The Fragile Hour (18 page)

“
No, I don’t believe that,” he declared stubbornly.

With
despair, she saw that he was unable to come to terms with what he had been told. “Please listen to me, Nils,” she implored. “I love Karl. He’s everything to me.”

Her
words finally seemed to sink in and he looked down, shaking his head. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” he said very quietly.

“
I tried to make you see that nothing was the same when we talked in the church.”

Still
he did not look up. “But you told me there was nobody else.”

“
I didn’t know it myself then.” Anna reached out and put a hand on his arm. “Please look at me, Nils.”

He
raised his haggard face and her hand fell away at the starkness of passion blended with sadness in his expression. “Nobody can do this to us, Anna.”

“
That’s what I used to think, but I was wrong.”

“
You’re forgetting something. I know you better than anyone else. No matter how confused you are now, you’ll come back to me. Our lives are intertwined and always will be.”

“
In one way, but not another.”

His
jaw set. “I’ll wait for you to get over this.”

“
No!” she protested vehemently. “That would be useless. If I should lose Karl through this war, I’d go on alone.”

He
had risen to his feet, ready to leave, and he shook his head again. “You’re mistaken, my love. You’ll need me more than ever.”

Anna
made no attempt to follow him out of the room. She was close to tears. There had been so many times in the past when she had run to Nils, firstly as a child full of hero-worship and then as a girl in love. Now she had done what he had never done to her. She had turned away from him.

Chapter
Sixteen

Although Anna tried to sleep that night, thoughts of Nils were heavy on her mind. When finally she dozed, it was only to be disturbed by a creaking board and instantly she was wide awake again. Another board creaked as somebody moved about and she guessed that Margot was having one of her sleepless nights too.

Throwing
back the downy
dyne
, Anna put her feet into slippers and reached for her dressing-gown. She went to Margot’s room and tapped lightly on the door before opening it. To her surprise, her friend lay fast asleep.

Puzzled,
Anna shut the door again and was about to return to her own room when she heard creaking boards somewhere on the stairs below. Only Emil slept on the premises and his room was on the ground floor beyond the kitchen, where his room had a view over the water. If it was the food thief going down the stairs, it had to be one of the officers.

Her
first thought was to investigate on her own, but it would be wiser to be accompanied by a witness. She returned to Margot’s room and woke her up.

“
Is it an air raid?” Margot asked sleepily. When Anna had explained, she was alert at once and soon they were both going down the stairs as quietly as possible. Outside each door that they passed a pair of jack-boots stood awaiting Emil’s collection and polishing in the early morning. Every time a board creaked underfoot, they froze before continuing on again. Apart from themselves and the unknown person they were stalking, the whole hotel appeared to be fast asleep.

The
emergency light in the blacked-out lobby gave just enough glow to show that the doors to the dining-room and
peisestue
stood open and all was silent within. Anna led the way to the kitchen where a sliver of light, streaking out from under the door, showed that whoever was in there did not expect to be discovered. They listened against the door and heard the bread drawer open.

“
Now!” Anna whispered.

They
flung open the door and entered, only to halt in total astonishment. A strangled gasp had met them, followed by the clatter of a bread knife falling on to the floor and the thump of the loaf that followed it. Both had been dropped by a terrified boy of about ten years old, brown-haired and dishevelled, a stranger to them both. He stood as if rooted to the floor.

“
Who are you?” Margot demanded as Anna swiftly closed the door in case he made a sudden bolt to escape. “How did you get in here? Have you been breaking into the hotel every night?”

“
Don’t give me away!” he begged, his face white. “I’ll be killed if the Germans get me!”

“
I might do that before I finish with you,” Margot threatened angrily. “You’re a thief! Aren’t you fed enough at home?”

“
I haven’t a home. Not any more. The Germans took it.”

“
They’ve taken over mine too. What’s new about that?” Without giving the boy a chance to reply, she wagged an angry finger at him. “You’ve been swigging brandy too, you little thief! You’re a bit young for that, aren’t you?”

The
boy made an unconsciously comical grimace. “I didn’t like it!” he protested vehemently. “It’s worse than medicine. But my uncle always slept after he had brandy, and I wanted to sleep in the daytime to be awake at night.”

“
So you could break in and steal!” Margot was outraged.

Anna,
who had picked up the knife and loaf, setting both aside, could see that the boy was almost paralytic with terror, with none of the defiance and bravado that might have been expected of a young thief caught in the act. She had drawn her own conclusion as to the reason and frowned slightly at Margot. “I think we should start all over again.” Drawing a chair out from the table, she sat down facing the boy. “I’m Anna and this is Margot. So what’s your name?”

Her
calm attitude had some effect.

“
Magnus Jacobsen.”

“
Are you Jewish?” She pulled out another chair for him.

He
nodded. “The Nazis took my father and mother away as well as my older brothers and my grandparents too.”

Margot,
immediately overwhelmed by pity and bitterly regretting her sharp words, sat down too and rested her arms on the table. “Where was your home, Magnus?” she asked gently.

He
was wary of answering her, uncertain whether she would explode into rage again, but Anna reassured him. “There’s no need to be afraid now that we know your circumstances. Please tell us where you lived.”

“
Trondheim.”

“
It’s quite a long way from here. How did you get this far?”

It
came out that after a bout of diphtheria he had been sent to convalesce on a mountain farm, his parents visiting him at weekends. When he was packed and ready to go home again, word came that they and his family had been taken away in the mass arrest of seven hundred-odd Norwegian Jews throughout the country. Magnus had remained in the care of the farmer and his wife until it became too dangerous for him when the Germans moved into the locality to build a lookout fortification. He had been taken down the mountainside, hidden in a load of hay. Since then, he had been sheltered by different people in various places until it had become necessary for him to be moved on again.

“
So where have you been staying in Alesund?” Anna prompted.

“
With Herr and Fru Halstad, the printer and his wife. There was a delay in getting me to them, or else I would have gone to England on the Shetland Bus. But with the light nights there are no more sailings until the autumn and they were going to keep me until then. But the Germans came for them too.”

“
You were in the house at the time?” Margot exclaimed. “How did you get away?”

“
As soon as the Germans started hammering on the front door and smashing in the windows, Fru Halstad kissed the baby and pushed her into my arms, telling me to run to the neighbour. I gave Inga to the lady, who’d never seen me before, and she rushed indoors and left me on the doorstep. So I just kept on running.”

“
You poor kid!” Margot exclaimed. “What happened then?”

“
I didn’t know my way, ‘cos I’d never been out of the house since I arrived. After a bit, I came into this street as Herr and Fru Halstad went by in the army truck. They didn’t see me in the crowd. Neither did you,
fröken
,” he added to Anna, “when you were standing outside with Margot and two other people. The door out there was open.” He indicated the direction of the staff hall. “I darted indoors and, as there was nobody about, I kept going until I reached the top floor. I hid in the storeroom there.”

“
Have you been there ever since?” Anna asked incredulously.

He
shrugged. “It was all right. There’s a big cupboard across a corner and I hid behind that whenever somebody came in, which wasn’t often. I slept in one of the sleeping-bags stored on a shelf there. Being hungry was the worst part.” His gaze went yearningly towards the loaf Anna had left on the kitchen bench. “At night I came downstairs to find something to eat in the kitchen.” He looked anxiously at her again. “I tried not to choose anything that would be missed. I didn’t take much.”

“
We know you didn’t. How long did you think you could go on like that?”

“
I hoped to hang on until the autumn and then get away on a boat.” He looked at Anna hopefully. “Could I still do that?”

“
That’s something that has to be discussed,” Anna said, exchanging a look with Margot, “but in the meantime I think we should find you a meal more substantial than what you’ve been having up till now.”

Margot
grinned and replied in a sing-song voice, “Edith isn’t going to like this.” Then in a normal tone she added, “I’ll look in the pantry and see what I can find.”

Away
from the kitchen in the dimly-lit lobby, Klaus had let himself into the hotel. He was tired and irritable, having had an uncomfortable journey over mountain roads. He had intended to stay overnight at the comfortable Grotli Hotel, which had been requisitioned early on in the Occupation, but a message had come through from headquarters that had necessitated his more immediate return to Alesund. He had missed dinner, for there had been nowhere to eat on the way.

He
had already decided to wake Emil. The fellow could make him a coffee and produce a snack as on a previous occasion when the rest of the staff had gone off duty. It meant going through the kitchen regions, but he knew where Emil slept, having been shown his room during a routine inspection some while ago.

Dropping
his hat and gloves on to the hall table, he strode off in the direction of the kitchen. Seeing light coming from under the door, he was pleasantly surprised that somebody was already on the spot. As he reached the door, he heard Anna’s voice and paused with a smile that she should be there at this unlikely hour to wait on him. Perhaps one of his fellow officers was also being given some late refreshment. Even as he would have reached for the door-handle, he caught some of her words.

“
... sure that we won’t let the enemy get you, Magnus...”

For
an incredulous moment Klaus thought he must have misheard, but as she continued he knew there had been no mistake.

“
You may not be able to stay on in hiding here,” she was saying, “but there are a number of safe houses in Alesund where you wouldn’t be found. Somehow we’ll find a way to get you to one of them...”

Klaus
was consumed by a gush of fury that corded his face and made his fists shake. The bitch! She’d led him by the nose with her tricks and lies. In an instant all he had felt for her was replaced by an unremitting hatred. So she knew of safe houses, did she? The Gestapo should get a list of those from her!

He
drew his revolver from its holster. The Resistance member with her would be armed, but unprepared. Taking a deep breath, his nostrils already dilated by temper, he pressed down the handle and flung the door wide.

To
his total astonishment Anna sat at the table with an unknown boy. Although the colour drained from her cheeks, her only move was to clamp her hand over the boy’s wrist to keep him seated beside her. But in panic the child tore himself free, terror in his eyes, and sprang to his feet, knocking his chair over with a clatter. Before Anna could reach out to stop him, he had snatched up the bread-knife from the kitchen bench and held it defensively.

“
I won’t go with you!” he shrieked wildly.

“
What’s going on here?” Klaus demanded contemptuously, advancing into the kitchen.

Anna,
thankful that Margot was out of sight in the pantry and hoping she would have the good sense to stay there out of trouble, answered him with a sharpness that came from her own strained nerves. “I could ask you the same question! What a fright you’ve given us. Bursting in here for no reason with a revolver in your hand. No wonder my nephew thought you’d come to arrest us.” She twisted in her chair to speak to Magnus. “Come and sit down again. Major Schultz has been away. He didn’t know that you were coming to stay with me.”

Magnus
did not move, although Anna had set his chair upright again. Terror seemed to have dulled his hearing and his wits as he continued to clutch the knife defensively.

“
So he’s come to stay here out of the blue just as you did, Anna,” Klaus remarked with angry sarcasm. “Until you can find a way to move him to a safe house? That’s the plan, I believe.”

Wretchedly,
Anna wondered how much he had overheard outside the door, but still she bluffed. “Did I say that? I meant a home away from the military. This is no place for children.”

“
Stop lying, Anna!” Klaus exploded. “There’s only one reason why you’d want to hide this boy.” His flinty gaze went to Magnus. “You’re a Jew!”

Anna
stood up quickly and moved in front of Magnus. “Don’t bully him!”

She
thought for a moment that Klaus was about to strike her. She had never seen such hatred in another’s eyes, his features congested with temper, but he kept himself under control and only thrust her aside to glare furiously at Magnus.

“
Put down that knife!”

Anna
was afraid Magnus might lunge at him in panic. She addressed the terrified boy quietly. “Give me the knife, Magnus. You’re in my charge and nobody is going to hurt you. Please.” She unlocked his fingers from the handle and, as she took it from him, he burst into tears, clinging to her. After putting the knife down on the table, her arms went around him protectively as she looked at Klaus in appeal. “Couldn’t you forget you’ve seen him? He’s only a child.”

“
You amaze me, Anna,” Klaus sneered sarcastically. “You must have inflated ideas about your attraction for me to suppose I’d let him escape the net! How many others have you smuggled through? I think I’m beginning to see what’s been going on in this hotel. What better place to hide somebody wanted by us than under our very noses! How long have you and the others in this hotel been deceiving the German Command?”