Nicole came to them presently, to call them to the kitchen for supper.
She had already given the children a meal, and had put them to sleep on beds improvised upstairs by Madame Arvers.
They ate together in the kitchen at a long table, together with two men from the farm and a black-haired Jewish-looking boy whom Madame called Marjan, and who said little or nothing during the meal.
The meal over, Arvers escorted Nicole and Howard back to the salon; presently he produted a set of dominoes and proposed a game.
Howard settled down to it with him.
The horse-dealer played carelessly, his mind on other things.
Presently he returned to the subject that was on his mind.
'Are many children going to America, monsieur?
I cannot comprehend how you can be so positive that they will be welcomed.
America is very far away.
They do not bother about our difficulties here.'
Howard shrugged his shoulders.
'They are a generous people.
These children will be quite all right if I can get them there, because my daughter will look after them.
But even without her, there would be many people in America willing to provide for them. Americans are like that.'
The other stared at him incredulously.
'It would cost a great deal of money to provide for a child, perhaps for years.
One does not do that lightly for a foreign child of which one knows nothing.'
'It's just the sort of thing they do do,' said the old man.
They would pour out their money in a cause like that.'
The horse-dealer stared at him keenly and thoughtfully.
'Would they provide for Marjan Estreicher?' he enquired at last.
'No doubt they would not do that for a Jew.'
'I don't think it would make the slightest difference in the case of a child.
It certainly would make no difference to my daughter.'
Nicole moved impulsively beside him.
'Monsieur..." she said, but he stopped her with a gesture. She subsided into silence again, watchful.
Howard said steadily:
'I would take him with me, if that is what you want.
I would send him to the United States with the other children.
But before that, I should want help to get them all away.'
'Jean Henri?'
'Assuredly, Monsieur.'
The other got up, displacing the unheeded game of dominoes with his sleeve.
He went and fetched the Pernod, the glasses, and the water, and poured out a drink for Howard.
He offered one to the girl, but she refused.
'The risk is enormous,' he said stubbornly.
'Think what it would mean to my daughter if you should be caught.'
Think what it would mean to that boy, if he should be caught,' the old man said. They would take him for a slave, put him in the mines and work him till he died.
That's what the Germans do with Polish children.'
Arvers said: 'I know that.
That is what troubles me.'
Nicole said suddenly: 'Does Marjan want to go?
You cannot make him if he does not want to.
He is old, that one.'
'He is only ten,' said Arvers.
'Nevertheless,' she said, 'he is quite grown up.
We cannot take him if he does not want to go.'
Arvers went out of the room; in a few minutes he returned, followed by the boy.
He said to him: 'This is the matter, Marjan.