The men were German soldiers. Their presence struck terror into Flors’s heart. She clung to Cyrus and prayed that Ella would be successful in quietening Lonia. They had travelled more than three hundred miles, on foot and in trucks driven by sympathetic ‘safe-house’ owners, and for a short duration by train.

Flors had felt elated when they had boarded the train, thinking their long, arduous journey would soon be over, but three stations in they’d encountered a checkpoint. They got through by both Flors and Ella feigning sleep, while mercifully Lonia was truly asleep. Cyrus talked for them, telling the soldiers that he was travelling with his wife and his sister and her child to visit his parents, who lived in eastern France. He used a mixture of French and German, as those living in the east, near the border of Germany, spoke both languages. He showed them the false papers they had been given at the first safe house they’d stayed in.

Whether these soldiers were fed up or at the end of their duty time, they didn’t know, but they were surprised by how readily they accepted what they were told and shown. But they dared not take the risk of being challenged again, so they had got off the train at the next station, near Valence.

It had taken them three days to reach Voiron. The bitter October winds and mostly rough terrain, through forests and over hilly country, had left them exhausted. For most of the journey they took turns to carry Lonia on their backs, but she did make noble efforts to walk a lot of the way. In the relative safety of the trees Lonia was happiest, but when they had to walk through a built-up area she picked up on the nerves of the adults and became fretful.