‘Still very poorly.’ She wiped her weary eyes. ‘And the wounds on his back are badly infected, although I think the ointment Claudette sent down for him has helped some of them slightly.’ The weals on his back went down almost to the bone in places and Holly had been forced to lie him on his stomach and let the air get to them. The diarrhoea and sickness had stopped but Holly knew that was only because he had nothing left inside him and he remained in a semi-conscious state.

For some reason Pierre did not seem to be his usual cheery self that evening so Holly asked carefully, ‘Is everything all right, Pierre?’

He shook his head. ‘I am afraid not, mademoiselle. There has been bad news from the hospital.’

‘Oh?’ Holly raised an eyebrow and removing his cap he began to twist it between his fingers. ‘The two doctors who were here when you first came have gone missing.’

‘Missing!’ Holly suddenly felt sick. ‘What do you mean … missing?’

‘Sister informed me that they went to another safe house in the village to attend to a pilot who had been shot down and while they were there the Germans came.’ There were tears in his eyes now and he had to swallow before he could go on. ‘The people who took the pilot in were good friends of mine but the Germans took them outside, the whole family, and shot them.’

‘A-and the doctors?’ Holly felt as if there was an invisible hand inside her twisting her gut.

‘One of them tried to stop the Germans and was shot himself. The other was taken prisoner.’

‘Which one?’

Pierre shrugged. ‘There is no way of knowing because once they had shot them all they set fire to their bodies as a lesson to anyone else who might wish to help the Allies. The bodies were unrecognisable.’

Holly sat down heavily on the end of James’s bed, feeling as if all the air had been knocked out of her, her world collapsing before her very eyes.

Was it Harry or Richard who had been taken prisoner? And even if it was Richard who they had taken, could he survive in one of their terrible POW camps? There was evidence right here of how the prisoners were treated.

‘You are all right, yes?’ Pierre gently laid his hand on her arm and she nodded woodenly.

‘The fear is now that the Germans may make a search of all the houses in the village,’ he continued gravely. ‘And so it is imperative that we get these men moved as soon as possible. When do you think they will be strong enough?’

Holly pulled herself together with an enormous effort. ‘Possibly the day after tomorrow for James if he continues as he is but this one …’ She looked at Ben and shrugged.

Pierre nodded. ‘Very well, I will go now.’

She watched him climb the ladder before giving way to the tears that had been threatening. Great wracking sobs that never seemed to end. Richard might be dead or languishing in some filthy prison somewhere. And I never told him how I really felt about him, she thought. But I mustn’t think about it, Holly scolded herself. And so she got on with her work as best she could although her heart was breaking.