Code Name Verity: Part 1: Ormaie 20.XI.43 JB-S Summary & Analysis

The narrator is supposed to write an account of her interview yesterday, but when is she going to have time to finish her “great dissertation of treason?” They spent a long time trying to make her presentable. They gave her her scarf and blouse back and allowed her to put up her hair with pencil nubs (they don’t trust her with hairpins). Soaking her fingertips in kerosene didn’t get rid of the ink, but it did make her stink—so they let her wash with lovely smelling American soap. Who knows where that came from.

The narrator writes that they set her up in von Linden’s office with useless documents to translate. The woman, Georgia Penn, was very American. They spoke French, since von Linden doesn’t understand English and Penn doesn’t speak German well. The narrator noted she couldn’t tell Penn her name or what branch of the military she’s serving with. Then, they all sat (well, Engel hovered) and Penn pulled out cigarettes for herself and the narrator. Briskly, she said she was looking for the truth, and in French she said, “Je cherche la verité.” When the narrator asked her to repeat herself in English, Penn said, “I’m looking for verity.” The narrator realized they were all liars, repeated some literary quotations about truth, and said that she’s “the soul of verity.”

With it established that the narrator was going to tell the truth, Penn shared that people call the hotel Le Château des Borreaux, or the castle of butchers. As the narrator smoothed her skirt and her blouse, a Gestapo boy poured cognac for everyone but Engel—and the narrator figured this was a trick, but then pulled herself together and put out her cigarette. She asked to speak in English, and von Linden agreed. Von Linden didn’t want the narrator to talk about the 11 wireless sets in Maddie’s Lysander, so the narrator was a bit confused as to what she could say.

The narrator and Penn talked about cultural differences and how the narrator was captured. Engel also revealed that she (Engel) trained as a chemist in Chicago. Then, after some chatter, the narrator said she isn’t worried about her trial; she’ll be shot, and the Geneva Convention doesn’t protect her since she’s a spy. She knows nothing about the other prisoners and ascertains that Penn has toured some nice floors of the hotel, presumably made up as dummy cells. The Gestapo live and work on the first three floors; the prisoners are on the top three floors (this is underlined).

Penn thanked von Linden for the interview, and then asked the narrator if she could get her things, like sanitary towels. The narrator revealed she’s stopped menstruating, but she’s not pregnant and hasn’t been raped. To readers, the narrator says she hasn’t had a cycle since she left England. Penn remarked that the narrator didn’t look healthy. The narrator remarks to her Gestapo readers that starvation does leave visible marks. Then, suddenly, Penn sloshed her cognac into the narrator’s glass, and the narrator drank it all. She was sick all afternoon.

The narrator writes that last night, von Linden asked if she’d read Goethe. They debated literature, and as he left, the narrator wished him a good night in French—it’s a quote from an old French document, and she figured he’d read it. He didn’t seem to recognize it. Engel has also revealed that before the war, von Linden was a headmaster. He also has a daughter a bit younger than the narrator, who’s in school in Switzerland. The narrator still isn’t convinced he has a soul; any married man can father a daughter.