“Don’t you think others have the right to do that too?” She put a hand on one of his. “Before I ever returned, I knew what I wanted to do. I love Belgium, Edward. It’s more home to me than anyplace else, and right now it’s sitting under an army that’s trying to stamp out everything I love. All of Belgium wakes up every morning to a foreign army telling her what to do. They’ve stripped the factories, stolen money from the banks, requisitioned everything from copper pots to wool. The only thing left to us that the Germans can’t control is what we think—and so it’s words they fear, because they know as long as the spirit of Belgium is alive they haven’t really conquered us or our faith. The only way to keep that spirit going is to keep the paper going. It’s worth every risk.”
He stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. “You don’t have to convince me, Isa. I’ve lived with it for two years, and I decided a long time ago it was worth my life. But is it worth yours? I can see you’re better informed than I realized, that the outside world educated you more thoroughly than I thought possible. But have you really considered it, or are you just playacting? Your money, your name—even your faith—won’t get you out of trouble if trouble comes.”
“I have no doubts.”
“Isa, Isa, you answer too easily.”
“No, Edward. You’re too careful.”
He clutched her hand that had touched his so lightly. “If you’d ever heard the firing squads at Tir National, you would know there is no such thing as being too careful.”
The bell at the door made Isa jump. She reminded herself that it was just a bell, not the guns of which he spoke.
Edward turned back to the window. “It’s them. Jan and Rosalie.”
“But how did they know where I live?”
Edward walked toward the door. “Rosalie knew. She thought it was funny to deliver the paper here when it housed German soldiers—especially when we had headlines about German losses.”
He reached the door just as Clara emerged from the butler’s hall. “I will answer it, Clara. And they won’t be staying, so you’re not needed . . . thank you.”
He waited until she’d turned her back, then glanced up the stairs as if to make sure no one lingered there and opened the door.
Jan stepped inside first, facing Edward. “I thought you might return here.”
Edward didn’t lead them farther inside. He leaned against the open door and faced Jan and Rosalie. “I’ve told her what you want,” he said. “I’ve also advised her to turn you away.”
Jan and Rosalie now looked at Isa.
“I’m willing for you to use the room,” she said slowly, looking at Edward even though her words were directed to the others, “but on one condition. That Genny and Jonah return to where they were living before I returned.”
Edward shook his head. “What, then, will you tell the Major when I or either of these two come round? Without ‘Aunt Genny’ here, even I have no excuse to call.”
“The room is accessible from the back of the house. The room the Major uses is in the front. If you’re careful, you won’t be seen.”
“Agreed,” Jan said. “Now, can we see the room?”
Isa nodded, leading them toward the butler’s hall and into the kitchen. Clara was at the sink, scrubbing dishes.
“You must listen for the Major, Clara. I’m taking Edward and his friends to the cellar, but I don’t want the Major to know.”
“There is nothing down there anymore, mademoiselle. If it’s wine you’re looking for, you must ask that Hauptmann who came here yesterday. I saw the label myself, one of your father’s own bottles!”
“Please, Clara, just listen for the Major.”
Edward was at Isa’s elbow as she led them through the near-empty pantry to another door at the back of the shelf-lined room.
“You see how foolish this is?” he whispered. “Someone must be on the lookout for him whenever anyone is here. And if we’re caught, everyone in this household will be suspected, even Clara.”
“Then we’ll have to trust her to help or give her the option to leave.”
“And go where? That she’s been serving Germans this long suggests she has nowhere else to go.”
“She has relatives in the country; she’s stayed this long only because of the money my father left her.”
Isa led the way down the stairs to the cooler air of the cellar. Despite the