George Elford - Devil's Guard

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” she bowed, casting a deep level look at me. I reached for her hand and she accepted my hand gayly. “Let’s go.”

The bar was almost deserted. I led Lin to a secluded table in a quiet corner. “Please, Hans,” she addressed me by my first name for the first time. “Some sandwiches will be fine—for me, of course.”

“You should have a proper meal.”

I ordered curried chicken with rice, salad, fruit salad, some wine, and coffee. Lin glanced around with face flushed and eyes gleaming. “It is so heartening to be among people.”

The waiter came, placing a bottle of wine on the table. He filled our glasses. Lin unbuttoned the uppermost part of her tunic and showed me a small crucifix on a thin silver necklace, apparently very old. “An old missionary sister gave it to me in the brick works where we used to work,” she explained. “She told me that this little cross brought her father back from the Boer War, her husband from Flanders Field, and their son from the Second World War. She gave it to me in the belief that it would show me to freedom.”

“And it seems it did… Where have you been in China, Lin?”

“Near Kweiping.”

“I am glad you weren’t somewhere in the Sinkiang.”

She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think I would ever have returned from there.”

“Was it hard?”

“They were savages!” she burst forth. “You have been a soldier for many years, Hans, but I don’t think that you have seen so many dead people in your life as I have seen in two years. The militia just kept moving from village to village, holding trials, sentencing people to death—sometimes two hundred people in half an hour___” The waiter returned and I was glad for his timely appearance. I felt that our conversation had begun to slip toward painful remembrances and I did not want to upset the girl. When the waiter finally left, I saw Lin was staring at her plate. “Anything wrong, Lin?” She raised her face. Her eyes were filled and she was trying hard to fight back her tears. I placed my hand gently over hers. “What is the matter?”

“Nothing.”

She shook her head. “Only… you see, I haven’t seen a table like this for such a long time and…”

Her lips curled down and quivered.

“Then why don’t you carry on?” I suggested softly.

Lin ate like one who hasn’t really eaten for years. She seemed at a loss and couldn’t decide what to take first. She touched everything, mixed up salt and sugar, slipped her fork, and almost upset the wine. Then she glanced up and her cheeks reddened. “I… I have forgotten how to eat properly…”

“Take your time, Lin.”

A second wave of color flushed her face.

“I am embarrassing you.”

“You do nothing of the sort.”

When Lin finished her meal with a long, deep sigh of satisfaction there was not much left on the table. “Would you like a drink now?” I asked, reaching for the bottle.

“I might try.”

“Cheer up a little, Lin… Things will be better from now on.”

As we drank the wine, I looked at her. In the strong light she seemed much younger than before. I knew that she was from a decent family, and I wanted to know more about her past. I had already made up my mind about her immediate future. I would take her to the only possible place I could think of, Colonel Houssong’s house. I was certain he wouldn’t object. Later on we might contact the British Consul. After all, Lin had been born in Hong Kong and her father was British. She did not tell me where her family was. I suspected that her parents were dead, but her father ought to have relatives somewhere.

I excused myself and went to the phone. Colonel Houssong listened to my story without interruption, then asked me to hold the line. I knew he was consulting with his wife. They had a sixteen-year-old daughter, Yvette, and a fifteen-year-old son, Jacques. Madame Houssong, I knew, was generous to charities, and she was spending much of her spare time and household savings on refugees.

The phone clicked, and I again heard the colonel’s well-known, throaty voice. “Well, bring her over, Wagemueller,” he said. He could not refrain from adding teasingly: “Your humanitarian aspirations are truly overwhelming. You should have joined the Salvation Army instead of the Waffen SS.”

“Oui, mon colonel… It might have been a better idea.”

I returned to the table and sat down. “Lin, you are coming with me.”

“With you?” she exclaimed. “Where to?”

“To some place where you can sleep.”

She blushed. I gave her a mysterious look and her eyes widened.

“I… I cannot do that,” she muttered, barely audible. “I… please…”

“I hope you are not afraid of me, Lin?”

“Still…”

She lighted a cigarette nervously, then averting her eyes she asked, “Are you… living alone?” I laughed. “I am not taking you to my place or to a cheap hotel, if that’s what you are thinking, Lin.”

Instantly she seemed relieved. “I am taking you to a very nice family where you will find a girl of your age and a temporary home. Then we shall see what we can do about your getting a British passport.”

“I am so sorry…”

“1 understand you, Lin. Don’t worry.”

The colonel’s family was waiting for us. They all eyed Lin with sympathy as she sat on the edge of a chair twisting her hands. She looked like a frightened little bird. “Please, excuse me.”

She was finding it hard to form her words. “I really… I did not want to disturb you… If only I could stay for the rest of the night…”

“Of course you will stay!” Madame Houssong reassured her cheerfully. “We have enough rooms.”

Yvette stepped forward. “I am Yvette,” she said reaching for Lin’s hand. “Do you really come from China?”

“Yes, Yvette.”

“It must have been awful…”

“It was hell” Lin exclaimed. The surprise in Yvette’s face dissolved in a warm smile. She embraced Lin lightly and I saw her parents exchanging glances. “Now you will be all right, cherie,” she said softly. “You will stay with us.”

Lin made a swift half-turn, raising her hand to her eyes. Her shoulders quivered under the sudden strain of emotions which she tried to control.

“Let her relax!” Madame Houssong ushered Yvette aside.

The colonel interposed. “Why don’t we go into the salon?” Lin turned. “Please, I feel… so filthy…” she muttered. Her voice trailed off and her cheeks flushed.

“Do you want a bath?” Yvette asked.

“I would like it very much,” Lin replied, her face now ablaze. She felt embarrassed, but Madame Houssong came to her rescue. She called the maid and ordered her to prepare a bath for Lin. The maid took the girl to the bathroom and we sat down. The colonel prepared drinks and questioned me briefly about our trip. Then Yvette turned to me.

“How old is Lin?”

“She will be eighteen in September.”

Yvette turned on her heels and disappeared into the other room. When she returned her face was flushed with excitement and she was carrying a pile of clothes which she cheerfully dumped onto the couch. “I think we can give these to Lin,” she explained. “I really don’t need them and we are about the same size.”

Her generous offer warmed my heart and I noticed a smile of approval on her mother’s face. “Tomorrow I will buy her a pair of nice shoes.”

“Have you any money?” the colonel asked nonchalantly.

“I have my savings.”

“I thought you wanted to buy a stereo set.”

“Well,” Yvette sighed, lifting and dropping her shoulders, “poor Lin needs more important things now.”

When Lin reappeared, we all looked at her astonished. Her cheeks were pink, the weariness in her eyes was gone, and with her hair washed, dried, and tightened with a blue ribbon, her face was transformed. All the hardness had vanished from her features and she looked younger than Yvette. Her legs were beautifully shaped and the light summer dress that Yvette had given her made her look even more slender. I could have encircled her waist between my hands.