The stout figure in the witness box was dressed in black and wore round bottle-end glasses. She did not require the interpreter and answered Mr Penshaw’s questions with a disturbingly loud and deep voice.
‘Your name, please, Madame?’ said Mr Penshaw ‘Collette Beaussart.’
‘You were born in Paris on 4th October 1918?’ ‘Yes.’
‘You are now seventy-seven years of age?’ ‘I am.’
‘You are a Knight of the Legion of Honour?’
‘I am.’
‘You were decorated by General de Gaulle at the Invalides in