Paulo then offered, ‘In the meantime we have our next mission to plan. But first of all, you two need to eat and rest. Gisele has brought us some milk and eggs, so that we can make you an omelette.’

‘Who is Gisele, Paulo?’

‘You remember her, Marjie? She lives in Laurens village – a cheeky youngster, always up to something or other. We used to tease her.’

‘But she can’t be more than sixteen, and yet she risks her life to help you?’

‘She does, and most days, though she is rarely checked by the gendarmes. She’s still small and rides around on her bike in her old school uniform, so she is of no interest to them. On one occasion she was stopped by a German patrol. She had some meat in her basket. They laughed and said, “Ach, black market!” Gisele was terrified they would lift up the meat, as under it she had two handguns, which she’d stolen for us.’

‘She is very brave. But when I think of her previous nature, she lived on her wits and didn’t seem afraid of anything.’

‘Yes, Marjie, Gisele is brave and is a valued and very useful Resistance worker. She types our pamphlets and is responsible for finding our provisions and getting us our papers. As you know, everything is bought with supply coupons. Gisele organizes others to carry out raids on the town hall to get to these golden tickets. She steals everything she can: tickets, stamps and identity cards. The most insignificant documents that she comes across, when on these raids, she will bring, and a lot of them prove useful to our organization. Villagers support us through her, too. They give Gisele supplies to bring to us – all kinds of forbidden treasures, which she hides in the panniers of her bike: foods such as eggs and meat, but also weapons, incendiary fuses and dynamite.’

‘Oh, Paulo, she is in so much danger. I can’t wait to see Gisele, to thank her.’

‘I don’t think that’s wise just yet. I need to prepare her and brief her on your cover names, and so on. We shouldn’t take her by surprise without arming her with the information she will need to maintain your cover. She always gives a low whistle to alert us that it is her approaching, and I think it best that you hide then. We will gauge when the time is right for you to meet, as we are always mindful of Gisele’s young age and of how frightened she is sometimes. She tells us that a soldier only has to be walking down her street for her to have a fit of nerves, thinking they are coming for her.’

The idea that the lovely imp of a girl that Marjie remembered should live her life in fear saddened her. And yet she felt such admiration for Gisele.