On the eve of the German advance, the Belgian town of Stilemonde is shaken when Jean Gilson, a wounded soldier who has escaped captivity, brings terrifying news from the front. In the Burgomaster's orderly household, where horticulture and domestic routine still cling to normal life, the war arrives with intimate force: the Burgomaster's daughter has married a German officer, Otto Hilmer, and that private bond now collides with public catastrophe. As Jean recounts the massacres at Louvain, Dinant, and Aerschot, the Burgomaster's hope that Otto might protect the town gives way to dread, and the occupation begins to turn host into hostage. German officers quarter themselves in the house, and Otto defends the invasion as disciplined and necessary even as the Burgomaster condemns the lies and brutality behind it. Family loyalty, civic duty, and national outrage are pushed to breaking point when a murdered lieutenant triggers a deadly ultimatum: unless the culprit is found, an innocent gardener will be shot, and then the Burgomaster himself may be executed in his place. As fear spreads through the town, the play becomes a grim study of occupation, moral betrayal, and the cruel logic of wartime "justice." This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.