a fire to warm the place. He began making plans in his head. He was sure that he could wedge the door shut, and the one window, though filthy dirty, was unbroken. He would bring blankets from his own bed to cover the battered sofa and they would be totally alone for the first time.
His limbs shook at that thought and he told himself that he was no marauding beast and that just because they would be alone there was no reason to forget himself and take advantage of his beloved Gabrielle. Just to hold her in his arms properly would be enough. A thrill of excitement ran through him and he was whistling as he returned to the camp.
Gabrielle too had been trying to think of a way that she could meet Finn secretly, but her mind drew a blank, particularly while the weather remained so foul. She knew too that even if the rain eased off, winter was setting in and if she suggested going for a walk in the freezing cold, or with snow underfoot, even her mother might be suspicious for her need to be outdoors.
It wasn’t fair to drag Yvette out with her either. She couldn’t see any way around the problem and she began to dread seeing Finn come into the shop, or glimpse him at Mass, because to see him and not be able to communicate with him in any way was terribly hard for her.
The day after Finn had checked out the farmhouse Captain Hamilton sent him to the baker’s shop again. Gabrielle was alone because her mother had been struck down with her chronic indigestion and had gone to bed. Finn, looking through the shop window, decided to risk Hamilton’s anger at his tardiness and he hung about outside until the last customer left.
Gabrielle’s eyes leaped at the sight of him and he was by her side in seconds.
‘Where’s your mother?’ he whispered urgently.
‘In bed with her old stomach problem,’ Gabrielle said. ‘Oh, Finn, how I have longed to see you.’
‘And I you, darling,’ Finn said. ‘But we might have little time to talk and the point is I have found a place we can go.’
‘Where?’ Gabrielle cried incredulously.
‘Ssh,’ Finn cautioned. He explained where the house was and the condition of it, then went on, ‘It’s far enough away from the camp to be undiscovered. Most of the service men go straight into town and not over a muddy field. It has a little copse in front of it, which means a ready supply of wood for the fire and even a plank over the canal.’
‘I know where it is,’ Gabrielle said, remembering back to a time before the war. ‘That place belonged to a taciturn old man called Bernard Reynaud. He was hardly ever seen in the town and he seemed to have no family. He died in the winter of 1913, and when war was declared the land was commandeered by the army. I’m surprised that the farmhouse is still standing.’
‘We could meet there after you are supposed to be in bed at night,’ Finn said.
Gabrielle didn’t hesitate. Her need to see Finn was greater than respectability, or even caution. ‘To get out unseen and unheard,’ she said, ‘I will have to climb down the tree.’
‘Would you be prepared to do that?’ Finn asked. ‘Wouldn’t you be frightened?’
‘I would go to the ends of the earth for you,’ Gabrielle said. ‘I thought you knew that. I will probably be a little afraid, but I would still do it if you are there to help me,’
Finn suddenly noticed a man studying the bakery shop window and he said quickly, ‘Of course I’ll be there to help you. I’ll be in the yard by the tree tonight at half-past nine.’
He was halfway back to Headquarters when he realised that he had forgotten to buy the bread and pastries he had been sent for and had to return for them. By then, though, the shop was crowded and he had no opportunity to say anything further to Gabrielle. But what do I care? he thought. I have tonight to look forward to.
Gabrielle had no chance to speak to her sister privately until they reached their bedroom that same evening and then she told her quickly about Finn’s earlier visit to the shop and the deserted farmhouse that he had found. Yvette was excited at the news initially, but then thoroughly alarmed when Gabrielle told her that she was meeting him that night and climbing down the beech tree outside their window to do so.
‘It is the only way,’ she told Yvette, seeing the worried look on her sister’s face. ‘If I tried to creep down the stairs I would be heard, you know that.’
‘But you can’t climb down a tree,’ Yvette cried. ‘And what if Papa finds out?’
‘He won’t,’ Gabrielle said confidently. ‘They sleep on the other side of the house.’
Yvette crossed to the window and looked out. ‘It’s an awfully long way down.’
‘I have climbed into that tree before,’ Gabrielle said. ‘On summer nights, when I am too hot to sleep, I will often sit out in the top branches, but I always waited until you were asleep before I did that.’
‘Yes, but I bet you have never climbed all the way down, and in the dark.’
‘No I haven’t,’ Gabrielle admitted. ‘And I won’t do it now until I hear Finn arrive in the yard below. One day you will probably meet a boy or man that you will love with all your heart and soul, and if you were kept from him, you’d feel that your life was not worth living.’
‘I can’t ever imagine my life not worth living,’ Yvette said. ‘Is that how you feel about Finn?’
‘Yes, Yvette, it is,’ Gabrielle said. ‘And remember, Finn is a soldier. Any day he could be snatched away. We must take any chance we can to be together.’
Yvette sighed. ‘I can see that you have no alternative, but you needn’t worry: even if I don’t like what you’re doing, I’ll never betray you.’
‘I know that. You are a lovely little sister and if Papa ever finds out, you must deny all knowledge and I’ll back you up.’
Before Yvette was able to reply they heard the sound of feet on the gravel in the yard below and a low whistle.
Gabrielle tied her cape around her waist, opened the window and shivered as the cold night air tumbled in.
‘Au revoir, Yvette,’ she said as she swung her legs over the sill and, catching hold of the branches, pulled herself into the tree. There was no moon or stars visible through those thick, rain-filled clouds, but the light from the bedroom lit the top of the tree and the heavy beam of Finn’s army-issue torch illuminated the lower branches.
In a moment Gabrielle was down and in Finn’s arms, and kissing him hungrily.
Though their need for each other was great, Gabrielle and Finn knew better than to linger or make any sound in the yard. They stopped only long enough for Gabrielle to rearrange her clothes and put on her cape, and then they were away, stealing through the darkened streets of St-Omer.
Yvette sighed again and closed the window, but did not fasten it so that Gabrielle could open it when she returned. Then she surveyed the room critically. Gabrielle’s bed was so obviously empty; should their mother peep in on them, as she very occasionally
