The French Maid's Secret

[Hobilar]

In the town of Ussel, the local coal merchant, Jean Vinzant, was also the head of the local resistance movement. In his house he had constructed a secret hide-out in his cellar where agents and allied airmen on the run could be hidden, and in his attic he had a powerful radio with which he could transmit vital intelligence to England under the code name of 'Great Dane'.

One night,just as m.Vinzant was finishing a broadcast to England there was a loud knocking on his front door. Two Gestapo Officers had received information that an illegal radio was being used at that address, and had arrived to search the house. With no time to properly hide the radio, all m.Vinzant could do was to throw a rug over it, and hurry down stairs to where his maid was already allowing the German Officers in. As they entered the house the two Officers had to squeeze past the maid who in true country fashion was holding a big bundle of spring beans in her apron. After apologising for his maid's behavour and offering his unwelcome visitors a drink, m.Vinzant could do little but protest that this was an outrage to his honour, as the Germans began to search the house, beginning in the cellar and working upwards towards the attic and its incriminating secret.

Finally, climbing the last flight of stairs, they again had to pass the maid, still holding on to her apron full of beans, they arrived ouside the attic door. This was the moment of truth. The door opened and...The room was empty, the rug lay on the floor, the radio gone.

Later, when the Germans had departed, the maid came out of the kitchen. Holding up her apron to reveal its weight she said to the still bemused m.Vinzant

"Your radio, monsieur, is heavy. Much heavier than haricots verts."

[Mollypitcher]

A delightful story, les haricots verts......Ussel is not very far from my summer location. I passed through Ussel perhaps 6 or 8 times this past 10 days. Are you located there to have one of the local stories at your fingertips. At any rate, Thank you for sharing.

Mollypitcher