“We’re not going back,” he said. “Just because the farmer is gone doesn’t change anything. Other people can tell us which hospital the survivors were taken to. It’s still the same plan. We’ll sleep at the mission house and then tomorrow we’ll go to the hospital and see if Sam is there, and if he’s not we’ll ask to see their records to find out if he ever was there, and we’ll also ask everyone, everyone if they’ve seen Sam. We’ll show them his photograph, just like you said, and we won’t leave until someone recognizes him.”

“Ben …”

“Don’t tell me it’s impossible. I know we can do it, I can feel it. We’ll find Sam. We’ll find him, because we have to. I can’t lose him as well as Nathan, I can’t.”

Back on the Sparrowhawk, Elsie was restless, prowling between the puppies and the deck, sniffing and whining. Clara tried to calm her.

“Ben’ll be back soon,” she promised, stroking her. “And he’ll never leave you again, don’t worry. I’ll make sure of that.”

Long after night had fallen, Elsie settled. The black puppies rushed to feed, pushing little Delphine out of the way. Clara picked her up and placed her closer to her mother, then prepared herself for bed. When she was ready, she climbed into her berth and pressed her forehead to the window above it to look at the shadowy woods and river.

It looks like a fairy tale, thought Clara.

Suddenly, for a moment, she froze. Then with a shaky laugh she let out her breath.

She could have sworn she saw a face, watching the Sparrowhawk from the trees, but it was only the reflection of the moon on the water.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The sisters at the mission house were kind. It was plain that they didn’t believe in Ben’s quest any more than the Reverend Mother, but they were helpful. Sister Marianne, who was in charge of the mission house, told them that survivors from the bombing had been taken to a civilian hospital in the nearby town of Rainvilliers, about ten miles away. Sister Angèle, the cook and a friend of Sister Monique’s, made them sandwiches and found them bicycles. Ben and Lotti set off as soon as they had finished breakfast, leaving a resentful Federico with Sister Angèle.

The hospital was a square, white modern building on the outskirts of Rainvilliers. Ben and Lotti locked their bicycles to a railing and went inside, and Lotti explained what they had come for to a tired-looking receptionist. The receptionist didn’t look surprised by their request, or even sad, but directed them to a room, which had been set aside especially for people like them.