Page 48 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure

What happened next was quite unexpected. Ellie was down at the bakery buying bread, as Bruno had not been up to the villa for several days. Ever since his escape from being called up into the army, he had become fearful. So had his mother, and he only left the house when absolutely necessary.

“We’ll be lucky if I can even bake ten loaves a day the way things are going,” Madame Blanchet said.

“I’ve tried to store up some flour, but it won’t last that long.

And then what? Are we supposed to eat grass like the goats?

Curse these damned Nazis and curse the so-called Frenchmen who gave in to them. ”

“I don’t think they had much choice,” Ellie said. “They are probably doing their best to prevent French people from being killed or sent off to work camps.”

Madame Blanchet looked as if she didn’t believe this.

“And I don’t know how I’m going to make it fair for my regular customers with the ration coupons if I don’t have enough to go around.

Does everyone get half a loaf? Do you only get a quarter because you’re alone?

” She shook her head. Then she frowned. “But you’re not a citizen, are you? How are you going to manage?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Ellie said.

The baker’s wife leaned closer. “My dear, you should try to go to Switzerland. You’d be safe there.”

Ellie gave a sad smile. “That was my first thought, but I made some enquiries. I heard that the Swiss are adamant about not taking sides. They wouldn’t let me in, unless I had a fortune in Swiss banks.”

As she walked away, she heard her name being called and saw Mr Tommy hurrying down the steep alley from his house, waving to her.

“There you are!” he said, beaming at her. “We haven’t seen anything of you for days. Clive was getting worried. ‘We should go and see if she’s all right,’ he said. But here you are looking hale and hearty.”

“Not exactly hale and hearty, but doing all right,” she said.

“Come up and have a bite to eat,” Tommy said. “We’ve been dying for a good natter. I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll be a brute and drag you there if necessary.”

“I’d like to see that.” Ellie had to laugh.

He took her arm and steered her towards his house.

“Look who I’ve found,” he called as he came in.

Clive poked his head around the kitchen door.

“Finally. We were a bit concerned,” Clive said.

“Now that Mavis has gone swanning off to live happily with Louis, we knew you’d be all alone up there.

Come and sit down. Tommy has made a goat cheese tart.

Quite delicious. And we got our hands on a crate of really good rosé. ”

Ellie let herself be swept into the kitchen, let them pour a glass of wine for her and place a slice of tart in front of her. “You must teach me to make goat cheese,” she said. “I’ve got Babette producing milk every day, and I really don’t drink much of it. I’m not a fan of the taste.”

“My dear, we’ll be grateful for it when they ration cow’s milk,” Tommy said. “I’m betting all the milk will go to the big places like Marseille, and we’ll be forgotten. I know M. LeClerc at the farm up the road has two cows, but what good is that for a whole village?”

“I’m sure there are a lot of things we’ll have to do without,” Ellie said. “Especially me, since I’ll not get a ration book.”

“Ah, well, we’ve been discussing that, haven’t we, Clive?” Tommy looked at the other man for affirmation.

“We have.” Clive nodded. “We may have come up with a solution.”

“Really?” She tried not to sound hopeful.

Tommy glanced at Clive again. Clive nodded. “I’m going to suggest that you and I get married.”

“Oh, not again!” Ellie burst out laughing. “Why does the whole world suddenly want to marry me? I’m sure you don’t.”

“The whole world wants to marry you?” Tommy said. “Then, my dear woman, why haven’t you accepted one of the proposals? Look at Mavis. She’s happy and safe now. You could be, too.”

“The whole world was a slight exaggeration. It was the viscount who suggested it.”

“Oh la la,” Clive said. “You could be a viscountess, my dear. We’d have to bow. And he does come with a chateau.”

“Be serious, Clive,” Ellie said. “You know he was only trying to help me out, which was good of him. It was a spur of the moment thing. I don’t think he meant it seriously anyway.”

“Well, our offer is quite serious,” Tommy said. “You don’t have an identity card, and you won’t get one. There’s a chance you’ll be rounded up and sent off to a camp as an enemy alien. I presume you’ve weighed your options?”

“Spain and then Portugal seem like the only ones,” Ellie said. “And I don’t fancy that journey. Switzerland has made it quite clear that they won’t accept refugees from German-controlled territories.”

“Of course not,” Clive said. “The one thing they don’t want to do is to give the Germans an excuse to invade them. They couldn’t stop an army that size. So they have to remain totally neutral.”

“Which brings us back to our offer,” Tommy said. “First of all, it would be good to pool resources. You’re all alone in that big house with lots of land. We could bring our chickens and goats up there, and we’d have three ration books ...”

“How is that?” Ellie asked.

“If you married me,” Tommy said. “Listen, my dear, this idea is not entirely unselfish on our part. You must know what happens to men like us in Germany. We’ve heard about it from friends in England.

Off to a work camp, and the more brutal the better.

It could well happen here. So if you and I were a couple, and Clive was our nephew . ..”

Ellie nodded, paying attention now. “But when the war is over ... if that’s soon, please God ... what about then? We get a divorce and go our ways?”

“The beauty about our little idea is that we don’t even have to do that,” Tommy said.

“You see, Clive here trained as a draftsman before the last war. He does meticulous work. He’d make an excellent forger.

He’ll make us a fake British marriage certificate that should hold up to scrutiny.

I have my parents’ old marriage certificate.

He’ll copy that. If the war ends and we’re still in one piece, we burn it in a celebration bonfire. ”

Ellie looked from Tommy to Clive and gave a nervous giggle. “But everyone knows we were not married in England.”

“Everyone here. They won’t say anything. They like us.”

“Not Mrs Adams,” I said. “She’d turn you over in a heartbeat.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Clive said, “because I happen to know that her husband is Jewish.”

“He’s Jewish?”

Both men nodded. “So it’s in their interests to lie low and shut up now,” Clive added.

Ellie looked around the bright kitchen and out to the sea below. It was a lot to take in. “So when are we supposed to have married? Am I your long-lost wife come in search of you?”

“Not at all,” Tommy said. “We thought that out, too. You are an old and dear friend from my childhood. Last year we learned that your husband had died. I went over to console you, and we found the spark was still there. We got married, and you came over here, where we now live happily ever after.”

“It sounds so simple,” Ellie said. “Surely if the Germans come, they will be meticulous in inspecting papers.”

“Maybe not a really elaborate English marriage certificate from Saint Andrew’s Church in Chiddingfold?” Tommy smiled.

There was a long pause. Ellie was aware of a clock ticking on the shelf and the gentle clucking of chickens outside the open window.

“So what do you think?” Tommy said at last. “Are you willing to give it a try?”

Ellie laughed again. “Well, it’s certainly the most ridiculous thing I’ve done in my life. Dora always wished she had done more, lived a more adventurous life. Perhaps it’s time for me to take a risk. At this stage, what do we have to lose?”

“What indeed,” Tommy said, laughing with her.