He agreed this was a good plan, gave Mr Adams a habit to wear, and all was well.”

“I’m so glad.” She heaved a big sigh of relief. “So he can stay there until someone can pick him up in a bigger boat?”

“That’s right,” Nico replied. “I spent the night there. The sea really had become too wild to risk it home. But since then I’ve had a busy day. I’ve been talking to people in Marseille. We now see this could be a perfect solution for what to do with Jewish men who are trying to escape. Not with women, unfortunately. We are trying to find places for women and children in hilltop villages and out-of-the-way farms. But we can set up a system to take some men to the island. Especially the most valuable men—professors and scientists.” As Ellie went to say something, he added, “Obviously we can’t save them all. That is the problem.”

Ellie nodded, trying to process this.

“The abbot reckons a few men could stay there for quite a while without being detected. He says that since the Germans invaded he’s made sure that all his monks are never in the same place at the same time—some working in the fields, others at chapel, others in their cells, so that it would be hard to establish the number of monks on the island.”

“Oh, that’s clever,” she said.

“And then, when we can, a boat will come for them and take them across to Corsica. Or if we can get a big enough boat, then over to Majorca, which is part of Spain. Either way, they’ll be safer than here.”

She nodded, sensing he wanted to say more. “But I’m not sure about this next part, because it would put you in danger.”

“You want the men to come here?”

“That would be ideal.” He paused, looking directly at her. “If someone takes them from the city, directs them to a point on the other side of the hill, where they would be out of sight of the village, then we’ll alert by radio. Maybe one of the men in your house can lead the Jewish man down to you, you’ll put out the signal for me and at night I’ll come for him in the boat. But it would mean you’d be harbouring the Jewish man until nightfall. Always a risk.”

“So far they don’t seem to know about us,” Ellie said.

“So far. Look, you can tell me now if you don’t want any part of this. I understand.”

“Of course I want to help,” she said. “Rounding up Jewish people like cattle. Taking them off to God-knows-where. It’s not human. And if I can help get a few of them to safety, then count me in.”