Undeterred, Lydia continued scouring every orphanage within miles, every charitable home for lost and parentless children and all in vain. Yuri had vanished. Her misery, frustration and anger filled her to such an extent she could think of nothing else. She cried a lot, snapped at Alex when he tried to talk reasonably to her, was sorry for it afterwards and wept on his shoulder. He was unfailingly patient with her. Dear, faithful Alex, who loved her. He demonstrated it in everything he did for her, holding her in her tantrums and her bouts of despair, gently persuading her to eat, suggesting new avenues of search which all turned out to be abortive, making sure she kept clear of the NKVD and fielding enquiries being made about her. More and more troops arrived in Minsk as German troops swept over Poland. Britain issued an ultimatum to Germany to withdraw, which was ignored, resulting in a declaration of war. The Poles put up a spirited resistance but, assailed on all sides, they were forced to admit defeat and by early October Poland had been divided up between Germany and Russia.
