Madame appeared again; it was nearly six o'clock. She had made soup for the children's supper and she had prepared a bed in her own room for the two little girls. The three little boys were to sleep in a bed which she had made up on the floor of the corridor; Howard had been given a bedroom to himself. He thanked her for the trouble she had taken.
'One must first get the little ones to bed,' she said. Then we will talk, and devise something.'
In an hour they were all fed, washed, and in bed, settling for the night. Howard sat down with the two women to a supper of a thick meat broth and bread and cheese, with a little red wine mixed with water. He helped them to clear the table, and accepted a curious, thin, dry, black cigar from a box left by his absent host.
Presently he said: 'I have been thinking quietly this afternoon, madame,' he said. 'I do not think I shall go back to Switzerland. I think it would be better to try and get into Spain.'
The woman said: 'It is a very long way to go.' They discussed the matter for a little time. The difficulties were obvious; when he had made the journey there was no sort of guarantee that he could ever get across the frontier.
The girl said: 'I also have been thinking, but in quite the opposite direction.' She turned to her mother. 'Jean Henri Guinevec,' she said, and she ran the two Christian names together to pronounce them Jenri.
Madame said placidly: 'Jean Henri may have gone already, ma petite.'
Howard said: 'Who is he?'
The girl said: 'He is a fisherman, of Le Conquet. In Finisterre. He has a very good boat. He is a great friend of my father, monsieur.'
They told him about this man. For thirty years it had been the colonel's habit to go to Brittany each summer. In that he had been unusual for a Frenchman. The sparse, rocky country, the stone cottages, and the wild coast attracted him, and the strong sea winds of the Atlantic refreshed him. Morgat, Le Conquet, Brest, Douarnenez, Audierne, Concarneau - these were his haunts, the places that he loved to visit in the summer. He used to dress the part. For going in the fishing-boats he had the local costume, faded rust and rose coloured sailcloth overalls and a large, floppy black Breton casque.
'He used to wear the sabots, too, when we were married first,' his wife said placidly. 'But then, when he got corns on his feet, he had to give them up.'
His wife and daughter had gone with him, every year. They had stayed in some little pension and had gone for little, bored walks, while the colonel went out in the boats with the fishermen, or sat yarning with them in the cafe.
'It was not very gay,' the girl said. 'One year we went to Paris-Plage, but next year we went back to Brittany.'
She had come to know his fishermen friends through the years. 'Jenri would help us to help Monsieur Howard,' she said confidently. 'He has a fine big boat that could cross easily to England.'
Howard gave this serious attention. He knew a little of the Breton fishermen; when he had practised as a solicitor in Exeter there had been occasional legal cases that involved them, cases of fishing inside the three-mile limit. Sometimes, they came into Torbay for shelter in bad weather. Apart from their fishing peccadilloes they were popular in Devon; big burly men with boats as big and burly as they were themselves; fine seamen, speaking a language very similar to Gaelic, that a Welshman could sometimes understand.
They discussed this for some time; it certainly seemed more hopeful than any attempt to get back through Spain. 'It's a long way to go,' he said a little ruefully. It was; Brest is two hundred miles or so from Chartres. 'Perhaps I could go by train.' He would be going away from Paris.
They discussed it in all aspects. Obviously, it was impossible to find out how Guinevec was placed; the only thing to do would be to go there and find out. 'But if Jenri should have gone away,' the mother said, 'there are all the others. One or other of them will help you, when they know that you are friendly with my husband.' She spoke with simple faith.
The girl confirmed this: 'One or other of them will help.'
The old man said presently: 'It really is most kind of you to suggest this. If you would give me a few addresses, then - I would go tomorrow, with the children.' He hesitated. 'It will be better to go soon,' he said. 'Later, the Germans may become more vigilant.'
'That we can do,' said madame.
Presently, as it was getting late, she got up and went out of the room. After a few minutes the girl followed her; from the salon Howard could hear the mutter of their voices in the kitchen, talking in low tones. He could not hear what they were saying, nor did he try. He was deeply grateful for the help and encouragement that he had had from them. Since he had parted from the two Air Force men he had rather lost heart; now he felt again that there was a good prospect that he would get through to England. True, he had still to get to Brittany. That might be difficult in itself; he had no papers of identification other than a British passport, and none of the children had anything at all. If he were stopped and questioned by the Germans the game would be up, but so far he had not been stopped. So long as nobody became suspicious of him, he might be all right.
Nicole came back alone from the kitchen. 'Maman has gone to bed,' she said. 'She gets up so early in the morning. She has asked me to wish you a very good night on her behalf.'
He said something conventionally polite. 'I think I should be better in bed, myself,' he said. 'These last days have been tiring for a man as old as I am.'
She said: 'I know, monsieur.' She hesitated and then said a little awkwardly: 'I have been talking with my mother. We both think that it would be better that I should come with you to Brittany, Monsieur Howard.'
There was a momentary silence; the old man was taken by surprise. 'That is a very kind offer,' he said. 'Most generous of you, mademoiselle. But I do not think I should accept it.'
He smiled at her. 'You must understand,' he said, 'I may get into trouble with the Germans. I should not like to think that I had involved you in my difficulties.'
She said: 'I thought you might feel that, monsieur. But I assure you, I have discussed the matter with maman, and it is better that I should go with you. It is quite decided.'
He said: 'I cannot deny that you would be an enormous help to me, mademoiselle. But one does not decide a point like that all in one moment. One weighs it carefully and one sleeps on it.'
It was growing dusk. In the half-light of the salon it seemed to him that her eyes were very bright, and that she was blinking a little. 'Do not refuse me, Monsieur Howard,' she said at last. 'I want so very much to help you.'
He was touched. 'I was only thinking of your safety, mademoiselle,' he said gently. 'You have done a very great deal for me already. Why should you do any more?'
She said: 'Because of our old friendship.'
He made one last effort to dissuade her. 'But mademoiselle,' he said, 'that friendship, which I value, was never more than a slight thing - a mere hotel acquaintance. You have already done more for me than I could have hoped for.'
She said: 'Perhaps you did not know, monsieur. Your son and I... John... we were good friends.' There was an awkward pause.
'So it is quite decided,' she said, turning away. 'We are quite of one mind, my mother and I. Now, monsieur, I will show you your room.'
She took him down the corridor and showed him the room. Her mother had been before her, and had laid out on the bed a long, linen nightgown, the slumber-wear of Monsieur le Colonel. On the dressing-table she had put his cut-throat razor, and a strop, and his much-squeezed tube of shaving-paste, and a bottle of scent called FLEURS DE ALPES.
The girl looked round. 'I think that there is everything you will want,' she said. 'If there is anything we have forgotten, I am close by. You will call?'
He said: 'Mademoiselle, I shall be most comfortable.'
'In the morning,' she said, 'do not hurry. There are arrangements to be made before we can start for Brittany, and one must make enquiries - on the quiet, you will understand, monsieur. That we can best do alone, my mother and I. So it will be better if you stay in bed, and rest.'
He said: 'Oh, but there are the children. I shall have to see to them.'
She smiled: 'In England, do the men look after children when there are two women in the house?'
'Er - well,' he said. 'I mean, I didn't want to bother you with them.'
