“I suppose you’re thinking about the agents we dropped?” Jack’s question was so far from what had been in my mind that it took me by surprise.
“I . . . yes . . . I was.” I avoided his eyes as the lie came stumbling out. “Have you heard from them?”
“They all got through.” He nodded. “And everything they took out with them has been safely delivered. But that creates a problem for us.”
“Why?”
“They took radio parts as well as ammunition and medical supplies. That means the Brittany Resistance teams now have fourteen working radio sets instead of the half dozen they had before.” He looked at me. There was nothing haunted in his eyes now. What I saw was a determined gleam. “Merle needs help translating the messages. She doesn’t have enough time, with the children to look after. We’re drafting in another woman from the village to relieve her of the cooking. But I’d like your help with the radio work.”
I held his gaze, beyond being surprised by anything he asked me to do. “Well, yes, of course,” I said. “If someone teaches me what to do.”
“It’ll take time to pick it up,” he said. “I’ve brought you a set of the codebooks we use.” He reached into his knapsack. “You’ll need to learn Morse code first. That’s this one.” He passed me the thinner of the two books. “The ciphers are in here.” He held the other one out to me. “There are two ways of interpreting messages: most of the time you’ll be translating straightforward coded phrases—but sometimes you’ll receive sentences that sound like nonsense. You’ll get something like ‘I love Siamese cats,’ or ‘Granny has eaten all the chocolates.’ They convey something quite specific, for the sake of speed, such as a warning about enemy troops in a drop area, or an imminent raid on a safe house.”
I opened the Morse code book. That seemed straightforward enough, patterns of dots and dashes alongside each letter of the alphabet. The cipher book looked more intimidating—it was thicker than the family Bible at the house in Dublin.
“Merle will show you how to use the transmitter.” He stood up. “You’re most likely to be needed in the early evenings, when she’s busy with the children. I hope you won’t mind—I know you’re already putting in long days.”
“It’s not as if I have anything else to do.” I hadn’t meant for it to come out sounding like a complaint. I enjoyed the solitude of the boathouse. I loved walking back there, enveloped in the lush tranquility of the valley, knowing that I could spend the evening ahead reading one of the books I’d borrowed from the house, or just lie outside on a blanket, looking at the stars. It was a freedom that most people took for granted, but for me it was still new and very precious.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It can’t be much fun for you, down here all alone.”
“Oh, no, I’m fine, honestly,” I said. “I like it—really I do.”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his knuckles against his chin. I noticed how smooth his skin was, not bristling with stubble as it had been when I’d last seen him. After a moment he said, “I suppose you’ve heard about the dance the Americans are putting on?”
I nodded. “The Land Girls can’t stop talking about it.”
“Would you like to go?”
“Me?”
“Why not? They’ve sent an invitation—to ‘His Highness, Viscount Trewella.’ Nice of the US Army to elevate me to royal status.” He smiled. “And it would be natural to take my cousin along. ‘The Honorable Alice McBride’—how does that sound?”
“It’s very kind of you, but—”
“Oh, Alice,” he cut in. “You always think people act from the best motives. Kindness has nothing to do with it. The truth is I’d rather not go, but if I don’t, it’ll look as if I’m snubbing our allies, which I certainly don’t want to do.” He shrugged. “It might be just about bearable with you on my arm.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was he afraid of being mobbed by the likes of Edith and Rita? Did he think that going with me would help him keep them at bay? I fingered a wisp of hair that protruded from my scarf, wondering how on earth I could make myself look presentable. What I wanted to say was that I couldn’t possibly go to a dance. Not looking like this. But that would sound terribly vain.
That night I stayed up late, trying to memorize the alphabet in Morse code. But I found it hard to concentrate. Staring at the rows of dots and dashes, my mind kept drifting to the dance. It was two weeks away. My hair would grow a little longer in that time. I thought about asking Merle for advice about how to style it.