Marion clutched her husband’s arm, trembling in fear. The servants watched the terrifying violation of their home in mute shock. They had all heard things, but none had witnessed the cruel reality of what the fascism that had taken over their country meant, until this very moment.

“Papa, Papa!” cried Sabina, suddenly bursting through the front door. “There’s a man with a gun in the garden, and—”

Suddenly realizing there was more to fear for than only their plants, she stopped dead in her tracks, staring with wide, frightened eyes up to her father.

“It is all right, dear,” said the baron calmly to reassure her. “These men are only searching the house for traitors. They will not be with us long.”

The two Gestapo agents followed their men up the stairs and disappeared also. Heinrich followed cautiously, while his family and staff, as if huddling behind him for protection, crept up also, listening to harsh and frightening noises and shouts and bangs in the distance coming from all parts of the house.

Five or six minutes later, one of the men bolted in from outside and ran straight up the stairs, where he found the agent in charge. They spoke a moment together, then the man crashed back down past the baron and again ran outside.

The agent approached the baron slowly with an unpleasant look on his face.

“My man tells me one of your barns is nearly empty,” he said.

“Yes…,” said the baron slowly, not understanding the man’s meaning.

“For what purpose?”

“Do you mean why is it empty?”

“That is precisely what I mean. It is large enough… to conceal, say, several… automobiles.”

“It is a storage barn. We are readying it for the potato harvest.”

The agent reflected a moment.

“My man said there were fresh tire tracks inside, in the dirt on the floor,” he said. “Does that too concern the potatoes, Baron?” he asked with obvious sarcasm.

“I move wagons in and out all the time. Not a day goes by that a tractor or wagon of some kind does not go across that floor.”

“Where are these wagons now, Baron?”

“Out in the fields, of course. This is a large farm. I have many wagons out daily, upon any number of hauling errands.”

The tense little conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of breaking glass and several loud banging noises above them.

Marion gave a little cry and began to run toward the sound. The baron held her back, casting her a barely perceptible look of sternness. To all the others who were standing in varying degrees of fear and anger, he gave a look that said, Stay calm, we will put things back in order when they leave. No one say a word.

“Does your search include destruction of private property?” he asked aloud.