An elderly Frenchman went to his parish priest, and asked to confess. ‘Of course, my son’, said the priest.

‘Well, Father, at the beginning of World War Two, a beautiful woman knocked on my door and asked to hide from the Germans. I concealed her in my attic, and they never found her.’

‘That's a wonderful thing, my son, and nothing that you need to confess,’ said the priest.

‘It's worse, Father. I was weak, and told her that she had to pay for rent of the attic with her sexual favours,’ continued the old man.

‘Well, it was a very difficult time, and you took a large risk – you would have suffered terribly at their hands if the Germans had found you hiding her.’

The man nodded solemnly, as the padre went on. ‘I know that God will balance the good and the evil. He will judge you kindly,’ the priest concluded.

‘Thanks, Father’, said the old man. ‘That's a load off of my mind. Can I ask another question?’ ‘Of course, my son’, said the priest. ‘Do I need to tell her that the war is over?’