“No, I should be going. The only vaporetto leaves in half an hour.” I bade her farewell. Then I carried Angelo downstairs and put him into his pushchair. He sat up, excited that we might be going to the park. But instead I went to the vaporetto dock and took the next boat out to the Lido. As we crossed the lagoon, we heard the loud blast of a ship’s siren, and a large German gunboat sailed past us. And I wasn’t there to record it, I thought. Would there be Allied deaths because of me? Was I putting my own safety first?

When we docked I pushed Angelo down the broad boulevard to the tall wrought iron gates and prayed that the contessa would be home. In the past she had visited friends all over Europe, but now I suspected she wouldn’t want to travel outside the city. Sure enough, I was shown in by Umberto and heard voices coming from the back garden. I went through to a charming scene. The new gardener, whom I suspected was another of the contessa’s rescued German Jews, had put up a swing on the big tree, and Hanni was swinging while the contessa watched her. Hanni spotted me and jumped off the swing with a squeal of delight.

“What a lovely surprise, my dear.” The contessa held out her hand to me. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“A bit of an emergency,” I said. I turned to the girl. “Hanni, would you take Angelo and play with him for a while?”

Hanni nodded and took Angelo from me. He went willingly, giving her an excited smile and babbling away.

“What’s wrong?” the contessa asked. I told her.

She frowned. “That’s bad,” she said. “But you did know you were living on borrowed time, didn’t you?”

“I think I’ll be relatively safe if I stay home and I’m careful,” I said, “but I can’t leave the city with no identity card.”

“That’s true. You should stay here. The police are too lazy to come out here, unless they want to swim.”

“I’d like to stay here for a couple of weeks, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“Stay here permanently. I have plenty of room and good food, and Hanni adores your son. You can help her with her schoolwork. I am coaching her in Italian and French, but my mathematic skills are from a different age.”

“I’d be happy to,” I said. And I thought, I can stay out here. Safe. Away from the police, until Leo returns. But then there would be no radio transmissions of ships leaving port. If British ships were sunk, it would be my fault.

CHAPTER 41

CHAPTER 41

Juliet, Venice, December 1941