Aimee and her mother stood in the kitchen door of the farmhouse and looked out, grim-faced and grey. Captain Ellis led Marius from the barn. The boy struggled to walk and looked so sick it seemed as if death would be a welcome friend. He had a white patch pinned over his heart. The target. He fell weakly on to the chair and the captain tied a rope round him so he was fastened to the post.

Then he placed a black cloth round the German boy’s eyes. Captain Ellis turned and spoke to the stern-faced soldiers. ‘This man is a spy. The secrets he passed to the Germans could have got you all killed. So don’t feel guilty about shooting him. Don’t feel pity for him. He’s seen the priest and confessed all his sins.’

‘He’s no more than a boy,’ a Canadian murmured.

Captain Ellis pretended he didn’t hear the surly soldier. ‘You know how this works. I have loaded two of the rifles with live bullets and ten have blanks. You will never know who fired the shots that killed him. Aim at the square of paper on his chest. Now pick up your rifles.’

The men obeyed, slow and half-hearted. They pulled the bolt back so it was ready to fire. ‘Take aim,’ Captain Ellis said.

The men raised their rifles to their shoulders and squinted down the barrel.

‘And fire.’

Twelve rifles crackled out their charge. Marius’s chin fell on to his chest and he sat as still as the barn itself.

‘Take your rifles. Right turn... and dismiss.’

The Canadians hurried away, ashamed faces hanging towards the ground. The watching man in the woods saw Captain Ellis step over to the slumped boy, draw his pistol and fire it in the direction of the boy’s head. Then he waved at the farmhouse kitchen and an old man stepped out. The schoolteacher. Captain Ellis and Master DuPont walked to the barn, brought a coffin outside and laid it on the ground.

They unfastened the German boy and lowered him into the coffin. Silver Hand watched as the girl and the woman from the farm hurried across the yard to help carry the coffin into the barn.

The men came out and began digging in the rich soil of the farm field. Sergeant Grimm didn’t leave his secret hiding place for an hour till the diggers had finished and they had lowered the coffin into the ground.

As the coffin was covered he gave a cruel smile and headed back to the general’s office.

In the barn, Marius lay wearily on his bed of straw. ‘Thank you, Aimee,’ he said.

The girl smiled warmly. ‘It was Captain Ellis who set it up and made sure all the bullets were blank. If Sergeant Grimm thinks you’re dead then he’ll not try to hunt you down and kill you. You’re safe.’