'A little girl?'
'A little girl of five years old.
The daughter of my brother, who has been killed.'
The gun was firmly in his hand, resting on the desk but pointing in the direction of the old man.
Howard said: 'Let me understand this fully.
This is a little German girl that you want me to take to America, with all the other children?'
'That is so.'
'Who is she, and where is she going?'
The German said: 'I have told you who she is.
She is the daughter of my brother Karl.
Her name is Anna Diessen, and at present she is in Paris.'
He hesitated for a minute.
'You must understand,' he said, 'that there were three of us.
My oldest brother Rupert fought in the World War, and then went to America.
He now has a business, what you would call a grocery, in White Falls.
He is an American citizen now.'
'I see,' said Howard thoughtfully.
'My brother Karl was Oberleutnant in the 4th Regiment Tanks, in the Second Panzer Division.
He was married some years ago, but the marriage was not a success.'
He hesitated for a moment and then said quickly: The girl was not wholly Aryan, and that never works.
There was trouble, and she died.
And now Karl, too, is dead.'
He sat brooding for a minute.
Howard said gently: 'I am very sorry.' And he was.
Diessen said sullenly: 'It was English treachery that killed him.
He was driving the English before him, from Amiens to the coast.
There was a road cluttered up with refugees, and he was clearing it with his guns to get his tank through.
And hiding in amongst these refugees were English soldiers that Karl did not see, and they threw bottles of oil on top of his cupola so they dripped down inside, and then they threw a flame to set the oil alight.
My brother threw the hatch up to get out, and the English shot him down before he could surrender.
But he had already surrendered, and they knew it.
No man could go on fighting in a blazing tank.'
Howard was silent.
Diessen said: 'So there is Anna who must be provided for.
I think it will be better if she goes to live with Rupert in America.'
The old man said: 'She is five years old?'
'Five and a half years.'
Howard said: 'Well, I should be very glad to take her.'
The German stared at him thoughtfully.
'How quickly after you reach England will the children go?
How many of them are you sending to America?
All of them?'
Howard shook his head.
'I doubt that.
Three of them will certainly be going, but of the six two are English and one is a French girl with a father in London.
I don't suppose that they would want to go - they might.
But I shall send the other three within a week.
That is, if you let us go.'
The German nodded.
'You must not wait longer.
In six weeks we shall be in London.'