Chapter 4: Day two

Naturally Jane and Bernhardt woke late after such a satisfying night. When they descended to the dining area together there were three angry looking housemates sitting at the table. Clearly pulling rank Hauptsturmführer Wolfgang Gegenwart said, “Wessen Wende ist es, Frühstück zu kochen?”

Bernhardt hung his head as it was obvious to Jane that it was his turn on the rota.

“Warum bist du so spät?” continued the Hauptsturmführer.

Jane felt she needed to intervene, “Deutsch sprechen wird dir nicht helfen, Geheimnisse zu behalten. Ich bin zumindest vernünftig fließend,” she snapped back at him, then switching to English said, “If it will help I will always cook the breakfast, but I thought your orderlies would do that?”

“They should, but none of then can cook anything properly,” Albrecht answered, “so we have a rota. The orderlies don’t come here early.”

“Well pardon me if I upset your rota by fucking all four of you and then oversleeping,” and she disappeared into the kitchen.

As she started to cook a full English breakfast she was amazed by the quantity of good food in the kitchen. Clearly the officers of the German army did not stint themselves when it came to food. She decided to show off, so as quickly as she could she prepared Eggs Benedict for the five of them. Five and a half, she thought, poaching herself three eggs instead of the two each for the boys, as she now found herself thinking of them.

Immediately after breakfast Jane realised that the departure of Albrecht and Thomas was much more elaborate than the other two, as their passes had expired and they needed to rejoin their units. She was very careful not to ask where either of them had to go to return to duties as she had no wish to be accused of spying.

Bernhardt just left to go to his office in Oxford where, he explained, he sorted out leave rotas for all the German military at and below his own rank of Hauptsturmführer stationed in the United Kingdom and Ireland. “It doesn’t take long to do that,” he said, “Four times a year I just repeat the last three month’s data with some few changes to cover special leave and promotions. Even the replacement staff can be matched pretty well one for one as numbers don’t vary much. I’ll be back soon after lunch, but I will eat that in the Officers’ Mess.”

During the day Jane went over the house with careful attention to the conditions of cleanliness When the orderlies arrived she gave her orders in no uncertain terms. The kitchen staff were to cook nothing, but were to arrive a little later than they were used to and she would assign tasks. These would all be kitchen related, but she made it clear that they would start at the bottom of the hierarchy and would peel potatoes and such tasks until she was satisfied that they had learned how to cook.