Although all the shutters were closed, he refused to give up, pushing his bike up to the door to knock loudly. Finally, the silence of the house convinced him there was no one there to answer his questions. He turned away and continued his journey back to Bonnemort.

Chapter Nine

‘Did Florence have any luck?’ Theo asked as they sat down at the table that evening.

‘Wait and see. Everything in its time.’ Micheline was putting the tureen on the table, while the aunts were already breaking their bread into their bowls. Micheline spooned thick brown soup on top of it.

‘Chestnut soup. What haven’t I done with chestnuts these last years – bread, soup, cakes. Sabine gathered the chestnuts at Toussaint, didn’t you, Sabine?’

The child made no reply, pretending to sip from an empty spoon.

‘I went to see the schoolmaster this afternoon,’ Theo told them. He savoured the curiously dry texture of the chestnuts and allowed Micheline to give him another helping. All his riding of horses and bicycles had sharpened his appetite. The reaction to his remark was more emphatic than he had expected. Micheline underlined it by dropping the ladle in the sink. Florence jumped up to help her mother. Both the aunts put down their spoons. Only Sabine continued her pretence of eating.

‘Mr Vernhes?’ said Aunt Odette.

‘For what purpose?’ asked Aunt Marguerite, a step ahead of her sister-in-law.

‘To arrange for him to teach Sabine, of course.’ Theo looked around in surprise.

‘Ah.’ The aunts took up their spoons again simultaneously.

‘I thought I explained to you yesterday,’ Aunt Marguerite said reproachfully, ‘that Ariane did not think him suitable for Sabine. That’s why she took her away.’

Theo was used to controlling his irritation at human inconsistency. ‘You said yesterday that something had to be done about Sabine’s schooling. She doesn’t want to go back to the convent. You don’t want to go on teaching her at home. The only reasonable answer is the village school until I can arrange an alternative.’

Aunt Odette’s lips were set. ‘We’re talking about a few months, I presume. Marguerite and I can continue for that period.’

‘Why are you opposed to Mr Vernhes?’

‘Ariane would not approve of this solution,’ Aunt Marguerite said firmly, as if that settled the matter. Micheline and Florence were busy at the stove, taking no part.

‘It wouldn’t be suitable.’ Aunt Odette’s reply was equally definite. ‘He is after all a communist.’

‘I can’t imagine that Ariane held that against him. She has plenty of friends who are communists.’ He found it galling to have Ariane cited as an authority.

‘It wasn’t that,’ Aunt Marguerite said. ‘It was much worse.’

‘Yes?’

‘He beats the children.’

When Marguerite de Cazalle was growing up, it was an axiom that whoever loves, chastises. So when Ariane had announced one evening that she was removing Sabine from the school because the schoolmaster had given the child a beating, she had said, ‘Are you sure you’re not overreacting, my dear? I don’t know what misdeed Sabine is suppose to have committed, but punishment is sometimes necessary. Don’t you agree, Odette?’