Francine giggled mischievously. ‘I would rather ’ave a big diamond from a ’andsome man!’

‘Oh yes, and would this handsome man happen to have a name or be anyone in particular?’

Francine blushed prettily. ‘His name is Marc and we are betrothed. God willing when the war is over we shall be wed but for now he is part of our French resistance. He works tirelessly helping our allies to get to safe houses such as this if they should find themselves behind enemy lines.’ Her lovely face had become solemn as she continued, ‘He risks his life every single day and all I can do is pray that he will remain safe.’

Holly could find no words of comfort and so merely squeezed her hand gently and from then on they had become close. But now it seemed that they would be returning to the hospital soon as Sam continued to improve and despite the fact that Holly admired the Le’Fetes enormously she couldn’t help but be relieved, for every second they spent there was putting the lives of the Le’Fetes and themselves at risk.

That evening Richard left Holly to watch over Sam while he went upstairs to discuss moving Sam to the hospital with Pierre. When he came back he told her that they would be leaving the following evening.

The next day dragged by painfully slowly but at last Pierre appeared at the trapdoor to tell them the wagon was ready. Earlier in the day he had carried a door down to the cellar and now he and Richard loaded Sam onto it and somehow managed to manoeuvre him up the steep, narrow staircase. It was no mean feat and by the time they reached the kitchen the men were sweating profusely despite the bitter cold night outside.

Sam shook the hands of the family in turn and thanked them several times over before being carried outside, leaving Holly to say her goodbyes. There were tears in Claudette’s eyes as she hugged her and kissed her soundly and Francine was openly crying.

‘I shall miss you, Miss Holly.’

Holly was tearful too as she embraced her. ‘And I shall miss you too. Thank you for everything and please stay safe. You are a very special family.’ And then she was being ushered towards the door and it wasn’t safe to talk any more so she clambered silently into the back of the wagon next to Sam. Richard joined them and once again they were covered in sacks and the wagon set off. On the way Sam’s stump began to bleed again. Holly could feel the dampness of the blood against her skirt but there was nothing she could do about it apart from apply pressure to it as best she could and place a reassuring arm about his shoulders. And then what they had all dreaded happened. The cart came to a halt and a German voice asked Pierre, ‘What is your business?’