The Writers' Circle

The village of Westouter in Belgium is typical of most places of its size. It has a post office, a baker's shop and a small bar and not much else. There are no attractions either natural or man-made to tempt the visitor to stay. It is a one street place where nothing much has happened for the last ninety years.
The last event of any great note was the billeting on the population of 150 British soldiers who operated a supply dump on the outskirts of the village during the first world war.
The smooth running of the village and its attendant soldiery was jointly overseen by the mayor Monsieur Andre Broue, and the British Billeting Officer, a Captain by the name of Francis Dade. M Broue and Capt. Dade worked well together, possibly helped by the mayor's understanding of English. This enabled any misunderstandings to be quickly dealt with.
By the summer of 1917 Westouter was not a bad place to pass the war. It was far enough from the front line to be relatively safe, with only the occasional stray shell from a long range gun to disturb the peace. The men worked what was practically a nine to five job and the food from the field kitchen, while not varied, was at least hot and regularly available.
Some of the soldiers were billeted in private houses, while most were found accommodation in barns and outhouses. Capt Dade ensured that a fair price was paid, and M Broue ensured that claims for compensation from the local residents were kept at an acceptable level.
At the end of each day, the two men would sit in Capt Dade's small office situated in the front room of an abandoned cottage and pass the evening discussing the day's events over a glass of whisky.

One morning, Capt Dade was awoken from his slumbers by someone hammering loudly at the front door. He rose from his bed, pulled a greatcoat over his pyjamas and went to see who it was. Upon opening the door he was confronted by Madame Pomerie, a middle aged widow of generous proportions who was the proprietress of the village estaminet or bar. She appeared to be highly agitated and rushed past the Captain into his office. Capt Dade, who was not used to women rushing into his office before breakfast, at first had the ridiculous thought that he was improperly dressed and looked around for his hat before following Mme Pomerie into the room. He barely had enough time to sit behind his desk before Madame launched into a vigorous diatribe against the British, her neighbours, the war and soldiers in general, at the end of which she announced that the estaminet would now be closed until further notice, before marching back out of the door. 
While poor Capt Dade had understood some of what Madame had said, she had spoken so fast and with such fury that he had not caught all of it, and so when M Broue showed up an hour later the Captain asked if he would visit Mme Pomerie in order to establish exactly what was wrong.

When M Broue returned some time later, he brought bad news back with him. Mme Pomerie alleged that one of her most regular customers, a good looking young soldier who was the sanitary corporal, had committed a crime against her person of a most serious nature.
The corporal, who's duties while neither heroic nor spectacular were nevertheless important, would normally attend to his work diligently each morning. By lunchtime he would have finished and would spend as much of the rest of the day as money and madame would allow sipping "caffee avec" -coffee with brandy - in the estaminet. It appeared that the day before he had been able to afford more of this mixture than usual, and emboldened with drink had, or had at least attempted to ravish the proprietress as she was going into the back room. He had so far forgotten himself and the respect due to a lady, that he had embarked on this course without performing the preliminary attentions of flirting and suggestion that would have given her some warning of what his intentions were. She was naturally outraged that such a thing should happen within a year of her late husband's tragic meeting with a 5.9 inch shell just outside of Verdun, which had left both parties spread over a considerable area. Both her honour and the respect for her late husband had been violated.

By lunchtime the scandal had gone around the village like wildfire, and Capt Dade had a dilemma on his hands. Military law was quite definite as to the punishment given out to soldiers guilty of such a crime against civilian allies. A court martial would have to take place, bringing with it much unwanted attention from higher command. Capt Dade suggested that if M Broue could explain to Mme Pomerie that the man had been drunk at the time, then perhaps the matter could be dealt with in-house.
Monsieur Broue was horrified at the suggestion. "It would be the worst possible course of action" he said. Far better to let Monsieur Broue himself go to see the injured party in order to talk to her, and try to resolve the scandal.
That evening M Broue called at the shuttered estaminet and met with Madame Pomerie in the back parlour. They sat and talked of many things; about the Billeting Officer, about the two girls who helped madame serve the drinks and cooked the omelettes that her customers bought, and the rumour that Canadian soldiers would once again be billeted in the village, which would mean more money going into madam's till. Slowly M Broue guided the conversation around to the events of the previous night. "Poor Madame Pomerie"! he said. "What an appalling thing to happen to a woman of her character and high standing". He mentioned how shocked all of the neighbours had been, particularly the women (Although many had said they were not surprised and had seen it coming) Such a terrible thing must be punished of course. The honour of a Belgian woman is a sacred thing, and cannot be taken lightly. Although it is a pity that such a young, gallant fellow should die before a firing squad, for Monsieur had studied British military law and knew that the penalty for such things was death.
At this revelation, madame softened her stance a little, and asked if not a lesser punishment could be handed out, for although she had been wronged, she was not a vindictive woman. "Alas no"; said M Broue, for he claimed to know the ways of the British and their laws intimately. Was it not that he was often called upon to advise the British themselves on matters of punishment. He was quite sure of all of the legal points. He also seemed to know a great deal about the sanitary corporal. That the man was the only child of his widowed mother. A God-fearing woman wracked with rheumatism who's only income was from cleaning the local church. She would obviously be heart-broken to hear of the boy's execution. Such a shame, especially as the corporal had been posted to Westouter as a reward for the time he had bayoneted four, or was it five Germans single handedly to save his unit from being over-run. 
Madame had no idea that he had been a hero. She had thought that he had spent the whole of his military career in the safe and un-heroic duties of sanitation - which indeed he had. She did not want to see the man killed, but could see no other alternative than to allow military justice to take its course.

It was at this stage that M Broue played his trump card. "The incident was most regrettable" he said. "But there was something to be said for the corporal's good taste; After-all Madame was known far and wide for her good looks and sweet nature. Who could be surprised that this gallant, brave, fearless young man should become so smitten with her. Not for him the attractions of the two young serving girls. Those bold hussies who tempted the men with their course language and flirty ways; He had taken no notice of them. Had it not been that a few months ago the corporal had informed him in strict confidence that he had fallen in love with the beautiful proprietress of the estaminet upon first setting eyes on her. That of course was why he spent so much time there. Obviously his deep passion for her had built up until his need for her had so overwhelmed his senses that he had temporarily lost control of his reason. So sad that one so young, so brave, so good looking should have to die like a dog because of the beauty of a woman, but c'est la guerre. Madame's honour must be vindicated".

The next day the estaminet re-opened as usual, and did a busy trade with many local people who had not frequented it before calling in for a small coffee. Madame Pomerie and the serving girls were there but the corporal was not. He was under local arrest in the barn that served as his billet.

Some weeks later, Capt Dade signed the official form submitted by a local householder allotting a certain room in a certain estaminet to a certain sanitary corporal.