Chapter 15: Oxford

When Jane and party reached Oxford Mr. James was still there.

“Will there be anything else, my Lady?” he asked obsequiously.

“Not at the moment. Carry on running the estate until I am settled in. Come and see me at the Hall two weeks from today at ten o’clock and we can go deeper into matters then,” Jane ordered him. Then she took Margery upstairs to show her the flat and to check on her baby who was in Bernhardt’s room sleeping peacefully.

“You are being asked to approve of a change of hausfrau for your establishment,” said the Obergruppenführer when the three young officers had arrived, “as the present lady is moving to her own home at Johnson Hall with her baby and Bernhardt. Two advantages are that this one is, at the moment, neither pregnant nor distracted by having a new baby. She is experienced in running a household and in providing other services. Nobody will test her suitability beyond fellatio until she has been checked as disease free by the medics. Her name is ‘Lady’ Margery Jennings.”

After the introductions Margery said that she was willing to replace Jane at the Oxford house, but the Count indicated that it was not entirely her choice. “You will visit each of the three residents in his bedroom for fifteen minutes to show him your attributes and one of your skills. A repeat of the scene I interrupted at the Hall will be an appropriate test.”

Margery asked, “Why am I being given this chance instead of being thrown out on the street at the mercy of the Resistance or being put in a brothel. Is it because you feel guilty about giving me to the Gestapo?”

The Pfalzgraf stared at her, “I would remind you that I saved your life by that move, after I had been given a direct order by a very senior officer to have you shot immediately. This is offered to you simply to release Jane immediately. You could be evicted from the Hall and someone else could be offered the job here tomorrow, and she would be glad of it. Her own flat, plenty of food and only three personable young men to please. But if you don’t want it, as Jane said, ‘The door is there.’ I won’t lift a finger to stop you leaving.”

Margery realised that he had stated the exact truth and said, “I apologise. I do know that however unpleasant it was with the Gestapo, it was infinitely better than being shot that evening at dinner.”