Summary

Marie-Laure hears the bell ring, the front gate triggered first and then she hears the door close. No one calls out so she knows it is not Etienne; when she hears the lurching gait, she knows immediately that it belongs to the German sergeant major. She goes quietly upstairs and hides herself in the secret room behind the closet. Von Rumpel searches each floor, sure that what he seeks will be there, and feeling as though he is at the end of a long journey. Marie-Laure remains at the bottom of the ladder in the closet until she manages to calm herself. She climbs up the seven rungs to the tunnel of the garret. She reaches out with her fingers, careful not to knock anything over, and crawls toward the stone chimney. Shelling begins again in the distance.

Bernd alternately...