Page 92 of The Last Library of Paris

‘She’s very quick,’ I said. ‘She won’t need much showing.’

‘That’s what I hoped.’ Edith’s typewriter tinged and she pushed the carriage back, then carried on. ‘I’m just finishing off this pile that I started yesterday. It’s busy upstairs today, so Penny will be on her own.’

‘She’ll be fine.’

‘You remember Steven Parrish who we talked about before?’

I arranged my face into what I hoped was a quizzical expression. ‘I do.’

‘He’s gone.’ Edith frowned. ‘Moved to archiving. I didn’t even know we had an archive.’

‘Maybe you can keep Penny now Parrish has moved.’

‘I hope so, she’s a lot more fun than Parrish, that’s for sure.’

I laughed. ‘Lara’s coming in later, and I’ll come back too. We should get a lot done now we’ve got Penny too.’

‘The people whose visas were first on our list have all arrived in England now,’ Edith said, looking slightly teary eyed. ‘Your mum and dad’s gardener is leaving Lisbon today. Their village – where is it, remind me?’

‘Gloucestershire.’

‘Well, it’ll be full of French Jewish people in no time.’

I chuckled. ‘My mother will be learning how to make baguettes, and my father is probably teaching himself Hebrew right this minute.’

‘Good for them,’ said Edith.

She picked up another form and fed it into the typewriter. ‘Now off you go and stop distracting me. I’ve got half an hour before I’m needed upstairs and I want to make the most of it.’

Pleased that everything was going well, I wandered back along the corridor, thinking about getting tea for Henry and Archie, but wondering if I did it again, whether it would become my job. And I should call my parents, too, if their gardener was on his way. Check in with them that everything was going as it should back home.

And it was with my mind full of all these thoughts that I came face to face with Parrish, who was just emerging from the stairs down to the basement.

‘Oh!’ I gasped, not expecting to see anyone, and then ‘oh!’ again louder as I realised who it was in front of me.

He glared at me. ‘Oh.’

‘Sorry, you just startled me,’ I said, my usual composure ruffled. I went to move past him, but he reached out and grabbed my arm, tightly, just above my elbow.

‘Don’t,’ I said, yanking myself free. ‘Really, just don’t.’

I thought for a moment he might try to grab me again, but he didn’t. Luckily for him.

‘I’ve been moved downstairs,’ he said. His eyes were piercing as he fixed me with his angry stare. ‘It’s humiliating and it’s boring and it’s your fault.’

‘I don’t have anything to do with recruitment,’ I said vaguely. ‘I’m a translator. Perhaps you could have a chat with Julia in personnel if you’re unhappy.’

‘This wasn’t Julia,’ he growled. ‘It’s because I found out what you were doing and you pulled strings to have me moved on.’

Aware there were people about, and not wanting to cause a scene, I lowered my voice. ‘You were handing information to the PVDE and risking lives into the bargain,’ I said in a fierce undertone. ‘You’re lucky you’re not in prison.’

Parrish’s face was reddening.

‘This is all your fault,’ he said again. Which was unfair, quite frankly, considering it was Archie who’d caught him red-handed about to hand over the visa applications, and Archie who’d escorted him down to the basement.

‘I’m very sorry if you don’t like your new job, but I can’t help you with anything else,’ I said. I slid past him. ‘Good luck with it all.’

My heart was thumping a little and I was annoyed at myself for letting Parrish get to me. Trying to calm my breathing, I went up to our office, where I found Archie and Henry.