on good terms with you French. We want you to be our friends as well as our allies. But
anyone who helps our enemy becomes our enemy. We will catch your friend,
Mademoiselle, and when we do, we will question him, and I promise you he will talk.”
“I have nothing to be afraid of,” Noelle said.
“You are wrong.” She could barely hear him. “You have me to be afraid of.” Colonel
Mueller nodded to the corporal and started toward the door again. He turned once more.
“If you hear from your friend, you will report it to me at once. If you fail to do so…” He
smiled at her. And the two men were gone.
Noelle sank into a chair, drained. She was aware that she had not been convincing,
but she had been caught completely off guard. She had been so sure that the incident had
been forgotten. She remembered now some of the stories she had heard about the Gestapo,
and a small chill went through her. Supposing they caught Israel Katz and he did talk. He
could tell them that they were old friends, that Noelle had lied about not knowing him. But
surely that could not be important. Unless…the name she had thought of in the restaurant
popped into her mind again. Le Cafard.
Half an hour later when Noelle went on stage, she managed to put everything out of
her mind but the character she was playing. It was an appreciative audience and as she
took her curtain calls, she received a tremendous ovation. She could still hear the applause
as she walked back to her dressing room and opened the door. Seated in a chair was
General Hans Scheider. He rose to his feet as Noelle entered and said politely, “I was
informed that we have a supper date this evening.”
They had supper at Le Fruit Perdu along the Seine, about twenty miles outside of
Paris. They had been driven there by the General’s chauffeur in a shiny, black limousine.
The rain had stopped, and the night was cool and pleasant. The General had made no
reference to the day’s incident until they had finished eating. Noelle’s first impulse had
been not to go with him, but she decided that it was necessary to learn how much the
Germans really knew and how much trouble she might be in.
“I received a call from Gestapo headquarters this afternoon,” General Scheider was
saying. “They informed me that you told a Corporal Schultz that you were having supper
with me this evening.” Noelle watched him, saying nothing. He went on. “I decided that it
would be most unpleasant for you if I said ‘No,’ and most pleasant for me if I said ‘Yes.’”
He smiled. “So here we are.”
“This is all so ridiculous,” Noelle protested. “Helping a poor man who stole some
groc—”
“Don’t!” The General’s voice was sharp. Noelle looked at him in surprise. “Don’t
make the mistake of believing that all Germans are fools. And do not underestimate the
Gestapo.”
Noelle said, “They have nothing to do with me, General.”
He toyed with the stem of his wine glass. “Colonel Mueller suspects you of having