‘In France we all need to be well informed on this subject. The stationing of foreign troops on our soil again so soon after the war is like pouring salt on a raw wound. We all remember the feel of the Nazi jackboot on our neck.’

He nodded and swatted away a mosquito into the damp night air. ‘It was why I was in civvies at the bull’s funeral. But our new American president, General Dwight Eisenhower, has more military experience and expertise than any president since Ulysses Grant. He understands the impact of US troops on a foreign country and is trying to minimise the political damage that the USAF and our Seventh Army are doing in France right now. But we have a job to do, Miss Caussade. Russian forces could come marching straight through Germany like a blade through hog-fat and into your country any day now. We are that close to war.’

He held up his thumb and forefinger scarcely a hair’s breadth apart.

‘That close. We are on a knife edge. So tell your family and friends in Serriac, tell all the Communist Party hotheads stirring up trouble in the factories, tell them that they need American aircraft patrolling their skies, they need our nuclear warheads. It is the only guarantee of peace. For France. For the Western world.’

I wanted to wrap an arm around the major’s stiff military neck in gratitude and weep. Men like this and men like André were laying their lives on the line for France while the rest of us sipped our vin rouge and went dancing. Even men like Mickey and Calvin were risking their lives for us, when I thought about it like that. They weren’t taking my father’s land. They were giving us safety.

‘Thank you, Major Dirke, on behalf of my family.’

In the gloom I saw his face register surprise. Maybe these airmen were not accustomed to thanks from the French. He gave me a small formal bow of his head and smiled. ‘Let’s return you to your dance partner. I’ll walk you back there.’

‘No need. I can easily find my way, thanks.’

We had walked in a straight line under a bright moon and military-strength security lights, for heaven’s sake. I was hardly likely to get lost. But he set off back the way we’d come.

‘This path is rough in places,’ he said. ‘We don’t want you to come to any harm.’

I didn’t break stride. I didn’t stumble. I made no sound.

Come to any harm. Was it a threat?