We sat in the public gallery, which was full. A civil judge, M. Boessel du Bourg, and six military judges came into court and took their places in front of a large blackboard, so that I half expected them to write out the verdict and sentence with a piece of chalk. The civil judge wore robes and an extremely silly hat. The military judges were all wearing lots of medals, although it was unclear to me what any of these could have been for. Then the two accused were led into the dock. I hadn’t seen Oberg before, except on the German newsreels during the war. He wore a smart, double-breasted pin-striped suit and light-framed glasses. He looked like Eisenhower’s older brother. Knochen was thinner and grayer than I remembered: Prison does that to a man—that and a death sentence from the British hanging over your head. Knochen looked straight at me without showing any sign of his having recognized me. I wanted to shout at him that he was a damned liar, but, of course, I didn’t. When a man’s on trial for his life, it’s not good manners to bend his ear about something else.

At considerable length M. Boessel du Bourg read the verdict and then delivered the sentence, which was death, of course. This was the cue for lots of people in court to begin shouting at the two defendants, and—a little to my surprise—I found I was almost sorry for them. Once the two most powerful men in Paris, they now looked like two architects receiving the news that they hadn’t won an important contract. Oberg blinked with disbelief. Knochen let out a loud sigh of disappointment. And amid more abuse and jeers from all around me, the two Germans were led out of court. One of my SDECE escorts leaned toward me and said:

“Of course, they will appeal the sentences.”

“Still, I do get the point,” I said. “I am encouraged by Voltaire’s example.”

“You’ve read Voltaire?”

“Not as such, no. But I’d like to. Especially when one considers the alternative.”

“Which is?”

“It’s hard to read anything when your head is lying in a basket,” I said.

“All Germans like Voltaire, yes? Frederick the Great was a great friend of Voltaire, yes?”

“I think he was. At first.”

“Germans and French should be friends now.”

“Yes. Indeed. The Schuman plan. Exactly.”

“For this reason—I mean, for the sake of Franco-German relations—I think the appeal will be successful.”