Erik wouldn’t know what she meant because he didn’t know Jesus. But maybe that was why she needed to stay with him, so she could share her faith with him. She swiveled on the bench to face him. “Erik, you know that what the Nazis are doing is wrong. You know it.”

“Yes, but please don’t talk about it in public,” he said in a low voice. “You might be overheard.”

“And then what? What would happen if someone overheard me?”

“I can’t speak of the things they would do.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! They’re evil! The whole point of my faith, the whole point of why God sent His Son, is to destroy evil and rescue mankind. I have to do the same. Any goodness you see in me is only because of Christ.”

Erik tilted his head back and gazed up as if searching for words written in the sky. “It’s very hard for me to understand your . . . zeal,” he said when he looked at her again. “I’ve seen Christianity only as an outsider, and I have to say that what you are compelled to do seems . . . extreme. And foolhardy.” He searched her face, perhaps afraid he’d been too blunt.

“It didn’t make much sense to me, either, even though my parents and grandparents are Christians. I grew up going to church and hearing my papa read from the Bible after our meals, but it didn’t seem to have any connection with my life. Attending services twice every Sunday didn’t make any difference in people’s lives, as far as I could tell, so why suffer through them? I left home and came to Leiden because I thought there must be more to life than what I’d seen so far. Then the war started, and for the first time I saw that real evil exists in this world.”

“But it always has existed. I see it every day as a policeman. We arrest the criminals if we can, but it’s a drop in the sea. What can you and I do to stop evil when it’s all over the world?”

“We can fight it. Work to destroy it. Listen, not many soldiers on either side of this war really want to go into battle and risk their lives. But they do it because they believe in the cause they’re fighting for. Nazi soldiers fight because they believe in the Third Reich. Allied soldiers fight because they believe in freedom and liberty.”

“You aren’t a soldier, Ans.”

“As a Christian, I’m supposed to be. I go into this battle and risk my life because Jesus gave His life for me. He told us to love each other the way He loved us, which means giving our lives for one another.”