An Officer and a Spy

would reveal me as their source?’
    ‘If their objective is to free their brother, they would be almost bound to. And I wouldn’t blame them if they did, would you? In any case, even if they didn’t release your name themselves, I’m sure it would leak within a day or two. You are being watched and so are they. And unfortunately, once your name is known, it will provide the General Staff with all the evidence they need to convince most people that you have been conspiring to free Dreyfus all along. That is why I say this letter of Henry’s is very cunning.’
    ‘So I’m trapped?’
    ‘Not entirely. We must think tactically. What do you soldiers call it when you go around the side of your opponent rather than charging him head-on?’
    ‘Outflanking?’
    ‘Outflanking – exactly – we need to outflank them. You should not talk to anyone: that only plays into their hands. You should leave all that to me. I shall take your information and give it not to the newspapers or to the Dreyfus camp, but to a public figure of unimpeachable integrity.’
    ‘And who might this paragon be?’
    ‘I spent a good part of last night thinking about exactly that, and this morning while I was shaving the answer came to me. With your permission, I shall go and see the Vice President of the Senate, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner.’
    ‘Why him?’
    ‘To begin with, he’s an old family friend – my father taught him mathematics – so I know him. He’s a man of Alsace, which is always reassuring. He’s rich, which gives him independence. But above all, he’s a patriot. He’s never done a sordid or selfish thing in his life. Let your friend Major Henry try to smear old Auguste as a traitor!’
    I sit back and consider this. The other advantage of Scheurer-Kestner is that he is a member of the moderate left but with plenty of friends on the right. He is by temperament emollient but determined. ‘And what will the senator do with the information?’
    ‘That will be up to him. Knowing his instinct for compromise, I would guess he’ll approach the government to begin with, and try to sort it out that way. He’ll only go to the press if the authorities won’t listen. But one thing I’ll absolutely insist on beforehand is that your name is not to be mentioned as the source of the information. No doubt the General Staff will guess you’re behind it, but they’ll be hard pushed to prove it.’
    ‘And what about me? What shall I do during this process?’
    ‘Nothing. You will return to Tunisia and lead a blameless life – let them follow you all they want: they will observe nothing untoward. That alone will drive them mad. In short, my dear Georges, you just sit in the desert and wait for things to happen.’
    On the final day of my leave, after Jules has gone to work and my suitcase is packed ready for the evening train, there is another knock on the door – but softer this time, and tentative. I put down my book and listen as Anna lets in the visitor. A moment later the sitting-room door opens and there is Pauline. She looks at me without speaking. Behind her, Anna is putting on her hat. ‘I have to go out for an hour,’ she says briskly, before adding, with a mixture of fondness and disapproval, ‘and only for an hour, mind you.’
    We make love in the children’s bedroom, under the watchful eyes of a row of my nephew’s old toy soldiers. Afterwards, lying in my arms, she says, ‘You were really going to go back to Africa without trying to see me?’
    ‘Not by choice, my darling.’
    ‘Without even sending me a note?’
    ‘I’m worried I’m going to bring disaster down on you if we carry on like this.’
    ‘I don’t care.’
    ‘I promise you, you will care, because it won’t be just you who is damaged: it will be the girls as well.’
    Suddenly she sits up straight. She is so angry she doesn’t bother to cover herself with a sheet in the way that she normally does. Her hair is tousled, loose, and for the first time I notice a few strands of grey among the blonde. Her skin is flushed rose pink. There is sweat between her breasts. She looks magnificent. ‘You have no right,’ she says, ‘after all these years, to make decisions that affect the two of us without even telling me what’s in your mind! And don’t you dare use the girls as an excuse!’
    ‘Darling, wait—’
    ‘No! Enough!’
    She moves to get out of bed but I grasp her shoulders. She tries to shrug me off. I push her down and hold her.