Now, I have borrowed clothes for m'sieur.
You will not like them, but they are necessary.'
The old man did not like the clothes at all.
They were very dirty, a coarse, stained flannel shirt, a pair of torn blue cotton trousers, a dirty canvas pullover that had once been rusty pink iiucolour, and a black, floppy Breton casque.
Wooden sabots were the footgear provided with this outfit, but the old man struck at those, and Arvers produced a torn and loathsome pair of boots.
It was some days since he had shaved.
When he came down to the kitchen Nicole smiled broadly.
'It is very good,' she said.
'Now, Monsieur Howard, if you walk with the head hanging down, and your mouth open a little - so.
And walk slowly, as if you were a very, very old man.
And be very deaf and very stupid.
I will talk for you.'
Arvers walked round him, studying him critically.
'I do not think the Germans will find fault with that,' he said.
They spent the rest of the morning studying appearances.
Nicole kept her black frock, but Arvers made her dirty it a little, and made her change to a very old pair of low-heeled shoes belonging to his wife.
With a shawl belonging to Madame Arvers over her head, he passed her too.
The children needed very little grooming.
During the morning they had been playing at the duck-pond, and were sufficiently dirty to pass muster without any painting of the lily.
Ronnie and Willem were scratching themselves a good deal, which added verisimilitude to the act.
They started after dejeuner.
Howard and Nicole thanked Madame Arvers for her kindness; she received their thanks with calm, bovine smiles.
Then they all got into the little old de Dion van that Arvers kept for the farm and drove off down the road.
Ronnie said: 'Are we going to the train that we're going to sleep in, Mr Howard?'
'Not just yet,' he said.
'We shall get out of the car presently and say good-bye to Monsieur Arvers, and then we have a ride in a cart.
You must all be very careful to speak French only, all the time.'
Sheila said: 'Why must we speak French?
I want to speak English, like we used to.'
Nicole said gently: 'We shall be among the Germans.
They do not like people who speak English.
You must be very careful to speak only in French.'
Rose said suddenly: 'Marjan says the Germans cut his mother's hands off.'
Howard said gently: 'No more talk about the Germans now.
In a little time we shall get out, and have a ride in a horse and cart.'
He turned to Pierre. 'What sort of noise does a horse make?' he asked.
Pierre said shyly: 'I don't know.'
La petite Rose bent over him.
'Oh, Pierre, of course you know!
'My great-aunt lives in Tours, In a house with a cherry tree With a little mouse (squeak, squeak) And a big lion (roar, roar) And a wood-pigeon (coo, coo)...'
That lasted them all the way through Landerneau, of which they caught only glimpses through the windows at the back of the old van, and half-way to Lannilis.
Presently the van slowed, turned off the road, and bumped to a standstill.
Arvers swung round to them from the driving-seat.
'This is the place,' he said.
'Get out quickly, it is not wise to linger here.'
They opened the door at the back of the van and got out.
They were in a very small farmyard, the farmhouse itself little more than a workman's cottage of grey stone.
The air was fresh and sweet after the van, with a clear savour of the sea.
In the warm sun, and looking at the grey stone walls and roofs, Howard could have thought himself in Cornwall.
There was a cart and horse, the cart half loaded with manure, the old grey horse tied to the gate.