“The battles will surely start any day, now that winter is over,” she repeated each morning.

“Yes, but the Netherlands is neutral. The war won’t come here,” Ans tried to assure her. She made sure Eloise continued with their usual routines, getting out of the town house for a walk, planning trips to Amsterdam or outings in Leiden, eating lunch with Miriam.

The three women were having lunch on a rainy afternoon in one of Eloise’s favorite cafés when a man rushed in, shouting to the owner, “Have you heard the news? The Nazis just invaded Norway!” Waiters froze with trays of food in their hands. Everyone in the restaurant stopped eating to listen. “Nazi warships have landed in Oslo with thousands of troops!” the man continued. Ans wanted to shout at him to be quiet. Norway was neutral, like the Netherlands.

Eloise set down her fork and removed her napkin from her lap, laying it across her half-finished plate. “Tell the waiter we need our check. We’re going home.”

“Let’s finish our lunch first,” she said, resting her hand on Eloise’s arm. But Eloise grew increasingly agitated as the man continued to describe the invasion of Norway and a simultaneous attack on neutral Denmark.

“Tell me what has happened,” Miriam said. “Is it something with the war?”

Ans nodded. “The Nazis invaded Norway and Denmark.” She spoke softly, hoping no one would overhear her speaking German, aware of strong anti-Nazi sentiment in the Netherlands.

Eloise pushed her chair away from the table and asked for the check. “Come, Ans. We need to hurry home.” Eloise’s slender body trembled so badly on the way home that Ans and Miriam had to support her, juggling umbrellas and dodging puddles. Vendors shouted out the headlines from every newsstand they passed, and Eloise made Ans stop and buy them.

They arrived at the town house soaking wet, their feet drenched. “Let me fetch some towels for everyone,” Ans said, combing her fingers through her rain-matted hair. Eloise didn’t reply as she went into the front room and switched on the radio.

“Eloise, maybe we should wait for Professor —”

“Oh, do be quiet, Ans. I’m trying to hear this.” She sank onto the sofa, white-faced and trembling.

Ans asked Miriam to get the towels. “Can you stay and help me?” Ans whispered when she returned.

“Yes, of course.”

What the man in the restaurant had said was true. Nazi warships had sailed past British mines to land in major Norwegian ports from Narvik to Oslo. Thousands of troops poured ashore. A Norwegian military commander who was a Nazi sympathizer had ordered Norwegian troops not to stop them. The Nazis also had invaded Copenhagen and other Danish cities, demanding that the overwhelmed Danish government surrender.